Headstart Summer 2009 will take place at Nehru Centre in Mumbai on June 20th, 2009 (Saturday). A lot of our learning over past three years in supporting grassroot entrepreneurial ecosystem has gone into designing this event to be of maximum value to all the participating startups, whether they get a chance to demo their product or not.

However, the startup who get a chance to showcase themselves in the demo-pit stand to benefit the most from the event. Here is how:

1. Going by how the economic downturn has affected VC investments, we feel that angel investing and business incubation are key to continued startup innovation in India. At Headstart Summer 2009, startups at the demo pit get a chance to showcase their stuff directly to scores of angel investors and academic incubators in the Headstart Network.
2. There is nothing like showing off your best stuff to the target customers directly. Headstart (Jan) 2009 helped several of the demo-pit startups (like CashNXT, WisdomTap and Alertpedia) to not just get great publicity in leading Indian and foreign publications, but get key business leads as well. For example, AdoRoi and CashNXT got crucial sales leads, while SnappyFingers and Verismo Networks got connected to key business partners during the event.

If you feel excited about the prospect of nominating your startup for Headstart Summer 2009, here is the nomination process for you:

1. Go to the Headstart Network project and fill in the nomination form there. Last date for nominations is 20th 24th May 2009.
2. Announcement of a list of finalists will take place by 25th 27th May 2009. All the nominations will also get a feedback from judges by the same day.
3. If selected, you will have to confirm your participation by paying INR 5000 for the demo-pit by 29th 31st May 2009. This will include complementary registration for two representatives from your company.
4. Some of the startups in demo-pit would be invited to participate in a showcase in the main auditorium during the event. Details of the showcase and announcement of these startups would take place by 10th June 2009.

The demo-pits will be thrown open to public at 12:30 pm on 20th June 2009. Hope to find your startup there!

For any queries, please drop a comment below, or write to arpit at headstart dot in.

Update: Dates for the Nomination Process updated.