What is the favorite pastime of Indian blogosphere? Especially on weekends, when news inflow is relatively slow?
I think it won’t be an overstatement if I say that on weekends, most of us write posts discussing potential of having a Microsoft/Google/Facebook from India. This is a national obsession. I see this being discussed on blogs , email lists etc. I hear IT professional chatting about it over the drinks [while updating their resume@Naukri] and students dreaming of starting Facebook Killer in college campuses [while preparing for GATE/CAT/GRE/and Infy's campus Interview on the sideline].
Usually the discussion starts form exploring the market potential, and ends with blaming the ecosystem, bitching about VCs, discusing how folks prefer a boring job at IT service firm but won’t take a lesser-paying job at a startup.
More often than not discussion concludes by saying “India IT industry has yet to go a long way before we have our homegrown Microsoft/Google/Facebook” .
I always resisted joining this brigade, partly because I was somewhat tired of this debate & partly because I was afraid that stating them will ruffle sentiments of some people .But not today! – my hope for [potential] validation of my theory has won over fear of any possible disagreement . So here is my grand theory on Why we don’t have such hot startups in India and why we won’t be able to see them in near future [I will be more than happy to be proven wrong on the second assertion.]
To begin with I would like to say that I absolutely agree with the finding of my fellow bloggers who credited aforementioned factors as the reason – these factor do play a part but I don’t think these are the root cause . I think the basic premise for enquiry is flawed.
We think of it as a failure of Indian Industry and our VC ecosystem, but I think its failure of our society. These are two very different things.
The critical question here is not that “Why our industry can’t produce “Microsoft/Google / Facebook”? rather a far more important question is :
Why our society fails to produce Bill Gates /Larry-Sergy/Zuckerberg?
Why ?
Here is my take:
#1 Lack of Forward Thinking at Early Age
Let me start with few example from my own experience . When I was in college we didn’t have sufficient
number of computers in the lab. Till my third year, Student-to-system ratio was 1:4 and each group used to get approx 6 hrs-a-week of system time, which made it less than 2 hours/week for each student.
But that’s only part of the story , our lab used to shut down at 6′o’clock as administrative staff need to go home by that time. When student volunteered to take responsibility and wanted to have the Lab stay open overnight,our management said it’s against the protocol.
There were 20 computers which used to be idle in CAD Lab of Civil Engg Deptt , but comp sc guys were not allowed to touch them because those machines were not bought from Comp Dep’t budget . Dean of Univ , approved the purchase of CNC Machine but declined to grant fund for Oracle license on the ground that how can you spend few lakhs on some CDs?. His primary concern was that it will be hard for him to tell that to the minister [He was neither lying nor joking!] – all of this happened between 1996-2001, in the middle of the dotcom boom!
Contrast this with Bill Gate’s Life. He founded Microsoft in 1975. All of us know the story after that. But most of us don’t pay attention to the event which preceded it. When he was in eighth grade , Mother’s club of his school donated a significant amount of money to buy computer time for kids.
Gates and his buddies were not satisfied with that little time of computers so in summers they started working at big computer companies to test their system in exchange for computer time. Think of it – mothers buying computer time for kids in early seventies , big corporations allowing teenagers to fool around with their system.
What does that shows ? I think this shows sign of a society which bets on kids at a very early age, a society which allows kids to contribute early .
Bill gates was not an isolated case.
- Steve Wozniak’s father gave him an electronics hobby kit at a very early age and allow him to fool around with it.
- In his school days Larry Page invented ink-jet printer out of Lego bricks.
- While he was still in school Jeff Bezos of Amazon.com started a Summer camp called Dream.
I am sure for every Larry , Bill ,Steve,Jeff there were many who are unknown and many who are not so well known. My question is – When was the last time you heard such initiative in India ? Ankit Fadia comes to mind. but that’s one case .
I had a friend named Raja Brij Bhushan Choudhary , he invented an optical path tracer which won him an award at IT BHU TechFest. Can you think of what advice he got from his proffesor & classmates ? “Don’t put so much of your time in these hobby project ..make sure your academic don’t suffer “ .
Another guy named Manmohan singh was a civil Engg student , he designed Kota’s first multiplex theater.Our professor failed him in Lab exam because they thought he hasn’t attended enough lab sessions. I am from a Tier B Engg College still I know two guys who I think had a lot of potential . AFAIK both of them are doing fine now but i doubt that they will be able to do what they were capable of.
#2 Our Aversion toward extremism
We, as a society enshrine moderation. No one likes to take a firm stand and people feel offended when you advocate your believe passionately. I feel this uneasiness every time I advocate the merit of Wikipedia and ask people to contribute to it. Folks around us expect us to dilute every assertion with “It depends” and avoid confrontation. But confrontation and friction is required for excellence.
We need to teach ourself that confrontation is not insubordination. Single minded obsessive focus on one thing is a must for creating something which is out of the world. But sadly no one I know wants to work with a leader who is extremely obsessed about his work . Every one want “space”. To add to this problem we have a booming job market where most of the IT service companies tells they create world-class-world-changing-product while working 9-to-5 . These companies and the people who work for them look at startup as Slave shop . There is a difference between stretching yourself and slavery – but if you avoid extremism of every kind, than that difference is not visible. And hey! there is no such fun as Hard Work when you are enjoying what you do .
Look at Steve Jobs , one thing which we can learn from him is his intolerance toward anything which is less then perfect. I am sure it makes life hell for the people who work for him . but who among us would not give his life to work on something like MacBook Air and iPhone. His extremism brings out the best in you.
#3 Our Approach Toward Money
Most of us in India start working very late. I took my first assignment at the age of 22. Till then, my understanding of Money and how to manage money was practically zero. Most of us start earning at 22 and by the age of 28 we think we are past our prime. Not a good way to lead your life.
Contrast this with life of kids in US. He does a summer job while in school, on weekend no one will be surprised to see a kid from an american family doing odd jobs like mowing lawn or helping in painting the fence to earn few extra dollars. If you are working at the age of 13 no one looks down on them, and unlike India it doesn’t mean that your parents are not able to support you .
This exposure to importance of money at early age is very helpful when you want to start your own thing .
We in India try to shield our kids from thinking about money practically . We teach them to save but we forget to tell them SAVE for What ? Discussing about money is most difficult discussion any HR person would tell you that how hard it is for Indian to negotiate their salary package . Not a good trait if you want to be an entrepreneur, one should be comfortable discussing about money and negotiating about it. It’s a must but most of us lack this skill.
#4 Our Approach Toward Exploration
My Friends keep telling me that I travel a lot. “A Lot ” here is 3 trips a year of 4 days each. I haven’t seen half of India. How much you travel is not important for me its how you travel which I am interested in. An Indian family will go for a three days trip, will stay in a 3 star hotel and will carry a bullock cart full of luggage.
What’s there in those BIG Bags? I don’t know. Come think of it for once – its three days, you are in your own country, you know the language – what can possibly go wrong?
Funniest thing is that I have seen people trying to get back to hotel by 8:30PM because it’s getting “late”. What are we scared of? Don’t you know that more people die in home than while traveling.
Actually, we are somewhat averse to explore new things . We are overly cautious . We avoid risk . Example of travel is just a metaphor to convey a point.This type of thinking ultimately leads to a very conservative approach to everything . Not a desirable trait in prospective entrepreneur. Entrepreneur takes managed, calculated risk- he has to explore new frontier .
Contrast this with tourists coming to India – they stay here for months with less luggage. Mostly they move around without any inhibition or fear and perhaps they enjoy it more. They travel around the country on shoestring budget. In some cases, working while traveling. Funny thing is that only case I know where someone had a bad time exploring India is of Steve Jobs. He was robbed. It hasn’t harmed him much apparently . 
#5 Lack of Role Models
This is something of a chicken-egg problem. Indian media does a very bad job of making hero out of our leaders. There aren’t many good corporate story teller who make a businessman looks like larger than life. There is no shortage of great business leaders in our country but our business leaders rarely reveal their personal side. Most of the time, what we hear is “Press Release”. If vision is the fuel which drives the entrepreneur, then inspiration is the fossil which create that fuel .
Its amazing to see how little we know about torch bearer of India Inc -
- Do you know that Ratan Tata is a Life Long Bachelor?
- Do you know that SunilBharti Mittal was rejected for Maruti Dealership on the ground of lack of Financial resources to run the business?.
- Do you know That Subhash Chandra of Zee had a good argument a Hong Kong based Satellite operator when they rejected him.
- Do you know that Mukesh Ambani created world’s biggest petro refinery in shortest time?
- Do you know the journey of Uday Kotak?
- Do you know about Anil Ambani’s grit and determination when he lost some 25 KG of weight in few months?
- Do you know the epic battle of Nusli Wadia with his father who wanted to sell Bombay Dying?
- Do you know about struggle of Dhirubhai Ambani ?
- Do you know that Vijjay Mallaya failed in approx 10 business? Do you know about Anu Aga ? Do you know about Gulu Mirchandani ?
