The bicultural opportunity that Indian startups have

The startups in India are culturally influenced greatly by the startup culture in the US. There are several reasons for this. First, the large venture funds are of US origin and have significantly influenced the startup culture. Secondly, India’s IT services industry has historically been dominated by US customers and most engineers have grown working with the US. And finally, the popular movie and music culture in India is dominated by the US (after the domestic media).

At the same time, Indian startups also are a part of the startup fabric in India that has been built over the last 50 years and largely dominated by large family businesses or diversified conglomerates. Kids in India grew up reading about and seeing the “industrialists” of India.

Hence, an Indian startup today is a confluence of the 2 cultures. It’s a great opportunity to take the best of both, but there is also a risk of taking the worst of both. Below are some sample traits of what this means - as always this is a simplistic view, but hopefully indicative.

When I look around, unfortunately, I see plenty of startups in the 3rd and 4th quadrant. Some of these cases have blown up over the last couple of years.

Indian startups have a great opportunity to be in the 1st quadrant and take the best of both. It can be a huge force multiplier and a competitive advantage which is hard to beat.

Where would you put your startup?