Indian youth and their thought process
When I was still doing my engineering and had seriously started thinking about my own venture, I remember having a discussion with a good friend of mine when she made a remark “Why do you techies always think about doing something of your own? After all, there are already so many companies and why can’t you be happy working for one?” I didn’t have a very good response to the question that time though I did manage to fumble a few words trying to answer it (I like to believe that I was fairly successsful at that).
Last few days, more than a few events has happened reminding me of the same question and I have had a few discussions on the same with my friends. I would like to share my thoughts on that here. And it is not just confined to techies but, in general, Indian youth.
The bold prediction that I am going to make is that there is an attitude shift of the Indian youth in moving from a ‘secure and well paying job’ towards entrepreneurship and ‘risky jobs’. And I am going to present my case with reasons that are outlined below:
- Dot-com boom and the worry of being left behind in the race: In India, the dot-com boom lasted all for total 3 months but the best thing they did to the Indian youth is that it showed that becoming an entrepreneur is not that difficult as it used to be. If one has a good idea and has the courage to go through some potential bad times, a business can be created. And if you don’t do that, somebody else will. Of course, nobody wants to be left behind in the race.
- More private sector companies: In the last decade, we have all seen a plenty of companies coming in the private sector industries. These companies, by virtue of giving proper attention to the talent and hard-work, has made people very competitive and consequentially taught us to take risks and do better.
- Failure is no longer a taboo: Or at least failures are more accepted in our Indian society now. Earlier people used to be scared of failures not just because it hurts them economically but more so because of the wide social impact that it used to have (with people equating failures directly with the capabilities). We, the Indians, have become more tolerant to failures now and that has eased up the social pressure and the feeling of “What will others think if I fail in the business”. People understand that if a startup doesn’t do well, more than often, it doesn’t speak low about the capabilities of the people involved. There are so many other factors involved and we have learnt to acknowledge that.
- Increased working population of the fairer sex: I have been debating on how big an impact does this have and am very convinced (based on my thoughts and discussions with friends) that this factor has a major impact on the risk taking capabilities of everybody. The feeling that there can be at least 1 partner (in case of couples) who is in a ‘less riskier’ job helps the other person to take higher risks. And that partner can be anybody – males or females.
- Easier to create businesses: We couldn’t have seen this shift in attitude if creating businesses was as difficult as it used to be. The conventional wisdom was that you need a lot of capital in order to create a business. Becausr of more and more Venture Capitalists and Investors willing to help the businesses, this step has become much easier now. If there is a good idea and people see potential in it, there are very high chances that there will be investors willing to spend money and making sure that the business takes off. Of course, outsourcing has made it a lot easier too (deeper thoughts on that some other time)
- Plenty of jobs for those who deserve: My post can’t be complete if I don’t mention the fact that entrepreneurship and risk-taking capability is fueled by the fact that India is a growing economy and there are plenty of jobs for the deserving. It’s only the guys with a great confidence on themselves who take the entrepreneurship route or stick to the startups because they know that if things go wrong, they can always go and join another ‘stable job’. This ‘fall-back plan’ always comforts on a rainy day.
And I think this is just the beginning of this attitude shift. With time, this feeling will only become stronger and I believe that it’s the big companies who will start having more trouble finding the ‘better talent’. More and more people will want to either start a company or join good startups like Tekriti. Ah – what a day will that be!
It’s just a natural shift when initially it was the government jobs that were the most preferred ones, followed by private sector but big company jobs some time later that became popular because of the way they recognized talent and gave rewards. Joining or having a startup is just a logical next step to that. We, at Tekriti, are in right position to push that movement and I am sure that we will be successful. After all, it is difficult to fail with a team as good as ours.
Ashish I agree with you. And also there has been so much exposure and learning in the post-internet era, that kids in eight standard now speak of Bootstrapping and VC funding and Exit Strategies. We had not even heard of these terms till Sabeer Bhatia happended and we were almost out of college by then.
