Have been spending a lot of time here in bay area of late, and have been seeing a fair bit of startups here. One thing that strikes me is how naturally the “market knowledge” comes to the whole community, including the founders and investors. Some of the plans I see within India are out of step with global competition. Especially in technology oriented businesses, the competition is global, and it becomes very important to be aware of whatever is happening on that front globally.
Of course, the other route is to pursue local opportunities (either consumer driven, or technology which is driven by local environment, etc) where I would expect local entrepreneurs to have the same natural awareness of whatever’s happening around.
Latest posts by Alok Mittal (see all)
- Promoters or Entrepreneurs – A choice for Private Equity players - August 3, 2019
- Startup Marathon Mindset - March 25, 2019
- What’s your Customer Culture? - March 4, 2019
Being in India and working on high-technology startups is a real PITA. Indian startups as a matter of fact are mostly India-centric due to the lack of “market knowledge” (as Alok rightly puts it) which is needed for a global focus.
In the consumer Internet space, the successes in India have come from startups founded around the boom time. But since then there has not been many (or any) innovations which could be attractive enough for global users or as possible acquisition targets for the GYM Brigade even if they are very much present locally.
Indians or Asians from the sub-continent who are in the US have been founding successful Internet companies regularly. And the more successful in india have also been founded by people who have been exposed to the valley life and have since returned to India. So its about proximity to the “market” and the “market knowledge”. For all the glory that a Bangalore or a Hyderabad has, India is still far behind in building consumer-centric Product companies which have global appeal.
There are very few in the world who create REAL technology globally like a Riya or a kozoru and fewer (almost none) in India. Look at the different businesss models. I believe riya has been created as a global service while kozoru has been created to be acquired. Even a service like meebo which has far greater users in India than in many other countries are there because they understand the dynamics of the industry.
But there is a new breed of startups happenning all around the country who promise to deliver a lot. Lets see how far do we deliver on our promises.
Historically, all successful companies that lasted focussed on the market closest to them and then ventured outwards. No company started off being an “MNC” on day one. I think we have immense opportunity to serve the Indian consumer market right now. Companies like Bharti are an example of that. Even if one is building solely with the intention to sell off, then also being in India doesn’t hurt that much because all three of G-Y-M have plenty of presence in India. It’s not quite like being in the valley but still….
Hi
While it’s true that Net penetration is low in India, it is bound to grow. That is why I firmly believe that consumer-driven Web companies are bound to succeed in India. Of course, much depends on what incentive they proovide with the consumer to transact online.
Prashant
All the best. I am in the race too:-)))
That is one big problem faced by every entrepreneur venturing from india . proximity to valley and deal maker is a must for the success of any venture . success for an Internet start up means being bought or acquired by the big 5 of internet world and to do that you need to be in the valley .
i have been told by my friends repeatedly that you might have the best product in world but to close the deal you need to be seen in the valley circuit . A friend of mine who used to live in Silicon Valley during dotcom days and worked for hotmail (yes he made a lot of money from stock 🙂 ) told me that apart from the engg genius what gave edge to hotmail . another reason was the fact that sabeer bahtia was excellent in networking , he was regular at the cocktail and barbecue parties of valley . it helps if somebody is seen around and among one of them . all this talks of connected world,level playing field and geographically neutral market is not that true.
Talking of recognizing opportunity i agree with you that some emerging markets are more suitable for some specific venture . may fave Example is of . Mobile web Application . in this space being in India might work as an advantage in terms of proximity to consumer. but again if your dream is to sell your venture to google and yahoo of world you better have a front end in US. i think one company which is doing it right is Riya , they have there top Management in US and Dev back end in Bangalore . so they have both cost advantage and with good chance of being acquired also . Same is also true for Funding .
one interesting aspect here is what these big guys want to buy (tech, idea , revneu or User base ) . i think its the user base . if you have sufficient user base . you will surely catch there attention . Given low PC and Broadband penetration in Indian subcontinent one way out is start from India but focus on Asia , we are sufficiently close to our customer and understand them if we look at the folks in India,China,Japan and Singapore and do something specific to there need it will be tapping a big user base . (which can defect to Google if they choose to copy your idea and give it for free)
so the challenge is to make a user base fast enough that it make more sense to yahoo ,google ,msn ,amazon to acquire you than bothering to develop a new application from scratch .
i am counting on this for my venture 🙂 how about you
Alok,
It’s true about the lag in “market knowledge”. Could you share some of these global trends. This could be a good start anyways.
Take care
SanjayG