They all are heroes in their own sense. It will be a good thing if more of these folks can come out and share their story . I am not asking for a Gossip culture like that of Valleywag but wouldn’t it be a good thing to have someone like Bob Cringley doing a Series on Rise of Indian IT Industry -something on the line of Accidental Empires .
Epilogue
I know skeptic among us will say “You are just shifting the blame.” Or “Don’t complain. If you are capable you would have made your own road ” and other rhetoric like that.
Thank You guys for your insight. So I am not complaining , I am not saying that a genius need handholding and spoon feeding from society . All I am saying is that a little facilitation and supportive environment can make creator out of a lot of people who would otherwise be lost in oblivion.
After all What is an unattained dream ? Imagination or murdered realties.
Pic credit: 1, 2
While what most of what you blogged does have relevance in a way to how an entrepreneur is shaped but I think its the leadership lifestyle thats lacking in India..
Leadership is about collaboration and not about authority. Leaders make others join them and not follow them.. Though the aspects you have mentioned are cultural differences to the west and the protective nature of parents that limits exploration etc etc.. But as they say if you look hard enough you will find what you want..
Hi, I’m from Singapore, and I’d venture it’s not an Indian cultural phenomenon, it’s a side-effect of our Colonial History. Specifically the idea that academic will move you up in society — remember our Brit masters setting up the schools to breed local Civil Servants or middle class Professionals in the London mould? Luckily for the US they broke free since 1776, lacking a monolithic support structure which don’t prevent farmers’ kids from making big billions. Temptation of the Profession.
@Shao : thanks , Thats an interesting perspective . Educational system is surely a Big factor . I think when it comes to Education every Asian country can learn a little from JAPAN .
Shao – you have stated the right point. Our colonial mould is yet to wear off. Many many of us still look towards being a mdddle class professionals be it an accountant/ engineer/ doctor. A few only really excel in their own sphere.
Hey Prashant,
I will disagree with your post. Are not also not just trying to find out new reasons (bitching about) other than “bitching about VCs, blah blah”. I will not agree with your generalization of issue.
Our Aversion toward extremism – this is a personal option which you are trying to generalize. Their are people from all sphere of life arnd me who are more than passionate about their work.
Our Approach Toward Money – Point Taken
Lack of Forward Thinking at Early Age – Are we really that old that we can’t explore now. The idea that some1 cudnt get access to computers in early age doesnt make him handicapped for life unless he/she wants to be.
Our Approach Toward Exploration – These are again your personal options. Infact an explorer will not be affected by what world says to him as far as he has determined his/her priorities
The fact that we have become so selfish to make more and more money and go for onsite project and earn more dollars that we have actually resigned on the fact that we will always serve the world. as is rightly said,”India is a poor country, but all indians are rich” is one of the reason i can think of.
@Rajat First, You need to re-read the article. You are totally misinterpreting what the author is trying to say
1. Extremism. I think the authors is phrasing this concept incorrectly. Its not as much as extremism as it is to take stand on a particular issue. Indians are horrible at this, they naturally are skeptical about confrontation and standing up to their opinion. Oh and its not a “personal opinion” this is how it works. The older people get in india they more reformed they get to their ideas and notions. They are insecure about new concepts, this is totally natural but its a little more prominent in indian culture.
3. Forward thinking. It obviously has nothing to do with age. Its how indians are brought up in school, this is also the same problem in US. Its nothing to do with having access to certain technologies or opportunities. Its the idea that kids are not creative enough to seek out opportunities that exists in the country. People take what they are given, and what comes to them. This is a bad mentality and its prevalent everywhere in india as far as i have witnessed.
There is nothing wrong with wanting to make more money. Most people who want to make more money work hard it, there are a few exceptions always. Although the hunger to succeed and compete with one another needs to increase. You are not being selfish if you want to make more money. You can always give back to your roots(country) after you have achieved a certain amount of success and most people do that. I totally disagree with the fact that you think people should focus all their energy making india rich. Don’t waste your time on thinking about, build on opportunities, take leadership and do something creative. Don’t try to solve the countries problem, just because you feel that you a personal responsibility. Those problems will be solved slowly, once you have the right mindset.
Hi Prashant,
Well said, finally some blogger who is not remixing the scraped content and putting his own analysis. I have myself attempted 3 failed startups and yes I enjoyed the every day of my mysery.
You have been criticised about bitching
. I have gone through this and know it sounds bitchy but this is the truth. Isn’t bitching a holler for correction.
Keep writing.
Cheers!!!
Santosh
One of the best articles ever in pluggd.in. Talks about essentially everything thats wrong in Indian society towards entrepreneurship.
But times are changing. I graduated last year and had been working for one year now. I have seen 2-3 guys leaving every month to start something of their own (I am not exaggerating, this is a fact). These people are in their early 20s to late 30s. I have seen my classmates skip placements to start their own thing.
We are changing, India is changing and maybe in next 4-5 years it will become more visible.
Very good article prashant…
If you ignore the outliers/exceptions, the points are quite valid. There, of course, are historical reasons, and I see a lot lesser baggage in the “younger” crowd.
A lot of things I’ve done in life that have provided a dimension of fun/exploration/learning – have been met with raised eyebrows and questions like “Why?Wow – but isn’t it risky? All by yourself? But you have kids? Are Bangalore roads safe? See told you don’t ride bikes….”
And finally – the need framework. Most of us suck at mailing this – and this stems somewhat from insecurity. When you start out, you dream of a crore first. Then suddenly chicken out and have no clue how much is “enough” especially given that huge plasma screen you think will provide happiness. Hehe.
Fixing that “need”, and managing it, is very liberating. “Risk” becomes a more attractive word, and then you’re ready to go explore. “What if I don’t..” is the worst kinda rut to get stuck in.
Hmmm, need a coffee.
Hmmmm. It is always very difficult to say because of X, Y is happening. There are always so many things around Y and all those things are so inter-related that it becomes difficult to say which one is causing which.
Anyways, Rome was not built in a day. India has its own history from which it is trying to come out. There is certainly a long way to go before it can produce an array of such companies (or excellence if I may use that word here). At the same time, the momentum is there, and I feel it is more a matter of time than possibility.
The way new generation is growing up, I am sure it will do many things in different ways that our generation is doing.
Excellent post. Its impossible to agree with everything that people say. However, I think you are first person who has taken the time and are passionate enough to lay this all down.
America is great because its constitution advocates life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness (despite Bush). Indians need to think about that. There has been too much top down kind of thinking and children are not taught to question authority.We need to move on.
Thanks for writing this post. You are a patriot.
Hi ..
Excellent article ..
But i would had loved to see stuffs which we Indians have .. this wud be a feel good factor for the readers.. coz most things pointed out by you were negative ( a harsh reality)..
Why can’t we make google / facebook etc from our home ( as we rarely have garages.. ha ha ) . We have everything from educated IT ppl , skilled ppl for less salary, huge market , ever growing inetrnet and mobile users.. everything is there… Only we need to put steps in planned manner.. thats it . .
No point in comparing to west.. we need to find ways ourselves ..
We need to rethink ourselves ..
Suraj
Very well written article. For those who say India is not a developed country and we will be there in few more years, let me counter that argument with more examples
- Thomas Edison, one of the greatest entrepreneurs and one who created a company whats known as GE now, was born more than 100 years ago in US and there are more examples of folks from US. When I think of in India, maybe there are only a couple like Tatas who can be considered at that level.
- Another interesting story, not sure if it is true but highlights this point. When English merchants first met Akbar the great, they presented him a map of the world. This could have been very valuable to any person who is curious. But Akbar straightforward rejected it showing what is Indian culture. Did anyone wondered that we produced folks like Aryabhatt more than 1500 years ago who were real pioneers in Science but afte than in past 1000 years we lost everything.. it could be that we didn’t face plague and dark ages like in Europe and became too comfortable in the Valley of Ganges.. as someone says necessity is the mother of all creations
- In modern times, we should not say Indians are not entrepreneurial as there are several examples of folks like the Infosys team, Vinod Khosala (Sun), Sabeer Bhatia (remember hotmail and probably first of those $0.5 billion buyouts), Mittals and many other who have totally changed the game much like Microsoft or Google. Now the issue is that most of them were created outside India.
So now the question arises is then there are some inherent issues in the environment in India which prevent this. You can call it risk aversion, or lack of government support or lack of promoting creative thinking at early age. We as a community need to do something about this. I talk to young folks in India of my age and they are all excited about it. But when I talk to folks of 10-20-30 years senior, there is some amount of skepticism in them, there is some doubt or maybe just a general fear that the other person is there to fraud them. I am sure if you total up the amount of money lost in VC deals in terms of companies going bust, it would be greatest in the US. It could not be family life as I know many Americans who are more dedicated to their families than we in India. I think issue is just the attitudes – we need to change our attitude towards risk taking – real problem maybe that we dont see people who take risks in India with high regards. If anyone is leaving job and going for business, first thing that comes to our mind is that maybe he is not doing as well thats why he left or some thing bad is going to happen… come on people!!
Hi Prasant,
Very nice article , I agree with on most of the points you have mentioned which are ground realities.
