He cut his teeth as an entrepreneur even while in school in southern Tamil Nadu. This was when he helped write some programs at a computer centre for a few bank employees who were still getting used to computers and for a motorcycle dealer.

He says he borrowed Rs 65,000 from his parents and returned that money in no time after he had made a cool Rs 1.5 lakh. Of course, the business was registered in the name of his father as he was just 16 years old then.

Or, was it even earlier that the business instinct in him was ignited. He remembers his mother maintaining an aquarium at home. And, during the summer vacation, his friends and other schoolmates would want to buy ornamental fish as a hobby during holidays. He would borrow Rs 500 from his mother, who would insist that he pay her back Rs 550. This meant he had to earn more than that to keep his profits.

Meet the 29-year-old Vijay Anand, who is the CEO of The Startup Centre. The centre is meant to be a place where those working on their own start-ups can meet and exchange ideas. It will also over time invest in promising start-ups and incubate them.

Startup Centre's office

When you walk into the Startup Centre's office, about 3,000 sq ft in what was earlier occupied by a business process outsourcing company, in a once popular shopping complex in Chennai, there are a handful of youngsters — men and women — working on their laptops. Some are even sitting on the floor and typing away. Not one of them gives you a glance.

As Vijay settles down to talk to you about his latest venture, he is greeted by a few casual “heys.” The atmosphere is informal. After finishing his school education from Nazareth in Tuticorin, he went to Canada for a degree in software engineering. There, too, he started a technology venture with a few of his friends that helped mobile operators stream video on mobile handsets.

It was on a visit to India when he met Dr Ashok Jhunjhunwala of IIT-Madras. Vijay complained to Dr Jhunjhunwala about all that was wrong in India as far as encouraging entrepreneurs was concerned. Dr Jhunjhunwala's answer was pretty simple, recalls Vijay. Either do something about it or simply shut up. Vijay chose the former and decided to join IIT-M's Telecommunications and Computer Networks group (TeNet).

At TeNet, Vijay was associated with helping build a few start-ups. From then, the next logical step was to join the Rural Technology Business Incubator of IIT-M, which has incubated nearly a 16 companies. If TeNet was a technology focussed firm, says Vijay, RTBI built the entire structure — finance, legal and administrative — that is helping start-ups with a strong rural focus. “I was the first employee of RTBI and now there are 29 employees. Everything has been made into a nice process,” Mr Vijay. When he joined RTBI, he committed to heading it for at least four-and-a-half years. “We did stabilise. It takes that much time to build an organisation,” he says.

The rationale

Another five years, he adds, will go into building The Startup Centre, which he has founded with five others. He explains the rationale behind the centre: He realised that a large number of people were coming back from the US and starting their own businesses. There are plenty of opportunities for ventures leveraging technology. And an incubator that also serves as a meeting ground for exchange of ideas provided a good business opportunity.

The Startup Centre has two parts to it. One, where it will be used for community meets and conferences and the other is that it will invest in some promising ventures. The Startup Centre is in the process of raising funds and hopes to get its VC fund off the ground in October-November.

“Most of the guys here,” he says, pointing to the youngsters immersed in their laptops, “are entrepreneurs.” Then Vijay throws up another interesting piece of statistic. Nearly 600 new start-ups are coming up every quarter in Chennai, if one went through the filings with the Registrar of Companies. And, most of them are working out of their homes.

Value of diligence

If he learnt from his mother early on that money does not come free, Vijay says he learnt the value of diligence from his father, an engineer.

Vijay says he loved gardening as a child . He has a terrace garden in his house in Chennai. But gardening taught him something valuable in life. “You learn a lot of patience in gardening. I don't think you can plant something and expect to see a flower bloom in three days,” he says. In a lot of ways, it is like building a company, he adds.

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