Blume Day 2024 | You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet

If you were a venture investor or a startup founder or sitting in any corner of the Indian startup ecosystem, you would have witnessed two giant leaps and cycles over the past 20 years. 

The first was gradual, took about 2/3rds of that time, kicking off with the early beginnings of BookMyShow, MakeMyTrip, Infoedge (Naukri++), One97 (later to become PayTM), and the first of the adventurers from Silicon Valley (VC firms) buying into local fund managers to run their India franchises and find the next tech frontiers beyond IT/ITeS and BPO+KPOs. Inch by inch, the early momentum led to more ambition and confidence. 

And then, suddenly, Unicorns were birthed, global investors were taking notice, UPI, UID and Jio created a Cambrian explosion of sorts in the digitization of the domestic market, while ITeS evolved slowly into spawning the first software product stars building for the US market. That explosion of confidence, funding, activity bolstered the last 6-7 years to look spectacular in the proliferation of Unicorns, the startup mania that gripped the country, courage to take some companies public, the inevitable indigestion of the excesses, and the various juries then sifting permanent class from temporary form through 2022-23.

Here we are. Suddenly. In 2024. 13th anniversary of Blume. Around the halfway point to 25 years. Each fund takes 12 years from start to finish. So, I’m already staring at the horizon of the 25th year. And I’m seeing the spread of what the Blume team has helped get off the ground - a startup milieu of proportions seen by maybe a handful of VC firms in this country. 

And, of course, in parallel, we’ve witnessed some great stories backed by dozens of other VC firms and hundreds of other incredible founders building. And yet, when one reflects and one gazes into the horizon, it feels like “You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet.”

(I knew it wasn’t the song lyrics from the last century from where the line got incepted in my head and so I mined the personal RAM a bit more, and it was the more recent Nike Ad from 2022)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66bX6M9vS_s (Nike’s 50th Anniv video by Spike Lee) 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6vIYhJ77As (Director’s Cut version)

We think we’ve seen it all, innit?

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We think We’ve Seen It All.

A Century of Unicorns 

$10 billion companies in private and public 

Fintech, Edtech, Commerce, and many other flavors 

Global goliaths competing with local Davids 

Flurry of software and SaaS variants coming out of their shy shells

Adding to the dozens of unicorns  

There are Bhishmapithamas amongst investors already 

Arjunas rise amongst founders 

The handful of inevitable Mahabharats in boardrooms

Founders who are sharks and VCs who are angels

A trickle of books writing startup land’s origin stories 

A celebration of homegrown journeys 

Declassification of Omegas and other nebulous files    

Serial founders by the dozens 

China models giving way to Shuddh Desi ones

Denting the impact in Indian consumer and small business’ lives 

From misspelling IPO to gradually winning in Public Markets

The stars, they are shimmering.

But hey, hey, hey

No disrespect to the old school and OGs 

We just seen the tips of icebergs 

Glimpse through the Indian startup crystal ball 

Trends that may mesmerize you as you stare into it 

All cash be digital for the next gen 

Flying taxis, ONDC’d public transport and bullet trains

Omega was just the first of a decade of them to come

More Apples from Indian assembly lines than China someday

Manufacturing powerhouses with cutting-edge technology 

Deep tech unicorns hitherto thought impossible 

Consumer startups that can be built for the world

Surprising the naysayers, Indian startups’ dent the planet

Even above the atmosphere, in space  

Farmers enslaving AI, prosperity rising bottom up

Education, jobs, emigration for whoever aspires to their calling

Hundred of IPOs, building our own NASDAQ

Hundred of books, scripting stories of entrepreneurial glory 

The shining stars are now aligning 

They’re going to look crazy bright 

Dazzling, winning across boundaries, beyond boundaries 

Echoing in far corners, 

You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet 

You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet

Blume Day 2024 celebrates the spirit of entrepreneurs building for the new frontier markets. That could be transforming rural India with incredible products or dazzling the planet with the best-in-class tech. The many examples are embodied in the theme for the year, that will rollover to our 2024 Blume podcast season: “Winning Beyond Boundaries”.

The Blume Day tradition of the tee hits its 10th-anniversary milestone: “You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet.”