
Some Indian start-ups shun funding in bid to retain independence - paraschopra
http://livemint.com/Companies/hZXXOXHl9euEdJMSkvpKMM/Some-startups-shun-funding-in-bid-to-retain-independence.html
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kamaal
Firstly, Congratulations Paras.

One more company that comes to my mind is HasGeek(<http://hasgeek.com/>).
HasGeek is definitely the best thing to have happened to the entire scenario.
And they are based on pretty much the same lines, which is they are totally
self sufficient.

For all those people with MegaCorp day jobs. You can do a lot of low bandwidth
side projects to start up. If you are interested and persist enough then much
can be achieved in spare time, both learning and money wise.

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kushsolitary
I would add browserstack too.

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kislayverma
BrowserStack +1!!

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ashray
I think this is absolutely awesome! Congratulations to all the startups who
are pulling this off!

I do however think that when startups have proven themselves, and have a
steady cash flow, but want to race to the top, VC funding may be the way to
go.

I personally experienced this with a startup with a very healthy balance
sheet. The reason for VC funding was pretty straightforward "We need money to
expand internationally".

Local market dominance is usually quite possible with bootstrapping however
international expansion poses a totally different challenge (first challenge:
hire an experienced management team for it..).

VC funding plays a big role when it comes to the big guns. If you want to be
the next Mc Donalds or the next Hyatt, it may be important.

Local market dominance is also great while being bootstrapped, if you want to
play acquire-me, but that could just as easily be stomp all over me.

I guess that's what makes this business so exciting ;)

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markdown
WTF, every single one of the ~20 links in that article points inwards!

I regret giving them a page view.

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paraschopra
Yes, we were hoping we would get link back to our product or company. Linking
inwards really is a pathetic UX, even at the expense of SEO. I hope Google
sees and penalizes such UX.

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criley
I'm a bit surprised that people find this new or interesting.

Many sites have played the "dozens of links inward" game for some time. Almost
every business site will provide links for every business or stock mentioned,
all heading inward into their site further.

Here's an example: the first article I clicked on on the first page I knew
behaved similarly: <http://www.cnbc.com/id/100644923>

Looks pretty similar.

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markdown
This isn't new to me... most major websites do it, but I've never seen it done
for _every_ single link.

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chiph
I think if India can get past the "Entrepreneurs are losers because they're
not doctors or engineers" social aspect, they'll have a lot of advantages that
SV doesn't have. Mainly because they're natural crowd-funders.

What I've observed is that friends in India are very tight -- they'll do
almost anything for each other. And if you have a friend with a startup, you'd
certainly lend them some money.

So, they may not need VC money, and may not need angels, but they do
potentially have a lot of "micro-angels" to raise funds through.

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moha297
This is a huge paradigm shift....I feel happy that it is happening in India :)

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rikacomet
Congrats Paras, nice to hear that you share the same urge for independence as
myself as well. Can we perhaps arrange a meeting, if you live near Delhi? Add
me on skype if so.

My skype: carl.theteuton

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neilxdsouza
Hey, If you are planning an HN meetup in and around Delhi, please let me know
too. nxd_in at [[ yahoo dot com ]]

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rikacomet
Its a good idea, we can do a HN meetup in future, I'm working on making that
possible somehow.

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krmmalik
Congratulations Paras! I love hearing about boot-strapped stories.

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paraschopra
Thanks :)

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Hitchhiker
Live free or die hard ;-).

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helloamar
Yes that's rite, I've turned down two VC, now entered our 11th year with 6
companies.

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nnnnni
Ugh, yet more startup news? Is this Hacker News or Startup News?!

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facorreia
Er, I suppose it's Y Combinator's site? The startup funding company?

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nnnnni
Er, so what? It's called Hacker News, not Startup Funding News.

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facorreia
I know, but honestly I can still get some value from that kind of article. IMO
it's the political activism which is more out-of-place.

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nnnnni
I can agree with you there.

I'm just annoyed by how every other story is about "startups" when the name is
Hacker News... Meh, I don't know, just saying.

