tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3718956085911858962.post847211220596866795..comments2023-12-27T14:48:02.113+05:30Comments on Electric Sheep Blog: No virtuous circle, or how India's Silicon Valley is... differentAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11938300811286150164noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3718956085911858962.post-44870444795579734212012-06-08T03:40:08.019+05:302012-06-08T03:40:08.019+05:30"Here, doing a product startup only makes fin..."Here, doing a product startup only makes financial sense if you're in your early twenties, intend to remain single or have a substantial inheritance. As you get older, you absolutely need a steady, significant income because unlike the first world, you're paying for your kids education from the age of three and up. You're likely to also be supporting your parents by the time you're is your early forties. Education and healthcare are, as I'm sure you know, expensive.<br />This means that you have a narrow window early on to successfully do a product start up. Missing that window means the realities of life will force you into a regular job. Even if you tenaciously hang on, you're doing so knowing that you're forcing your family to compromise on their lifestyle to allow you to pursue your dreams."<br /><br />To be honest things are not that different here in Canada. The main difference I suspect, is we have fewer qualms about ignoring what our parents think.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3718956085911858962.post-6742350833870020652012-05-08T10:29:41.686+05:302012-05-08T10:29:41.686+05:30Made good reading. Glad that i start off my day wi...Made good reading. Glad that i start off my day with a read that i could relate to and made sense.<br /><br />I should say rubymonk was good and all the very best going forward with it.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3718956085911858962.post-76396994967602155822012-04-09T22:32:07.891+05:302012-04-09T22:32:07.891+05:30I'd just say one thing.
There was sort of a ru...I'd just say one thing.<br />There was sort of a running negativity throughout the article. It seems like you really 'have' to become a businessman for some reason. That's a very wrong reason for getting into entrepreneurship in my opinion. There are really brilliant people out there, who became brilliant because they chose what they really 'wanted' to do, what they really 'loved' to do, over what seemed cooler or better.<br /><br />Since you're talking about the valley, just recently, Kevin Rose, a serial entrepreneur, joined Google as a Senior Product Manager. If you read more about him, he has showed numerous times that he is really a product person. He realized what he's best at, quit his startup and he's now doing what he's really good at. That is some maturity.<br /><br />The point that I'm trying to make is, apart from the many reasons that you mentioned why life is difficult for a startup in India, I think you missed the number one reason which is applicable throughout the world: If you want to start a product company, if you're planning to make a product that really makes a dent into the universe, you have to enjoy the love for innovation from day one. Not money, not anything else. And it shows, it really shows. Look at Lego for example, and how Ole Christiansen did it. There is no whining about resources, there is no whining about circumstances. It's all about whether you really want to see that particular dent in that particular niche. Everything else is secondary.<br /><br />I may be wrong, but it looks like you have chosen entrepreneurship for wrong reasons. (you might want to look up what Phil Libin says about choosing entrepreneurship in his talk at a Stanford ETL seminar)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3718956085911858962.post-14733978207749855012012-04-09T21:34:31.317+05:302012-04-09T21:34:31.317+05:30Very well written. I am also a Programmer-Entrepre...Very well written. I am also a Programmer-Entrepreneur based in Bangalore. And could appreciate your thoughts. Half way through your post, I was thinking about using consulting to support the product. And you did just that. <br /><br />We do the same thing for our product.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3718956085911858962.post-58507720993448476192012-04-08T01:01:23.530+05:302012-04-08T01:01:23.530+05:30Nice read and well thoughts put article. At 1am r...Nice read and well thoughts put article. At 1am reading blogs is for dream chasers. Lets put our best, so that atleast next-gen will get benefitted. I wish all the best to you all.Neelnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3718956085911858962.post-34776739085979140932012-04-07T21:21:39.186+05:302012-04-07T21:21:39.186+05:30I'm in my mid twenties and about to quit a ver...I'm in my mid twenties and about to quit a very good job at an amazing company. Very timely for me. Thanks for this!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3718956085911858962.post-74190936854306372862012-04-06T18:54:37.517+05:302012-04-06T18:54:37.517+05:30Deal with the risk is my learning from this.
Nice...Deal with the risk is my learning from this. <br />Nice Read.ManavShankarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07114359381978446916noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3718956085911858962.post-71909249078569411562012-04-06T17:40:35.966+05:302012-04-06T17:40:35.966+05:30Nice read.
