“Sorry, no. Content by itself has no value for us, only views [of it] do,” said a venture capitalist last week to a media startup’s founder, matter-of-factly. “We’re still hesitant on investing in Indian media startups but are slowly leaning towards the possibility of investing in them sometime in the near future.”

The venue was a Hilton hotel in Gurugram, née Gurgaon, and the backdrop was an event titled “Indian Content Startup Conclave 2017.” Just a while ago, a panel had just finished discussing the topic, “Can content become a standalone business in the digital age?”

The founder was flabbergasted.

AUTHOR

Rohin Dharmakumar

Rohin is co-founder and CEO at The Ken. He holds an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta and an engineering degree in Computer Sciences from the R.V.C.E., Bangalore.

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