In sheer physical sense, India is simply not the country it was a decade ago; but it is on the intellectual side that the change has been the most dramatic—and telling. As a country we do not, any longer, think like a third-world nation. Young, daring and even brash, our people are busily breaking barriers, transcending stereotypes and competing at the cutting edge.
 |
To them business is as exciting (and viable) a career option as say medicine, engineering, auditing and civil services, were to my generation. We are now a nation of young people brimming with enterprising possibilities and expressing ourselves boldly in a new ecosystem that promotes entrepreneurship.
It is a world apart from the Raj, both colonial and License-Permit, in which business has pushed forth almost magically from nowhere to the fore as a career choice, especially among B-School pass-outs. It is no longer the last resort that it once used to be. The brightest young people in India now want to do their own business—and chart their own destinies.
This change in mindset has come lockstep with the change in our ecosystem. During my time the entrepreneurial ecosystem simply did not exist and setting up a business back then was tough. Not any more: young technocrats passing out of IITs and IIMs, today, can expect their projects to be incubated by specialized mentors and funded by angel investors. In other words, those who aspire to start a business have
unprecedented opportunities to realize their dreams. There are organisations like Proto ready to walk with you provided you have a sound technology idea.
In the current scenario, the social cost of failure has gone down visibly. When we started our ventures, only one out of ten people would succeed—and those who failed, invariably faced social scorn and worse. That has changed: people are more risk friendly now.
In this extraordinary evolution of the eco system the media has played an important part essentially by describing the changing contours of a nation as it freed itself from an old, constricting order. It has educated, inspired and cheered a new generation of enterprise in a society shaking off the burdens of the past to face a new world with a new deal.
Challenges
The first big challenge for an entrepreneur is putting together a good team. When you are starting out, you look to attract good talent to come and join you. But, this is never easy. The second challenge is to get a VC on board. This is a particularly difficult if you are looking to start small, with an investment of say around a million dollars.
There may be some VCs willing to bankroll tiny startups, but even these would normally not look at anything lower than $ 5 million. Some may possibly come down to $ 2-3 million but that is the absolute bottom. So, if you are looking to start below those levels, then you would have to approach angels or incubators. Finally, there is the challenge of getting the first customer.
For small entrepreneurs angels would be very much the way to go, because a) they are willing to put up very small amounts and b) they come in with a long-term horizon and with the intent of sharing both the losses and the rewards of the business—they may invest small amounts but they are also willing to write it all off.
Finally, I would say that the most important changes I have seen are the change in the mindset and the evolution of the ecosystem. This is a great time to be an entrepreneur. And I invite you all to join the party.
Subscribe to this comment's feed
| < Prev |
|---|
