KACHARAGADLA

Most of the biggest companies in Silicon Valley started either in a garage or a shared office. For startups, however, spending money on expensive offices can be the death of the business. So from corporate serviced offices to cool co-working spaces, the startup community has seen a transformation of the workplace in the past five years. Many will point to the benefits of co-working, which include lower set up costs than setting up your own premises for business and the networking opportunities. Co-working does aim to help entrepreneurs connect to other entrepreneurs, but in many of the co-working spaces I have worked in across the world, most of my fellow entrepreneurs prefer being in their own office. Whilst test driving We Work in San Francisco, I observed that rarely did founders speak to other founders and very little collaboration was actually carried out. Spaces in the open office setting, where collaboration is intended to take place, was often noisy, and most of the time,

Ask any startup in Southeast  Asia  — if they’re looking to raise funds, they’ve likely been flying in and out of Singapore. The “little red dot,” which is often praised for its friendly business environment and global connectivity, is home to some of the region’s biggest  tech  venture capital firms. And learning how to navigate the scene and knowing which fund is the best fit for your startup can give you an undeniable leg up. Photo Credit: ROSLAN RAHMAN/AFP/Getty Images Which is why two Singapore-based ecosystem builders  Arnaud Bonzom  and  Florian Cornu , who have been long-time collaborators on a number of open data projects for Southeast Asia, have created  Map of the Money 4.0 . It’s a new tool for entrepreneurs and  startups  to get the lay of the land in Singapore’s venture community and also figure out how best to raise money. “We believe that while most information about VC firms is available, it takes a lot of time to collect it and entrepreneurs should be

As the startup ecosystem in India  continues  to take off, it’s interesting to note the unique way Indian entrepreneurs go about their fundraising efforts. Certain patterns are universal in the lifecycle of a typical startup, and specific traits differ based on cultural and local norms. India and the US, two leading nations in tech innovation, are excellent subjects for examining universal elements of international startups, as well as differences. As an expat entrepreneur from India who currently lives and works in the U.S., I’ve had the opportunity to learn from the best practices and culture of each environment. Currently, my company is at the threshold of opening its first office in India following rollouts across North America – providing me with a unique full-circle vantage point. There’s a growing appetite for investment in new Indian businesses, both locally and globally. A country of 1.2 billion people with first-rate human capital and a strong tech education base, Ind

What began as a class project at MIT has taken a life of its own in India as a full-on startup, with the aim of bringing one million affordable, biodegradable, sanitary pads — made of banana fiber — to rural women in India. Saathi Pads started out as a design for a sanitary pad machine in Amrita Saigal’s senior design class at MIT in 2012 — the idea was to create a blueprint for a low-cost method of manufacturing sanitary pads, to promote access to the product for women across India. The subject of menstrual health, so long taboo in India, has experienced rising awareness in very recent years. Current estimates say that  88% of menstruating women  in the country are forced to use homemade alternatives such as rags, newspapers, wood shavings, even ash, due to lack of menstrual awareness and access to products. A Saathi Pads workshop in Ranchi, India. Photo courtesy of Saathi Pads. Saathi Pads estimate rural girls miss up to 50 days of school a year as a result of lack o

Trademarks today not only play an impeccable role in luring eyeballs but personifying and shaping up the stature of a company as well. But before we engulf ourselves anymore with this one heck of a word, let us first understand what it is and what it stands for. What is a Trademark? A trademark is any unique sign or identity logo used by a company or product to distinguish itself from the rest, ergo, giving it unique identity of its own that not only categorizes it in a class of its own but helps carve a niche for it in the society. A trademark not only helps protect your identity but also to establish it. Why do you need a trademark? The answer to this question is as simple as is the question. Let us explain this to you with the help of an example. Let’s say you buy a pet dog and name him Scooby. Now, this dog answers to the name Scooby and nothing else; not dog, not doggy, not eddy, not scrabby either, just Scooby. Ergo, what we are trying to establish here is that the na

The History of Domesticated Animals   was a course my really good friend took while attending Columbia University. Her tuition was $40,000 per year. She’s been out of college for almost 10 years, and still paying off the debt. She works at an accounting firm. Needless to say, that aforementioned course surprisingly hasn’t added any value to her current position, or any position she’s ever had in her professional career. Our education system is broken. There are countless entrepreneurs attempting to refine, disrupt and improve the broken model with online education, skill-based bootcamps and skill-based courses (including one of my projects,  Intangibly ). I recently spoke to two very impressive young entrepreneurs who are in my  Facebook group . Mind you, they’re also brother and sister, and on their second business. Brendan and Ashley Eapen are the founders of  In/Spree . After speaking to them, I told them that I was writing this column, and asked them to give their insights