potholes

power cuts

maddening traffic

autos

There is the Bengaluru of, and, but that is not the Bengaluru that the 30 members of the Power of Youth Summit witnessed. These seasoned Indian and international entrepreneurs were taken for the ride of their lives, when, packed into 15, they were introduced to the lively Bengaluru startup ecosystem.The members poured in from all over the world last night, and jet lag seemed to be the last thing on their minds this morning as they convened at Ibis hotel for their first meeting.POY veterans from earlier summits picked up from where they left off, while new members were welcomed with much gusto and teasing. The customary name tags were given a twist with the question “What three things do you love thinking about the most?” the responses providing an easy segue into interesting and humorous discussions. The early morning session at the hotel also included an honest look into where people stood on their purpose and meaning. Questions like ‘Do you know exactly what you are doing with your life right now?’ to ‘What would you like for the others in your group to get out of this summit?’ produced laughter, tears and admissions of uncertainty, helping to cement a sense of trust and intimacy - the foundation of any POY summit.As the POY delegation left the hotel to begin their startup crawl, they were greeted with much fanfare by 15 autorickshaws and their smiling drivers.Their first stop at Jaaga included a quick tour of the sprawling penthouse co-working space, followed by a presentation by some of the Indian startups working out of there. The presentations, by two fashion technology companies, and a crowd-funding platform, elicited a lot of interest and questions about the technology, revenue models as well as about the unique issues faced by these startups in the Indian context.Members came away from this session, impressed and at the same time humoured by the commonalities underlying startups everywhere. “It was wonderful and funny to see how, no matter where you go, startups everywhere face the same problems of validating their ideas, raising capital, overcoming technical roadblocks, etc,” exclaimed Bulgaria’s Victor Alexiev, founder of Newstag, a hyper-personalised news video channel.Emma Cutting, the co-founder of Salt Magazine found that Iniflect’s product recognition solution “addressed a very relevant need gap that currently exists for so many businesses”.“I find that Indian startups are finding solutions to many of the gaps that currently exist today,” she said, adding that she had already exchanged cards with the founders of the company. After the largely Q&A-nature of that session, participants were given an opportunity to exercise their imagination and work with their hands at Workbench Projects.Confronted with a huge pile of random ‘junk’ such as old helmets, ribbons, bamboo, and a disco ball amongst other things, they were invited by founder, Pavan Kumar, to create something out of them in 40 minutes and also come up with a compelling story about their creation.“It was such good fun,” laughed Hannah, whose group created an extraterrestrial story involving a disco planet. “There were no limits to our imagination, and I loved that.”Other fun projects included a DIY rocket designed to repopulate Mars; a mind-expanding, water-producing headgear; as well as a stunning pictorial description of what an effective Made in India campaign could do for the economy. “What helped, as well, is that it is a disruptive space, that really got you thinking,” said Mannan Khurana from Delhi. A quick working lunch highlighted another exciting startup, Bhookad, whose innovative packaging and delicious food was appreciated. A long rickshaw ride then took them to Bhive, one of the most exciting and successful co-working startups in the city.Here too, there were presentations by Lets Service and Greenbooks. The founders talked about the growth of bhive, which in a year has grown tremendously and operates three centres in the city. When asked about the attractiveness of Bengaluru as a start-up destination, Shesh Paplikar, the CEO and co-founder replied that a lot of Indians and NRIs are moving back for the huge market opportunities, and the flexibility to choose different kinds of interesting work: “The kind of learning they can get in a market like this and its unique challenges, is unparalleled”Yulia Aslamova, a Russian entrepreneur married to an Indian, and currently bhive’s marketing manager, points out that there is a special culture in bhive, as well as in Bengaluru in general, where startups have been known to help each other out by sharing information, testing each other ‘s products, etc.“There is an increasing emphasis on community rather than competition,” she says. After a heady, exciting day full of discovery and learning, the participants wound down at Numa, the Parisian startup accelerator based on Church Street. A Beautiful Business workshop consisting of interactive games and cocktails concluded the first day of the summit.Laughter and stories from the startup trenches abounded, and people were visibly excited by the prospect of learning more about themselves and each other over the next three days.