When I told my Dad about moving from my Job and starting a company , he was very reluctant because he is afraid of failure (loss of money , career).However I was able to convince him but eventually I am failed due to my own mistakes.
However things are changing now , my niece who is in her second standard can create a 5 page PPT document in 10 mins , which I learned just before my first project presentation during Engineering School.
The ecosystem also very important for bringing successful business houses/leadership ,I hope we will see these changes in our society sooner than later.
As an entrepreneur (not journalist) you should not say you “failed”…!
Really? are you failed in your attempt? In what aspects? Probably just in making money? Right?
But if the game is still on, your life is not about that one attempt to entrepreneurship, then how can you say you failed. I am sure you are not sitting idle and your learnings from that experience would help you reach different/bigger successes.
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Prashant,
Most of the points(you’ve mentioned which others have commented) revolves around the fact that we are uncomfortable w/o stability/routine
In past 10-15 years(most of the working people today)had a single minded funda
Complete tenth with high percentage
Take math,phys & chem
Become engineers(some cases docs)
Get a job and you are settled i.e you are stable.
Don’t you think all your points revolve around this fact?
If we come out of this mindset,there isn’t much diff between us and americans.
very well written thoughts.. !
Thanks for the response guys . i was out to attend VAS Asia 2008 so Kinda missed the action . here are my replies to your remark
@rajivdhingra: Agree with you on Leadership Lifestyle. I think Leadership is a mix of Collaboration and Authority. you need to collaborate with people to bring your vision to reality and you need to be a strict authoritarian to protect your vision from the traps of mediocrity .When to wear which hat is the holy grail
@rajat : Thanks for the remarks , I saw it coming ..well I didn’t said that one can’t learn skills in old age , all i said was that our tenacity to learn is somewhat less at that age .of course there are exception Vaalmiki was a bandit, kaalidas was illiterate till his early youth . Ramanujan was a self learned mathematician with little formal education .Does that make life easy for any of us ? your point about this Onsite craze in IT industry is very valid. Thanks for sharing your perspective .
@santosh : Thanks for the affirmation . I salute you for your perseverances.
@A: Thanks . I notice this new startup friendly trends too . hope its a permanent thing.
@abubucker:Thanks
@sameer : Thanks for affirmation .
“I see a lot lesser baggage in the “younger” crowd” , True ,part of the reason is that they have grown with more wide perspective thanks to TV and Internet . lets hope it works well for them.
@Manas :Thanks for your remarks .I was not trying to do a cause effect analysis to establish blame . i was just trying to see what we are up against .
“The way new generation is growing up, I am sure it will do many things in different ways that our generation is doing.” AMEN !!
@Beeba: Thanks a Lot for your affirmation . and About the Patriot thing ..Thats the best compliment i received till this day. [I am from a NAVAL Force Background so it mean more to me ]
@suraj: Thanks . I told you Indian Media is very bad at making good story
@Anuj :Thanks for the kind words .I agree with you on our attitude toward risk. about the indian doing good outside india . well thats a whole diffrent post I guess .
@Vijay : Thanks . A lot depend on how we nurture the next gen .
@Sridhar: YOu are right thats also part of the reason .
Some interesting thoughts to which i do not agree completely ! However Why are you taking example of Bill Gates, Apple and all,
Its very easy to write and blame system, Society, VC, Angel, College,Management, Employee(who do not want to work for startup because low pay, and doing time pass job in MNC, just becaue of high pay and status!)… But
Did you ask anyone who has done Startup/Leadership/Initiative, they are failed right now. ? Do you know their pain ? Do you see any company crashed down ? [Or if you are working in IT company do you feel, what happen-you feel when Project lost or acquisition lost!?]…
Have fun, have to leave my office its too late.!
bYe
Gn,
-Raxit
Are these people are Barometer for success of Entrepreneurism,
May be what conditions for Steve,mark,bill have at that time we don’t know.if we have to take them as a scale then we can succeed in fitting “Square peg in Circle”
If I created a site some CNN,ABC open channel in them,or some newspaper write a article about them,they a indirectly giving a momentum and pushing them upon us..may be I wondering next Sunday about which start up they will write..!
@raxit”
“However Why are you taking example of Bill Gates, Apple and all”
Because I want to set the context of aspiration . These are familiar name .their stories are fairly well known . If i use any other name like Pradeep Sindhu ,Beerud Sheth or Gurbaksh G Chahal , you might have asked “Who are they ?” and Each one of them has created and Sold a $100 Million+ company . in that case a good part of this post would have spent telling their story and setting the context . i didn’t wanted to do that .Using these names put a face to the aspiration and when face is of a human , aspiration becomes attainable .
“Did you ask anyone who has done Startup/Leadership/Initiative they are failed right now. ? Do you know their pain ? Do you see any company crashed down ”
Yes . I have talked to a lot of these guys .Most of them are my friends . and few of the learning form these talks are chronicled in my previous post on Pluggd.in. I know how they feel . They feel bad about their failure but Biggest pain point is when they meet a successful entrepreneurs [Indian or otherwise] they find him so very similar to them self . Which is not far from truth . in that case [I think ] there are two possible explanation . first is to attribute everything to Money , connection and Luck . and other option is to try to see some subtle things which might have indirectly contributed to the difference . My post was an attempt to document those subtle factors . you are free to have your opinion . I respect it
Enjoy your weekend
@Azeez :
“Are these people are Barometer for success of Entrepreneurism,”
No . I think they are more of an artifact of Entrepreneurship
Excellent post, and viewpoint. I’ve have had similar arguments with my friends and I agree completely – it’s a society thing, the environmental we’ve grown up in. The whole mental setup is kind of against doing the big thing.
However, I would like to add that these reasons make it difficult to get a Bill Gates out of India, but not impossible. I see things changing, albeit slowly. I am very optimistic that we are indeed going to see a Bill Gates in next few years.
The limit to which your past can affect your future is decided by you.. at this present moment. If you know where you gotta go, then you’ll find a way for sure.
And why does everyone have to dream of becoming the bill/larry/zkbg of India? There are ample problems concealing ample opportunities in India. As an entrepreneur should be focussed on creating value.. Too much desire for the moolah always leads to anxieties and frustration.
JFI: I used a computer for the first time in my freshmen year.
Interesting post – although its deeply biased by your personal experiences & frustrations with Indian education infrastructure, culture etc. If you had 24 hour access to Computers – would you have filed your own patents or created a breakthrough technology? Though you might like to believe so – in reality – NO. Lot of Indian students have 24 hour access – still same result. Moreover – Indians are probably the best managers of Money – no race in the world values money like we do – had it not been so – you would not have Ambani’s, Mittals etc. Role Models – in a connected world – you don’t need local Role Models – Bill Gates is as powerful figure in India as elsewhere – Educated Indians think and reach globally.
Then what is the reason we are just making ‘babus’ ? In my opinion – the answer begins with our Education system – its over-emphasis on ‘getting good marks/grades’ and not practical learning – total disregard to an individual’s interests and aspirations (which is justifiable as there are still relatively few opportunities in India) – the result is that although you get a degree in Engineering – it does not really mean you had a genuine aptitude, interest and talent in the field. In U.S. – a child is allowed to develop his/her personality in early years – there is relatively less education pressure – he focuses on sports, activities, environment and basic learning. At a later stage when he is more mature, has a better idea what he likes/wants and decides the direction he wants to take. Thus you only get very interested/motivated children going into Science and Engineering – and College just gives them a stage to launch their Careers. Compare this to Indian Education System – and you will know why we produce tens of thousands of Engineers but not 1 Bill Gates!
Helll Yes….
The early introduction to stuff makes a lot of difference. My dad bought me a computer 15 years back…..and that single action changed my entire life.
Right now my state is considering a ban on phones in schools and colleges. I wonder what these A** **** are thinking. We dont trust our younger ones !!!!!
Approach towards money is a real big problem. Teachers dont like students earning money through some part time stuff. society still sees money as evil.
In my state of Kerala… business is a bad word.
@Lalit: Thanks , Another good one is “kill your past before it kill you” .
“And why does everyone have to dream of becoming the bill/larry/zkbg of India”
like i said before I used this name to set the context . this post could be written with other names also .Big Deal .
@Diwakar: Thanks for your comment .”Although its deeply biased by your personal experiences & frustrations with Indian education infrastructure, culture etc.”
a small correction its based on my experience and by observation of things around me as a distant observer . is it biased ? Answer is No.
“If you had 24 hour access to Computers – would you have filed your own patents or created a breakthrough technology? Though you might like to believe so – in reality – NO.”
You might be right . its not a verifiable thing so no point arguing about what i could have done if i had 24 X7 Comp /Web Access .
“Indians are probably the best managers of Money – no race in the world values money like we do”
Now I don’t think Keeping money in locker and Saving aimlessly is valuing money by any mean . Money is a Tool for creation , consumption or Investment . When local tizoaris have more money than central bank [ its a fact ,black money is rampant] i don’t know how this is sign of Valuing Money . I think its Insulting money .
@Kenny : I can identify with you .
Great post that makes you think at different levels.
