Hi Folks…
Having worked in Delhi and also in Bangalore; I’ve seen many differences between the work cultures in these two great metros; and each city/region has it’s own advantages and disadvantages.
Am curious… and I seek comments… what’re the experiences that you (venture-woods audience) have had, working in different cities.
Good, bad, ugly… feel free write comments and share your perspectives…
Latest posts by Nalin (see all)
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hums, “People are people everywhere”
Here’s my opinion.
They are all the same.
Work is cosmopolitan. You will work with people from every part of the country, from any of these cities. In Agni, over seven years, I worked closely with people from: Bihar, Orissa, Tripura, TN, Kozhikode, Mangalore, Mumbai,Kolhapur, Ahmedabad, Delhi, Himachal and U.P. apart from folks from Bangalore. The four founders spoke Gujarati, Tamilian, Konkani and Tulu at home (respectively) and we were all Bangaloreans.
There’s not much difference in working, except you may stereotype places based on your experience. That is almost always an issue with the place, not with work. People you interact with will be a dilbert, catbert or pointy haired boss, regardless of which city they came from.
Maybe I come from a different background – having studied in a college where each state was mandatorily represented I have realised that stereotypes just don’t fly, even in things like capacity for alcohol. A thin short guy from Manipur could drink 180 ml neat officer’s choice whisky bottoms up. When you see enough outliers like that you realise there is no such thing as a stereotype – it’s all figments of our imagination. Every place is different and every place is exactly the same.
Guys….now come on atleast try to be fair to Nalin….this is venturewoods and not Rave&Rants on Craiglist.
Why do i see that most of the comments were either trying not to be offending to any particular city or out-right escapist…
I think what Nalin wanted to know was some sort of comparision between these cities in the Context of business..Venture Capital…Work Ethics and general attitude towards business….(So excuse me but pani poori doesnt count!! 🙂 )
(Agreed its an Apple to Oranges comparision but we could nevertheless give it a shot….)
To answer his question we might think how each of this cities compare when we think in the lines of:
IntraCity Migration – essentially the rate or
propensity for people to float between startups or start their own.
Mentors and Support System – are there people(VCs,advisors,PR,Marketers) who could help in growing a
startup from a small time player living on VC to a Sustainable Firm destined for better profitability.
Access to Universities/Students/Talent spinning out ideas – A lot of startups originate
within the Univeristies or from Fresh Graduates…
Availability of capital – how much money is available and how many
deals are made..we are not talking only about big VC firms here….this includes Incubators,PE houses..Angel funds and ofcourse High Networth Individuals looking for investments…
Reaction to Entreprenuership/failure – how are entrepreneurs or their failures regarded by the community as a whole?
Do you get a “Ahhaa” when you say you run a small startup or only when you say you work for Google…
Openness – how open are individuals to sharing their ideas and
receiving feedback? (You can figure this out easily by looking at how people drive on roads… ever heard of Delhi Road rage.. 🙂
Some Cities are perceptably more aggressive/Business like than others..(From my own experience Delhi Vs Chennai)
Now, no one should choose where to live,work or start their business purely on the basis of maximizing possible professional success alone. I dont think anyone ever settles in a city just to “Give their start-up the best shot”. They’re there for quality of life, for the love of the City, for a low cost of living. and ofcourse People (Co-founders), People (mentors), People (seed investors), People (Fellow entrepreneurs), and Encouraging Government and Support System
I haven’t met a single investment banker in Bombay who’s there just to “try to become king of the hill in i-banking”. They’re there because Bombay is the most happenning city in India. Ideally Quality of life should trump all.
Ofcourse you may also argue that in a smaller city you aren’t fighting for limited resources. In other words, chances for success improve if you’re a big Tech fish in Pune than a medium size fish in Bangalore. It’s a somewhat compelling line of thinking, but not ultimately persuasive:
You more “likely” to succeed in the Tech if you’re located in Bangalore?. You can be equally or more successful than a Bangalore person if you’re based in Delhi,Chennai,Pune or anywhere else. However, due to the congregation of a lot of Tech resources in Bangalore, your chances of success improve there.Your chances of succeeding increase due to the sheer volume of resources and networks.
But if you’re a person who doesn’t care about those other factors — like us 20-somethings who don’t have a family to raise — we might end up choosing geography based solely on maximizing possible professional success.
And that’s why many work-driven tech entrepreneurs end up in the Bangalore, and end up creating a crowd scenario of sorts there…But in the end its all for the good…its not easy to be the Tech “Capital” of India…
Upendra
Nalin,
If you want peoples opinion then please create a blog some where else. This forum is not meant for this kind of curiousities.
Go hire a marketing service to have a survey in all over India. you will get you answer
I don’t know why moderators don’t delete these kind of posts
Please delete this post and now onwards
STOP POSTING COMMENTS
I love Jaspreet’s post – agree.
Let’s have a little bit of fun and share non-conventional opinions as well.
My opinions on roads:
Delhi : Wide, well maintained, but despite that very indisiplined traffic
Pune : Narrow, awful, and the most indisiplined traffic I have seen
Mumbai : Decent roads and decent amount of discipline
Bangalore : Roads and discipline were heaven 10 years ago, but as # cars skyrocketed, the picture has become lousy.