Hartal and Work Culture of Kerala

"How can somebody invest in Kerala? We have a Hartal once in a week".

"Malayalees work culture is very bad, they do not work when they are here, but they are ready to do any menial job when they reach Gulf".

"Think about the Nottakkooli and the strikes, do you really want to start an industry in Kerala?"

These are a few of explanations that we get when we talk about investment in Kerala. They are trying to discourage you from becoming an entrepreneur.

Should an entrepreneur first try to change these social realities and then work on his entrepreneurship?

Kerala Startups do not believe that one need to change  anything to become an entrepreneur. Do you have an innovative mind?  Are you ready to put up the hard work required to make your dreams  come true. Then you can create a product and get funding. It does not matter whether you are in Kerala,  Bangalore or Silicon Valley, USA.

Please stop the show

Kerala Startups should get back to fundamentals and keep it focus on getting results. Show come later when you need it. I have heard many complaining this. " Many people have promised that they will bring investors or investment. but so far nothing has happened.  We have done several seminars and fairs. We also got good news coverage, but nothing happened after that."

They make it look like  investors are the culprits and the blame is on them.  Investors do not have any particular preference for any geographical area. Their preference is in making money. If you show them how they can make money by investing in your firm then they will be interested. The best way to do that is to make a good product or idea and pitch that to investors.

Planning for a show is easy. You also get a lot of people around you because everybody is interested in the show. But working on fundamentals is not easy. Unfortunately that only brings prosperity.

Robbery attempt in my friend's house.

Ten years back my friend moved to his new house,one of the largest and beautiful buildings constructed at that time in this city.  It was on the side of a main road and hardly half a kilometers from the Police station. The house had all modern security arrangements that were  available ten years back. But within a year a burglar entered the house in broad daylight. 

Nobody was at home when the burglar entered the house. My friend and his wife was in his office which was situated just opposite side of the road.  Security system might have been activated and alarm might have been sounded. But nobody took notice of it. The burglar escaped with some valuable and was never caught. 

The next burglary attempt happened within few years. It was in the night and my friend's wife was alone at home. A gang of burglars entered the house in the night. The security alarm was off and the guards had taken a day off.   His wife was terrified but the burglars kept her quiet and her hands and legs were tied together. They escaped with some valuables in one of his cars. 

The burglary attempts in the city are on increase. Recently more attempts were made in the houses with modern security systems. Why is the security system not effective? Why are the security guarding the houses could not do anything?  How can a few guards stop an armed gang?  How can we alert the Police in time? How can we help the Police to nab them?  How can we make sure the evidence to burglary are not destroyed?  

These were some questions that pestered a few startup companies here and they decided to work together to bring a solution to it.  A solution with a price  that even a middle class family can afford. This solution will be rolled out in a few weeks time. Fingers crossed.  

Entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurs are people who goes into the sea in a boat with number of holes. 
The mentors should be people who are ready to join them  and help them to pluck the holes. 
Who needs a mentor who stays in the shore and watch the fun?

Why do we need reverse pitching session in Kerala now?

Kerala is seeing a new activity. Youngsters are flocking to form startups.  Kerala has a huge middle class which has created a type of economic freedom for the youngsters.  The youngsters have started looking for more adventurous life than "go to college, get a job, get married and live happily there after" type life.  

The enthusiasm received by Kerala startup group and Startup village are proof of this change. Kerala startups was started 11 months back by me. Now we have more members than most of other similar groups. I do agree that the quantity does not mean quality. But with the type of reach we have we are making sure that we reach every nook and corner of Kerala.  


Enthusiasm do not mean that people know what direction to move.  Our goal should be to guide  the energy of this youngsters to  a proper channel where they can use it to create marketable products and scalable business. We have been working on meeting these groups of youngsters and I have been mentoring several such young entrepreneurs.  We need to remove the wrong ideas in their mind. We need to tell them to work on their fundamentals.

People have started working on very interesting concepts and products. This is the time to tell them where they should go from here. This is the time to tell them how to look for funding. This is the time to make sure that they talk to the right type of investors.  In this regard I believe it is the right time to have a reverse pitching session in Kerala by prominent Angel investors and VCs of India.