Some of your points are valid, but it is also important to know that many of these role models that you mentioned had understanding parents. In the case of Bill Gates his mother was a big believer. Apparently when his mother would call out to find out what he was doing his response would be, “I am thinking.”
Not every successful entrepreneur went to the best school. There are quit a few cases of successful entrepreneurs, who went to Tier-2 school as you put it and succeeded.
Did you also know that Azim Premji never completed his degree at Stanford? Did you know how the folks built HCL computers? Did you know how many US-based NRIs tried returning to India right from 1970s and returned to the US because of the business environment?
I think what is missing in the case of India are role models and an awareness about what it takes to start a company, raise money and stay hunkered down to build your product. Instead, folks want to know where are the exits? I am not sure if that is the right question to ask considering that the startup culture is a relatively new phenomenon in India.
You are right about MSM in India. They tend to focus on the sensational side of business and entrepreneurship and paints a rosy picture. Having good role models and mentors is so important that we often tend to forget that.
Give it some time and I think you will see some great entrepreneurs emerge from India on the lines of the old generation ones, who head their family business.
Thanks for your post.
Kamla
i could relate a lot with this article having seen both sides of the world. Nice read!
Well written Prashant! As some body else has said in the comments, you have quite original view points. Keep thinking & writing.
Prashant,
This is bang on.
Indians have an aversion to exploration and adventure. It shows up at a lot of places, be it there traveling style or their rigidity about what they eat. Looking for safety and stability is something that is built into our system, and subconsciously, it drives a lot of our decisions.
I do not blame people’s lack of enterprise on their parents, friends or peers being un-encouraging. The first spark has to come from inside the individual, and in most cases, even that is lacking.
-Niraj
Again Prashant, I perfectly identify when you say:
“Now I don’t think Keeping money in locker and Saving aimlessly is valuing money by any mean . Money is a Tool for creation , consumption or Investment . When local tizoaris have more money than central bank [ its a fact ,black money is rampant] i don’t know how this is sign of Valuing Money . I think its Insulting money .”
Money is really a means for creation. I don’t understand what a 27 year old gains by buying a 50 lakh rupees house. 27 is the age for exploration, for adventures, for seeing the world, for understanding new things, for expanding one’s horizons! And by buying a house, and committing such large sums of money, you kill any possibilities of adventure.
-Niraj
A refreshing read after a long time. Kudos for thinking apart Prashant!
Indian story is gonna be different in next 5 years for sure. A lot of young minds are set and just waiting to pop. I trust we all have it in us!
I think I view this differently.
I think it is primarily because of the life cycle of the nation. For long we were trying to be just self reliant than just conquer the world. The new found confidence of being able match the best in the world is showing in the new mergers undertaken by Indian companies.
The internet is relatively new to India, access to computers limited compared to west, as you have rightly pointed out. But with ever expanding reach, it will only a matter of time before the ‘Big thinking’ catches on.
The limiting factor, probably, wouldbe the growth in the internet users in India.
Let me start by saying that we’ve had a very different experience altogether! Ashish had asked to write about our journey some time here on pluggd.in but never really got the time to do it. But this post makes me write a bit about it. Consider this as a trailer!
1) Lack of forward thinking at early age
Prashant explains the lack of computers in educational institutions & opportunities for a teenager to fool around at an IT giant’s place.
I don’t disagree with the first part. You know what we did? We bunked college as much as possible!
The entire team was academically above average/brilliant till 12th & after joining Btech realized that you could crack this in the last week of study hols for semester exams. So we had a lot of free time.
We made a lot of money while in 4th sem in college by coming out with a special sim for college students in Kerala in association with the then BPL mobile. It was a pure viral marketing stuff with no advertising but we managed to make close to a million in under 3 months. That gave the much needed kick & a thought in our mind that bunking classes (not exams) is not that bad an idea.
We registered a company, got good tech hands (we were mostly marketing types & couldn’t even think of coding) and then went back to BPL with a zillion ideas and finally put up voice servers in their Kerala circle to do outdiallers & in-diallers. Can you belive that? Bunch of teens hanging around in their data center trying to figure out what is SS7 & PRI and all. We finally cracked it on Asterisks (open source) cos we didn’t have the money to put the proprietary ones! Also we managed to do stuff on the lines of what a hungama & mauj does on content business. Still very much in our teens & before 6th semester we had tie-ups with Onmobile, Hungama, Nazara, Mauj, India Times almost all others in the content business. We had sealed the malayalam movie industry & held rights for ALL the major artists.
While all this happened, we had also registered in Technopark, Trivandrum as Kerala’s first student incubated company & had strong support from IIITM-K, STPI, Kerala Government & most importantly, the education department & our university. So our attendance shortages also stopped giving us bad dreams. Had a tough time with some teachers but pretty much we were extremely lucky nothing nothing tragic happened to our studies. We chose the start-up route & left the idea of getting high marks in college.
2) Our Aversion toward extremism
Contrary to this, we got some really brilliant tech guys who never wanted to waste their life working for high paying IT jobs but wanted to work with an exciting start-up. Again lucky on this front, but there are lots of people like that. Our lead tech person actually left us for a year to join Uzanto (slideshare.net) & came back after product release with tonnes of experience & excellent exposure. So now you know that extremism is the norm out here.
3) Our Approach Toward Money
This will drive you crazy. We raised a neat $200,000 while in 6th semester from Angel investors in Kerala. We knew that if wanted to make it big, leftovers of our college earnings wouldn’t help much. If could do this at 19, a lot many people can do much better. And as Ashish had posted once, we took in a second round of funding just after 8th semester – same amount but 10X valuation
from more Angels. And trust me, these Angels are really ‘Angels’. They stand with us no matter what. In between we have had small investments for minority stake sell outs from people who saw the passion in us. We are lucky to have a lot of really good mentors/supporters. From hot shot CxO’s in the IT industry to movie superstars to really good finance guys to some amazing bureaucrats to conventional business biggies to silicon valley chiefs to top brass media people.
4) Our Approach Toward Exploration
We traveled the length & breadth of the country cos we felt that business never happens in India if you haven’t even met the person with whom you are trying to do business. We make it a point to meet everyone atleast once & then technology steps in to take things forward. Just out of college we went to Dubai on an absolute exploratory trip & in two weeks got some good inroads to a lot of business opportunities. Now we interact with them almost on a daily basis over emials/calls but the first trip really helped forge the relation.
5) Lack of Role Models
All of the people in that list plus a lot more of them are our inspiration. Internet helps a lot to keep track of whats going on in the industry, especially with many high quality blogs like this in every part of the world. They give you a lot of insights & information & analysis, i feel there is not much lack of role models around. From ‘Rich Dad, Poor Dad’ of Robert Kiyosaki to ‘Screw it, Lets Do it’ by Richard Branson to ‘IT happened in Inda’ by Kishore Biyani, there are so many wonderful inspiring stories around you.
6) Luck factor – I’m adding this one
I’ve started believing that fortune favors the brave! The BPL we started out with became Hutch & then Vodafone. Now we do stuff nationally cos they know us since ages. Many decisions you make are subject to a lot of luck. We were lucky to avoid all the 5 points above. We got investment at the right time. Met people at the right time. Media people loved us so much that the attention that we got in regional media was amazing. Maybe its because there weren’t much business stuff happening in Kerala after all the ‘hartals’ (strikes)! So much attention that we ended up even meeting the president (Dr Kalam) at his office – a 45 minute chat that inspires you to achieve the unachievable.
Now we personally know/mentor a dozen such start-ups from Kerala who are working hard to do tread the same path. Its such a joy when you receive a call from a new teenage ceo in the middle of the night saying he enrolled with Technopark as a Student start-up. You can feel & see what in his mind & what lies ahead for him. We are happy & thankful to all those people who supported us.
At 22, journey so far has been really exciting. Its been a thriller all the way. Lets wait n watch what more is in the pipe…
BTW: Being a trailer, the most of the ‘most exciting stuff’ have been carefully kept aside for the big one
Hi Prash,
I have not read the article completely just skimmed through it as it is such a lengthy article. I have given f/b to you that such lengthy articles from you just makes me skip it
.
Anyway I understand from the examples that you have given you are talking about consumer technology companies. The main reason you have left is that there is not yet substantial market for that. I think that is the most important criteria rest everything is secondary. Here is point to ponder ,do you think that if Larry/Gates/Zuckerberg are put in Indian market (with rest of the conditions and hence your above conditions being the same) , can they achieve the same success that they did over US.
As we have discussed before one cannot make markets/disruptions but smart people identify and benefit early much from identifying the changes.
It is really a nice article Prashant. I just want to say something to the people who thinks that if a person wants to do something different he can just do it – society, infrastructure does not matter for that. I believe in an unsupportive, restrictive society a person obviously can take extreme steps to do something different but with supportive society that can go up at very high level with large number of people taking initiatives to make the world a better living place. Society plays a very important role to build our mentality and that counts a lot!
