The Good It is a matter of time The local market for technology products is nascent; the VC model for financing startups fairly new and some issues will work themselves out over time. The current vicious circle – relatively inexperienced entrepreneurs and risk-averse VCs – needs just a few hits to break the cycle.
By Vijay Nagarajan, Guest Author Nokia (NOK) has the most global footprint in the wireless industry today. While there are several facets of the Finnish company worth discussing, I would like to focus on one of my pet themes – Nokia in India.
· Mentors Entrepreneurs, especially first-timers, gain much from having access to experienced executives and academic experts either as informal advisors or as members of a formal board. Entrepreneurs I have talked to have either 1) tapped into US/Silicon Valley entrepreneur networks they were previously part of, 2) leveraged their connections with previous companies, universities and
In my conversations, I focused on the interaction between entrepreneurs and the external environment. i.e., primarily around the activities of reaching customers, hiring employees, seeking advice and raising funds. Accordingly, the key issues center on the following four factors: Market Money Mentors Manpower
By Aparna Chennapragada, Guest Author There is near-unanimous agreement on the ‘India story’ (at least in direction, even if there is disagreement in magnitude). Given the role of high-tech entrepreneurship in wealth and job creation, it is not surprising that there is growing interest in entrepreneurship and technology innovation in India.
SM: How does the entrepreneur network in Latin America work? Are there many entrepreneurs in Latin America now? MG: Yes, there is a foundation called Endeavor Foundation. They select entrepreneurs in their region and then supports them. This foundation was founded by Linda Rosenburg and Peter Kelner, two Harvard graduates. They got the big private
SM: Does PayPal operate in South America? MG: You can withdraw money but you cannot fund a PayPal account. They do not have a Spanish speaking site either. SM: What is your dynamic with eBay today? Competitive or collaborative?
We have had some discussions in the past here about how Silicon Valley’s success owes itself to the fact that risk-taking is encouraged here, and failure is not a stigma that you have to carry throughout your career. I recently attended a roundtable at Stanford with a delegation from France, where this topic came up