48 Hours Before Launch. We are Hiring. And How you can help an Entrepreneur.

[Vijay Anand]

The Startup Centre is a startup. Sounds very recursive and all that, but its the simple truth. And as such - just as you would be anxious before your first iteration of the product hits the ground, we are too. This is also the time before that momentum picks up, times that we've all been part of in the past, where beyond it, there is no time to sit down and think about some of the deeper values as to what we stand for, what we want to accomplish etc. And so we have that conversation - quite a bit, in the past few days here at The Startup Centre.  One of the fundamental questions we keep hearing from entrepreneurs - who drop-in unannounced, and still have us smiling, is the fact that everyone of the team members here at TSC has been an entrepreneur. If I count it right, this is the fifth time I am doing this - jumping off a cliff and starting from scratch. One could never get used to this feeling, and once you do get the sense that you like it, it can also be addictive - there is no better feeling than that of building something that creates genuine value.

So our bottomline is that we are entrepreneurs, and as such we understand what these passionate young entrepreneurs and founders are all about. Its easier to relate to them, because at this stage, its not just about the idea and business, its about a lot more than that.

What of the Resident Programme?

We had gotten 15+ applications for the resident programme by the time we closed it on the 22nd. That's plenty given that we got the venue on the 27th of March, called for Applications on the 7th and closed by the 22nd. Was it enough time? Absolutely not. But its also a way to kickstart things - the further you get in, the harder it gets to manage expectations and the risk of never launching. Products have to ship, they say.

But we are not going by the quantity. Though we aimed to have about 15 entrepreneurs in the resident programme, the key is to have an amazing set of hackers, and entrepreneurs come in. We believe they hold the key to building an ambience of excellence. If we are to build some fast-paced, high impact companies, the crux of it all lies in the kind of entrepreneur we invest in (time and effort-wise). We have our late applications still open and we still see some applications coming in, but as of May 2nd, we will kickstart the programme with five teams of folks, working on rather interesting projects. I've always been one who has time and time again bet on people, and come back winning. Early stage HAS to be about the People. And we are doing exactly that. Ideas, we believe, will evolve, just by being in the company of smart folks who can help make it better.

This is just the beginning. We will do another call, sometime in a month or two and invite some more residents in. But the key will be to ensure that the quality of residents is kept at a par. It makes all the difference - especially to the entrepreneurs coming in.

There have been quite a few Venture Capital and Stakeholder organizations writing to us to know if they could sponsor the programme, just as SAIF Partners is doing it for one team. If you are interested to do so, let us know. We'd be quite happy to talk to you more about it. 

We are also Hiring!

We have a fair guage of the response we are getting so far, and if four of the six teams coming into the resident programme being out of town is not a sign, not sure what else is going to hit us in the head to let us know. In an effort to ramp up on the list of things we had planned, we are looking to hire an Associate for The Startup Centre. It will be our first +1. You can see details about the position and expectations here.

Spread the Word. Help an Entrepreneur. Win a T-Shirt.

We have this fabulously well designed T-Shirts here at The Startup Centre and we were wondering of giving it away to folks who have been supporting us. In an effort to make it fair, and also to combine the effort to help us take the word about The Startup Centre to those who are possibly still not aware, we've launched a contest to help us make the decision. Do participate, contribute and hopefully you will be lucky enough to win one of the first T-Shirts that was made for The Startup Centre.

We'd love to invite you all to the centre, if you are ever crossing by Chennai. Drop us a note so that we can expect you. The Monthly Open Coffee Club meet is coming up (in Chennai), in the first Sunday - as usual - do hope to see you there, followed by the events that are scheduled. Do keep an eye on the events calendar, much is to change in the days to come as we add some of the planned events into it.

Yet to complete Finalizing our Interns.

We have just started the process of finalizing our batch of Interns for the Year. We are taking in 5 design interns and 5 Developers. We've finalized on One Developer Intern at the moment. Just one word - Awesome. Great Attitude, capability and talent. Infact, credit goes to him for getting the checkin application on The Startup Centre Website. If you are interested in applying, but just have never gotten around to it - you can apply here. If you are a designer, send us an email at int...@thestartupcentre.com with a link to your portfolio to help us evaluate.

Look forward to hearing from you, and we often say, May the Startups Win!

Regards,

Vijay Anand

On behalf of The Startup Centre

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