Welcome, and Here We Go.

[Vijay Anand]

Hello Everyone,

First of all, let me say - Welcome. I appreciate the interest shown -
in a few days we have close to 100 people signed up for this list, and
that only humbles us with the constant support we keep getting from
the community in an attempt to deliver something for the overall
landscape.

What is this TSC Business, You might ask? Well...

One of the fundamental questions folks have been asking us is exactly
that. And here are our reasons to embark on this. We believe that most
incubation centres in the country today attract a certain degree of
entrepreneurs that are rather high-touch. Unfortunately most come into
the centres for the sheer need for space and nothing else, and the
rest need help on every aspect there is, to building a business. No
wonder we are not able to see exits happening. The ones that are doing
reasonably well, are those who through a vision larger than the centre
- the likes of Dr. Ashok Jhunjhunwala for example - have managed to
attract talent that come to the Incubation centre for things beyond
the trivialities and most of all posess a deep domain expertise in
atleast one or two aspects of the said business. We believe that's
crucial.

We also believe, and through our interactions with the larger
community via Proto.in that there are several awesome entrepreneurs
out there, who know how to run businesses and even have the necessary
experience to build a successful one - but are lacking any sort of
support. I am talking about people with significant experience and
exposure here in India and in the valley and they are just let out
there to survive in the wild.

The first agenda of the said Startup Centre is to garner these
entrepreneurs in the wild, under a common roof. And if what we are
talking about are entrepreneurs who bring their own experience and
expertise, but just need that push here, and push there to open some
doors and make the magic happen, then these folks by themselves - as
a cohort would make this hub the ultimate place to be, for
entrepreneurs. And through the various TSC meets that we have been
organizing, we have met some fabulous "Wild" entrepreneurs to believe
that this thesis is true.

We have a second part to this Centre. We want to start a residential
"Startup Accelerator" to fastrack some of these entrepreneurs and
startups. But thats still in the planning stages. We are getting a lot
of Angels and early stage investors showing interest to back us on
that effort. But we'll unveil details on that soon.

So dates. May 2011, the first TSC in Chennai will open its doors for
the community. And we are planning to open these hubs in several
cities across India in the days to come. In the meantime, we have some
events being planned. March will be the month that will see the first
event of TSC named In50hrs, where we invite entrepreneurs, hackers,
designers and experienced entrepreneurs to convert an idea into a
prototype (in the Mobile and Internet space - No social ideas please,
this is not Power of Ideas :P). Who knows, they say Square, the
company that got valued at 10Mn$ before it ever launched, was
unearthed during a startup prototyping event. We are hoping we'd spot
a few such gems along the way. You are invited to witness it.

I'll keep you posted from time to time, without cluttering your
mailboxes. In the meantime, follow us on twitter at @thestartupcntr
and we are rather active on our Facebook Page (http://www.facebook.com/
pages/The-Startup-Centre/111369548901185) as well. Hope to see, hear
and interact with you.

Here's hoping that we make a dent in this nascent ecosystem, by doing
our share to build some kick-ass startups. Cheers!

Regards,
Vijay Anand (On Behalf of the TSC Team)

PS: There is an awesome team behind this, with a combined experience
that passes a few decades, each with different facets and expertise.
I'll Introduce the team to y'all soon.