Over the last couple of days, I was getting some updates about friends-family in India, while talking to my mom. During conversation, my mom mentioned about two recent graduates, who’s campus placements (in IT companies) were deferred due to the uncertain economy. And so, they were considering pursuing – applying for an MBA in the meanwhile.

And for some reason, that topic lingered on in my mind – bothering me. Why would two recent graduates consider an MBA as a ‘way out’ ? How much did they even know about what MBA is about ? After all, by the time you graduate with a bachleors degree, you hardly have any insight into real world, leave aside an MBA. Who counseled them into an MBA program ?

It didnt take long for me to figure out that no one else is to blame for this distorted notion but our society. A B.E + MBA combo is seen as the holy grail for Indian technical professionals. BE + MBA candidates are not only paid highly – they are valued highly by the society, professionally and even from the matrimonial perspective. Not to mention the extent to which the media has glamorized the MBA degree – touting the crore plus salaries and the direct placements abroad. Now that I revisit some of the conversations i’ve had with my peers, several of whom have graduated from top-tier MBA schools in India & abroad, it seems that the common motivation to do an MBA seems to be for one of the following three reasons:

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Here’s a potential startup idea with a solid business model.

Provide a Groupon clone for major Indian cities.  The concept of Groupon is simple. Each day, you provide a new discount / deal to customers from local retailers. The catch is that the discount is only valid if a certain threshold of customers buy the deal. So, essentially, its group buying power, but becomes active only when the number of buyers reaches a certain tipping point. To illustrate with an example, say you negotiate a deal with a Bangalore restaurant – if you bring 25 customers, how much of a discount will the restaurant provide. Say, the restaurant agrees to provide a 20% discount if you guarantee 25 new customers. So, you announce the deal on your site and the deal becomes active only if at least 25 customers buy the deal. If less than 25 customers sign up for the deal, the deal isnt valid and all the restaurant gets is free publicity / marketing via your website.

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“Lack of angel funding” is an issue brought up so many times while addressing entrepreneurship in India that I’ve seriously started getting nauseated at the very mention of it.

Its just become common place to cite lack of angel funding as one of the main reasons for lack of startups in India. To a certain extent, I agree – angel funding needs to be more easily accessible and there are a lot of genuine startups that could benefit from angel funding being more readily available.

However, an equal amount of blame also lies in the fact that most of the ‘so called’ startups are simply not fundable. We lack motivated, passionate entrepreneurs pursuing high quality ideas and startups. Hate me if you want, but someone had to say it and so I just did. Like it or not, but thats a fact. As someone who gets several pitches for reviews on a daily basis, I cant help but use one word to describe some of the startups – appalling. Day in – day out I witness how folks develop a new mashup or some inane idea, which at best could pass of as a hobby or a side project. Or even a college level project. But in no way, could they be called a startup.

Over time, the number of such ‘startups’ has increased. I cant help but wonder why / how people tend to get the distorted notion that their side projects could qualify as a startup ? Are we doing something fundamentally wrong from a perspective of fostering entrepreneurship that folks get the notion that their side project is a startup ?  Seriously, not everything goes. Having a lousy website with 10 users does not qualify as being an entrepreneur.

If I find some of these pitches not worthy of even giving a 2nd glance at, why – how do you expect angels / VC’s to fund these ideas with real money ?

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