Time for accelerators to step up to maintain the Start Up momentum in the country

There has been a lot of buzz created around the start-up ecosystem in the country over the past two years. The number of new companies entering the playing field has increased significantly since the year 2013. According to NASSCOM, the Indian technology start-ups landscape has seen a tremendous growth towards creation of innovative start-ups and this country, a home to a new breed of young start-ups, has clearly evolved to become the third largest base of technology start-ups in the world.

There has been a strong impetus from the Indian Government as well in order to boost the budding entrepreneurship economy in the country. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Start up India Initiative is a step in this direction. A very important part of a thriving ecosystem is the presence of investors, PE firms, start-up accelerators and incubators. They make for the complete link to the complex chain. Another major reason for the growth of start-ups in India is the presence of more than 80 business incubators and accelerators, which provide seed stage support to start-ups. Major cities such as Bangalore, Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Pune and Chennai account for 90% of the start-up activity.

It takes more than just an idea for rising entrepreneurs to become a successful start-up. The industry is quick growing and evolving, and hence there is a constant struggle for the survival of the fittest. Even with a lot of excitement observed in the beginning, there has been a dip in the investor interest and a hesitation to continue funding. What can be marked as a start-up winter, is a period of disdain for all budding entrepreneurs. If companies are well funded, there is also immense pressure on them to scale up operations. It is in times like these that it becomes imperative to continue building hope for people with a great product and service to offer. What the Indian start-ups need more than the money is motivation and a nurturing touch in terms of expertise and guidance. The need for the hour is to educate, inspire and support the next generation of entrepreneurs and that’s what they are going to do.

Accelerators and incubators can play a very important role in the current scenario. They will play an important role in reviving the Indian startup ecosystem’s momentum and will also make sure that they do it in a sustainable manner. The reason these are called accelerators are because they provide immersive education, where a period of intense, focused attention provides company founders an opportunity to learn at a rapid pace. Learning-by-doing is vital to the process of scaling ventures and they also focus highly on that. In this way, they ensure that the startups compress years’ worth of learning in a bracket of a few months. When put into the Indian scenario, accelerators will help startups study and adapt to the swiftly changing Indian markets and will have a positive impact on their performance. In a conducive environment, start-ups have more chances to kick-start their projects and flourish. Accelerators have become popular in terms of the growth infrastructure, and play an important role in the scaling-up of entrepreneurial ventures.

In addition to this, a lot of corporate have taken up the role of catalysts for the budding start-ups, wherein, they are working with emerging and mature start-ups to address business challenges, mentoring and guiding them with real life scenarios, scaling their business model, helping them with revenue, expanding their customer base while retaining existing customers etc. They help by developing a complete support system for the start-ups by giving them access to basic infrastructure clubbed with expertise and knowledge and thereby, create a runway for them. In times like these when the general sentiment surrounding start- ups is on a low, catalysts also provide the much required motivation to budding ideas in addition to material help.

The Government of India is also trying to promote the startup culture and is revolutionizing its policies towards startups in order to ensure ease of work and financing by launching initiatives like ‘Startup India’ and ‘Self Employment and Talent Utilization (SETU)’. The right kind of help and support from the government and private sector organizations can really lift up and ensure the development of a healthy and sustainable startup ecosystem.
Considering the role that startups are set to play in India’s economic growth and the amount of income and jobs they can generate, it is imperative for us to support them while they grow their wings and become self-sufficient in their cocoon.

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This article is written by Sumesh Menon, Co-Founder, U2opia Mobile