sorry man, not aware what the protocol is. maybe if this was only visible to folks from an Indian IP address... seems like a great place to find people who want to build web-start-ups - already received emails from several young guys who are interested.
we didn't work for F500 clients (way to boring); we sold them innovative software - a small start-up selling million dollar + software to F500 is the definition of entrepreneurship.
we want hackers in ycombinator mold -- young, passionate, tenacious - with the right mix of hard core technical, UI and design, and plain entrepreneurial business skills to drive both new user and return visits. bi also enjoy working with this sort of individual. (got to be fun since i do not need to do it for the money) these are the sort who can take on an existing industry and re-invent it. happy to hire 2,3,4 however many good ones i can find. from the little i've seen in india, most young hackers would not get an opportunity like this: 100% US style working style - full freedom, big mission, zero bureaucracy, etc - for experienced serial entrepreneur. basically the best way to figure out how to do is to do it once for someone else who knows how to do it and has all the funding and infrastructure in place
point taken. didn't mean it that way. any of the top 5 CMSes should do. Right technical person for the job - passion for the idea, tenacity - most probably decides what we use. sort of decision by default situation :-)
doesn't matter. goal is to take an appropriate open source platform (any one of the CMS that will do) to create a travel website
which makes it super easy to find:
the best hotels to stay -- 1000-3000, 3000-5000, 5000-8000 a day
the best things to do
what to buy from where at what price
Initially do this for the top 6 cites in rajasthan
designed for a foreign audience travelling to india
use what ever platform is available so we can launch fast, get user feedback and then iterate
Background - spent 23 yrs in the US (Stanford undergrad, built start-up from zero, through dot com bust, with F500 customers and revenue and sold it 9 years later) ; moved to India about 12 months back to build businesses here.
While many of the comments can be accurate based on the individual's context, the take-aways/conclusions (both in the article and for most of the comments) are mostly WRONG.
There is tremendous opportunity in India, and most of the issues mentioned actually make it easier to exploit that opportunity. The article and the comments should not cause any trepidation about coming to India, but re-double your resolve. It's like "shooting fish in a barrel" if you figure it out!
Sort of hard to explain to people who are not in the thick of this battle. And, talking is not how you figure this out. But, if you are a startup type* - tenacity of a bulldog, super hard-working, high integrity, passion driven - I would be happy to offer you work opportunities that will enable you to figure out the formula of how to take advantage of all of this. Note:
1) only way to figure it out is to jump into the war (say 6 months)
2) for these 6 months you'll have to work on my projects
3) it will be all about execution, not talk. so it's imperative that you're a get shit done type. 4) in these 6 months, whenever you run into "india issues" being discussed in this thread, I will work with you (show you) how to overcome them with relative ease.
*most Indians educated in ivy-league-type schools and then having worked for blue chip corps like msft, P&G, etc are NOT start-up types imho