In Indias start-up hub of Bangalore where networking lunches,angel investor meets and mentor talks are commonplace,entrepreneur Jayaraj Shankar had a salient evening some Sundays ago. Shankar,35 and single,was at Bootstrap Love,a never-before event designed to help single entrepreneurs and aspiring ones find romantic liaisons and prospective marriage partners. Shankar,former owner of an IT business solutions company who now runs a co-working space,said it was a novel and fun way to get to know entrepreneurs of the opposite gender. Entrepreneurial risk-taking works negatively in the context of conservative marriages, Shankar said. The event brought together unconventional people who understand each others world. Bangalore leads other cities both in the rate at which new start-ups are being founded and the total number of start-ups. But many founders say that romance,relationships and marriage do not exactly go together with the frantic world of entrepreneurship. Despite entrepreneurship gaining currency as a career option in the 25-35 age group,romance and marriage are still dictated by traditional yardsticks such as the income you bring in,your house,or the car you drive. In arranged marriage situations especially,start-up entrepreneurs are not usually considered marriage material. Organising a singles meet-up for entrepreneurs is an experiment,said Chaitanya Ramalingegowda of Twoly Madly Deeply,a Bangalore-headquartered singles networking firm which organised Bootstrap Love. Bringing together people with similar professional affiliations makes sense,but will putting many high-risk entrepreneurs in a group work? he asked. Belying his anxiety,the event had to be capped at 80 registrants. Young entrepreneurs are a growing breed in India,yet there is very little understanding about the entrepreneurial world. Not just potential partners,even parents do not appreciate entrepreneurs,said Ramalingegowda. Entrepreneurship is not a career but a lifestyle. Most partners do not get why bagging a customer is more exciting than going out for a candle-lit dinner,or why Sundays cannot always be off, he said. Bootstrap Love was a leisurely six-hour event at a large,open-air restaurant in Whitefield. The Rs 1,500-a-head evening combined dance workshops and whisky appreciation classes and dinner,a careful mix designed to stir conversations and kindle romances. A contemporary singles event for start-up entrepreneurs is apt because they are busy people who do not have time to look up,leave alone the time to develop chemistry with anyone,said Milan Vohra,an author of romance novels whose protagonists are all fiery women entrepreneurs. An entrepreneur does not have the relatively safe option of meeting someone through a large group at work. But they are as ambitious about finding the right person as they are about everything else they do,said Vohra,a guest speaker that evening. Thats why a contemporary singles event gives you a more level platform. Nitika,an aspiring entrepreneur who did not want to give her last name,said she was a new-age Indian who was averse to the idea of her parents setting her up with somebody solely for the purpose of marriage. On my checklist is not tall and handsome,but somebody who is as passionate about entrepreneurship and who can get my goals. The men she met that evening,Nitika said,were more open-minded. It takes one to know one and in that sense it was a room full of potentially compatible people, she said. The event yielded romance for four sets of entrepreneurs,although one of them has already ended in a break-up,Ramalingegowda said. He plans to repeat the event periodically,but has similar events scheduled in New Delhi and Hyderabad in the coming weeks. Entrepreneurs work 24x7 and have no time to find romantic relationships. Bootstrap Love wants to fill that need.
