The Startup Ecosystem of Assam and Northeast — How Do We Catch Up With Rest of The Nation Sourav Das Follow Jul 21, 2019 · 7 min read

Photo by Krishna Kant

We are lucky to have a digital infrastructure as compared to that of few years back, do we have the social infrastructure?

Like every year the flood happened, unlike every year we saw increased empathy from celebrities and Bollywood. Had there been no digital penetration, I doubt we could have used that empathy because they would never see our side of story.

With such digital penetration, one feels morally responsible to not have at least do little to make the hard days pass with less pain. And we will forget, until it knocks us down next year again. We would be busy with life and its fun and more issues like finding an office space without paying one full month rent worth of brokerage money!

Only to know that there is electricity cut downs 3 times a day and the internet providers need 6 months worth of security for a 8 MBPS speed.

Instead of talking the talk lets walk the walk. We can make things better faster by acting.

Act how? By taking ownership of your situation. By fixing the issues affecting your decisions to make better decisions about your life. If pursuing a government job because you find it settled and easy, it’s your life and definition of happiness is subjective to everyone. After all, if you are not happy about your life or your work, effort to create some form of impact will probably go in vain.

Don’t do it because it sounds like fun and you want to be famous

Even if you gather some eyeballs and change your bio on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and live the Gary Vee dream, it is not possible to sustain the motivation and be happy if being famous or social recognition are the only motivation to work on your startup.

It’s more of a holistic journey to knowing yourself better and making yourself capable to achieve and create faster.

Do it because it’s a problem that deserves a solution.

1st Generation entrepreneurs, you must act fast or you will become obsolete

Especially when you are not making revenue. Startups in low GDP states like ours must get realistic and should create business models those are sustainable and scalable.

How will the innovation flow?

Up until now we have done less to nothing in creating an ecosystem for innovation in smaller towns and places of our states. How many startups are creating sustainable solutions to problems in smaller places those have the potential to scale?

Education institutes are one such stake holder of major importance. Schemes for stake holders and to incentivize the stake holders in the ecosystem would drive a new wave of interest.

To solve actual problems, we need more than desire. It takes useful skills those can be used to look into problems from different perspective.

To solve actual problems, we need more than desire. It takes useful skills those can be used to look into problems from different perspective. How skillful are our students and freshers? What are the skills those can be useful in the long run? Educational institutes have to go extra miles to democratize the essential skills by doing away with age old methodologies to haunt students.

Vices like syndicates, insiders and lobbies

Like it or hate it, ours is a comparatively small market and insider knowledge, favoritism, syndicates and lobbies will kill many aspirations. Unequal flow of opportunities is a startup killer. Organizations, stake holders and government bodies can help by properly monitoring and staying on same page with entrepreneurs.

Shift in mental models

It takes time, it takes courage, it takes loads of patience. Sometimes you have to take counter intuitive decisions. You might have to stay broke. It’s your conviction to your journey that would keep you afloat. A growth mindset will be your best friend. Startups fail. Yours might be the one to fail too. You will have to know when to call it a day and start working on another idea.

Putting International borders to some good use

We also share borders with countries we are not in war with. There are a lot of things that the policymakers can work on. Technology and knowledge exchange, collaborations and more. I am not qualified enough to talk in details about it, I will come back with more research. But it is an under utilized potential.

We can make things better faster by acting together

Startup community in Northeast to collaborate and share

The the beauty of community is in its nature to create and accelerate disruption. Think about the community driven movements around history. One thing is common. The community of people were able to turn the situation to their favor faster.

We understand that in a world so interconnected, it is possible to stay in touch and to get in touch with people faster and easier. Technology has made it possible. But there is no confirmation about the type of connections and people we meet online. Just knowing someone online and interacting with that person in real life is a different thing. Real connections and relationships are still built on offline interaction. Communities had existed and will continue to exist. Online is new, but we can’t ignore the basic essence of a community. Trust, acceptance and willingness to help each other grow.

So what’s the hype about startup community in Northeast?

It is a big Facebook group with thousands of members. For God’s sake, the value of a community is not measured in terms of numbers of members in a particular Facebook or Whatsapp group. It’s the compounded value that the individuals can drive. Communities best work when they are democratized with everyone having their individual authority and with authority come responsibilities. There’s no hype though. There are garbage you can easily spot.

We never felt the need of a Startup Community in Assam and Northeast. Entrepreneurship has recently become a little easier to pursue. Although we have huge fan clubs, groups for jokes loving people, buyer seller etc, the need for startup community where the real discussion happens was always there.

In a fast moving startup world, speed and accuracy can help you reach there fast. Communities help in creating collaborations, getting a quick recommendation, sharing knowledge and experience of people with similar interest. Communities are built on foundation of trust and respect. Once you trust someone, you will do business with them. Technology, and methodologies evolve so faster, a community can be your source to know things you need to know. We have to build strong foundations for co-existence and collaboration to grow together. Communities are where you build that foundation.

Startup communities in regions like our’s will be instrumental in the growth in the ecosystem.

Startup Connect Northeast is one such endeavor to empower the people and create an environment of trust and collaboration among change makers, creators, entrepreneurs and youths of Northeast India. You can join the group here. Communities can create a sustainable ecosystem with lesser government intervention in terms of resources.

Startup Connect Northeast — 1st informal meetup

Read more about Startup Connect Northeast Here

If the next wave of innovation is going to happen from states likes Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Meghalaya, and Sikkim, we must get ready to understand what has been holding us back. We have to unlearn the concepts like being settled, being lazy and that a job is just something to meet the ends to name a few.

For communities to create impact, we have to connect online, build trust offline and play our roles as individuals and communities to make change possible. We should learn to celebrate the success of others in our ecosystem, and empathize with their struggles when they face challenges.

If you want to be a part of this community, you can join us here:

Share your thoughts on how the startup ecosystem in Northeast India can grow. Please share the article with your friends, if you think this can help them.

I’ll leave you with the part from a poem by Maya Angelou

Just like moons and like suns,

With the certainty of tides,

Just like hopes springing high,

Still I’ll rise.