Bullish on the technology space in India, Rajesh Jog, managing director, Waygate Capital, is looking to fund start-ups in the mobile content space.
"Mobile content and entertainment business will boom. I'm looking for a mobile content company to fund," says Jog who is impressed with the upcoming business ideas in India.
Waygate is actively involved with two start-ups in India. The first one is Digital Music India, which started operations in 2004. DMI's vJive is now across all Fame cinema theatres in Mumbai.
The second is Kahani World, an animation company which will develop contemporary Indian animation stories to cater to India and abroad.
Rajesh Jog spoke to Manu AB at the TiE-ISB Connect 2006 in Hyderabad recently. Exceprts:
What will be your areas of focus?
IT (information technology), ITeS (information technology-enabled services), new media and the mobile space will continue to dominate among start-ups. Real estate is also an emerging as a good business proposition.
The mobile space is very interesting and there is scope for huge growth as mobile penetration is happening faster than Internet growth in India. Mobile entertainment will boom.
I'm looking for a mobile content company to fund. Billing through mobile phones will be a great opportunity. Companies like Mchq and Paymate are good examples.
Which companies are you associated with now?
The first one is Digital Music India, which started operations in 2004. DMI's vJive is now across all Fame cinema theatres in Mumbai. DMI is now planning to install around 250 screens in the next couple of months and increase it to 1,000 by the year-end.
DMI is planning to install 250 screens at various malls and multiplexes in Delhi, Mumbai, and Gujarat. The company is also looking at Bangalore, Chennai and Kolkata.
The second company is an animation firm called Kahani World. The company will develop contemporary Indian animation stories to cater to India and abroad.
Nowadays, parents don't have time to narrate stories to their kids. So they are looking for good content and contemporary stories. We are looking at tapping the growing interest in Indian stories. Several other projects are also in the pipeline.
How does the vJive model work?
vJive has developed exclusive technology to address digital signage in the Indian retail space. DMI uses the vJive model as a marketing communications tool. It displays the brand message at the right moment especially when the consumer is in a store, when he is actually purchasing a product.
The screens also display news, current affairs and entertainment, besides advertising. These screens are effective in public spaces such as malls and multiplexes and also within the aisles of the multi-brand department stores.
What do you think about budding entrepreneurs In India? Is it necessary to work as a professional to become a good entrepreneur?
The ideas of young entrepreneurs are good and they have improved over the years. There is more interest in India and India centric projects now. Yes, if you are a professional you learn a lot. To build a sustainable and scalable business, you must have good skills and experience.
How can an entrepreneur be successful?
An entrepreneur should scale with the business. The finest example of a successful entrepreneur is (Microsoft czar) Bill Gates. He started on a small scale and reached great heights. He dropped out of college, never took a job and started Microsoft.
He could upgrade himself as a manager of people and manager of a large company. There are only a few entrepreneurs who can do that. So it helps to become a professional, work with a company for sometime, get some experience so that you are well equipped for the journey to become an entrepreneur.
Otherwise you have to be an exceptional human being like Bill Gates.
How has the experience been working with Indian and US start-ups?
In this world, there is no difference. It is a converged world, especially in IT, ITeS and new media companies. People are finding that right at the start up stage you have companies with an arm in the US and one in the India.
As a VC, how would you describe your experience so far?
I still share a good relationship with my first entrepreneur, which is not always the case. I have helped build some really cool companies. I have also been able to successfully exit from some companies. The experience is heightened when the entrepreneur and the VC share similar a vision.
It takes time to understand each other. Very often entrepreneurs accept the first cheque they get, which is a terrible strategy. They should take time to understand the VC, their goals and where and how they want to go forward. If there is a disconnect, he must try and bridge the disconnect because a VC is an equity partner in the business, it is not as if he is lending money.
He is an equity partner in the business. It is also great to interact and deal with several business ideas. I have liked several companies. But in the Indian contest and in the space that we are operating in, rediff.com is the best.
What makes a successful VC?
It is a combination of things:
The ability to look into the future, got to be able to predict certain trends, and not invest in yesterday's business.
Good negotiating skills are vital, buying at a high price and selling it low is not a good idea so one must think well.
A VC should able to manage entrepreneurs and their expectations.
He also needs to be a good board member and contribute to the business.
Does the US see emerging India as a threat?
Fear mongering exists as the world is becoming a global village. When well-respected authors like Thomas Friedman write about India and how the world has become flat, it hurts some people, it makes them nervous. But the US is more xenophobic about China than India because of the notion that it is a mysterious country.
The US is more comfortable with Indians as they know the language and they can relate themselves well with Indians. We are friendlier compared to the Chinese. And China is way ahead, which makes them more nervous. India is well positioned to be in friendly terms with the US. Whereas in China things are not transparent and most of the people don't follow English.
How do you see the India, China story?
China is a great place to do business for Indian companies. The market is very competitive now. Infosys and NIIT have set up large facilities. Contest2win went to China and build an outstanding business there, sold recently to Disney. We were in China for sometime.
We had a company called Cyber Digital in China. It was during the pre-liberalisation era, when the market was very captive. We did good business, sold about half a million telephone lines annually. They are leaders in manufacturing, have great manpower and economy is booming.
Are you looking at start-ups in other countries?
As an early stage incubator, we cannot be far away from our entrepreneurs. Our entrepreneurs work out of my office. It is important to be always connected with your entrepreneurs. For now, our focus is just India.