Foreign returned Indians partly fueling the Indian Internet entrepreneurship scene
Over the weekend, I was reviewing the wave of Internet startups emerging in the Indian market. There seemed to be a common thread across a lot of these startups, which I couldnt exactly pinpoint in the first glance. On a second follow through, I was kind of able to put a handle on it.
It seems that a lot of the new Indian Internet startups have a foreign connection. Either one or all the founders have been based in a foreign country at some point of time. Pursuing either higher education or a professional career. And then returned to India to pursue their entrepreneurial dream.
Consider the following list I was able to compile in a few minutes:
MarketHero, BookEazy, FirstPhera, SadakMap, Nunook, Criticat, Kyazoonga, IndyaRocks, Komli, Burrp, Picsquare, Ixigo, Cleartrip etc.
In context of the Indian Internet entrepreneurial scene, the list above is one which you cant ignore. They do constitute a moderate size of the overall Indian Internet startup space. Of course, by no means should this be interpreted in the wrong sense - that the Indian entrepreneurship scene is fueled solely by these breed of foreign returned entrepreneurs.
But as this trend became apparent, I was more curious to explore it further - why is it that so many foreign returned Indians are taking to entrepreneurship ? Was it something during their stay abroad that triggered the entrepreneurial bug ? Has their experience abroad broadened their outlook and appetite for risks ? Would they have had the same outlook if they’d stayed in India all along ?
I’d love to hear what you have to say - so take a moment and let me know your perspective.
March 27th, 2008 at 1:37 pm
Well I can think of many reasons for this:
1. Almost all the ideas are the ones which have proven a successful business model in US.
2. Point 1 + lots of contacts + experienced team profile lead to easy VC funding
3. Bootstraping is relatively easy for them (till the time a solid proof of concept is there from where seed funds and later VCs can be contacted) compared to wannabe successful entrepreneurs in India. Add to it that angel investment is almost non-existent in India
March 27th, 2008 at 3:09 pm
Exposure to successful business models + Increased Confidence about the rewards since most of them follow already successful business models, etc..
March 27th, 2008 at 3:27 pm
They probably want to come back on their terms. The best of both worlds, so to speak.
Maybe this blog can aid & abet this process.
March 28th, 2008 at 1:31 am
Having spent a good amount of time in the Silicon Valley, there’s no escaping the entrepreneurship bug. I am sure others would corroborate that over there, countless fireside chats focus on building something new - starting out on your own. Coming back to India, one can afford to give oneself a sabbatical to pursue their dreams.
The ongoing trend in India has been centered around riding the wave created by the service-oriented companies. It probably wouldnt make “logical-sense” to quit a named company to start on your own when there is a social status associated with working for a MNC (especially if you are of the marriageable age :)). Thankfully, this trend is changing and its encouraging to see folks (Redbus.in comes to mind) from such companies bucking the trend and venturing on their own.
March 28th, 2008 at 2:28 am
One point I want to make!
Isnt entrepreneurship something which should come from inside??..I dont think people who just think that copying some models or trends from abroad would help them in starting up, yes that may help! but my point is one should not start a company if he/she just thinks that the time has come in India to get into etrepreneurhsip. They should rather first focus on generating new ideas and then think of starting up. What say!!
March 28th, 2008 at 2:34 am
The funda is quite simple - Most of the people moving back have seen startups from close proximity. Either they’ve been a part of a startup team or know people that work for one.
In India, people fear stepping into the great unknown. While India has largely been an entrepreneurial country, people are scared to work for a startup specially in the tech industry. I think Unmesh is right about the general perception that it doesn’t make any “logical sense” to leave a high paying job with a MNC to work for some garage startup.
March 28th, 2008 at 4:05 pm
Its hard to live in Silicon Valley for a long time and not dream of becoming of entrepreneur, if not become one. The Indian dream, on the other hand, is working for an “MNC”, paradoxically - the same one that the US counterpart, probably quit to start on her own.
