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This is a lovely essay, with some heartwarming sentiment, but at its core, it is misguided. He fails to ask, "Why are IIT grads so certain that they'll find bet

This is a lovely essay, with some heartwarming sentiment, but at its core, it is misguided. He fails to ask, "Why are IIT grads so certain that they'll find better jobs outside of India than they will in India?" And the answer is twofold. First, the corruption and bureaucracy of the Indian government makes it very difficult for entrepreneurs to get new businesses off the ground. Second, India, like many other Asian countries exerts social pressure against non-conformity and risk taking, both of which are required for entrepreneurship. You want to start a business in India? Good on you. Now you have to fill out hundreds of forms, pay bribes, wait for years for approval to go through, and then get shut down anyway because some local politician decided he just doesn't like you. As if that wasn't enough, there's the culture. Indian culture, like many Asian cultures, looks down upon non-conformity and risk-taking. If you're a newly minted IIT graduate, how exactly are you going to go home and explain to your mother that you turned down that great job in America from a prestigious western firm and instead want to work for a "start-up" (a word that all too many equate with "bum" or "layabout")? While India is changing, the combination of government regulation and social pressure still makes it very hard for new IIT grads, who are often from modest means, to do things he's advocating. EDIT: modified introductory paragraph to better reflect the content of the argument.

cmadan 14y ago
For a web startup in India, all you need to do is fill out an application to register as a proprietorship or partnership and start hacking away. The proprietorship form takes about 30 minutes to fill out and is processed in two weeks and you don't need to pay a bribe. Once you scale up such that you need to change from a simple proprietorship to something more structured such as a private limited company you can hire a lawyer to do that for you. You could incorporate in India, USA or Singapore - whichever one suits you. I know startups in all three of these categories. As for the non-conformity and risk-taking - I think that is exactly the point the blog author is trying to address - someone has to be the first one to stop conforming to the societal roles and IITians should lead the way.
- nsomaru 14y ago
  Why would people incorporate in the States/Singapore?
  - movingahead 14y ago
    Indian company laws aren't very startup friendly. Also, if you are looking to raise investment from a US based VC, they are much more comfortable in investing in an environment they know better. Also, there are quite specific advantages of incorporating in USA. Indian payment gateway providers don't offer the same set of features that the Western providers do. This may have changed lately as more payment startups have started in India. PS: This is based on what I hear from founders at various conferences in Bangalore, and not on first-hand experience.
saching90 14y ago
What you are saying is correct in some sense, yes there are a lot of hurdles and the going is not easy. But there are people who are doing things, there are people who are changing things. Yes our system is not perfect, yes we are very corrupt, but one tends to forget that India is a very young society. We were liberated only 66 years ago from almost a century of foreign rule. But in just 6 decades we have made remarkable progress. But having said that we can't just wait for things to become better. There needs to be someone who has to take the first step, who needs to be in the front of the formation, those people may not win the war but they lay the foundation for it. I believe just complaining about the system does not help.

cmadan 14y ago

For a web startup in India, all you need to do is fill out an application to register as a proprietorship or partnership and start hacking away. The proprietorship form takes about 30 minutes to fill out and is processed in two weeks and you don't need to pay a bribe. Once you scale up such that you need to change from a simple proprietorship to something more structured such as a private limited company you can hire a lawyer to do that for you. You could incorporate in India, USA or Singapore - whichever one suits you. I know startups in all three of these categories. As for the non-conformity and risk-taking - I think that is exactly the point the blog author is trying to address - someone has to be the first one to stop conforming to the societal roles and IITians should lead the way.

nsomaru 14y ago
Why would people incorporate in the States/Singapore?
- movingahead 14y ago
  Indian company laws aren't very startup friendly. Also, if you are looking to raise investment from a US based VC, they are much more comfortable in investing in an environment they know better. Also, there are quite specific advantages of incorporating in USA. Indian payment gateway providers don't offer the same set of features that the Western providers do. This may have changed lately as more payment startups have started in India. PS: This is based on what I hear from founders at various conferences in Bangalore, and not on first-hand experience.

saching90 14y ago

What you are saying is correct in some sense, yes there are a lot of hurdles and the going is not easy. But there are people who are doing things, there are people who are changing things. Yes our system is not perfect, yes we are very corrupt, but one tends to forget that India is a very young society. We were liberated only 66 years ago from almost a century of foreign rule. But in just 6 decades we have made remarkable progress. But having said that we can't just wait for things to become better. There needs to be someone who has to take the first step, who needs to be in the front of the formation, those people may not win the war but they lay the foundation for it. I believe just complaining about the system does not help.