I wrote an article for IT Magazine outlining specific areas of innovation that we are seeing in startups on a systemic basis, and what seems to be most important aspects. Please find it here. Broadly, we see less of “invention” but more need to make incremental innovations on execution. The key areas for such innovation include:
- Concept localization
- Distribution
- Managing talent
- Marketing
Would love to get your thoughts around this.
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I also wonder whether we Indians as consumers react to advertising the same way as westerners do. I know people who believe that if somebody is trying to sell them something then there must be something wrong with that product/service. Of course, large FMCG and auto companies spend a lot on advertising in India, but anecdotal evidence seems to suggest that small and medium sized businesses don’t seem to spend as much on advertising as a percentage of revenue as their western counterparts.
Lower propensity to spend on advertising/branding by businesses and consumers’ lukewarm responsiveness to such campaigns lead me to question the validity of advertising-based revenue models (that are so prevalent in the west) for Indian startups. So it seems like entrepreneurs not only need to localize the distribution and operating models, but they also need to rethink their revenue models.
I came back to this thread again as it seems to have taken an interesting turn. While Iqbal is correct on his concern on forcing evolution, tech startups in India have been evolving since the years of economic liberalisation and a few have been successful, but we all know that the news on our product start ups have not been something to write home about.
Do we continue the same trend and wait till the evolution takes shape or hasten it up is the question.
Innovation too was traditionally considered spontaneous and its pace cannot be changed. But recent research has demonstrated innovation can be accelearted and can be made predictable.
I am ceratin this could also be true for start ups, if a model coudl be stablished. This model could be distinct from the financial model that VC and investors would be using. This needs to come from peers, employees and teh ecosystem as long term success (beyond acquitsitions and IPOs) may not be evaluated by financial modelling alone.
It will be an achievement of the Indian start up ecosystem if we can evolve methodologies that will help create a step change in the percenatge of successful start up companies. I am sure long term predictability will also be of interest to Alok and several others in this group.
I Guess we are trying to force evolution, trying to create ecosystems when they have taken decades to create elsewhere….lets just sit back and wait…it will happen
Iqbal
India is a land of innovators, we are innovating all the time to overcome for example the infrastructural problems that we encounter (eg. using batteries to run computers), or to offer our goods and services at a better price (eg. using kerosene instead of diesel in trucks).
However, when it comes to technology, India does not easily accept innovation. One of the reasons is poor branding, packaging & communications. Most companies feel its too high a price to pay, “especially when we have a great product or service”.
We as an organisation would be happy to help out any new company with innovative ideas in their branding, packaging and communication needs.
As an example, you can check out http://www.indibiz.tv (the first interactive online video directory for brands) for its innovativeness, strong branding through its unique GUI, and also the media coverage generated in a short span of 2 months. (do a google search)
indibiz.tv is a good example of Innovation, Localisation, Branding & Communications.
Its time people begin to change their opinion of india…
Yeah, all problems have been identified before as Iqbal says. So have been those that he now describes – Startups in India are done for money (I am yet to see someone settling for “Nirvana†instead of prosperity – anywhere in the world), Media is poor, dearth for good teams, VCs need to have a better perspective of ground realities etc…
Does that mean startups have no future in India? Look at the past. You’ll get all the insights.
Imagine the India before the VCs came trooping in. There were entrepreneurs around even then. No, I am not referring to the cliched Tatas, Birlas, Ambanis – I think of the millions of kiranawallas (local shop owners, general stores, sweet shops, caterers, event managers) that qualified far better as startups and they never griped about lack of an outside investor to fund his idea ! They never had one, had their backs against the wall. Has that not been the secret of their success? I guess so. ) Several of them made it, quite a few of them might have gone bust. They all had ideas, no teams, no investors – but the secret was they were willing to bet the farm (if they had one or whatever in its place), start small, settled for a street side shack (where they also slept in), kept shops open from 9.00 am to 11.00 p.m. No, they never worried about valuation from day one, they just worried about stocking up enough to serve the customers the next day.
While it’s good to expect VCs to get a reality perspective, startup entrepreneurs too can do some introspection and figure out a way how not to imagine being a Bill Gates, Larry Ellison, Steve Jobs and start thinking like a Harishbhai, Chandulal or a Kesavan nair did, even as you work on something like a Google, Amazon or Oracle. The problem with startups today is that they have it so good, in a relative sense, inarguably.
Shall we talk of `localisation’ of startups?