Start-ups and the Indian innovation conundrum
Discussions about innovation and start-ups in India's technology sector often lament the lack of breakthrough products that capture the global market. Where’s the next Google, Facebook, Twitter or Posterous from India?
The dissonance is striking considering many successful Silicon Valley start-ups have atleast one Indian core team member. So clearly we’re not short on ideas that work! And the innovation conundrum pervades far beyond just the technology sector.
So why aren’t Indians equally innovative while working in India?
Besides the usual suspects – lack of funding, weak support structures, absence of mentors, red-tapism, inadequate rewards, etc – who’s the elusive robber that slips in unnoticed, but leaves a decisive impact?
Let’s look at it another way:
Have you hired someone whose first attempt at setting up a business didn’t work out?
Do you know a small business owner who had to seek employment with the ‘corporate sector’?
And what hurts them most while transitioning?
Was it being made to feel their whole life is a failure, not just that particular business?
Or that the experience of running a business doesn’t really count, because they didn’t succeed
Or a sense of causing deep personal and family embarrassment that pervades social interactions.
We all know people and families who’ve been through this.
It’s still very difficult to wipe the slate clean and get a fresh start in India. For instance, the year[s] spent running the business are eyed warily & questioned repeatedly as ‘gaps in employment’. And salaries – should they be computed against last job held or income as a business owner – lower/ higher? Designations become another sticky point. KRA’s a never-ending cycle of obfuscation! The process wearies the heart and drains the mind.
Our ecosystem doesn’t accept failure as a part of success –for people and for businesses – as yet.
When the personal and social risk of failure is so great, isn’t risk-taking and therefore innovation deterred?
