Even after all these years of the so-called IT revolution, India is still struggling for a business/company that has created intellectual capital and has thus created a true enterprise with roots in research and development. I think its about time to take stock and figure out why.
No one would dispute that India has all it takes to create sustainable, world-class IP businesses. We have the requisite manpower. We have the intellectual prowess. We have the infrastructure (at least at few places). And we have people who can be effective leaders and mentors. All the pieces of jigsaw puzzles are there. Someone just needs to put all of them at one place at the same time.
This is where the story becomes interesting. People are scattered across geography and time. And these pieces don’t know that they are parts of something bigger and they all can play a role. Even if they realize that they can take their ideas to fruition, they don’t know where and how to find complementary skill-sets. We need something, a system probably to help these people come together.
Reminds me of classical markets. Every buyer knows that they will find the best sellers at the market place and every seller knows that they will find the most generous and knowledgeable buyers at the market. Everyone converges to the market and everyone goes back happy.
A look at all great places to work would reveal that people thrive in presence of great minds around them. Everyone learns off each other and collectively the tribe becomes stronger. Starting with Microsoft, moving on to Google and now Facebook, most technology people want to be at a place where they can be pushed and challenged by their peers and they can enrich their experiences. Microsoft, Google and Facebook are like above-mentioned markets. Programmers, Coders, Managers and even Chefs are jumping the gun and looking for better place. A place where all great minds converge and learn off each other and grow individually (and obviously to a place that gives them stock options).
India today needs someone to create such markets that enables people with complementary skills to come together and get them start talking to each other. Events like barCamps, OCC, MOMO and websites like VentureWoods, pluggd.In are doing it to some extent.
And now the questions. Are they really sufficient? Are they enabling people spread across geographies to come together? More importantly so these people have complementary skill sets? Any critics? Thoughts? Opinions?
P.S.: The title might be an misnomer …
Posted originally on Thoughts @ Work and VentureWoods.
if everything was perfect would you have felt the need to write such an article? Biggest problem is too much insecurity, lack of quality mentoring( synonymous with poor indian education system) and seed funding models and successful examples.
you have read about the reality in the article above – now read about some possible solutions (according to me)
mentoring – we need senior people across the board pitching in and supporting new ideas. It does not have to be monetarily at all but a pat on the back, opening doors for the newbie, guiding him / her on what the pitfalls are etc.
I am in agreement with poseidons comment on insecurity as well – there are far too many instances where successful companies do not give time or encouragement to startups and try to scuttle them just because they (the successful company) are scared that someone somewhere will come up with a better model
so the next time someone sends you a mail about a new idea or a project – dont junk it but try explaining the merits or demerits and remember you were once the email sender and someone somewhere did help out.
The responsibility lies with us all – i do not believe in blaming the system but going beyond that and doing something about it even if its at a micro level.
The biggest hurdle according the me is that we are the most RISK AVERSE (in caps).
Remember that Steve Jobs,Hewlett Packard,Bill Gates and most others neither had a great infrastucture nor many mentors.They put it in place.
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