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Brushing past the dotcom bust, Internet companies in India have come a long way. Internet is hot and will continue to boom. This sentiment was echoed at the TiE-ISB Connect 2006 forum held at the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad.
With 25 million active Net users in India, entrepreneurs and venture capitalists are upbeat on new investment opportunities in the Internet and mobile space in India.
Highlighting that user generated content drives the Internet business, Ajit Balakrishnan, chairman and chief executive officer, rediff.com urged budding entrepreneurs to look at service providers and media entities in the Internet space and choose a proper alignment.
Utility services will bring in more users and more revenue, he said adding the aim of a successful Internet company should be to see that multiple local networks can co-exist. The focus should be on business design and matching technology and more successful business models will also evolve out of the blue, he said.
"Breakthrough will come from matching technology, for instance efforts are on for document retrieval of spoken conversation, today you get about 64 per cent accuracy but the day the conversations can be recorded with 90 per cent accuracy, call centres will become redundant. This software will take over," he said.
"This is a great challenge and opportunity, he said. Whoever seizes this great opportunity can demolish call centres and establish a very successful company," he pointed out.
Indian entrepreneurs never had it so good. "There are more venture capitalists than entrepreneurs today. So we are looking at the best ideas to support and fund," says Sandeep Murthy, partner, Sherapalo Ventures, who is impressed with the business plans presented at the TiE-ISB Connect forum.
"Online travel is booming and it is the right time to cash in on this huge opportunity. VCs are looking at the right people and not just the ideas, Murthy said who has funded three companies in India so far.
Technology oriented start-ups and ideas still continue to charm the VCs. Upbeat on the proliferation of mobile phones, Paymate founder, Probir Roy is on exciting journey to ensure hassle free payment system through mobile phones.
"It is the best time for entrepreneurs, there is nothing that can stop you if you are focused and have clarity of vision. Technology driven start-ups will continue to boom, he says.
According to Roy, the social stigma of failure no longer bothers young entrepreneurs in India, who points out that 200 students of the ISB have joined the entrepreneurship development course in the institute. These are signs of a changing India.
Hitesh Oberoi, COO, Naukri.com, says there are huge opportunities in the Internet space and Internet businesses are here to stay.
Entertainment will continue to be a driving force for Internet businesses with a lot of interest in the growing media services. Raghav Kher, founder of Seventymm promises a lot of convenience with his online film rental firm, that is catching up in Bangalore.
And a reassuring word to the budding entrepreneurs from search giant Google's Samir Sood, "You should not shy away from doing something that has been already done. Google was the 11th search company. In India, it is bad to fail, but entrepreneurs will succeed only if they learn that it is good to fail."
Google will offer all kind of support to emerging entrepreneurs and is open to ideas from entrepreneurs, he said.