At times when there is pressure to grab a job as soon as possible and perform well, how often do we find time and a place where ideas can be proposed without any hesitation and have a set of people give it constructive feedback without professional insecurities?
Devthon, started by three Hyderabadis in March this year, is one such initiative where people can propose their ideas, get feedback and take it till the stage of implementation. The ideas are not limited just to business ventures but may also include social issues like transportation, Right To Information and so on.
“Academics limits ideas to dialogue. We wanted to create a space where people will propose their ideas without hesitation, and to people who are interested in innovation, tinker with them and be inspired by others,” shares Venkatesh Goteti (40), co-founder of Devthon and also co-founder of Azri Solutions Pvt Ltd.
Fellow co-founder Harish Krishnan (34), a technology entrepreneur who roped in Venkatesh for the initiative, adds, “Devthon is an initiative where culture of innovation and excellence is focused upon and we welcome simple to complex ideas.”
Organisers of the initiative have conducted five editions of Devthon till date and the sixth is being scheduled for December 14.
In the earlier editions, many ideas popped up and some were implemented as well. “A man came up with the idea of an open source job portal where different communities can post updates; most of the existing job portals are broken and do not work properly. We invited him to Devthon 0.2 held in Bengaluru where a couple of people gave him feedback. Then he came back again to the next edition where designers helped him create a logo and some developers added the code to his project titled Chaakri and some of us tested the code too. So this is how ideas are worked on at Devthon,” explains Prashanth Venkatasubban (25) who was the initial brainchild behind the initiative.
Some other ideas that were bounced around included developing a more ergonomic desk-chair and mapping bus transportation in Hyderabad.
Now, giving a free space for exploring ideas is a great, but in tech-ridden city like Hyderabad, how does Devthon stand out from other start ups? Venkatesh says, “In meet ups conducted by others, usually they last for two to four hours and participants plan other things after the meet up. While each Devthon edition lasts for 36 hours, people can choose to rest at the venue where it is conducted or go back to their places and come back. The point is to work on the idea for an extended period of time.”
Devthon, which is actually short for Developers and Marathon, reflects the motto in their name as well.
Apart from the discussion sessions, the organisers call in people who are experts in the field of innovation to give talk. “For one of the editions, an innovation consultant from United Kingdom, Andrew gave a talk about how to ideate. He explained how one could articulate, critically examine and solve their problems, which really helped the participants,” adds Venkatesh. The organisers charge `500 as participation fee which is used towards refreshments for the seminar.
Currently held at Bengaluru and Hyderabad, the founders hope to make Devthon a pan-India initiative. “Some of the people who participated in our earlier editions actually live abroad and have expressed their willingness to conduct the editions in the countries they stay. But we are still waiting to give it a proper structure. Any idea needs to be nurtured to strengthen it,” shares Venkatesh.
If you have a burning idea but don’t have the required skills or manpower to execute it, maybe Devthon can help you. You can find out more at www.devthon.org.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Hyderabad / by K. Shiva Shanker – Hyderabad / November 27th, 2013