Loading ...I write a blog about Indian web 2.0 space (whatever exists of it!) and its reader base is somewhat different from the Venturewoods community; I am cross posting this so as to get reactions from the audience here.
I had been internally debating whether or not this post made any sense. What precipitated my decision in the affirmative was this piece of news that I read on ContentSutra. As things stand today, I can sense a general environment of conjecture about Indian Web2.0 amongst its thought leaders. There is a continuum of opinions, with people’s reactions ranging from cautious disbelief to speculative anticipation. Different people (or organizations) seem to be taking divergent positions and while everybody has a right to a course of action that best serves their own interests, I wonder what this collectively means to the Indian Web 2.0 entrepreneurs themselves. For there is a not insignficant number of people who have Web2.0 as their ‘occupational karmabhoomi’. Many of them are betting their lives & careers on Web2.0 and/or committing significant resources to carve out their livelihood in this space. Hence this issue needs much closer introspection, at least for the sake of that specific group.
Let me piece together a bunch of recent news item, or some of my own observations to give you a sense of what I am driving at. (My apologies if this looks a little sensational, but I need to do it thus, to get my point across)
Avnish Bajaj Says Social Networking Is “A Waste Of Time” In India – Avnish Bajaj, given his experience, surely knows quite a bit about the Indian internet industry; so when he voiced his concerns, you have to accord credence to his views. He did clarify later that he was referring to pure SNS sites. In fact its not just online social networking, he has earlier expressed general skepticism about Indian Web 2.0, probably because of the low internet penetration figures and immature state of the industry.
Sequoia Capital invests 7 million in Minglebox – Sequoia is a big name in venture funding of internet startups. They have internationally backed some of the biggest names in this business, so when their Indian arm invests a sizable sum in a SNS startup, that hasn’t really set the roads on fire (as yet) and is just one in an increasingly crowded space, you have to notice it. Personally I think this decision makes sense for them, for as an investor you have finite choices and if they have to bet on somebody in the Indian SNS space, their choice is better than many of the others. But my main point here is that they are certainly not as skeptic as Avnish about Indian Web2.0.
Canaan Partner says Web 2.0 not high on its priority list- Canaan said that while they are looking at the software & internet space, they are not hugely kicked about Web2.0; they are more aligned towards transaction based models. Canaan with Alok at the helm of its affairs, surely knows a thing or two about the Indian internet space.
Media/Entertainment industry hots up to internet (incl Web2.0) – One recent trend worth noticing is that the big Indian media companies (having huge reach through their TV channels)– Times, NDTV, CNN IBN, Reliance Entertainment are getting their internet act together. They obviously think that the internet is the next big medium after the television. In fact, its not just Indian media companies but foreign ones as well. Take the case of MIH India, which has been promoted by a South African media house, Naspers. MIH is committing serious advertising money to their products and surely they are betting big on this space. I must add that the media companies are eyeing the internet space in general, but it’s safe to assume that they are partly influenced by the buzz around ‘web2.0’.
No dearth of VC money for internet space – You would agree that there is more venture capital money available for the Indian internet space that what the market can absorb. (in fact in India, that’s probably true not just for venture capital but for big ticket private equity as well); and the blame for this clearly lies with us- the startup guys, the entrepreneurs themselves, for not creating enough compelling products & services that can be considered ‘investment grade’ by owners of the capital.
My question is – for young, inexperienced first time Indian web 2.0 entrepreneurs, who are mostly bootstrapping or meagerly angel funded, and who dream of making it big on the Indian internet scene, what should they make of this?
“Can you name single original web 2.0 stuff in indina market? even web company with brand, product?”
Ans: Slideshare, travel portals like yatra.com, makemytrip for example…
I think the primary reason for low popularity of Indian web 2.0 products and services is the lack of understanding of global internet markets by young Indian tech entrepreneurs. Almost all the entries featured on proto.in for example had a distinctly Indian flavor to them. With the internet industry still in its infancy in India, how can we expect such startups to flourish locally, let alone globally?
Truth is that we havent been able to conceive a web service/ product that can command a global audience (which is much larger and more mature in terms of internet usage). As the internet connectivity grows in India, local apps will be at an advantage, but they will still be miles away from their Valley counterparts in terms of diversity of audience, design and usability.
