Tag Archives: Events

POCC MVP Startup Roadies: Meet Morpheus Venture Partners in Pune 21st Feb

February 15, 2009External Visitorsentrepreneurs, Events, funding, POCC, startups, VCNavin Kabra

What: POCC & MVP (Morpheus Venture Partners) bring Startup Roadies program to Pune
When: Saturday, 21st Feb. Book a slot anytime between 10am to 7pm
Where: Symbiosis Institute of Computer Studies and Research, Atur Centre, Model Colony. Map.
Registration and Fees: Send an e-mail to nandini [at] morpheusventure [dot] com with a short (less than 300 words) intro of your startup. Please mention your preferred time slot.

About Morpheus Venture Partners

MVP runs a business advisory and mentoring program for startups. MVP currently has portfolio of more than 10 companies. Some of the companies are: Instablogs, Commonfloor, Lifemojo, Fachak, Crederity, Deskaway, Sutra.

Sameer Guglani and Nandini Hirianniah are the founding partners @ MVP. Both of them are serial entrepenuers and started their first venture Madhouse Media in 2004. Madhouse was one of the first organized movie rentals players. They successfully exited the venture with the acquisition by Seventymm in July 2007. More Info

The Startup Roadies Program

We absolutely love to meet passionate entrepreneurs whose ventures are in idea stage (not started, but want to really start) or 1-12 months into the operation. The interaction will be completely informal. Formal dresses are not a must, we want to see you as your natural self, no need to bring any presentations or any financial projections. Just come have a chat with us. Get a demo if possible, get all members of your founding team. Just ensure that you arrive on time as per the allocated slot 😉

The goal of the exercise is to together explore solutions to some of the “tough business problems” you are dealing with. We could do that by offering advice and potential solutions based on our experience. We would also love to introduce you to relevant folks in our network who can add value – potential partners, experienced people in similar domain, potential investors etc.

At our end we are just excited to get an opportunity to meet you and learn from your experience and ideas. Each session will be conducted in the below mentioned structure

Where are we? (Get on the same page, understand the current status of the venture / idea)

Team introduction
Understanding your idea, market size, the problem your solving, how is your product/service different that current available solutions
Figure out the current status of the venture – in development, alpha, beta, launched
How much money is available to the team

Where do we want to go? (what are we looking to accomplish in the coming future)

Discuss, debate and get clarity on the goals & milestones for
- Short term: 3 months
- Medium term: 1 year
- Long term: 3-5 years

How do we get there? (the most critical part where we together come up with the clear and measurable steps which will be taken to achieve the goals/milestones)

Given the current status and various goals, what is the best strategy to get there
How to proceed with execution
Best way to raise funding
Who are the folks to partner with
Make a list of action items out of the interaction

Reasons why proto.in should be in Pune

January 28, 2009Pune Citycommunity, entrepreneurs, Events, proto6, protodotin, pune, startupsNavin Kabra

Proto.in is the premiere conference for startups in India. The most recent edition was held in Bangalore last week. The next one is now being planned and the organizers are asking whether it should be in Pune or Mumbai.

Instead of making it simply a twitter popularity contest, I say let’s give them a host of compelling reasons why it must be Pune. In the comments to this post below, please suggest some good reasons why the next proto.in should be in Pune. I’ll collate the top reasons and create a new post out of them and forward it to the proto organizers.

To get you started, here are my reasons:

Pune the undiscovered country: If you go to a typical startup event (proto, headstart) in Bangalore/Mumbai/Delhi, you’ll run into the same faces over and over again. Pune is different. There is a lot that Pune has to offer that the rest of the ecosystem is not aware of (some examples below). Now would be a good time for proto to start the process of reaching out beyond the top 3 metros.
Pune is a hotbed of activity: Just look at the tech events calendar for Pune to get an idea of the various and varied activities. Multiple pages of them – note the Page 2, Page 3 etc at the bottom of that page.
Participation! PHPCamp, which was organized in and by Pune, attracted over 720 people from all over India. That’s right, 720 actual participants. It was 1000+ for Microsoft’s DevCon (organizers had to actually send some people back because there was just no space at the venue) and Acad DevCon. WATBlog Wednesday got its largest participation in the Pune edition (50% more than Mumbai and Bangalore editions).
Students: The future of the startup ecosystem is in the hands of students, and in our ability to get them interested in startups. And what better place to start that than Pune. We have boat loads of students. Who are enthusiastic and motivated. Gnunify a Free and Open Source conference organied mostly by students of Pune is expected to attract 600+ students.

