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Why was Limen Leap Labs started? - admin - 07-31-2023
Limen Leap Labs was started out of frustration, frankly. Our founder was deeply dissatisfied by the way IT startups grew in India. Time and again, there have been momentary successes of some unicorn or the other only to realize that it was just a flash in the pan; and then the flash disappeared. Our founder also felt an urgent need to help the large young population of India (India has the largest corpus of youth in the world)
Why do IT product companies do not really emerge from India, was a pressing question.
India has been seeing a lot of "startup" buzz, including incubation centres and accelerators. But what Sabu Francis noticed is that almost all of them fitted into a "formula" -- they gave a lot of theory and talk from the sides. But practically none of them actually put their skin in the game. In fact many of them will not even give money -- they just give vacuous advice and some nice chairs to sit on and air-conditioning. Events they held were largely conducted by mentors who were only spouting theories -- with practically no scruffy experience in the world of startups.
Add to the mess, the youngsters who were often attracted to such incubation centres and accelerators -- sat with preconceived notions on how startups in the IT field had to be organized. For example: Get a brilliant idea, work on it a bit, get a team together (maybe not in the same order) and eventually raise funds. Only to fail miserably later.
The youngsters were not really solving real problems. They were coaxed/goaded into a preconceived formula.
This got Sabu thinking -- why is it that good problems are not being solved? Why is it that most of the IT innovations in India were really imitations of what happened in other countries? Why can't we have startups that go on to really become well respected IT companies?
The answer had three parts : Exposure, maturity and a keen eye for BHAGs (Big, Hairy, Audacious Goals)
Limen Leap Labs arose from the messy world of architecture and construction in a scruffy developing country called India. One cannot get a more intense, raw experience on what life demands. Sabu Francis, was 58 when he started Limen Leap Labs -- with plenty of maturity and hard knocks behind him. Having taught students in professional careers (both architecture as well as IT), he has a good understanding of the adolescent Indian brain -- and he has a pedigree of producing works that many did not even think were possible from India.
Limen Leap Labs is an atelier -- a French term for the studio of a "master craftsperson" who actively mentors other artists and craftspersons. Not from the outside, but right inside the studio. Instead of investing money in others; Limen Leap Labs decided to invest intellectual properties in the youngsters of India. Each IPR would be given to a small group of enthusiastic and capable Indians who can create a startup around it. Sabu Francis would join them for a few months as an external CTO and handover the IPR via a B.O.T (build,operate,transfer) process.
That is how we are now poised.