The "Hack-Cellerator" was launched today
Mayank C and his friend from his engineering college had an idea last year. Today, that idea - an app which creates a virtual wallet - has translated into into a billion dollar company.
Mayank is 28, the sort of heady Bangalore success story that inspires the launch of nearly 10 start-ups every month in the city. He says the idea was the easy part. What came after wasn't. "We did not know how exactly to go about starting a company. We learnt from our mistakes, the first six months was about learning and not value-generation at all."
To ensure a smoother ride for thousands of aspiring CEOs like Mayank, the Karnataka government has announced the launch of a "Hack-Cellerator" - 50,000 square feet meant to serve as a laboratory of ideas, grooming school and stomping ground for 500 candidates identified as potential CEOs.
Located in Diamond District in the city centre, the 50,000-square feet warehouse can house over 100 start-ups with a dozen employees in each of them. Kick-off is November.
The government and NASSCOM, the trade association for software and outsourcing companies, will together select the inductees. "Women entrepreneurs will be encouraged. Anyone with an idea to create a social impact will also be encouraged. The more the chance the idea has to be successful, the more the merit. Applications with such ideas will have to be submitted and a committee from NASSCOM will choose the candidates. " said Srivatsa Krishna, IT Secretary, Govt of Karnataka..
More than five crores will be spent on world-class infrastructure, the government vows. Some entrepreneurs can rent a small office space for a reasonable price. Over a period of four to six weeks, mentors from NASSCOM along with young, successful CEOs will hold master classes explaining how to raise funds and be cost-effective.
A report released this year says that 41% of India's start-ups are based in Bangalore; nearly a third of them focus on e-commerce.
The "start-up factory" is meant to minimise inception problems and drastically reduce the time it takes for a company to hit the market.