These are the first few reasons that come to my mind. Please add to the list.

Update:

See the comments section for many more great reasons. A couple that I wanted to highlight right away:

Atul points out that: Pune has very few professional VC offices. VCs visiting Pune in the context of Proto.in might find obvious funding choices that they would have otherwise missed on.
Enthusiastic and others point out: It’s cheaper to organize it in Pune
Santosh points out: Pune OpenCoffee Club (550+) energetic Volunteers, Startups, and Entrepreneurs
and also: Doing it in Pune will definitely draw out techies in numbers for Startup Shotgun
and finally: Pune weather is far better than Bombay weather

And there are more below. And more keep coming in. If you are reading this in an email or RSS feed, please visit the website to see the full list of comments. You can subscribe to PuneTech comments feed (RSS, or email) too.

Top 5 reasons why students should gate-crash Drupal Camp India – Jan 31

January 27, 2009Eventsbarcamp, community, drupal, Events, PHP, unconference, user groupsNavin Kabra

: Image via Wikipedia

On Saturday, 31st Jan, from 10am to 5pm, 100s of Drupal enthusiasts will descend upon SICSR. It is a free (un)conference for Drupal developers, and entry was given a first-come-first-served basis. But as of this writing, Drupal Camp is full. However, Tarun Chandel, the god-father of all Pune unconferences, is encouraging everyone to gate-crash, and land up there, with or without registrations, and PuneTech fully supports him, (and so does Amit Kumar Singh, a.k.a. thecancerus).

That’s right – gate-crash, like uninvited wedding guests. It’s free, and it’s an unconference. Gate-crashing will actually be in the spirit of the event.

And if you are a student, then you must go, because in that one day, you will get more education than an entire month of your so-called classes.

With this in mind, here are PuneTech’s top 5 reasons why students must gate-crash Drupal Camp

Surprise your future employers: If you are in software, no matter what job you get, sooner or later you will be asked to build or oversee the building of a website, and there you should surprise everyone by having it ready, singlehandedly in one week as against their projections of 2-months using 3 people.
Beat the recession: As IT budgets get cut around the world, the web-development community will be hard hit, and companies will look to reduce spending on expensive web development. That’s why you should become a ninja at inexpensive web development using Drupal and its wide array of readymade modules.
Use this knowledge when you don’t get a job: Hey, let’s face it, if you are a student right now, it is very likely that you are not getting campus placement this year (or if you have been placed already, there’s a chance that it will get delayed or canceled). Instead of sitting around moping, the smart thing to do would be to start your own website and get to work for yourself. And for this, events like Drupal camp are great, for knowledge, for ideas and for contacts. For more reasons, see “Top 10 reasons why now is the best time to start a business with Drupal.”
Because you can: Think of all the poor little underprivileged students in Bangalore/Delhi/Hyderabad/Mumbai who cannot attend Drupal camp even if they want to. Because Drupal camp doesn’t happen in Bangalore. It doesn’t happen in Mumbai. It’s happening in Pune, and you are getting it free. Don’t give up this chance, because in the future, you (or your employer) will be charged exorbitant amounts for events like these, and you’ll still not be able to go because you have a stupid deadline.
Because PuneTech said so. And Amit Kumar Singh said so. And Tarun Chandel said so. And, I’m sure Rohit Srivastwa will say so as soon as he reads this. Seriously, you need to start listening to these guys.

