#sns2015

[yatinthakur]

Few glimpses from Startup Nations 2015 annual summit held in Monterrey, Mexico hosted by INADEM, read my blog on http://yatinthakur.co/post/135713798657/sns2015

[yatinthakur]

Role of India as a Global Entrepreneurial Economy at Startup Nations Summit 2015

Often I am asked a common question by almost everyone around me, that Yatin why do you do so much of social work and charity. Whats in it for you? How do you make money? Are you an investor?Are you an incubator? While others think I am just traveling all the time without doing much, and others think I am a millionaire splurging cash traveling around the world. Ecosystem builder is my answer to that, however 99.5% do not understand much about it. I usually do not respond much except giving a smile and asking god to bless them all. I left Delhi in mid of November after a positive launch of Global Entrepreneurship Week in Delhi by Minister of Entrepreneurship Mr Rajiv Pratap Rudy at our fellow partners event and delivered a brief talk about entrepreneurship to some management students at a private event hosted by Young Indians (Yi) Delhi chapter, for a 40 day tour of Mexico followed by United States. I was anyways in high spirit with some of these positive events, however this time it wasn’t the usual business trip, but an official time off my crazy Delhi schedule to engage with some of the most influential people from different continents, countries and cities around the world. It was the Global Entrepreneurship Week happening around the world while I was transiting through US to reach my first destination Mexico City the capital of one of most populated cities of Latin America “Mexico”. I had heard stories about the city from some close friends and colleagues but finally I got to experience it myself. As soon as I landed, it reminded me of Delhi with its hospitality, a large city which surely reflected the income disparity between the rich, middle class and the poor. Interestingly inspite of being next door neighbour of US, development and access to capital has been very limited in the country, with handful of VC’s and maximum investment not exceeding $50mn in a single company over the last few years. However, the infrastructure was good, smooth roads, good buildings and some amazing coworking spaces like Startup Mexico’s (SUM) campus in the city. I was fortunate to be representing India on a 5 continent panel discussion, and realised we surely are much ahead in the game as compared to some of the most developed and developing markets around the world. Our hundreds of million dollar startup rounds and some of the billion dollar e-tailer stories have been popular, while others like PayTM, OYO rooms and Urban Clap were never even heard by them. It was surely motivating to see that somewhere we were moving in right direction and India has alot of experience, innovations and knowledge to showcase.

My next stop on the 6 day tour to Mexico was in Monterrey located on the North Eastern side of Mexico with a close proximity to the state of Texas in United States. This was for the annual summit of Startup Nations, an organisation under the Global Entrepreneurship Network supported by Kauffman Foundation to engage and support policy makers in different countries on strengthening their initiatives around entrepreneurship. This time it was in Monterrey hosted by INADEM, the public insitution engaged in developing entrepreneurship across Mexico. This was my third participation in their annual summit while second official representation from India as Startup India. Startup Nations currently comprises of over 60 nations with reprentation by some government departments and private organisations like mine. It has always provided insights to most of the entrepreneurial economies and initiatives taken by various organisations to strengthen their local entrepreneurship ecosystem. Entrepreneurship was taken too lightly in India, until recently when we started hearing some success stories out of India. The major topic of discussion amongst our group was to understand the reason of startup boom. Is it the sexiness of entrepreneurship due to success stories or the need of entrepreneurs to solve some real problems? For me personally it was the latter, primarily due to the need to solve our local problems, develop our cities and create sufficient jobs to keep our rapidly growing and energetic youth population engaged on something which keeps them excited, motivated and closer to their home towns. Not sure, how many would understand its impact, but the ones who do will defintely support this. Each country has its unique way to solve their problems, some have to fight local social issues, for some its about revival of their economies and cities, while for others its about bringing the next generation of innovators together. I had the opportunity to spend time with some key government officials from Guatemala, Dominican Republic, Saudi Arabia and South Korea to name a few, in understanding their approach towards entrepreneurship, understand about startup visa initiatives, e-biz registration process, startup competitions and policies around tax exemption for entrepreneurs and investors. The most promising and motivating feedback for me was the popularity of our Prime Minister and some of our key initiatives including $2bn startup capital allocated in last years financial budget which is getting deployed through various state governments across the country. A few big developments on this include initiatives by Government of Rajasthan to draft their own startup act and allocating around $100mn to support startups in their state. According to me, this is a very positive sign and some of our friends in organisations like Startup Oasis do owe a big appreciation behind such efforts. We are also getting to see some strong support from Government of AP and Telangana as well as Punjab who have been planning similar policies and initiatives. With Central Government’s initiative to develop a separate ministry for entrepreneurship spear headed by Mr Rajiv Pratap Rudy and local initiatives by some of the state CM’s including enterprising Mr Chandrababu Naidu and Mrs Vasundhara Raje Scindia, the country will surely see a stronger rise in the startup culture.

