All posts by Paras Chopra

I’ve heard it a million times now: India is a great country for IT services, but there are no great technology product companies. After all, the golden trio of Infosys, TCS and Wipro is what defines India’s technology prowess. There is a certain degree of truth in that statement because the IT services industry has provided jobs to millions of Indian graduates and has definitely played an important role in crafting the Indian brand for outsourcing.

However, in technology (especially Web and Internet), geographies rarely matter. If we put aside VC/angel investment scene for a moment (that’s because it is emerges because a market exists to be exploited), why couldn’t Google, Amazon or Microsoft come out of India? I think it’s simply a matter of market-readiness coupled with informational advantage for US-based startups. Back in the days when these great product companies emerged, US (and to a lesser degree, Europe) was the only place where market existed. Google? Well, you needed Internet to be fully happening before a company like Google made sense. India was still lacking in that during 1996. Amazon? Well, you need people wanting to buy books over the Internet. India didn’t have a proper Internet, so obviously there was no e-Commerce market for Amazon to arise from India. ...  Read the entire post →

Lack of a boss. Period. The lack of a higher authority to give you your next todo item is the single most-important factor that makes entrepreneurship so hard. In school, you have a clearly defined schedule and you have teachers who give you homework which provides something concrete to do everyday. Then they have exams, a definite end point of the whole yearly effort. In college, you have required classes, projects and exams that keep you sane and provide a safety net from being direction less.  ...  Read the entire post →