If you are already going for Drupal camp, then please add to the list of reasons in the comments below.

Drupal Camp details:

What: Drupal Camp India ’09. Drupal Camp is a free, unconference, being conducted in Pune, with the objective to build up the community base and bring people closer. Details.
When: Saturday, 31st January, 10am to 5pm
Where: SICSR, 1st floor, Atur Centre, Gokhale Cross Road, Model Colony, Pune. Map.
Fees and Registration: This event is free for all to attend. Register here. Or not!

Business Intelligence Technology Trends: CSI Pune Lecture – 30 Jan

January 23, 2009EventsBI, community, csi, data warehousing, Events, TechnologyNavin Kabra

Computer Society of India – Pune Chapter presents the 4th lecture in a series on Data warehousing. The first lecture gave an overview of BI and DW. The second lecture was about how these techniques are used by businesses. The third was about data management for business intelligence. This is the fourth in the series:

What: Technology trends in Business Intelligence by Prasad Kulkarni of SAS R&D India.
When: Friday January 30th, 2008, 6:30pm to 8:30pm
Where: Damle Hall, Damle Path, Behind Indsearch, Off Law College Road
Registration and Fees: Free for CSI Members & Students, Rs. 100 for others. Register here.

Details – Technology trends in Business Intelligence

This lecture will cover technological advances in BI domain. It will start with a discussion on general trends in BI and will relate them to technology. Primary focus is on different technologies used currently, their necessity and type of problem they are solving in the business intelligence domain. It will discuss areas like SOA (Service oriented architecture), SaaS (Software as a service), MDM (Master data management), Real time warehousing, Click stream data warehouses, Federated/integrated search, Web 2.0, Data visualization and so on. The participant will know how such technologies are solving problems specific to BI domain.

It is not necessary to have attended the previous lecture.

For more information about other lectures in this series, and in general other tech events in Pune, see the PuneTech events calendar.

About the speaker – Prasad Kulkarni

Prasad Kulkarni is working with SAS Research And Development India Pvt. Ltd for past 8 years as Associate Director – Platform Research and Development. He leads the core technology group at SAS R&D Pune. Prasad holds post graduation degree in computer management from University Of Pune and has 12 years of experience in the field of information technology. He has worked with product development setups in India. With SAS his focus areas are Metadata Management, Data Warehousing, Data visualization and Data access.

Lecture and Demo of SAGE Mathematical Software – 23 Jan

January 20, 2009EventsEvents, mathematics, open sourceNavin Kabra

: Image via Wikipedia

What: A lecture and demonstration of SAGE mathematical software by Dr. K.K. Surendran
When: Friday, 23 Jan, 4:30pm
Where: Bhaskaracharya Pratishthana, 56/14, Erandavane, Damle Path, Off Law College Road, Pune
Fees and Registration: This event is free for all. No registration required

Details:
SAGE combines various open source mathematics software packages and seamlessly integrates their functionality into a common experience. Its aim is to create a Free Open Source equivalent to Magma, Mathematica, Maple and Matlab.

Sage can be used to study general and advanced, pure and applied mathematics. This includes a huge range of mathematics, including algebra, calculus, elementary to very
advanced number theory, cryptography, numerical computation, commutative algebra, group theory, combinatorics, graph theory, exact linear algebra and much more.

Sage was picked as the Hot Spot of the month in November 2008 by mathforum.org

The demo attempts to give a overview of SAGE with the aim of introducing mathematics students and teachers to appreciate the relevance of this wonderful open source software in contemporary mathematics education and research.

Mathematica on Amazon EC2
Cloud Computing and Science – MATLAB on Clouds
Free Matlab Programming Ebooks
So you want to study for a master’s in mathematics
Other tech events in Pune: http://punetech.com/calendar

The Great Debate: PostgreSQL vs. MySQL – with Jim Mlodgenski, 23 Jan

January 19, 2009Eventsdatabases, Events, mysql, posgresql, sql, TechnologyNavin Kabra

: Image via Wikipedia

This information sent in by @nikkhils of EnterpriseDB. Thanks!

