At the risk of being accosted on my way home tomorrow, and also risking it all on my first post on this blog. I have a question, Why are/do people find startup’s of no interest in India?
The question is probably not that straight forward, simply because they maybe of no interest because no one knows about them. But here’s the scenario, A new idea launches in the valley, it suddenly breaks into the blogsphere, users start to us, users in India get attracted pass the word word, and voila we all start using myspace, orkut whatever.
Now assume this happened down in Bangalore, budding entrepreneurs risk life and limb , build it and then…wait, emails, calls, tell a few friends, still who cares, who knows..no one, how will they, the people who talk, don’t want to talk, why should they?
You can ask all the journos in the world (bloggers excused :-)), but they are not interested unless they can recognize a name, or you can include the word Crores in your budget or revenue stream…why is that?
In a startup the entrepreneur takes a risk, the VC takes a risk…I guess we need a few more risk takers in the mass media. Correction, we need alot more risk takers in the mass media…just maybe someone will realize that some people want to read stories other that Reliance, Tata and Bharti.
To me the ecosystem is not just money + startups, PR is crucial. Example in point Proto been doing alot top get coverage…how many people know about it.
- Building a startup in 30 mins (well 41ish) – Iqbal Gandham - December 3, 2009
- Should Facebook and Twitter bother to make money? (Iqbal Gandham) - February 17, 2009
- How we got Nivio to Davos (WEF)…and won - February 5, 2009
@Nimit Grover – Do you see the irony of your statement, having mentioned Jobs and Murthy – who just *happen* to be a few of the world’s top enterpreneurs?
The years of pseudo-socialism have nothing to do with the slow adaptation of a “startup culture” in the country – and nor, may I add, is the lack of “capitalism” at the core of its culture. A society like England has been capitalistic since the 1700s, and it doesn’t figure too high on the list of ventures does it? It merely stems from India being a relatively new comer into the select group of economies whose citizens can, for the first time, stop looking for where their next meal is coming from – and instead concentrate on making services and products which will be consumed *within* the country.
@Rohit, it will be great if you can shed more light on how you got 60 pieces of PR coverage. It will make this discussion more constructive for all of us.
Hey, hey hey …lets compare ourselves with nearby Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, rather than straightaway jumping to the moon to USA.
No? Non? Kaput? Well, why not? Before you guys put on your thinking caps and start pondering why or why not a certain problem exists in our country, get your bearings in order.
Look at the successes the country has, despite its obvious problems. And look at how it shares benefits with all (especially people like Iqbal) whereas how many neighbouring countries would ‘incubate’ you, with names like Ram Sharan or Devdutt or Avinash Sharma?
Hey guys, wake up and smell the coffee. You should have some (atleast some idea) of your identity. Dont take off on our country the moment someone like Iqbal or Shenoy or… throws a marshmallow in the air.