Event Update - Open Coffee Club

April 17^th, 2009, Friday would be marked as a history in the realms of CCED (Chitkara Centre of Entrepreneurship Development) as it took the initiative to organize the first OPEN COFFEE CLUB MEET of Chandigarh region at the Dainik Bhaskar building, Sec-25. The fact that the event was first of its kind to be held in Chandigarh further added credibility to the exclusiveness of the event.The meet was attended by around 25 CCED members who are undergraduate students from B-TECH AND BBA. The main aim of the meet was to make the students get overview about what entrepreneurship is all about. Since it was the first activity organized by the OPEN COFFEE CLUB of the region, students gained a lot from the meet.

The Open Coffee Club was started as an attempt to establish recognized, open and regular child of Saul Klein, a venture partner at INDEX VENTURES and a VP of Skype who is based in London. It's a great way to meet other startups in your area and build new relationships. For VCs it’s a quick and easy way to meet with a group of local entrepreneurs and to get to see their products/ideas in action. The Open Coffee Club is free for anyone interested to come along.

The event witnessed the presence of MR. SAMEER GUGLANI AND MRS. NANDINI HIRIANNIAH, founders of MORPHEUS VENTURES. They both co-founded Madhouse Media in 2004, India's first online/offline movie rentals company and successfully exited with acquisition by “Seventy mm” in 2007. Both Nandini and Sameer are Serial entrepreneurs with 10+ years of professional experience, out of which 9+ years have been spent with startups. They have a broad and varied set of experiences and expertise.

The meet started with a questionnaire round by the students in which they asked the entrepreneurs about the basics of startups, different types of investments etc. They also discussed with students the reason why they quit there jobs to start their own venture. Mr. Sameer revealed the fact that he is very optimistic on Indian startups and he believes that 5 years from now startups will contribute to a significant part of the Indian Economy. Both the startup gurus believe that India’s future lies in today's entrepreneurs and startups. It will create a new wave in the economy, innovate and create wealth and value for themselves as well as the Indian economy. Ms. Nandini said that while going for a startup plan , one shouldn’t think that experience or money is a barrier, the only thing that can obstruct one from achieving one’s own dream is the lack of courage to take risks.

In the end they confessed that events like these should have an instant appeal to anyone in this business as a free and easy place to network and build community. This is how one can grow his/her circle and grow both mentally and intellectually. They also asked the CCED members to come forward for any kind of help they need in future in terms of startups under their venture.

Website- www.morpheusventure.com

Blogs- Nandini.madhouse.in

Sameer.madhouse.in

Article submitted by -

Pulkit Jain, Student
Chitkara Institute of Engineering & Technology