Impact Hub – Incubator – Feedback please

By Nikhil Kalanjee on July 1, 2015 5 Comments / 3221 views

Hi everyone,

Quick introduction – I’m based in London and currently work in marketing for a tech company. One of the programmes that I run involves managing a content marketing programme – we look for interesting stories in the start up / SMB space – and through this, I came across and started working with an association called ‘Impact Hub’ who provide a community, resources and critically office space for start-ups looking to make an impact – everything from green technology to companies looking to re-train people who have lost their jobs.

The hubs charge start ups for desk space but also provide a lot of additional extras like access to a global network of companies and things like seminars / talks / networking in the evenings (basically it is more an incubator / accelerator).

There is an opportunity to start an impact hub in Bombay – they do not operate in India at the moment. One of the issues they face when moving to cities like Bombay, New York etc. is that they have teams who want to get going but office space is expensive and hard to come by. In this case, I have the space – approximately 2 floors (8k square feet) in Cuffe Parade but don’t have a team.

Here is a picture of the space (it used to be a furniture showroom):

Unfortunately I can’t be fully involved on the ground with this project at this point in time – the wife and I are expecting a little girl in August and with everything changing, now is not quite the time for me to quit my job and rock every aspect of life.

So with that my questions to people in the community are:

1) Do you think there would be demand for a hub in South Bombay or do you feel most of the activity is moving Central ? Location is quite key for things like evening events – no point if people have to travel hours to attend.

2) Do you know of people who might be interested in founding something like this? I’d be looking to have a mix of skills in the team – maybe someone with accounting skills / marketing / IT / HR and preferably (but not restricted to) people that can take a bit of a risk in terms of going without income for a few months if that is what it takes to get operations off the ground – if a start up team wanted to take this on additional to their day job, I could barter free desk space in return.

3) Ideally, I would like a venture like this to be associated with a body that could help fund projects. Do you know of any that might be interested? Or of any investors who might want to come to together?

At this point, I would like some feedback on the idea and of course, introductions to people who might be interested. I haven’t decided whether to go for it or not and therefore do not have a lot of detail worked out – a lot depends on putting together the right team.

If you like to connect with me to discuss this further, I can be reached on

e: kalanjee@gmail.com

t: @kalanjee

Comments

Nikhil Kalanjee

5 Comments

asha chaudhry July 6, 2015, 6:41 am

hi nikhil,

wow. what an awesome property to have 🙂

so quick q to clarify – you are not looking at making this a co-working space and reaching out to the community for folks to rent it out…

BUT

you would rather have folks to come on board and found/ &build an ‘impact hub’ here in mumbai (with you), using this space, right?
Nikhil Kalanjee July 6, 2015, 9:21 am

Thanks Asha!

Yes, it is the second bit – I am looking for people to come on board and help me found an impact hub.
Pranay Sanghavi July 10, 2015, 12:58 pm

Hi Nikhil,

You may want to talk to Ms. Gargi Shah for getting the latest update on how she is running a similar co-location hub for startups called The Playce in Mulund, a central suburb.

-Thanks

Pranay
FamiJoy.mobi
asha chaudhry July 11, 2015, 4:02 am

pranay,

the playce is more of a co-working space naa? i don’t think they are an incubator.

nikhil, i know gargi pretty well – she presented at our open house once.

https://www.therodinhoods.com/forum/topics/launching-a-startup-campus-in…

you may also want to get in touch with ajay of zonestartups india – they are an accelerator.

ajay also made a presentation at one of our Open Houses 🙂

https://www.therodinhoods.com/forum/topics/zonestartups-india-an-interna…
Nikhil Kalanjee July 13, 2015, 7:38 am

Thanks a lot Asha and Pranay! I’ll take a look at what Pranay and Ajay are working on and get in touch if there is a fit.