I know if I say Indian soceity is very selfish there will be a lot of vociferous opposition but calling spade is a spade is better
Inidian society is not supportive to individualistic approach; it is true for both life and career. While there is less support for individualistic approach it is intrusive in nature as well. Due to this – mental growth and approach towards the meaning of life and career in our society is different at the large. Why do I call it selfish? Can you imagine an Indian company opening its facility to the junior students for summer camps? There is a strong sign of change in our society and thats the hope and I strongly believe many will come out of our society to chnage the world to make the world a better living place defying the gravity where gravity will cease to work slowly 
I think i agree with you on most counts Prashant. All these points that you mention are more visible when you contrast students from india with american students. Indian students avoid confrontation and take what people say as gospel – totally opposite to americans.
I think the middle class indians are also very very risk averse and its sad. No one encourages their children to do things off the beaten path – think out side the engineer/doctor box…
We do have some of the most successful entrepreneurs of the world – but IT has not yet arrived. I guess its just a matter of time – there are companies doing good work, i guess our time will come soon. At least i hope and work for it.
@kamla @ketan @Khushnood @Aashish :Thanks for the supportive feedback .
@Niraj :great to have your view . I couldn’t agree more to the point you make about out fascination wee have about house . I think its a wrong thing . I want to write a full post on this HOME Mania someday .
@rishab : i don’t dispute your point about our nascent sense of self reliance and lack of domestic market . But if we continue to have the approach like the one I mentioned in post I am afraid that we might miss the opportunity .Much like we miss the opportunity in Manufacturing and Textile in late 80s
@sonyjoy :Thanks for sharing your experience .its a very reassuring . I look forward to your post .
@rajan : I tried man , I tried my very best to keep this post short .but argument and logic takes a life of its own . your Q about Bill G/ Zuck!Larry being born India is tricky. but if wee go by the circumstantial evidences like the fact that Sergy Brin was an immigrant, Zuckerberg moved to Valley to take his business to next level , Bill Gates move to seattel from Albuquerque , this shows that odds of success in high in a specific geography .so i would say that I doubt if they would have accomplished the same while staying here and serving domestic market first . Bill G has said the same in a recent interview .
@Chiradip: Thanks .you are so right about the individualistic approach thing .
@rahul : Very True . I once had an opportunity of camping with a recent grad from Harvard visiting a Indian firm he said that he don’t get friction from his Indian team . Most of the people at India dev center were so submissive that it makes him uncomfortable . He said whats the point of brainstorming if you are not speaking your Mind ”
. I guess its changing now .
Prashant, Just read your post and found it brilliant and stimulating. I haven’t found the time yet to read all the comments and responses, but you have obviously got something right going here. It is much needed.
I may add that in our society, freedom and compassion can precede money and creativity — and there is a history to our conservatism and lack of exploratory urges. I think there is a life outside technology and entrepreneurship–that which involves human relations, social relations, history and anthropology.
I hope to write a piece in honour of and in response to your points, at leisure.
1. It has been widely reported in the media that Math and Science skills for American graduate students lack behind their peers as compared to countries like India and China. For the sake of this argument if we assume that the leadership positions w.r.t. technology are flipped between India and US, wouldn’t the above fact seem like a good reason for the US to lag behind.
2. Also the fact that India has been able to come up with companies like Infosys and Wipro says a lot that entrepreneurship is alive and kicking.
3. I have some experience in the call center industry. The industry is flush with products from Indian companies – most of which are not at all easy to build. The difference between this and say the SN market is that a readymade market exists for the former in India.
Not to refute the fact that Indian education system doesn’t suck or the tons of social and systemic roadblocks to entrepreneurship in India, but I think by far the biggest determinant for the existence of large home grown corporations is the presence of big local markets.
@Mr.Madhvan :Thanks for taking time to comment . I will look forward to your post .
@Nishant:your first point is excellent . let me see if i understand it fully . By your logic having equal Skill Level of Math ,Science or Comp Sc. should [ideally] translate in to a level playing field while competing for leadership position .but as we know this is not the case .What is missing ? Let me tell you a story which will tell Whats that we are missing .
“There was Proff at a Top US Univ [I think it was Harvard ] who used to teach advance course in Human Behavior Class . In the Final Exam of his course the question paper had only one question “What is Courage?” . There were good answer and Bad Answer but the Guy who scored highest in that exam what was his Answer ? He left the Answer sheet blank and wrote one line “This is Courage ” . He understood the meaning of courage and demonstrated it . Proff rewarded him for his understanding .
The day we will have Such Proff and Such Student will be the day when we will be having a level playing field .
I agree with #2  point also .Thanks for sharing your perspective
@prashant …actually I didnt mean to say that “having equal Skill Level of Math ,Science or Comp Sc. should [ideally] translate in to a level playing field”. It might or it might not, but that was besides my point.
I was just trying to suggest that often we confuse correlation with casuation and as an example I suggested that incase the US was a laggard in technology, then it would have been perfectly reasonable to link its cause to the poor quality of undergraduate students w.r.t maths and science. But even though that might still be the case, US still has a technology edge. So essentially, what I was trying to suggest that its hard to say that which of your points are merely correlations or the root cause.
Not to say that fixing/highlighting any of them would do any harm either and would definitely help, but I would put my vote behind the lack of big local markets as the biggest impediment of coming up with a google/yahoo etc.
Prashanth,
I am not arguing about a specific geography. Here is another analogy to just beat again my point. The question you are asking is akin to asking why we don’t have Mike Jagger, Syed Barret, Joe Satriani and the likes here in India. Why is rock music not successful in mainstream. All the above points you argued would apply simillarly here but they don’t matter much. In India you would have Himesh Reshmaiyya to be more richer and popular than Parikrama.
There is no large market for rock music( though there is a niche) but there is one for bollywood music.
Cheers,
Rajan
A fascinating look into the minds of Indian Entrepreneurs. Read & Get Inspired to start something your own
http://ifounders.in
After reading all this comments I’ve to change my previous comment,I’m from south actually the problem is mainly the “professors here don’t thought us how to think, they want us to think like them..”(especially SOUTH),if you have remember your +1,+2 days may be you people got the point..!
If he teaching me Geometry If I ask him Euclid’s or Riemann’s
the next moment he will label me as head weight fellow,I don’t know situation in North,my friends telling me that greater or lesser situation is same all over..!
Hi Prashanth,
I appreciate for the efforts you’ve put in to think and write such a lengthy article… But sorry to say brother I don’t understand why the hell you have so many problems with India/Indians, aint you one of us?
Its very difficult to do the ROOT CAUSE ANALYSIS. Great Job! you did it … but on the contrary its very easy to point out mistakes, Have you ever tried to figure out the solution for all of these problems??? If Yes, have you started implementing them???
If you really care for India/Indians then try to do something effective which will help us to grow instead of sitting, assimilating your (negative)thoughts and writing such articles.
India is not that Bad… we need to do hell lot of things and we’ll do it. No doubt, we dont have Microsoft/FaceBook/Google from India but Why the hell people compare India with USA! USA is 300 years old and its been only 60 years we got an Independence. So ideally we should be 1/5th of USA, but We are only 40 years behind USA at current stage… Isn’t it good? We’ve got our own history.
hey prashant,
wer u born man? USA? “Our Approach Toward Exploration”.. did you even read wat u have written…or did u think writing such rubbish would make u less of a indian? would you prefer dying at home or while traveling where nobody knows u? might take days in identifying ur body..and about tourists comin to india with less baggage..they may not have more than that to bring…how about u goin on a trip to USA..and getting robbed? would you mind? surely not i guess…you would still be smiling rt? …please look into wat u r urself before pointing fingers at others (Indians)…India is in such a sorry state because of indians like u…..
would love to write more…but it would be a sheer waste of time i guess…
@Abhay :Thanks for taking time to write . I was waiting for someone to say things on that line . First of All I am proud to be born in India .given a chance i would like to be born here again but I don’t subscribe to the theory that a country is best and there can’t be any fault in the society ,just because you are born there . Naiom Chomsky , Michale Moore ,George Soros are Biggest critics of US and its Foreign policy .Does that mean they are not patriot ?
“Have you ever tried to figure out the solution for all of these problems??? If Yes, have you started implementing them”
Yes , In my own significant way I have done few things , I head few initiative and I am doing so since my college days .Pluggd.in is not a place to promote myself so i refrain from giving details .
I will mention only one thing. someone sent me an email yesterday saying that “as a father of 2 year old this article was best thing he has read . he will make sure that his son don’t suffer from these things ” . Only that reason is enough for me to sit through and respond to flame remarks like yours on a monday morning.
“If you really care for India/Indians then try to do something effective which will help us to grow instead of sitting, assimilating your (negative)thoughts and writing such articles.”
as I have mentioned before I am doing it on more than one front.Now as far as assimilating negative thoughts are concerned , let me tell you something Pal , things don’t cease to exist if you want to live in denial . there are issue and before we solve them we need to define them.
and i am not the only one V Raghunathan made a simmilar case in his best selling book Games Indian Play [ http://tinyurl.com/6fbfx3 ] same with another book named Inspite of god [ http://tinyurl.com/5blzgb ]( I haven’t read Inspite of God fully, had to return it
]
“its been only 60 years we got an Independence. So ideally we should be 1/5th of USA, but We are only 40 years behind USA at current stage… Isn’t it good?”
