There is one thing still special about SI events…
… they are an incredible help structure for students with *ideas* in their head *thinking* or *hoping* to make them into products one day.
At SI8 at NUST yesterday, some 10 ideas by students were discussed, evaluated, and argued over by some of the smartest thinkers in this industry. Some of the ideas were shot down, some found encouragement, and some were able to immediately find business partners, distribution partners or actionable supporters.
This reminded me of the startup sessions I saw at UT Austin, UC Irvine, Stanford and other US universities. It was interesting to see this from the students’ perspective – how NIIT students had the chance to get their startup vetted from the industry’s best before they started out. The question remains, however, how many of those people will actually start anything based on just a single event, and what type of follow through will SI enable for them to actually get enough actionable support to take off.
If they dont find the follow through – then they’ll absorb all the motivation and jump in the field but then slam into a wall of harsh realities that they weren’t supported on.
I still stand by the argument that SI is a great platform of motivation and encouragement for students and young entrepreneurs thinking of starting out, but not (for now) for people who already have just started. Its the questions of the people in the field that some depth and insight to answer.

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