What: “The Great Debate: PostgreSQL vs. MySQL” with Jim Mlodgenski, Senior Database Architect, EnterpriseDB
When: Friday, 23 Jan, 6pm
Where: Dewang Mehta Auditorium, Persistent, S.B. Road
Registration and Fees: This event is free for all to attend, thanks to Persistent Systems

Details:
For years, the common industry perception has been that MySQL is faster and easier to use than PostgreSQL. PostgreSQL is perceived as more powerful, more focused on data integrity, and stricter at complying with SQL specifications, but correspondingly slower and more complicated to use.

Like many perceptions formed in the past, these things aren’t as true with the current generation of releases as they used to be. DBAs, developers, and IT managers and decision-makers will benefit from this hour-long presentation about the pros and cons of using PostgreSQL or MySQL, which will include a discussion about the ongoing trend towards using open source in the enterprise.

About the Speaker – Jim Mlodgenski

Jim is one of EnterpriseDB’s first employees and joined the company in May, 2005. As Senior Database Architect he has been responsible for EnterpriseDB’s technical pre-sales, professional services, providing customized solutions and training.

Prior to joining EnterpriseDB, Jim was a partner and architect at Fusion Technologies, a technology services company founded by EnterpriseDB’s chief architect, Denis Lussier. For nearly a decade, Jim developed early designs and concepts for Fusion’s consulting projects and specialized in Oracle application development, Web development, and open source.

Jim received a BS degree in Physics from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Jim has spoken at many international open-source conferences and is the author of many white papers on RDBMS

CSI Pune Lecture: Security Testing Using Models – 16 Jan 6:30pm

January 14, 2009External Visitors, Technologyautomation, csi, Events, isacapune, security, testingNavin Kabra

What: CSI Pune Lecture on Security Testing Using Models with Prof. Padmanabhan Krishnan, Bond University, Australia.
When: Friday, 16th Jan, 6:30pm-8:30pm
Where: Dewang Mehta Auditorium, Persistent, S.B. Road
Registration and Fees: Free for CSI/ISACA members; Rs. 50 for students & Persistent employees; others Rs. 100. Register at http://csi-pune.org

Details:
In this, we present a framework based on model based testing for security vulnerabilities testing. Security vulnerabilities are not only related to security functionalities at the application level but are sensitive to implementation details. Thus traditional model based approaches which remove implementation details are by themselves inadequate for testing security vulnerabilities. We demonstrate a framework that retains the advantages of model based testing that exposes only the necessary details relevant for vulnerability testing.

Our framework has three sub-models: a model or specification of the key aspects of the application, a model about the relevant aspects of the implementation and a model of the attacker. These three models are them combined to generate test cases. The same approach can also be used to test if a system meets a privacy policy.

Who Should Attend: Professionals interested in Test Automation and students.

About the Speaker – Padmanabhan Krishnan

Prof. Krishnan is a Professor at the Centre for Software Assurance, School of IT, Bond University, Australia. He also holds a research associate position at the United Nations University, International Institute for Software Technology. He got his BTech from IIT-Kanpur and MS and PhD from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. His interests are in model based testing, verification techniques and practical formal methods for software assurance. He has held positions in the USA, Denmark, New Zealand, Germany and Australia.

Update: The slides of the talk are now available. Click here if you can not see the slides below.

Security Testing Using Models

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: security bond)

All security related articles on PuneTech
Security user groups in Pune: ClubHack and Null.co.in
Some security companies in Pune: Symantec, Airtight Networks, BMC, QuickHeal
PuneTech articles related to CSI Pune
About CSI Pune

Find collaborators at IdeaCamp Pune 2: 17 Jan

January 12, 2009Eventsbarcamp, community, Events, ideacamp, ideacamppune2, ideas, innovationsNavin Kabra

Are you passionate about some idea, but don’t know enough like-minded people to partner with to give life to the idea? Are you an enthusiast of one domain looking for an someone with skills in another domain to implement a pet project? Do you want smart, energetic people to brainstorm with about how best to achieve something that you’ve long dreamt of?

