Says Neeraj Bhargav, managing partner, eVentures India: ``It may not be anentirely new idea in itself -- there are cases in Silicon Valley ofpotential leaders being incubated -- but these have usually been one-offsituations. It is perhaps, for the first time that anyone has formally setsuch a programme in place.''

Adds N Balachander, vice-president, human resources: ``These are theentrepreneurs of tomorrow who are in a way doing an in-house internship withus till they venture out on their own. Hence the designation Entrepreneur InResidence.'' The core concept? To encourage people with outstanding talentand ideas by providing them complete support in converting their ideas intoa business reality. Once the EIR is `taken under its wings', eVentures willprovide them access to its resources, infrastructure, knowledge, experienceand brainpower and help draw up a business plan and investment proposal.

This hand-holding continues for three to four months, during which periodeVentures will also sustain the EIR with a salary. At the end of thisperiod, if the business plan is considered feasible, eVentures will step inwith funding and the new portal/dot.com company will come into existence.

The funding usually ranges from 30 to 60 per cent, in some cases with morethan one VC contributing to the funding. In the case of Internet incubation,the process of assistance begins only after acceptance of a business planand after the investment decision is taken. It is essentially theimplementation of a business plan, with the company assisting in the actualimplementation of a start-up, after thoroughly evaluating the plan on allparametres like HR, finance, and technological feasibility.

In the case of EIRs, the nurturing begins much earlier. It is essentiallyone stage prior to actual VC funding. Says Balachander: ``We have tried itout with a travel portal - travogue.com - whose promoter began initially asan EIR, but, within a few weeks, his plan was found feasible and okayed,with eVentures directly funding it. Essentially what we evaluate is thedomain specialisation and profile of the person. The idea gets developed intoto during the `internship' period, when complete support in terms ofinfrastructure, knowledge etc is provided.''Says Bhargav: ``Today thebiggest resource restraint is high quality leadership. We are operating in ahigh-growth segment with several good ideas lined up which can be passed onto the EIR in case his idea needs alteration.''

Since it advertised the idea in April, eVentures has received 40 proposalsand is currently evaluating them. With only one or two EIRs selected at atime, the selection criteria is very strict and selective. The requisites toqualify: potential leaders, very senior, well-statured people, preferably atCEO level, and who are leaders in their own industry. eVentures isessentially aNet incubator company. It aims at taking high-profileindividual Net ventures to their full potential in India and globally andbring world class and proven global Net properties to India. It offers thebenefit of accessing the global experience of Softbank and News Corporationand the local knowledge of the Ispat group. eVI has stakes in NetAcross,Contest2Win and chaitime.com among other Internet properties.