Yesterday 12 years back I moved to India to pursue my entrepreneurial journey and to launch ShopClues. My generation did not have many career options within India, hence like most young, energetic and ambitious people of my time, I decided to go to USA and build my career. In late 1990s during the peak of dot com boom, I moved to USA to pursue my higher education. After my higher education, I worked in San Francisco with Schwab (the largest stock brokering firm in the world), in Seattle with Microsoft (the largest technology company at that time) and then back in Silicon Valley to pursue career as an equity research analyst on Wall Street covering global Internet sector and provided research coverage on the Internet giants such as Google, Amazon, Netflix, eBay, Yahoo!, Expedia, Microsoft etc. On 28th August 2011 I came to India first time with one way ticket since I had moved to USA to empower 35 million small businesses with ShopClues. It was very weird feeling when I came to India with one way ticket and right from landing at the New Delhi airport to seeing people to sound or surroundings — all got noticed in a much more deeper, realistic and intense manner by me.
While my entrepreneurial journey has fair amount of ups and downs and many parts were no les than a Hollywood thriller, pursing entrepreneurial journey and coming back to india are among the best things ever happened to me.
Let me give you glimpses of how India is changing in the last 12 years.
Startup ecosystem has grown leaps and bounds. When I came to India, there were 5 to 7 VCs such as Nexus, Helion, SAIF, Accel, Sequoia, IDG and Matrix, 3 to 4 PE funds, and half dozen angel investors. Capital flow in India was very limited and most entrepreneurs did not have access to capital. India had 2 new age public companies (Infoedge and MakeMyTrip), perhaps 12 to 15 nationally recognizable new age startups and total startups in various sectors and fields were perhaps 300-500. The combined shareholder wealth created by these companies was $3bn with Inmobi as the only Unicorn and Flipkart was speculated to be a Unicorn but was still not there. Today, india has over 200 VCs, 50+ PE firms, 50k angel investors, 110 Unicorns, 15 new age companies that are listed, and the combined shareholder wealth by 80k+ startups in India has crossed $350bn. Were in the world can you find the meteoric rise of a startup ecosystem of this magnitude.
Low cost data, affordable smart phones and social media did to India what printing press did to Europe. In 1450s printing press was invested in Europe and it resulted into education, knowledge and common wisdom reaching out to anyone at low cost and at very low cost. While many other factors, but printing press played huge role in Industrial revolution in Europe in 1750. In India, low cost data plan, availability of affordable smart phones and tsunami or user generated content on social media has catapulted India and Indians into high trajectory when it comes to education, knowledge, wisdom, exposure and knowhow at low cost and at scale. In 2011, the total Internet users in India were 85million including 35 million via mobile and today India has 850mil Internet users and almost 600mil+ of these are via mobile. India has now the 2nd largest Internet population in the world after China.
Depth and breath of the new age companies, verticals and business models is second to none. In 2011 India had 34 E-Commerce companies (25 were small or local), 5 to 6 OTAs, 5 to 7 payment gateways, 5 to 7 online classified companies in real estate or automobile or horizontal, 5 to 7 digital advertising companies, and perhaps 5 to 8 more type of business models leveraging Internet, mobile phone or tech. However, in last 12 years, India has become large hub for FinTech, Ride Sharing, FoodTech, Vertical E-Commerce, Omni Channel, B2B Marketplaces, SaaS, Logistics, EdTech, HealthTech, QuickCommerce, D2C, AgriTech, SpaceTech, iOT, MediaTech, OTTs, Gaming, Creator Economy, Gig Economy, and Influencer Marketing etc.
Winning is not a zero sum game. When I came to India, except for OGs like Sanjeev Bikhchandani , Hitesh Oberoi, Deep Karla, Dinesh Aggarwal and perhaps 2-3 more, most founders were not comfortable with each other independent of the vertical, focus, or stage of their startups. In May this year, I hosted a founders and investors get together at my house, and over 100 founders and investors showed-up and partied almost entire night with bonding and bonhomie hard to find. This was not possible in the past. But now Indian entrepreneurs have matured and understood that entrepreneurship is very lonely choice of career, we are not competing with each other and it is not a zero sum game. I remember when Droom was fillings its IPO, from Prashant Pitt and Rikant Pitti at EaseMyTrip to Kunal Bahl at Snapdeal came forward and selflessly offered their help, guidance and expertise. I remember, when Ritesh Aggarwal from Oyo was getting married, over 250 founder and investors attended his wedding with love and affection.