Your experience and solution path is no...Nice read.<br />Your experience and solution path is not new. You may want to look at Aditi Tech. The founder an ex-Microsoft guy pursued the same path of services subsidizing product work back in the mid 90s. I am not sure how successful they were with products.<br />It would be nice if you can benefit from that experience and avoid the pitfalls.Jayhttp://www.google.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3718956085911858962.post-11455910981619300982012-04-06T13:52:07.246+05:302012-04-06T13:52:07.246+05:30Well... Its a nice read.... but I do not believe i...Well... Its a nice read.... but I do not believe in it... We are also family based, just married and have started on our own... With six people to support in the family, it was really tough!.... We started as a service company.... struggled for a year with out any money.... but no pressure from the family.... In fact we were encouraged to follow the dream... (mind you... we are a middle class family with out any money to support us)... we got a product idea... worked on it... and it is great now.... And the lessons that we have learnt.... makes complete sense now.... Our entire approach was wrong initially... Experience has helped us and life is definitely great now!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3718956085911858962.post-28771914894546024782012-04-06T02:33:19.212+05:302012-04-06T02:33:19.212+05:30Hi Sidu, very well articulated. I more or less was...Hi Sidu, very well articulated. I more or less wasted that narrow window of opportunity that life offers us here in India in our twenties, just doing random things that interested me, rather than trying to build something lasting like you did. Just like you, I had a very very similar family incident which made me ditch all that and get back to a "steady" job. <br /><br />That period however was life changing for me in many ways, and I think the message that should go to people who still are at that point of life and earlier, is that to just use that period to do whatever you can imagine, regardless of whether you can succeed or fail. There is a very likely chance that further on in life you will work in a standard place like others. If you succeed, you will surely do only better as you get older. If not, you will learn enough to give you a perspective on work that no one else would have.<br /><br />But for goodness sake, don't be under the delusion that this opportunity will come later in life. As Sidu pointed out, it is exceedingly difficult and requires meticulous planning and loads of patience. Even then there are tonnes of Indians out there who labor under the delusion that they would turn entrepreneur at the later stage of their life. Almost certainly they won't. If you cannot take risks when you have the least to lose in life (the first part of your career), you certainly don't have the appetite to do so later in life when you have so much more to lose - your kids education, marriage and retirement savings.Sandip Bhattacharyahttp://blog.sandipb.netnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3718956085911858962.post-63607771991787938022012-04-05T23:57:08.809+05:302012-04-05T23:57:08.809+05:30Nice and inspiring read. To the list of problems a...Nice and inspiring read. To the list of problems affecting the Indian startup scene, I'd add lack of a market as a major factor. I can't name any numbers, but I think the Indian IT market is a negligible fraction of the US. It's really hard to complete for US customers based out of Bangalore, and most of the Indian successes have been copies of US startups, as you noted.Pramod Biligirihttp://www.pramodb.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3718956085911858962.post-90974890118988057472012-04-05T22:48:24.861+05:302012-04-05T22:48:24.861+05:30A very timely post as I am pondering moving back t...A very timely post as I am pondering moving back to Bangalore. Your observations on the social aspects of the decisions are spot-on. I am finding it hard to convince my near and dear ones that working for a "big" company is not the only way. <br /><br />Thanks for posting your experiences.Ramshttp://braincells2pixels.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3718956085911858962.post-55338076386929480032012-04-05T19:23:06.196+05:302012-04-05T19:23:06.196+05:30nice read.nice read.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3718956085911858962.post-76358552124926476462012-04-05T18:44:40.423+05:302012-04-05T18:44:40.423+05:30I couldn't agree more with what you've wri...I couldn't agree more with what you've written here so well.<br />I knew I'll be an entrepreneur in the future, and now I know that the idea of having a self-sustainable business that I had in my mind, is well proven, and it works.<br /><br />Thank a lot!Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17931919627657774532noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3718956085911858962.post-4824570330608094802012-04-05T17:29:51.454+05:302012-04-05T17:29:51.454+05:30Its not that bleak. I do not agree to quite a bit ...Its not that bleak. I do not agree to quite a bit here (I am the founder of http://grexit.com. Before this I started http://mobicules.com. Before that, I worked at http://mentor.com)<br /><br />"You need market-equivalent income to support those who depend on you."<br />- No you don't. If you don't have house loans and a big car loan sitting on your back and are not aggressively saving and investing, you can probably survive at 1/3rd of a what good job will pay, fairly comfortably. I have been doing that for some time. It does not suck at all.<br />"Your business needs to be stable so you're better able to hire."<br />- You can raise money here for good products now. Valuations might not be at par with what early stage startups get in the valley, but funding is available. Also look at angel.co - the number of valley investors who are ready to invest in India has jumped in the last few months.<br />"Your business needs to be very profitable so you can pay well, because you're looking to hire top talent, you're competing with Amazon and Zynga, not Infosys."<br />- This is a very common problem. Much more pronounced in the valley. Point is, as I said, funding is available for a good product if you're persistent in your efforts. I know of tons of product startups which were funded with good valuations in the last 12 months.<br /><br />The startup scene in Bangalore is not bleak at all. I think its looking up in a big big way.<br /><br />-NirajNiraj Ranjan Routhttp://grexit.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3718956085911858962.post-38483260482551216812012-04-05T08:50:00.192+05:302012-04-05T08:50:00.192+05:30Great read! I'm a fellow entrepreneur doing a ...Great read! I'm a fellow entrepreneur doing a bootstrapped "product" start up and I can very much relate to the constraints you mention. We also have a "pays-the-bill" side (SEO/content stuff) and money that gets channeled into slow-growing product. <br /><br />Was great to read about the start-up scene in India first-hand. <br /><br />Good luck with RubyMonk -- looks neat!Chintanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04494940514693064051noreply@blogger.com