Would you like to help Arun Bhatia (ex Municipal Commissioner of Pune) figure out how to increase voter-turnout and citizen participation in governance? Would you like to figure out ways in which the internet can save lives? Would you like to help develop a campaigning tool?

Would you like to discuss different ways in which we can survive this recession? Does local Pune search interest you? How about a session on user-driven innovation from someone who’s been doing this for over 10 years?

Would you like to join me in creating a blog aggregator for all Pune blogs?

If you answered yes to any one of these questions, you should attend “IdeaCamp Pune 2” this Saturday, from 9:30am to 6pm at SICSR Pune. If you have no idea what SICSR is, then you really need to start reading PuneTech more often.

Still not convinced?

Check out my report of the first IdeaCamp Pune that happened last year. Or, see the IdeaCamp blog for various other reports of the last IdeaCamp (scroll down a couple of posts).

If you want to attend, register at the IdeaCamp page. You need to click on the Edit button at the top of the page. This will ask you to create an account; go ahead and follow instructions like a good soldier. Then you’ll get an activation link in the mail. Activate your account. Now you can go back to that page and click Edit, and this time it will allow you to edit the page. Scroll down to the list of participants and add your details to that table. You might have to right-click and use the “Row > Add Row After” menu to create a new row.

It is free, but you must register, because last time, due to space constraints, the number of participants were limited to 80, and many people who were interested were not allowed to attend. In other words, as we like to say here at PuneTech, Hurry! Offer valid until stocks last!!

And don’t forget to check the PuneTech calendar for all the other interesting events on offer for you.

And you are not subscribed to PuneTech, please do so – you can get updates (free) by email or via RSS. And tell your friends too.

A report of IdeaCamp Pune 1
Over 10 interesting tech events in Pune over the next 10 days
All PuneTech posts about barcamp and barcamp-like events: http://punetech.com/tag/barcamp/
PuneTech’s 11 most popular articles/pages of the year

Seminar on Understanding Wi-Fi Cyber attacks

January 10, 2009Events, TechnologyEvents, mccia, security, wi-fiNavin Kabra

What: Free Seminar on Wi-Fi security and understanding wi-fi cyber attacks conducted by AirTight Networks and MCCI
When: Tuesday, Jan 13, 6pm-8:30pm
Where: Hall No. 6 & 7, B Wing, 5th Floor MCCIA Trade Tower, ICC Complex Senapati Bapat Road
Registration and Fees: This seminar is free for all. Register at: http://www.airtightnetworks.com/seminar/mccia.

Details:
WiFi is fast becoming popular in India – among home users, business travelers, and corporates. While WiFi provides the benefits of wireless and mobile access, unsecured WiFi provides an easy target for hit-and-run style attacks allowing hackers to cause severe damage while remaining invisible and undetected. The crimes range from cyber extortion, downloading illegal content, to theft of credit card numbers and other private corporate information. Most importantly, the recent incidents of cyber terrorism in India showed that an unsecured WiFi connection poses danger to national security.

WiFi cyber-attacks can be used to hack into your network to steal confidential data, steal usernames and passwords, steal user identities or to plan terror attacks. Your WiFi network can become a huge liability if not secured properly.

To create public awareness, MCCIA in association with AirTight Networks Pvt. Ltd., the global leader in wireless security, is conducting a free introductory seminar titled “Understanding WiFi Cyber-attacks”.

This seminar will be followed by a panel discussion titled “Legal and Financial Exposure from WiFi Cyber-attacks”. Panel members include top experts such as Deepak Shikarpur, Chairman, IT Committee, MCCIA, Vaishali Bhagwat, Top Cyber-crime Lawyer and Pravin Bhagwat, Wireless Networking Pioneer.

This seminar is free for all. Register at: http://www.airtightnetworks.com/seminar/mccia

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