The best development of our trip was to form an Asian Startup Exchange Program where in countries including South Korea, Taiwan, New Zealand, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines and India would try to have regional exchange programs between their countries to provide new market access and exposures to their local startups. Most of my fellow colleagues have taken a promise from me for a formal invitation to India to understand more about the diversity and the growing startup culture. I am looking forward to hosting them hopefully in 2016.

[yatinthakur]

Proud moment representing India amongst 85 countries at #SNS2015 in Monterrey along with the President of Meixco and Chairman of #GEW2015 #StartupIndia (at Museo del Acero Horno3)

[yatinthakur]

Day 1 in Mexico with some ex ministers, friends and coworking space visit #StartupIndia at #SNS2015 #GEW2015 (at SUM Startup Mexico)

[yatinthakur]

@marcusdantus founder of @startup_mexico sharing about Mexico's startup ecosystem which is equivalent to that of Silicon Valley #SNS2015 #GEW2015 #ThePitch (at SUM Startup Mexico)

[snsforever]

SNS 2K15: July Themes

Overall Theme: Sasuke’s Birthday

It’s our favorite avenger’s birthday this month! Make sure to celebrate him and his birthday! (July 23rd)

On such an ocassion, Naruto is sure to make a fuss. What do you think could happen when SNS celebrates Sasuke’s birthday?

Broad Theme: Tanabata/Same-Sex Marriage

A theme dedicated to not only star-crossed lovers but for a recent bill that is supposed to be passed in Japan this month. Break out the cheers and all the fanart involving the night sky!

(Information on both is available via pressing the above links) 

Celebrating: The Kage Summit Arc

From Naruto hyperventilating from about hearing Sakura’s attempt to kill Sasuke to he “I’ll carry the burden of your hate and die with you” speech, this arc is an emotional roller coaster. 

We can’t wait to celebrate it.

[snsforever]

SNS 2K15: June Themes

Overall Theme: Life after Death/Reincarnation

Surely, Naruto and Sasuke might finally find peace in a place far away from their current standing?

Broad Theme: Summer/Vacations

It’s that time of the year where Naruto is laughing his ass off at Sasuke’s unevenly tanned skin and Sasuke curses the fact that Naruto tans so well. What do you think our favorite duo’s adventures would be like in summer/during a vacation?

Celebrating: The Three-Tails Arc

This arc (from the anime) had so many highlights. From Naruto chasing after Sasuke inside the Three Tails’ stomach, to Naruto deciding to be Sasuke’s heart and the home Sasuke will return to, as well as Naruto continuing to fervently believe in Sasuke.

... Oh and there was also something about boy under Orochimaru’s command being forced to become the Tree Tails’ jinchuriki.

[snsforever]

Over-Analyzing “By My Side”

prince-puri

Because I was stuck at grandma’s house with no wifi/internet and over 50+ SNS AMVS (including Naruto Ending 20 By My Side), what better way to waste my time than make a post about my two favorite frickers and this ending.

I’ll be doing this by time frame. Please bear with me for this could possibly be a tedious process.

Begin!

Synopsis: Naruto and Sasuke are in some snowy area and Naruto tries to reach out his hand to grab Sasuke’s but Sasuke slaps it away. Then, they’re separated by multiple gates and Naruto is trapped inside some dank place with only a lampo for company while Sasuke is still alone. As we watch Sasuke’s figure just stand there, we see dark tendrils/lightning start to appear around him. We are then suddenly sent back to Naruto and we watch him wait around in this space he was sent to and is quite bored if not seemingly impatient. Suddenly, he hears something from the wall next to him and goes to place an ear against it. What he hears (and what we see) is supposedly lots of fighting, blood being splattered, Sasuke bleeding from his eyes. Upon realizing all of this was happening just outside, Naruto fervently tries to get out, even going so far as to smash the lamp against the wall. When all else fails, he starts running and eventually comes to a stop to take a breathe and appears discouraged. Then, Kushina appears and hugs him. The gates and walls suddenly disappear to reveal straight line to a large dark black mass with Sasuke at its center. Minato and Kushina push Naruto’s back encouragingly and Naruto ventures onwards, arms outstretched to finally grasp Sasuke’s hand.

