New format for SS Kolkata this March - Start voting now!

[Mitesh Ashar]

Hello, The response we've got from Startup Saturday Kolkata over the last 6 months has been overwhelming with over 300 attendees! The feedback we've got from everyone over this period has also been very insightful for us to make our platform better by the day. For March, we have a session by Mayank Dhingra from Delhi over a teleconference about "Why Web Startups need to think small?". This month we are also coming up with a new format for you to participate in. We have 3 Open House Discussion sessions of 30 minutes each. The topics of these Open Houses can be suggested by you, or if you like any of the present topics, you can vote for them. This can be done on our feedback forums, which are very kindly sponsored by uservoice! After the voting process is complete, the top 3 topics will be discussed for the Open Houses! A major change in the formats of Lightning Pitches has also been made. We are using the same forums to accept nominations for Lightning Pitches. So you can nominate your Lightning Pitches right away. The top 4 Lightning Pitches will be selected for the D-day! Register Now! | Suggest & Vote for Open House Topics Nominate your Lightning Pitch & vote for the ones that are present! Agenda 3:30 PM Registrations We extend our request to you to turn up at time for the registrations. 3:50 PM Introduction to HeadStart Network Foundation 4:00 PM Open House: Topic # 3 4:35 PM Open House: Topic # 2 5:10 PM Why Web Startups need to think small?: Mayank Dhingra Ex-CEO, Kwippy.com Mayank has earlier worked with multiple startups, including Slideshare and has worked on his startup Kwippy. Mayank will share with us his observation about how cash-strapped startups spend so much time thinking and planning to make it big, instead of concentrating on making money. 5:45 Open House: Topic # 1 6:20 PM Lightning Pitches[4 slots] 6:45 PM - 7:45 PM Networking & Snacks Register Now! Suggest & Vote for Open House Topics Nominate your Lightning Pitch & vote for the ones that are present!
Startup Saturday - under the umbrella of the Headstart Foundation - is a monthly networking hub for entrepreneurs across six cities. Startup Saturday kickstarted in Bangalore in March 2008 and subsequently the concept spread to Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Pune. The rationale behind a Startup Saturday is to provide a monthly platform where local entrepreneurs, professionals and students can get together around engaging talks from veterans in the startup industry. Each event has a loose theme and relevant speakers from the chosen theme. The audience plays an active role in shaping the discussions and brain storming is to be found aplenty.
"Startup Saturday, I think is the best thing, which has happened to Indian entrepreneurs, because it gives you a lot of open opportunities to discuss your ideas with a lot of experienced people as well as people who are getting into entrepreneurship now, the companies who are transiting from a basic state of business to a successful company!! I hope it soon grows bigger from the 5-6 cities they have already started, to around 40-50 cities." Vikram Kumar, Founder - DataResolve Showcased his business at SS Kolkata in November 2009 "I think Startup Saturday is a great forum for budding entrepreneurs & a platform for budding & current entrepreneurs. It's a great way to connect, network, form partnerships & get feedback" Arundhati Dutta, Founder - Juice Station Took the Reality Test at SS Kolkata in November 2009	"I found the environment at Startup Saturday to be quite informal (which is very good) and I found a different level of energy among members, which is very important to make entrepreneurship happen in Kolkata. We were conceptualizing Seeders and crowdsourced the name (i.e. Seeders) and the tag line (i.e. We Seed, you Grow) from the OCC Kolkata community within few minutes. We felt obliged and decided to do our launch at a Startup Saturday event. We got very encouraging response and a fantastic event was put together where Dr. G.D. Gautama kindly came and launched Seeders. The event was a thorough success and the audience was just right. On behalf of Seeders, I am thankful to HeadStart for creating this platform and I am confident we will work together on several projects in time to come." Abhishek Rungta Co-founder - Seeders Inc. Founder, Indus Net Technologies Launched Seeders and was a speaker at SS Kolkata, September edition