Barcamps Mumbai and Bangalore

Looks like Mumbai and Bangalore Barcamps will be very close to each other. Bangalore planners met this morning while the Mumbai ones met in the evening. Given the usual lead up time needed, both are likely to end up being close to each other.

This will be very interesting for me; being on both teams. Bangalore one is the larger, older and more mature one while Mumbai one is just starting out. Also Bangalore is a city where one can't throw a stone without hitting a techie. In Mumbai, there is an mazing variety even though the financial world dominates the mindscape. With the schedules matched up too, it'll be easier to observe and compare.

This also seems to be the time when techies reassert themselves. We've already had a Devcamp. Now both Barcamps are highly likely to have a codecamp as well.

I attended the Mumbai planners meet. The planners group has expanded to include several BCA1 folks and some folks from BCM2 participants. Looks like an awesome party already.

DevCamp Bangalore 1

Just left DevCamp Bangalore 1. Its another offshoot to the Barcamp movement that is sweeping across India. As Sidu put it at the begining, there have been many focussed *Camps but not a Devcamp yet, so here it is. I thought it was quite appropriate that it happened at Thoughtworks where we had revived Barcamp Bangalore with BCB2. I too spoke a bit about Kickstart and the upcoming Startup Saturdays.

While I couldn't stay at the camp the whole day (I'm in the plane waiting for the flight to take off), it already felt like a great camp. Content is good. I liked participating in the "Is facebook an Enterprise App" slot. We didn't reach any conclusions but was nice to be hearing from Martin Fowler himself on this. He stayed away from most of the things but did comment that "enterprise grade" tends to be more of a marketing statement than anything else. Sadly, our time came to end just as we were warming up.

I missed Rajiv's product launch. He caught me later and gave me the due lashing. Sounds like an interesting product to check out.

MoMo Vs MMS

Its the second MMS for me and I'm enjoying it a lot.

My mind was drawn to a comparison of MoMo and MMS formats. MoMo format (as in Bangalore, Mumbai and Hyderabad) usually has one presentation/theme a meeting and intense discussion about that one topic only. It also has a fairly high frequency with one meeting a month. MMS on the other hand has no theme and last at least one whole day. In fact, it is like a BarCamp around the theme of mobility. So, one sees a whole lot of variety in a single day.

In summary its depth vs width. Take your pick.

Mobile Monday Delhi 2

I'm at MoMo Delhi 2. With around 175 registrations, it promises to be an exciting one. Of course, it IS another MMS - Mobile Monday Saturday!

Who comes to Unconferences?

Sandeep Singhal asked an interesting question at the begining of his talk: How many of you want to be entrepreneurs and how many of you are already one? A large number of hands went up on the first and very few on the second. Clearly unconferences attract aspirants. This is evidenced also by naivette that one sees in the questions asked etc.

The good news is that a lot of the aspiring entrepreneurs at least at Barcamp Bangalore were working at an idea or had a ready concept or were looking to launch. Good deal flow for VCs such as Sandeep.

Mobile Mondays & BarCamps

I've blogged earlier about Mobile Mondays and BarCamps in India. I believe that such unconference mode forums are key to building Indian Innovation ecosystem.

The premise is quite simple. Upto a few months back the biggest obstacle to building an Indian Innovation Ecosystem was lack of serious risk capital in India. Sure VCs have been around for some time but most were busy doing late stage or pre-IPO deals. By some estimates, less than 5% of the PE money that got invested in India was into early stage deals. This is fixed given several funds such as IDG, Helion etc have announced $ 100 M+ funds for early stage investments in India. Helion partner Sanjeev Agrawal was recently in news for 3 deals he's about to close soon! So money is a problem of the past.

Now the problem is the lack of a ecosystem platforms; forums where different people can meet and gain from each other. Ideas seldom make money on their own. Great ideas in fact are good ideas built on top of other good ideas. Similarly, a single person seldom is responsible for a success. More often than not, its a team that wins. All these meeting of ideas and people are possible only if good forums exist. TiE has been doing a good job in this respect for some time. But more is needed to build a momentum and to attract aspiring innovators. IMHO, Barcamps and Mobile Mondays can play that role.

Its nice to be able to back up opinion with action and I've been able to do that for some extent. Today both Mobile Monday Bangalore and Mobile Monday Hyderabad were held with TCS sponsorship. The last MoMo Bangalore and MoMo Mumbai were both sponsored by TCS. Next up is Barcamp Bangalore where close to 300 people have already registered for 200 seats! Again, we are happy to extend support. Next up are Barcamps Delhi and Pune. Both will be supported by TCS.

Hope to meet more interesting people and have rich conversations all through December.