Base Analysis/Things to Know: This ending was released around the same time as the Kage Summit Arc-Hide the Jinchuriki Arc in the anime (hence the snowy setting) and most likely around the time Naruto and Kushina meet in the manga. Clearly, this ending is supposed to cover as much from these arcs as possible. However, I’m going to go as far as to say that is also covers the whole of Shippuden, some parts of Shippuden later on in the War Arc, and even the end of Part 1 (Beginning of Shippuden to Beginning of the War Arc) due to how it's structured. This ending is truly brilliant in more ways than just its beautiful animation. Let me explain.

00:00 - 00:14

The very first ten seconds already tell us so much.

Let’s start with Naruto reaching out to Sasuke, but Sasuke is waves/slaps him away. The whole VoTE fight at the end of Part 1 was mostly Naruto trying to reach out to him and convince him to take a road away from Orochimaru, but Sasuke refused to let Naruto talk him out of it. Come the Team 7 Reunion, we have another scene with Naruto trying to reach out to Sasuke and convince him out of training under Orochimaru, but once again, Sasuke refuses to let Naruto talk him out of it. Right here, we’ve already got a few basics of Naruto/Sasuke’s relationship.

This section ends with Naruto being on the far other side of the field and is trapped by countless gates with some joining to become walls around him. I imagine these gates are actually a metaphor to obstacles/lessons Naruto has to go through in order to reach Sasuke. On the other side is Sasuke. They apparently stare off at one another as one is blocked off while the other remains alone on the other side.

We cut to a wide shot of Sasuke alone in the snowy field (End of Part 1/End of each encounter). As the seconds pass by, you start to see these dark tendrils start to come off of him. These are either influences (Obito and Orochimaru) or his own darkness/hate starting to get the best of him. As you can see, the longer Sasuke goes down the road he was on, the more darker he will become.

00:15-00:25

We return to Naruto in his little space with only the walls/gates and a single lit lamp to keep him company. We never see him stray from this space, preferring to be bored while in the circle of light. To keep it simple, I’ll put it like this:

Lit area/Safe Area = Konohagakure/the turtle Tsunade sent him when the war began

There’s not really any indication that Naruto was allowed to search for Sasuke outside of missions and I’m almost positive that even if other ninja were allowed, Tsunade/the council of Konoha would make it so Team 7 can only do it on missions because they’re too personal with Sasuke. So, unless Naruto is told otherwise or is given a mission, he’s not allowed to leave Konoha/the turtle/the circle of safety.

00:26-00:45

Eventually, Naruto does start to get curious about what’s on the other side (most likely because he heard something). Remember when Naruto left the temple while in Kurama/Kyuubi Mode and is shocked to realize there’s a war going on? This is essentially that scene, only with more emphasis on Sasuke. Especially on Sasuke who is bleeding from his eyes (most likely from Mangekyo Sharingan).

00:46-01:28

After that, Naruto bangs on the wall, shouts at it, and smashes the lamp against it just to get to Sasuke before finally running off. On the way, he stops to take a breather and appears discouraged (Naruto v Kurama fight where he is almost eclipsed by Kurama’s hate), but Kushina appears and hugs him. Her support and love is powerful enough that it blows away all the remaining gates because Naruto finally knows how to reach Sasuke.

Now Naruto has a clear shot to Sasuke, however the darkness surrounding him has grown very large and daunting. However, with Minato and Kushina’s encouraging pats on the back forward (AKA, the parents’ blessing), Naruto ventures forward, arms outstretched. As he moves forward, his body starts to be “infected” with the darkness (all the setbacks in the War Arc as well as the Naruto v Sasuke fight), but it doesn’t matter for Naruto’s already reached Sasuke. Finally, Naruto is able to hold Sasuke’s hand (his feelings reach Sasuke).

I don’t think this part is entirely SNS because I believe it can also relates to Naruto not knowing how to counter hate and Kushina teaches him. However, sincem, in the end, it is in fact, Naruto’s love for Sasuke that saves him from the darkness, it probably does.

Overall: This ending is, without a doubt, my favorite if not because of its gorgeous animation, then because of the story it tells.