Do you have a great business idea but wonder how to get connected with prospective investors?

This is the biggest challenge start-ups in India face. “How can you realise your dream particularly, say, when you belong to a small town like Hubli,” The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE) Chairman Ashok Rao asks.

TiE, a global association of entrepreneurs and investors of Indian origin, has developed a software platform called Global Deal Connect that instantaneously sends the proposal to a network of investors. “Your business idea would go to a network of TiE investors across the globe. It can segregate the ideas and send it to the investors who are interested in a particular vertical,” he told Business Line.

Ashok Rao, who is based in Houston, is here in connection with the three-day global TiE meeting on entrepreneurship beginning December 18. TiE has about 15,000 members globally, including 6,000 in India.

Ecosystem TiE is planning to open the platform for aspiring entrepreneurs in January. “There are some places where you find a good ecosystem for investments. But there are some places where the venture culture is yet to be kicked off. We are planning to give the young entrepreneurs access to investments,” he said.

Citing World Bank rankings on Ease of doing Business index, he said India was a difficult place to start business. “We slipped by two spots to 134. There are several constraints here to start a business in India. You can start a business just in one day in Singapore where as it takes months here. Restrictions have led to massive parallel economy. Some youth are succeeding in spite of all these hurdles. It is a silver lining,” he said.

He, however, said that situation was changing as people like Zuckerberg (Facebook founder) caught the imagination of the youth.

He said the US economy had begun to pick up but “the recovery has been grindingly slow”.

3-day meet The three-day meet would have a dedicated session on start-ups. Mentors, entrepreneurs and investors, private equity firms and angel investor networks would address them, exposing them to various aspects of doing business.

> kurmanath.kanchi@thehindu.co.in

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