Also it is not a taboo anymore for techies to get into non-techy startups. I have engineer friends who run facilities management companys, cab companies etc.
And then there is Rajeev Samant, a Stanford trained engineer, who quit his job in Oracle to start a wine company in Nasik.
All in all, this is a great time to be an entrepreneur in India. Lots of oppurtunities, easy capital, shrinking red tape, and the great indian youth workforce. What else could an entrepreneur ask for
Great going,Let’s hope that Tekriti also contributes to the growth and development of the nation in a few years,cause then you would have really achieved something.
As the saying goes ” Jo desh ke kaam ne aa sake, woh bekaar jawani hai”
“Plenty of jobs for those who deserve” is one of the major reasons, why todays youth can venture to do what he wishes to … accurate insight
Last year I attended the Convocation at IIT-Delhi where the chief guest was Kiran Majumdar Shaw (Biocon). She told about how after her study in the ‘Brewing’ (male dominated industry) from Australia, she was not successful in finding an appropriate job in India and she started ‘Biocon’. Her team comprised mainly of IITians who were willing to leave the lucrative careers in India and abroad and join her is a new venture in Biotechnology and since then they have come a long way – successfully. She also talked about the good trend that has started now where NRIs are coming back to India.. and adding value.
That was something I found very inspiring. Ashish, I totally agree with you on all your points, and yes, not just related to techies but in general the Indian youth. I also feel that probably even till a generation back, there was a mind-set where ‘service’ was highly respected and business / entrepreneurship was considered only for people belonging to certain communities. The general mind-set was that only when a person does not get an appropriate job, or is not successful at it, he opts for entrepreneurship. But the mind-set of today’s youth has certainly changed or is changing. Even small startups command more respect today than it would probably have done a few years back.
Great that you all agree with me
Nice Discussion.Originality of thought process is revolutionizing India thru highly educated generation tides (although small quantitatively atm) and I hope very soon indian einsteins will be seen and india will then complete a full circle from aryabhat times………
I guess IITK /CS still doesn’t produce dropouts venturers as Ivy Leagues do in US ?
The change in attitudes stems from the increases in number of oppurtunities available (and increasingly, in the kinds of opportunities available). Right now India is a Juggernaut (unstoppable) and everything seems possible. What we should make sure is orient policies that coax businesses to do the right things and keeping the environment safe. A few lessons can be learnt from the shortcomings and excesses of other industrial societies. Very soon (if not already), it will become considerably easy to setup businesses that generate a lot of revenue. What will be difficult, however, are:
(a) Managing pollution levels (due to increased consumption and industrial activity)
(b) addressing income disparities in society
(c) Improved transportation
(d) Aesthetic awareness in society
We may want to start (thinking of) addressing these at the earliest.
namaskara
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i completely agree with ashish. however
I am doing Btech CS in IITK. I think it is wrong to say that IITK is not producing as many student startups. Some of the guys who went to pursue Masters in the states have started successful ventures. One of the examples that comes to my mind is Baazee.com.
Have you ever quit a job, then second-guessed yourself? Ever WANTED to quit a job, but could see no possible way to do it? Maybe you felt “trapped” in the job because of several reasons, like “I need the money”, or “Gotta pay the bills”… perhaps you’ve “got a family to take care of”.
How is it possible to quit one’s job and not feel guilty about it? Let’s find out
A few years back, when I was confronted with the decision of whether or not to re-enlist (again!?) in the Navy, it was quite a quandry. I had all the thoughts mentioned above. I was in a job that I basically couldn’t stand any longer. The work itself isn’t particularly hard, unless you cound the occasional months-long time away from friends, family and any semblance of a “normal” life. I was ok with that part, because I was the one who signed up. Read more: http://diggindianews.com/GossipMyths/How_to_quit_your_job_and_never_look_back/
It is always a tough task to leave a secure job and start something or join a startup:
Read this:
http://diggindianews.com/IndiaNewsPolitics/Why_you_should_quit_your_job_and_join_a_startup-/