Starting up is much cheaper these days, the domestic markets in India are much larger and most importantly we’ve had first or second hand exposure to successes in startups in the valley. I think almost everyone in India has the entrepreneurial bug, just that the appetite for risk is more subdued.
March 29th, 2008 at 5:20 am
May i first nominate my own startup to be in the list.. http://www.citywalainfotech.com
I would now like to tell how i don’t fall in the category explained by Ayush in the 1st comment.
1. The idea behind citywala dawned upon me in the early days of my engineering (it was 1999, in Bhopal, with once-a-week access to Internet, hence very little influence of the silicon valley eco-system and dot-com boom). The idea then called ‘CITYNET’ was a result of a friendly common sensical discussion and was about ‘reducing local commuting overheads for people through a city-specific computer network for day-to-day local business interactions’.
However, the will to convert this idea into an enterprise came in only when i was pursuing my MS from US… and the reason, i would write at the end.
2. When i came back to india in 2003, it was after dropping out of my MS course…
so I had no business contacts + no experience + ‘VC’ meant ‘vice-chancellor’ to me…. Yeah you are right this is the recipe for death for an entrepreneur, but this is how i survived - http://www.citywala.com/History_of_CIPL.html
Coming to the point, why was it that the entrepreneurial bug bit me in US and i never thought of it in India (I’ve always found this hard to explain to my friends n relatives who always ask me “Why did you come back and why the heck did you go to US in first place?” :))
In US, the education system allowed me to work upon my independent thoughts, and the need to conform to the course/syllabus/pattern was not life critical. In India i always had to do prescribed things.. prescribed studies in college and prescribed work in job! What US ecosystem did for me was to pull me out of a virtual mold and let me see other opportunities.. thats it!
March 31st, 2008 at 11:37 am
thanks all for sharing your perspectives.
So, it seems that the # 1 common thread is that the foreign returned Indians have observed the startup scene in Silicon Valley from close quarters — and thats the biggest influence.
Now, lets hope this bunch of entrepreneurs can help build a similar microcosm in India, based on their entrepreneurial experiences.
April 12th, 2008 at 9:49 am
First of all let me brief about my self. I went to US after completing BE in 2005 and returned back to India in Nov 2007. I have my own startup dealing with web development http://www.alakmalak.com
Which I started when I was a 12th grade Kid !
I have never worked in the silicon valley, just went to visit once during my stay at US. After being in the US this is what I have seen
1) There is very less job security at US
2) The cost of living is high, so if you want to live a lavish life you need to earn a lot.
3) In order to start a business in US you require a VC / Financer, which is hard to get at the first place
Whereas this days at India
In order to start you own startup you need a very few $$ as compared to US. Plus you return back to the most Rising Economy of the world.
You can get subways, mcdownels, KFC’s, etc. With an offer up here at Ahmedabad one can get a foot long vegie patty with large coke for just 3.50 USD which is half the cost as compared to US
Comming back to the point the rate at which india is rising, the need of web vortals is huge, and one after using using sucessfull business models peple try to copy them.
Its being said that in this workd 85% of the people are followers and rest 15% are born leaders. If one has a dream of becoming an enterprenuer its ths right time to be up here at India.
cheers !
Regards
Rushik Shah
May 4th, 2008 at 1:21 pm
The folks who have commented previously have touched upon a number of common points, such as exposure to an entrepreneurial culture, success models and independent thinking, that makes it easier for “foreign-returned” Indians to do startups. As another US-returned entrepreneur (started company in Mar 99 and sold in Dec 2005) I am tickled to see a number of startups in the tech/internet space from first/second time entrepreneurs who have all grown into this without being “foreign-returned”. I have just begun blogging about a number of these companies. Between these and what you see at Proto.in or BarCamps we have the beginnings of a “native” startup wave I suspect. Of course others such as Sasken or MindTree have done this earlier in the service space.
srikrishna