Starting up jitters

A recent conference for start-ups organised by The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE) included a slot for open discussion, during which the panel, comprising experts and start-up bosses, answered questions from the audience, many of them budding entrepreneurs. The questions were related to issues faced by entrepreneurs - such as, funding, taxation and scaling up challenges. One question posed to Sharad Sharma, founder of iSPIRT, was rather unique. What if a seed or angel investor stole an idea, asked a gentleman. Sharma, an investor in many companies, tried to allay his fears. Investors had a reputation to protect and would desist from such things, especially in a hyper connected world where such things spread fast, he said. Towards the end of the long answer, he requested the gentleman to visit Bengaluru, to check for himself "the social fabric of the start-up community". "He won't have such concerns there," Sharma told his audience.