One possible remedy would be to encourage entrepreneurship at the grass roots level - this would go a long way in developing a ‘global outlook’ amongst young indian technopreneurs who in turn will churn out truly innovative and creative web 2.0 applications/ services that will have a global context.
Web 2.0 is about read and “write”. The power of “writing” back to the web, makes it enormously powerful. Few years back, the technology also was’nt at a tipping point. Now, we have AJAX, JAVA-FX, Flex going Open, Laszlo etc. The term RIA has started getting traction.
Yes, the penetration in India is not at “very encouraging” levels for the entrepreneurs to design a business model solely on them. But, it is for sure, its going to take off. Its a very natural evolution, and slowly, as we see around, Internet is making us felt in most of the domains now. May it be Jobs, Matrimony or now TataSky. You can buy prepaid vouchers right there, and bingo, the connection works.. As someone said, as Broadband becomes free, or lesser priced, wonders are going to happen to the industry, and then we see the fun of Web 2.0 everywhere.
cheers
deeps
Hey Amit, are you the same guy who writes at WebYantra??
I can swear I saw the same post there, and the one about Proto.in too….
Anyways, great work on both the blogs.
cheers,
Web 2.0 is about fulfilling the unfulfilled promises of 1.0.
It’s incorrect to brand Web 2.0 as a synonym for User created content (Blogs, Wikis, videos, etc.) or simple social networking surge. Web 2.0 means everything we thought of making it happen but could not do it because of the platform (browser), the infrastructure (bandwidth, computing and storage costs), and money.
A very simple example is a large company intranet — an uncollaborative mess of static sites, with the surge of Web 2.0, employees are able to make a case to the CIO to put up a Sharepoint portal or a mediawiki installation.
I wrote a post about the same a while ago at http://www.khaitan.org/mt/archives/000161.html (Please take 2 credits away for this plug :D)
Good shot, Satpal.
A couple of minor observations. Towards the end of your first comment, you say -
“What it need is Creativity capital rather then intellectual capital.Internet herald arrival of creative economy based on attention economy”.
You’ve tried to distinguish “Creative Capital” from “Intellectual Capital”. Does not *creativity* sprout from *intellect* ? Are they mutually exclusive ?
Similarly can something as fleeting as “attention” be durable enough to constitute an “economy” which rests on a more durable firmament - much less to build a business model relying upon such a transient stuff ? I think that would be risky.
IMO, Economy has always been creative, internet just accelerated the ease of access by deleting the variable of physical distances from the equation. Now that is a terrific advantage and precisely what we should seek to leverage.
last comment continue.. (
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We need some more serious players with broad vision and better execution skill.Can you name single original web 2.0 stuff in indina market? even web company with brand, product?
Web 2.0 is a very wide term but most powerful thing about it is it gives your customer to to communicate you his/her needs and requirements.Now its up to you to use them to generate value for both user and yourself.
SNs, you tube and other hyped stuffs are temporary ;what is lasting is connection between consumer and company.No matter what technology we are using,what stage of internet we are long term wealth can only be generated whe we deliver value to customer.
Its quite visible that most of web 2.0 entrepreneur dream to be next youtube or looking for fast one million bucks but IMHO that is very narrow minded view.Much more can be done on internet which only a decade old and lots of money and value can be generated ifwe focus on bigger picture.
Wow great discussion.Can anyone help me to estimate size od indian consumer inetrnet market for next 4 to five year assuming we(pc sales/no of active users/broadband) grow by 50% CAGR.Since I am not into media thing I have little resources to figure out this.
Internet is a amazing platform.You can reach whole world to sell your idea.Now everyone what to sell something.Challenge is to find out something unique to sell and sell it better then anyone else. What it need is Creativity capital rather then intellectual capital.Internet herald arrival of creative economy based on attention economy.
Now looking into kind of stuff that float in indi web sphere I think we seriously lack some original ,creative,business oriented
Web2.0 is about starting small and failing fast. Thus if you are “young inexperienced first time Indian web 2.0 entrepreneurs” just go for it! and perhaps (just)become old experienced entrepreuner.
Factoring out the VC will simplify.