Seven years ago, when Shradha Sharma launched YourStory.in, “startups” was an alien world, a distant Silicon Valley nomenclature. But as a media entrepreneur herself, she quickly sensed the explosive energy of the young engineer collectives, unleashing the power of technology and innovation. Telling their stories, day after day, she crafted a perfect platform, a springboard that had ‘growth’ written in big, bold letters!
Today, YourStory’s ground Bengaluru is a global startup hub. Many startups that earned this City its new tag, has had Shradha turn YourStory’s spotlight on them. Now in its sixth year, her ‘TechSparks’ offline platform has emerged as a hot space for the entrepreneurs to converge, interact and impress venture capitalists, engage with corporates, ink deals with the biggies.
Sharma’s romance with startups and their passionate ideas had switched to topgear once she moved from Mumbai to Bengaluru in 2010. “I saw a lot of passion, energy in the young techies, in the way they were doing their own things. But I realised that no one was talking to them. I saw the potential there,” recalls the YourStory.in founder.
Big MNCs had set up shop in Bengaluru, driven by the State’s proactive IT policy. Thousands of young engineers were graduating from engineering colleges spread across the City. The opportunities for innovation and partnerships were huge. Some took the startup route, and as Sharma chronicled their journeys, YourStory.in grew too. Learning from their stories, her dream turned integral to that one collective movement.
Technology had turned a tool for social innovation. She found that startups had started moving beyond comfort zones to address social issues through tech interventions. “Many young entrepreneurs, through their innovations, are getting more conscientious about social causes. They are building new technologies, made in India,” she says.
Those fascinating stories had to be celebrated. Sharma notes: “Those were common people doing extraordinary things. They had to be celebrated through stories. YourStory.in has so far done 21,000 stories on them. To reach out beyond the English-speaking audience, we launched in 13 Indian languages. Our aim is to take those stories to every village.”
Startups, both tech-based and non-tech, continue to mushroom in Bengaluru. But Sharma, acknowledging the initial push that government gave to the IT sector, wants it to do more. “For any startup, making money initially is always tough. The government could at least stop taxing the young companies. Besides, starting and closing a company takes eternity. It should be like in the Silicon Valley, where the process happens in 10 minutes!”
Starting the TechSparks platform six summers back, YourStory.in had created its own support system for the startups. Sharma notes with pride that many startups that were given space there have now become big players. “Early stage startups need the money, exposure and meeting ground with investors.” The huge turnout at the recently concluded TechSparks 2015 was proof of that
vision.
Published 07 November 2015, 20:48 IST