Vijay enthralled the audience with a speech on “Potential Business Partners” which included the following key points:

• Application developers evolve by deciding how to make an application as per the market needs. But what must be noted is that very few go for actual research
• The consumers are unaware of what they need
• Amount of resource needed is inversely proportional to the time required in the development process
• The application developer should always be on the lookout for long term benefits and opportunities
• Don’t add one feature and give it to the market, some body else might be doing the same strategic move
• For resource optimization, emulate consumers’ lives. Your mobile application will not grow if the developer doesn’t attempt to understand the consumer’s mind
• If you are not the best consumer of your product, you will not be successful

• Don’t create applications that are ”happening” now, as GYM, Google, Yahoo and Microsoft will definitely plan to venture into them
• Success of any application should be rated on consumer happiness, which should be determined by the change brought about in the lives of number of consumers, and also how many consumers can’t live without it. This way the consumer will appreciate the technology more
• India boasts of more than 300 million unique mobile users who demand high value for money
• Indians download only free apps
• If the developers make apps for any smart phones, it’s not reaching out to the Indian audience
• Indian app is in the cloud (network operator), i.e. owned, ruled, kept and locked by the network operator
• If your app is based on cloud, that can be a great asset
• The consumer population is comprised of 2% of people who have subscribed and later actually bothered about the service
• All the revenue in India is limited to entertainment

• Don’t thrive in only one industry. Go beyond the market and be sincere to the person who is your target market
• Cloud is not a great a success story. Not a great environment for innovation
• India is not a device market. A device eco system has more challenges
• There are so many OSS available that it becomes quite confusing to choose the correct route
• Start by deciding and blueprinting about the segment and ends in revenue
• We Indians are a great Service industry but can we be known as a great Product industry?
• Lastly, “Does the customer like it AND pay for it?” That is the question we should ask ourselves.

The telecom operator is now going back to the whiteboard and saying what we could do for the consumer.”

When Shilpa enquired about the framework and logistics of the Mobility Fund and the audience it is aiming at, Vijay began talking passionately about the present vivaciousness building up in the Indian mobile market due to the rise in the entrepreneurial latent potential.

“This is the time for entrepreneurs. This is the time for mobile consumers of India to experience the next set of services, which requires many more companies to come and innovate together.” Keeping in mind the kind of skills people can generate with market access, operating principles, learnings, and add to that the necessary capital a Fund can offer, stepping foot in the industry becomes easier for the new start ups.

Vijay was at his emphatic best when Shilpa mischievously made a mention about many companies shutting down due to a lack of entrepreneurial culture in our country.

“Telecom has taken off. Telecom has potential and telecom has success stories for companies to sustain. I have a lot of hope, I would not say as a hope; I see companies coming up to us and we’ve seen worthwhile business cases which are worth funding and investing. So this is not like internet. It is like a telecom base where we’re the king. We’re telling the world how it is to be done.”

Have a look at the video:

To get more information, click here.

Mobile Monday (MoMo) is one such forum which brings together mobile enthusiasts, developers, technologists, business folks, entrepreneurs to discuss the industry trends.

There will be few demos followed by a panel discussion which will be attended by all major stake holders in device OEM industry. This surely is to generate lot of interest as everything associated with mobile trends will surely be touched upon.

To top it all, the panelists will have in-depth discussion on “Working Together to Unlock the Value inside the Device”!

 This is also an excellent opportunity to network with peers, industry specialists and other like-minded individuals who share passion for technologies & trends in the mobile eco-system.

This is one event where all mobile enthusiasts converge under one roof – so you don’t want to miss it!

 MoMo Delhi 10th Meet up Details

•  Date:  Saturday, July 17, 2010 from 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM (PT)
• Theme:  Working with Device OEMs
• Venue:  One 97 Communications Ltd.  B-121, Sector 5, Noida, UP 201 307, India
• Keynote Speaker: Vijay Shekhar Sharma

  For additional details and to register, please click on the following link:

 http://momodelhi10.eventbrite.com/

 Panelists:  Rajiv Kumar, RockeTalk; Karthik Srinivasan, Samsung; Manish Gupta, Spice Labs; Siddharth Mishra; and Mohit Gundecha, Mig33, Sunil Rao, Head, Forum Nokia India;  Amit Gujral, Head Partnership and Content, LG Electronics;  Annie Mathews, Head of Alliances , Research In Motion India; Karthik Srinivasan, Manager ,Dev Relations, SamSung; Rohit Arora, Product Head, Device & Services, Lemon Mobile; Nikhil Pahwa , Editor, Medianama (Moderator).

 MoMo – Bringing the Mobile Community Together

• Vijay is moderating a session on Mobile Marketing at the IAMAI conference – Free for SME’s. on 6th July 2010 at Habitat Center, ND. Event details here (http://ievents.iamai.in/ict4sme/agenda.php).
• VAS Asia 2010 is scheduled for 9th July 2010 at Le Meridian, New Delhi. Vijay Shekhar Sharma of One97 Communications is scheduled to speak at the event.
• One97 Communications is partnering Mobile Monday – to be held on 17th July 2010 at One97 office in Noida. The event link is here (http://momodelhi10.eventbrite.com/).

Journalists, bloggers, media persons looking to connect at any of the events, please leave us a message on this blog/ mail – talk2one97@one97.net or leave a message at our twitter handle @One97.

May you have an exciting time in the weeks ahead, a bit like what we are feeling at the moment.

This cycle went on and soon when we thought of offering new services was important, there was significant cash crunch. I was shy enough not to be in Delhi’s Entrepreneur/VC circle and seeing no other avenue, I took loans. Loans from all those who could lend, my friends, my family, my family friends. Without any credit history banks were not there for any debt funding so these loans came at all costs including the biggest being the costliest (as high as 24% ROI) . And now I was cash crunched and had additional burden to service loan.

I loved the business, liked the opportunity and absolutely didn’t want to give up for some such constraints, yet. Finally I got some respite and had my angel investor. An investor who will let me work for him and pay back additional money and later help with investing critical lifesaving capital. I find myself absolutely lucky to have that junction in my life. I am sure I would have been doing something somewhere else if that small but so critical investment did not come. I remember him saying: “I do not know what business you are doing, but excitement and conviction in your eyes makes me think, it must be something worthwhile to invest.”

One97 today is journey  of such conviction and faith put in by investors and colleagues alike. I thought about doing our bit as company  and support those who dare to come out of luxuries of life and commit to their long lingering dream of creating a great start up, creating a worthwhile business out of their passion.

I found echo of planning in Ravi Adusumali of SAIF Partners & Ash Lilani of Silicon Valley Bank. A few days back we signed an mou for creating an $100M early stage mobile value added services investment initiative : One97 Mobility Fund.

Beyond capital investment from USD500k to $5Million, we will offer the One97 capabilities/networks advantages, telecom know-how, go to market, hands on helps on every day business issues like hiring, cash flow management, fund raising and so on.

If your company provides services/offerings to consumers or enterprise via mobile and you are planning to raise capital, I am sure we must talk. I am available on vss@one97.net

See www.One97MobilityFund.com for more.