Ya We are ONLY 40 Year Behind USA , and world will be at a standstill while you catch up with them . things don’t work linearly they work exponentially . Japan was a small country, demolished by World War 2 but they rebuild the nation and became a major force while maintaining a cultural distinction . I don’t
think all of it could have been achived by Living in denial and without any serious self assessment.
“We’ve got our own history.”
Thats a good one . History . Which History are you talking about Abhay ? We missed the Chance to be Textile Manufacturing Hub of world ,We are struggling to get leading position in Auto component market now . and to whom we are loosing all this .Not to a more competent and open economy but to a Close communist country where freedom is restricted and currency is artificially undervalued by state . Why ?
if you are not old enough to remember let me tell you few more facts All these Free market and MNC you see around are credited to Economic reform which were started by our govt a decade back Not because of some grand vision but because There was only two months Forex left in our treasury .WE needed to devalue our currency twice in a fortnight to sustain .
how do we get in that mess . precisely for the thoughts like you are promoting . By Denial and by discouraging and trivializing the whistle blower .
We might take all the credit in world for nurturing Infosys and Wipro but the fact remains that before all those [forced] economic reforms Infosys had to wait 2 years to get a telephone connection and Wipro till this day don’t bid for Govt project because of bribery involved .
you can point achievement of this organization or that organization but ask your self is it “because of the environment ” or “in spite of the environment “. check for overall conduciveness of environment for entrepreneurship .Don’t shoot the messenger if he brings BAD news .
Really unfortunate to see lots of useless comments on such a great article.
This reminds me of an excellent article by Paul Graham – How to disagree (http://paulgraham.com/disagree.html). He classifies the comments into various types from plain noise to meaningful discussion over the central point being discussed. While some of the comments have been good, most of the comments here indeed fall into the first 5 categories (of varies degree of noise).
One of the first things in fixing a problem is to accept the problem itself. What many readers are missing is that Prasanth is not playing a blame game over the system and Indian-ness. He is just asking us to introspect and find what might be wrong and causing not to have hugely successful entrepreneurs/companies.
The reasons he gave are one part of it. He may be wrong, he may be right, only time will tell. It’s such a subjective area that it is really hard to pin-point to one set of causes. I doubt anybody will ever be able to do that. However, what is important is to debate the point, and contribute to it constructively which is not really happening here.
I myself disagree with part of the article, mainly the pessimism over whether we’ll ever see one. I think we are going to see something big in next few yrs. My optimism being that I see things changing – lots of new promising ventures coming out in last yr or so (and partly because I believe I am the next Bill Gates
)
PS: A note to Prasanth – I know you are taking great pains to respond to each and every comment, and that too in a timely manner, but it’s probably not worth it. My advice would be to respond to only the meaningful ones, otherwise you are just (unintentionally) contributing to the flame war, and maybe taking a blow over your own motivation. My opinion is that your time is better spent in writing another great though provoking article. Of course, it’s just my advice and you are free to discard
My take on this is a little different: What is so special about India? Isn’t it sufficient that we *have* facebook/google/etc?
In today’s world, it does not really matter where are the great organizations. What matters is that there are innovative companies out there.
@vikas : Thanks ,Point taken
On a related note, the chinese people also think they have similar cultural issues. Read the following article about the successful release of KungFu Panda:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/11/AR2008071103281.html?hpid=topnews
if you are Steve Jobs or Mark Z, then you’ll have to cross these barriers. actually these barriers wont be anything for you then.
its a matter to time before there’s a big story from india.
Hi Prasant,
Very nice article , I agree with on most of the points you have mentioned which are ground realities.
Btw what will u do if two million were coming to your home? To know more about 2 million follow us on twitter http://twitter.com/whatscominghome
Pingback: Can India produce a Gates,Larry or Zuckerburg? | DesiPundit
One of my friends tagged me this article on Google Reader. It was interesting to note ur mention abt our approach to exploration. Most of the great inventors of the past century and a half are Americans. And US is a society built on explorers (immigrants who left their country to explore new frontier) and their progeny. Historically, we have never been called upon to be inventive unlike the warring Europeans. We tucked ourself in in the comfortable blanket of Himalayas and the sea. And so, we have hardly progressed in the last two millenia. Now, we are just trying to catch up with no idea how. btw, with respect to a home grown Facbook (Cant’ expect Microsoft or Google in India), one should check out http://www.pagalguy.com . Used to be a lot of help during my MBA preps three years back. The think tank is there. It’s just a matter of finding it.
ciao
Founder of Microsoft – Bill Gates, programmer
Founder of GE – Thomas Edison, inventor
Founder of 3Com – Metcalfe, inventor at Xerox
Founder of Ford – Henry Ford, inventor
Founder of Mercedes – Karl Benz, inventor
Founder of Apple – Steve Jobs, programmer
Founder of AT&T – Alexander Graham Bell, inventor
Founder of Cisco – Len Bosack and Sandy Lerner, inventors of the router
Contrast this now…
Founder of TCS – Jamshed Tata, businessman
Founder of Mahindra (TechMahindra) – Mahindra, businessman
Founder of Birla companies – GD Birla, businessman
Founder of Idea – Aditya Birla, businessman
Founder of BSNL – Government
Founder of SAIL – Government
Founder of Wipro – Azim Premji, businessman
Founder of Bajaj – Bajaj, businessman
and the list goes on and on
Hardly a few companies in India founded by scientists or engineers.
The difference is that Indian businesses are run or founded by bean-counters or government. Whether a software company, electronics company or a kirana shop, it does not make much of a difference to the founder. The companies work like a kirana shop anyway.
Companies are founded as investments by business families.
In US, companies are run by engineers and scientists. Companies in US are born out of innovation more frequently than companies in India.
American companies not just make profits, but they also innovate and research (well, if not all, then a higher percentage of those companies anyway)
Now obviously, the question arises – Are we lacking in ideas or inventions? Not really…
More importantly, its not easy to start a company in India (think corruption, infrastructure, law and order, social security and safety, legalities, etc).
(Please dont call Tata Nano as an innovation. They havent been able to provide decent quality in an Indica car which is 3 times the price of the Nano)
Just to add to the list of shadows – Amar Bose. He is a inventor and innovator both. Point to be noted – he acheived his success in the US. Just one minor correction in shadows list – Steve Jobs was/is never a programmer – he is a great visionary leader. The programmer/technologist who had almost single handedly done most of the innovations in apple till apple II is another Steve – Steve Wozniack.
Shadow! I agree with you what we see mostly in India in the form of enterpreneurship is not driven by innovation and innovative people. In India entrepreneurship is not less, infact it is very high, but thats not driven by innovation, not by the strong will to add value to the society but purely by doing something to earn more money. It reminds me one statement of Guy Kawasaki – “Make Meaning”. The mantra behind enterpreneurship should be making meaning, if not it is not more than a paanshop in a crowded area where sales is very high
India and Indians are changing rapidly. Positive criticism and learning positively from that is paying off. We will surely see a set of Bill Gates, Steve Jobs born and playing in the Indian soil itself defying the societal gravity. You become the one or watch out to see somebody is becoming 
@shadows fantastic comment you give a fresh look to all previous comments,good timing..!:)
Hi Prashant. A very well written and thought provoking article. I would add a small point to the discussion. I came across a comment saying India is coming of age with regards to innovation and that there are many entrepreneurs starting out on their own. Many of the startups from the “premier” engineering colleges in India are also based on the labour arbitrage and deal with KPO kind of work. No real innovation here. So, let’s be cautious rather than set out on a congratulatory spree that India’s an innovator. Not that I want to dampen the spirits, just that our happiness shouldn’t be based on irrational exuberance
P.S. I would suggest you weed out the inflammatory/pointless comments or atleast mark them as such so that people can choose to skip those and the subsequent responses/flame wars.
@Kalpesh: Thanks , Regarding the flame remark well its tempting to remove /mark them but I don’t want to force my idea of Flame /Troll to community at large . let everyone read everyone’s thought without me coloring their reaction .
Every one has a Freedom of speech and they should be free to express their views . Audience at large is intelligent enough to judge the speaker by his /her words .
I agree that it cost the reader his time but I guess thats a small trade off .
I think the write up is a bit of a dark portrayal here. I think yes, an average Indian used to be less travelled, had less money management experience and was risk averse in many cases. And it has been barely 15 years since we came out of the license raj and opened our outlook to the world. In a protected and government run environment it was simply too difficult to even know what was going on outside in this world, let alone start world beating projects.
I think if u carefully look at life out in the street, i think average Indians have much higher survival instinct than others, that is because we were a nation which was focussed on survival, more than anything else. There was always more people with less resources, even today it is the case, we can see that in all walks of life, illustrated by shortage in infrastructure, public ameneties, transport, housing, food etc etc
Typically a situation of shortage is an opportunity for innovation and business to flourish, but in the case of India, everything was handled by government and sadly by a huge beaureacracy of corrupt officials.
