Webyantra.net launched last month, and is profiling the indian web startup scene better than any other site I’ve found. Especially interesting stuff on Indimoto (online carpools), Picsquare (flickr of India), Tezaa (online polls), Wallet365 (online payments), and OLX (classified ads). My personal favorite? Onyoma, a local search site that has been founded by some IIT Delhi kids.
India Business
Flying to Delhi
Calling all Delhi geeks! I’ll be in Delhi for a couple of weeks, starting Sunday. Lets hang out.
If you’re looking for a job with a really cool startup, here’s our top 10 reasons to work for us. I have an VERY cool project in the works that is being built using Ruby On Rails, is very Web 2.0, and is for a huge, unexploited market: if this kind of a project interests you, then ping me and lets talk.
Cell phone as disruptive innovation
Amit has a great post on cell phones as a disruptive technology. Indian carrier Airtel yesterday announced support for person-to-person payment by cellphone (which will be a BIG deal in terms of opening up an electronic payment method to millions of Indian consumers).
Uzanto referred to in NYT article on small business tech
Rashmi was quoted in a recent New York Times article on how collaboration technology is revolutionizing small businesses. The “micro-multinational” (buzzword for startups with offices in two or more companies) simply wouldn’t exist without the internet, VOIP, and collaboration tools (skype, basecamp, webex/gotomeeting, etc).
I particularly like the article’s emphasis on how entrepreneurs are better positioned to work with foreign labor, because they are willing to put up with the headaches (staying up all night talking on skype) and have connections in the country where the work is taking place (something that is crucial to hiring the right people and having the trust necessary to operate remotely).
Excepts below:
Starting a company in India? Hope you’re not in a rush…
Amit has a nice post about what a pain in the ass it is to do the paperwork involved in starting a company in India. The contrast between America and India in this particular aspect is really quite mindblowing, especially to people like myself who have gone through both processes.
The achiles heel of infosys
Amit Ranjan has an excellent piece on how the blue-chip body shops in India need to move up the value chain before their labor arbitrage play expires. He writes
Their main competitive advantage (price competiveness due to labour costs differential) is time-barred and come with a limited shelf life: price arbitrage will eventually force the imperfections in markets to converge towards a price equilibrium).
Read the whole thing
jonathanboutelle.com 