India has produced hundreds of local heroes to inspire new and budding entrepreneurs. When I came to India in 2011, I wanted to draw inspiration not from cricketers, actors, politicians or Industrialist who were born with silver spoon in their mouth but first generation entrepreneurs who have created new generation companies with use of technology, VC money, and sense of ownership in employees etc. So, my heroes were likes of Sanjiv Bikhchandani, Hitesh Oberoi, and Deep Kalra. Today, India has hundreds of successful entrepreneurs who were born in a typical middle class family, placed emphasis on education, did not have any special privileges or access and made it big. This phenomena is very powerful as it encourages other budding entrepreneurs. India now has hundreds of local heroes. Enough to inspire entire youth of India.
Trust deficit is deeply pronounced in India. Unlike USA, Western Europe and Japan, India is the low trust market. This trust deficit creates all sort of issues with information asymmetry, morale hazard, high search time and high search cost. But for entrepreneurs it creates opportunity. ShopClues was was the first ever managed marketplace of India and we were on record the world’s first ever marketplace who decided to manage, control and create sellers, shipping, payment and returns. While Payments, Logistics and Online Shoppers maturity level has grown, India remains a low trust market and anyone who can find ways to offset trust deficit in any category cheaper, faster and better than existing ways can create world-class companies.
Not pursuing your entrepreneurial dream is not an option. Number of dropouts and budding entrepreneurs is growing exponentially. People are no longer running their day job with a dream to start their entrepreneurial journey. They are jumping right into the startup journey independent of peer pressure, family pressure, fear of failure, or
Controversies but it is just law of big numbers. While, last 2 years India has seen highest amount of controversies such as Zilingo, BharatPe, GoMechanic, Mojocare etc., given 80k+ startups, some controversies are bound to happen. I am not justifying any type of controversies or scandals but India has not seen likes of FTX or Theranos type of stories playing out here.
Government is cheer leading and supporting. I personally felt it very strange that until 2014 or 15, governments in our country ignored and almost dismissed the presence of startups and first generation entrepreneurs trying to create new age style companies that can change India’s future. However, in last 8-9 years, India’s central and state governments are cheer leading the startups and coming up with ventures, ways and policies to support the young startups. It is very common for policy makers and government and founders to collaborate and give their inputs in policy making and reforms. There are dozens and dozens of programs that are offered by various government departments.
Access to Capita is becoming easier. As per Inc42, India has attracted almost $145bn in last 10-12 years. This is very large amount of capital for the startup ecosystem. What is more compelling is that 75% of this capital has come to India since 2018. I remember as an analyst what I decided to launch the research coverage for MakeMyTrip in 2010 shortly after their IPO on NASDAQ, the entire IPO raise was $85mil. Now a days, the $85mil is considered to be not a big deal. I remember when I raised $11mil for Droom in 2015 in Series A, it was perhaps the largest Series A for India. Now, Series A could be $15mil to $50mil. I have always maintained that among the top 10 things to create a world-class companies, first 5 are capital, but now India has access to capital.
Learning, exposure and mentorship. In 2011, it was very difficult to find out what was happening in Silicon Valley or China. It was very difficult to know how to from o to 1 or 1 to 10, and mentorship was almost next to nil. With billions of videos, frequent travel to USA or China and accessibility to senior founders have increased learning, exposure and mentorship have reached to a level where India is now unstoppable. Most colleges and universities are now aligning their curriculum based on what is demanded by new age companies. In 2011, when I started ShopClues, it was almost impossible to find someone with E-Commerce experience independent of quality of experience.
India can create $1.5 trillion in wealth all by digital economy by 2032. In my view, India will likely have 500k startups (up from 80k now), 1k Unicorns(up from 110 now), 100 listed companies (up from 15 companies now) and $1.5 tril in total wealth (up from $350bn now) by 2032. Where in the world you can find this level of wealth creation, social transformation opportunities in next one decade? When I moved to India, no body believed me that in next 10-12 years India will be among the top 3 startup ecosystem, will have over 100 unicorns or will have $350bn in new wealth created by first generation entrepreneurs. I was declared day dreamer and a Wall Street analyst with lofty outlook. I hope now even the cynical and pessimists are not doubting the $1.5trillion number by 2032.
What is happening in Indian in the startup ecosystem and digital economy is no less than some of the largest man made modern history economic wonders we have seen such as Industrial revolution in Europe in 1750, gold rush in California in 1750, rise of USA and the US dollar after WW-II, Rise of Japan after WW-II, and Rise of China in last 40 years. I feel so fortunate and blessed to be part of this ecosystem since 2010. From moving to India in 2011 to be able to make two Unicorns to empowering millions of SMEs and automobile dealers, teaming up with most passionate and energetic people in ShopClues and Droom, and making hundreds of friends in the startup community and finding many mentors and guides — I will not trade what I have been able to do in last 12 years with anything else on earth!!