A person,except in the case of truly remarkeable individual exceptions, is likely to be the outcome of the forces that the society plays on him. I think the bigger forces of scarcity and a very intrusive government led to our society placing far lesser importance on individuality and made an average citizen more of a follower, a risk averse, safety first person, conditioned to what the society demanded of him.
The current generation i believe is a far cry from all that, they are far more travelled, exposed to global trends, are managing their own money etc. We are already witnessing graduates from premier institutions discarding cushy corporate jobs to initiate start up projects. What they need is a bit more support from the government in terms of reducing the entry barriers and easing the procedural beaureacray to invest in their dreams.
I think its a well written post, but think that it is painting a rather bleak picture. I believe there we are in for an exciting future..
To put it mildly, I could not disagree more. I often move away from such discussions, as I believe these discussions are never going to change anything around.
Yes, we can devote most things that are missing in us to the society and the upbringing, and that’s an argument I can’t even debate with. Of course, your surroundings do affect you. But what you take out of them is a choice that you possess.
When I look at fellow youth trying to do something, I rarely see people who absolutely love what they do. I rarely see the love for creation. What I get to see mostly is the love for fame, a desire to be in the shoes of Gates and Jobs. And that’s the biggest problem I see.
You want to start a software company, do it if you love to create software on your own, do it if you love programming, do if you love designing. If you are the kind, I am sure you would have made a number of tiny winy useful software out of love (though you may not have put them up for download).
Yes, selling is also a skill you require when you want to launch yourself – but in most cases, I suggest try and look at the basic problem first. Finding people to sell a rocking software is an easier ask than making that rocking software.
If you just want to make it big, look at other ways of doing it. You might serve in a bigger way by working for another company, and helping them make big.
To wind it up, I advocate live the love of your life, without thinking where it’s taking you. If partying is the way you love, party every night. Making new software is what you love, make them. Let the software decide for itself, if it requires you to fork out in order to support it.
“I believe these discussions are never going to change anything around.”
Very true. discussion itself is never an agent of change its the outcome of the discussion , the takeaway of conversation which is what matter most .
so motivation of this post is not to list out the shortcoming of Indian society just for the sake of listing them . Motivation is to list them so that we can chart our ways around them . if not for us than for coming generation .
your point about “Love of work” being the sole motivation does hold a lot of weight . i believe that one should do a venture only He is at a state where HE/She loves to even Fail at doing it. so if motivation is inside us ..why does we need role model ? In perfect world We shouldn’t .
A sailor loves the sea or He loves Sailing ..he might not care about the cargo being carried in his ship and how much profit that cargo will fetch . still He needs Light House once in a while to navigate his way through the ocean . But if there is
Light house around than it makes sense to spend some time to see if we can create/facilitate the creation of one
I don’t know about rest of the world but for me achievement of those people are like light house to navigate .
It can always be argued that for creator ..Act of creation is supreme and reward/recognition /usage/beneficiary of his creation is secondary [Howard Roark ] But if you look at life of Nicola Tesla Vs Edison , Dan bricklin Vs Mitch Kappor .or Gary Killdall Vs Bill Gates
you will see that in every case creator admitted that they could have done more justice to there creation if only they had paid attention to those aspect of a enterprise which falls beyond act of creation .
to sum up i would like to quote renjith [comment before you ] “A person,except in the case of truly remarkeable individual exceptions, is likely to be the outcome of the forces that the society plays on him.”
but I know a lot of Not so Remarkable Individuals who has excellent ideas [ ideas like dream can't be controlled by surrounding ] . i believe that it will be a loss of society at large if we can’t cash on their energy .
it took a sachin tendulkar to inspire a M S Dhoni .
Does that mean Dhoni’s Love of cricket is less than Tendulkar ? No
is he a a lesser cricketer because of it ? No .
Would He be happy playing cricket [or rather continued playing cricket ] in street of Bihar if he wouldn’t have made it to National Team : I doubt .
would it be a loss of India if he did ? Absolutely .
Getting inspired from someone is perfectly alright. If it makes it easier for someone, great. I never questioned that part.
Taking your example, what I was trying to put across was, had the driving factor behind Dhoni been just the fame and glam of being a cricketer, I doubt if he had ever reached where he is.
I can only guess that he pursued cricket for he loved doing it. And that’s the only point I am making. Do it if you love doing it.
Hi Prashant. A very well written and thought provoking article. I would add a small point to the discussion.
I am small entrepreneur.(I am BSME and after 27 years of my graduation as mechanical engineer, I did MBA)I had taken training at Centre for entrepreneurship in 1977.( 2 months evening classes.Now Entrepreneurship Institue of India(EDI) runs one or two years course for entrepreneurship.
From my experience,I have noticed that business school reduces the risk taking capacity of person.(No doubt these institues generate best managers/intrantrepreneur in the world.Perhaps Bill Gate might have not left his routine study midway, he might have not taken so big risk and became Bill Gate.Similar are stories of Dhirubhai Ambani, Karsanbhai Patel(Nirma group)I am not against education,because I am also educated.But I feel that entrepreneurship comes from motivation by roll models of other entrepreneures.And all entrepreneures must learn that “No risk,no gain”.You can not learn swimming without falling in swimming pull OR you can not learn driveing without running car”
I am of the opinoin( I may be wrong also)that there may be gins of entrepreneurship in blood of Gujaratis(See Motels all over USA) and Marwadis(Rajsthanis)
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Hi Prashant,
Your article is to the point and very well writtent.
One point to make. Indians tell their kids how to save money (of course not for what, as you said) but not how to earn money.
Great post, but I think you’re really missing something. I’m an American that lived in Hyderabad for 8 months just after college. I think the best reason to describe why India has a hard time producing Gates / Zuckerburg / Jobs / etc. is best told with a somewhat related observation I had while in India:
Popular rock bands in India play very little of their own music.
Most rock bands I saw in India played predominantly covers of British / American / etc. songs. When I look at my friends in the U.S., they might play one or two cover songs, but most of what they play is completely original. Playing a cover song is easy — everyone knows it and will automatically sing along. Playing your own music is hard — there’s a risk that people wont like it. There’s the risk that you’re exposing too much of yourself. The problem with avoiding this risk, though, is that you avoid the reward too! How much better would it be to have the crowd singing YOUR song?!
I think this propensity for risk is the difference between India and the U.S. I keep encouraging my friends from India to start their own ventures, but their current jobs pay too well for them to risk starting (and failing) their own ventures.
I think American developers would kill to have the salary-to-living expenses ratio that India developers have. With a bit more of a stomach for risk, I think all of the other elements become secondary for Indian entrepreneurs.
Patrick
Your ‘rock band’ analogy hits the nail right there on the head!!
I completely agree with you – infact, a damn good salary provides the cushion that gets one to ‘not move his/her a**’ anywhere else.
Well said! I couldn’t agree with you anymore!
-Ashish
All bollocks. Everyone around the world is capable of self flagellation. That doesn’t answer anything.
India doesn’t have a technology product company scene because there is no local market for it (where there is a market, there is also a large industry, such as for financial software). On the other hand, India is a large media market and ergo the media here is fairly insular. The only countries you hear news of are India, Pakistan and the United States. (Pop question: who is the president of Sri Lanka?)
Ergo, while India has the technical skills and plenty of folks with entrepreneurial ambitions, it has no local market and no clue what an international market may be like.
Fact is, there are a lot of successful startups turned majors in India, and they got there because they found a market. That’s just it. Figure out who your customer is and what you’re doing to improve their lives.
For instance, about the rock band analogy above: fact is, Bollywood is home to what is perhaps the world’s most successful music industry, and they’re right here in India.
Those rock bands that do cover songs and have no career-making audience are the unfortunate fellows chasing a dream market, blissfully unaware or unwilling to acknowledge that there is no market for Indian English music in either India or anywhere else in the world. Bollywood has figured out its market. These folks haven’t.
When you use such an analogy to complain, you’re essentially saying that to your American eyes for American markets, here are some Indians who have no idea how to run a company. That’s nonsensical.
And let me tell you that I am aware of a few Indian independent musicians who are rocking the scene – one of the guy (he holds a place in limca records as well) plays for all the well known ceremonies (he couldnt make it to olympics because of his ill health).
“you’re essentially saying that to your American eyes for American markets, ” – I dont think this is close to what was mentioned in the comment. What’s mentioned was originality of an idea – be it media, tech or what’er.
And yes – tech companies have flourished too in India (web based as well).
Tally Jace’s comment with flourishing Japanese car market worldwide. Should we ask Toyota to concentrate in local market only to become more successful?
Jace, you’re twisting words and making a different distinction.
This thread is about global brands as exemplified by Gates/Larry/Zuckerberg, so the Bollywood example doesn’t have relevance. How popular is Bollywood outside of India? What would have made your argument stronger would have been a reference to something like ArcelorMittal or Wipro. Those are local brands that focused on India, created their own markets, and grew beyond them. Unfortunately they operate in a B2B segment so they don’t get as much attention.
Also, limiting yourself to existing markets is just the type of in-the-box thinking I’m talking about. What market did Gates have for personal computers before he started? Windows original goal was to CREATE its own market — “put a personal computer on every desk and every home.” Therein lies the risk I’m talking about.
