On Friday, the 23rd of Jan, I will be giving a talk at proto.in, *the* event for Indian startup companies.

I have been closely associated with proto.in since the first event (this is the fifth one), and over time, this event has become as important to the Indian startup world as my other baby (FOSS.IN) has become to the Indian Free and Open Source Software world. If you are a startup, or just want to get a feel of the Indian startup world, then missing this event is, according to me, shooting yourself in the foot.

I am also part of the PitchCamp mentor team that helps people finetune their pitches to be more effective. This is in partnership with the Centre for Innovation Incubation and Entrepreneurship of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.

My talk, “The World is Changing”, talks about how things have changed in the product market, and what startups have to look out for both in terms of opportunities as well as “gotchas”, including perceived business models, especially given the current economic climate.

And I get to speak right after the man who can be credited with bringing out India’s first true product – Bharat Goenka, of Tally fame. I was there at the very beginning in the late 1980s, when Bharat started the project (then known as “PFA”, for “Peutronics Financial Accountant”), and it is great to see how well he has implemented his product vision since then.

On Saturday evening, I fly to Cochin, to speak at FOSS Meet@MEC on Sunday, the 25th. My talk will be on the role Free and Open Source Software in preparing students for their careers. This is very different from “getting a job”, and hopefully, people attending my talk will understand this difference, and act accordingly. Shreyas, my fellow FOSS.IN organizer and colleague at Geodesic, will also be speaking at this event.

If you are at either of these events, come and say hi! We love meeting people!