Ten Years of Recognising Indian Entrepreneurial Talent
A startup aiming to provide instant access to thousands of affordable hotel rooms across India, a group of entrepreneurs who believed their website could become synonymous with online travel booking in India, a founding team that intends to bring India’s next billion people online using their own vernacular. These are only a few of the hundreds of great ideas, people and companies that we have had the privilege to interact with as we reflect back on the 10 years of the TiE Lumis Entrepreneurial Awards.
The TiE Lumis Entrepreneurial Awards have been an exceptionally humbling, rewarding and enriching journey for us. It has been a decade of conferring recognition to most ambitious, disruptive and pioneering startups in India. The awards have held a distinctive track record of identifying and recognising some of the most promising entrepreneurs early in their journey. From our list of 30 awardees to date, we have 10 market leaders that have solved some of the most complex market problems and have created tremendous value in this process. We are proud to have Oyo Rooms, Knowlarity, Capillary, Beer Cafe, MakeMyTrip, VLCC, Simplilearn to name just a few, be part of the Lumis entrepreneurial ecosystem. The effort put in to pick these winners have awarded us with some of the most precious relationships in the industry.
Genesis
Lumis Partners was only a year-old at the time of commencement of these awards. As nascent entrepreneurs ourselves, we experienced the varied challenges during the ‘survival’ years. We were living and experiencing the pains, struggles and knockdowns that entrepreneurs go through. We knew that entrepreneurs needed validation, support, and recognition during this initial phase of impediments and obscurity.
We sensed a need for providing a platform that celebrates entrepreneurship and its role in the Indian economy. It was our endeavour to highlight the achievements, success stories and contribution of entrepreneurs on the startup map. The idea of the TiE Lumis Awards was conceptualised to support and encourage entrepreneurs in their journey and to reward those that came through shining.
Recognising the Market Leaders
We are glad to have had the knowledge and intuition to be able to recognize the immense potential these entrepreneurs had when they were just embarking on their journey. We are fortunate enough to have had the support of our jury members, who helped us to identify these extraordinary entrepreneurs. We are also grateful for the endless support from TiE-Delhi who have helped us every step of the way in building the TiE Lumis Entrepreneurial awards in to the most respected entrepreneurial awards in the country.
It won’t be surprising to share that it takes a rigorous and continuous evaluation process to bring the best in the forefront. We scout for entrepreneurs who have the passion and aggression to move ahead in spite of rejections and failures. Those who solve real and tangible problems. They must possess risk-taking abilities and need to show willingness to explore uncharted or big markets, coupled with the ability to scale with minimum resources.
Over the years, the process and the ecosystem have evolved to provide more than just the award and recognition. Our team now conducts exclusive workshops to give the top 20 finalists a perspective on how to navigate their journey ahead. The entrepreneurs also get access to the various networking opportunities to enhance the visibility of their products/solutions, and the support they need to forge ahead.
The Way Forward
Since the inception of the TiE Lumis Entrepreneurial Awards, India has witnessed a multi-step change in the acceptance of entrepreneurism in the mainstream. This has, naturally, reflected in the manifold increase in the number and type of startups participating in the TiE Lumis Entrepreneurial Awards. With increased recognition and support, today’s startups and entrepreneurs are even more ambitious to leave a lasting impact on industries and societies.
Startups in fintech, travel and healthcare are poised for lucrative opportunities. There has also been a strong focus on functional sectors such as supply chain, agriculture and B2B. Startups are leveraging technology in a big way to provide solutions. The new breed of entrepreneurs is a healthy mix of young and seasoned senior professionals. The ‘safe playing’ mindset is irrelevant now and there is a deeper inclination towards launching disruptive businesses. As increasing number of entrepreneurs are aiming for the $100 million size, ‘scaling’ has gained more prominence than ever.
While the startups in the US and Israel are leading the world startup ecosystem, we firmly believe that the future belongs to India. No doubt, there are huge problems and pain points waiting to be addressed in our country. And, therein lie the countless opportunities for entrepreneurs. With ‘out-of-the-box’ ideas, innovations and disruptions happening in the Indian business ecosystem, there are many interesting startups solving problems that we didn’t even know existed.
Going forward, we intend to recognise the startups which are solving complex, large scale problems and making a significant impact on society. We plan to focus on operating models that require deep human expertise, development of intellectual property and strong technology leverage. We believe that TiE Lumis Awards are confidently moving in that direction.
Team @LumisPartners
Read about the Winners of 2017 TiE Lumis Awards here.