Look at Muhammud Yunus and the Grammeen Bank working in Bangladesh as another example. He acted against the status quo with microfinance in extremely difficult circumstances in yet another market that didn’t exist. Now microfinance is something people are trying to replicate the world over — including the U.S.
…and finally, please don’t project the “American telling us what to do” label on me. Its completely unfounded in my comments. I made merely an observation, and won’t, in the future, respond to comments that are begun so crassly as your “bollocks” response.
Patrick, my apologies if it sounded crass. That was not my intention. I was merely expressing utter disagreement with the analysis, for to me it seemed an analysis of the symptoms rather than the causes.
I don’t know about you, but Bollywood is extremely popular in all the countries I’ve visited. People talk of the latest movies they’ve seen and hum tunes when they hear I’m from India. Bollywood is global.
Besides, there is no such thing as a single global market. There are only local markets everywhere that, thanks to any economy’s homogenising effects, have vast similarities that allow a product to be deployed across the world with only relatively minor changes for each market.
Example of local innovation: the tamil movie industry simultaneously makes the same movie in Tamil, Kannada and Telugu to maximise appeal. The shots are the same. All they need is re-dubbing and re-shoots of facial close-ups to match lip movements.
I’ll reiterate my earlier point: the market for computer-based products (web or desktop) in India is not large enough to sustain most business, and in the absence of familiarity with at least one market, the company has no basis on which to build a product. Everything else follows from this.
Look, too, at how many apparently successful startups have at least one senior manager who is US returned — someone who has working experience of what a target market is like, even if that is not the current target market.
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Leadership is about collaboration and not about authority. Leaders make others join them and not follow them.. Though the aspects you have mentioned are cultural differences to the west and the protective nature of parents that limits exploration etc etc.. But as they say if you look hard enough you will find what you want..(source: http://theusefulinfo.com)
An entrepreneur doesn’t look for the right environment or for the right path, he excavates a path for himself and follows it, with a strong belief that it’s going to be the right path. If it turns out to be the wrong one, he does it all over again until he eventually finds the right one. Take Dhirubhai Ambani for example, back in the license raj era, he had to almost always create a path for himself for whatever he wanted to do – manufacture polyester, build factories, etc. He also created a strong wall around himself which filtered all the de-motivating bullshit that’d come his way from the ‘non-risk takers’ such as people who’d think he’s crazy because of his insane ambition back then. These kind of people or ‘traffic lights’ are going to be always there in every era, and a smart entrepreneur should learn early on how to ignore these traffic lights and carry on without loosing any speed and working towards reaching his ultimate goal. I’d hate to admit it but these traffic lights come in the form of our parents, relatives, friends, colleagues and just about anybody else who is afraid of leaving his/her ‘comfort zone’.
Leave your comfort zone. Forget your safety net. Do something.
Excellent, one of the best articles I have seen on the net space.
I would also like to draw your attention to the fact that the Indians which are actually successful in their ventures also got a jump start in their careers in the US…like Sabeer Bhatia, Mani Bhaumik, Vinod Dham, Purnendu Ojha (nextag.com) etc. while India has unfortunately failed to help these people except giving them an Engineering Degree.
Well there are few entrepreneurs like Sanjeev Bhikchandani who founded naukri.com in India against all the odds.
Why is it that Indian can PRODUCE but NOT RETAIN these talents?!
well…few answers to this question can be found on your blog.
I totall agree with you utkarsh!
CORRECTION:
Why is it that “Indian” can PRODUCE but NOT RETAIN these talents?!
Why is it that “India” can PRODUCE but NOT RETAIN these talents?!
I’m probably reading this post for a dozenth time (since the time it was posted). Whenever I feel like I’m bogged down by the situation I’m in, I read this post.
Nice one Ashish!
“Single minded obsessive focus on one thing is a must for creating something which is out of the world.”
Amazing and very thought-provoking post! A must read for everyone before sitting for campus interviews.
In my opinion broadly 2 kinds of ppl who can turn into entrepreneurs
1. highly motivated and can work independently.
2. will excel under guidance.
I think there are a lot of instances where the first case holds true. Infosys and Reliance are the big ones and I’m sure there are a lot of smaller ones too.
I think it is the second case in which we lag far behind. Think about all the engg colleges apart from the IITs and the kind of professors that teach in the these colleges. They are absolutely PATHETIC. Also it is at this age which generally brings the best in a student and the professors fail miserably in inspiring students. This is a cyclic process. The students of today become the professors of tomorrow and it continues. I think the kind of remuneration professors get is partly to blame. Compare the remuneration between a professors and the same person working at a college. My guess the difference is at least 10 times. So we end up getting only profs who couldnt make it to a private firm. For the ones that are genuinely interested in teaching the money difference is enough to out weigh his passion.
Also look at the examples the author has given . All .com companies and these are probably the only start ups that have made it big in the recent times. How often do you see a car manufacturing start up that made it big. The concept of computer I think is still alien to a lot of us. I guess penetration of computers over the years should bring out similar innovation in our country too.
I would also like to draw your attention to the fact that the Indians which are actually successful in their ventures also got a jump start in their careers in the US…like Sabeer Bhatia, Mani Bhaumik, Vinod Dham, Purnendu Ojha (nextag.com) etc. while India has unfortunately failed to help these people except giving them an Engineering Degree.
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Our school/univ system doesn’t have enough focus on R&D/research base and support.
@yuva : not unexpected for a country where provding basic primary education is still a distant goal . problem is that courseware /content of education is far out dated to modern day reality hence its not helping much.
Great post, thanks.
Risk taking is a cultural trait and we certainly need to encourage people to learn,fail fast and become better at creating value.
Also, post graduates(Graduates in US) are the ones who come up with innovations first and then businesses. So there needs to be strong educational system to produce the knowledge than can then be commercialized. Other wise folks with the same basic undergrad skills trying to start a business will start commodity businesses.
@Praveen
I agree with you for your first line. And want to call its foolish for the next lines. Its a foolish comment and shows you dont know what is called innovation. Education matters less when it comes to innovation. Think about the guys Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Zuckerburg… Did you know about them. Your comment is also insulting to the people like me who are undergrads and thinks about innovation.
@chiradip
Great to see you fired up, just a deeper understanding is needed here. The three you have mentioned are exceptions, just take a look at the companies being funded by john doerr,Billy Joy and Khosla ventures, there are looking at technological innovations and not an web/social venture. Do think about your business is it a commodity, competing on price or is it an innovation.
Here is a link to Billy Joy’s talk.
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/bill_joy_muses_on_what_s_next.html
@Praveen how do u know type of my business? Yours is typical orthodox mentality that our society suffers from. This is changing if you lag behind – its your problem.
@Chiradip
Don’t take suggestions as a personal affront, well if are not able to comprehend a simple English sentence, then I really wonder about your ability to understand concepts such as technology innovation, may be its time for you to grow out of the web apps, do share the type of business you are in, i.e if you think it is not a commodity. wish you all the best with your business and seeing you featured in Fortune or Forbes soon or even a mention in techcruch dead pool will be an achievement for you, do drop a line when you get there.
@Praveen web ventures too have very high degree of innovations – know if you dont know – google it or see google itself. Yours is not constructive opinion but biased stinks. Period.
@chiradip
shows your immaturity in assuming the people do not know of google,its page rank. would really like to see your innovation, which i guess is far superior to google. well that is what you perceive it to be. also you need to eat your own dog food or drink your own kool aid, google it, if you did not understand what that meant, as you seem to have problem in comprehension and understanding. Awaiting to see your innovation or dog food, which ever you eat.
@Praveen no comment on your comment. Just enjoying it – funny enough
@Chiradip
great
all the best
There is always a habit to blame society for our failures. We all are part of society… if we blame society for our failures, we are blaming ourselves.
If you have determination/focus/good attitude, you are in path of success, if you are failing… that is not because of society… blame yourself.
Cheers,
Shaji
@shaji :
Try telling the same to people of Indian Origin who made it big in Silicon valley.why did they went there ? they could have done the same thing here also ?
I am clarifying this for the last time
intent of this post is not to blame the society …or blame that for personal hardship faced by some folks . intent of post is to raise some REAL issue about our society which if resolved can lead to huge rise in entrepreneurship.
As i mentioned somewhere in this thread ” A Country doesen’t become greatest country just because you are born in it ” so take a objective view , admit a problem if its there and solve it . stop being an emo.
I’ll simply ignore and put it this way….
The reason India is not having such a great persons is not because of thoughts its because of the risk taking factor.
We still have good ideas, ample amount of people. Only major problem is how many parents will nod their head if we want to start our own business?
.5%?????? Every1 wants to be in a secured place.. Not starting business and struggling around..
So, trend is changing now.. I feel may be just wait for another 5 years and you’ll see some1 at that position..
this is very useful information for me.
Think about all the engg colleges apart from the IITs and the kind of professors that teach in the these colleges. They are absolutely PATHETIC. Also it is at this age which generally brings the best in a student and the professors fail miserably in inspiring students
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