Meet Rahul, an entrepreneur from India
After meeting so many wonderful people at the Global Start-Up Youth (500+ youth from 100+ countries), we - the French team - have decided to share those people’s stories. Each day, we’re going to discover the entrepreneurial ecosystem of a new country through the eyes of a local.
Welcome to Incredible India! Rahul gives us an overview of the entrepreneurial ecosystem of one of the largest and most promising countries in the world. - Penelope
Hey Rahul, can you tell us a little bit about who you are and what you do?
My name is Rahul Garg, age 24, I was born and brought up in New Delhi, India. I did my majors in Computer Science from Delhi College of Engineering. After graduating, I worked for two years in the Investment Banking Technology division of Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS). During this time, I realized by knack for finance and started preparing for CFA Exam. Currently, I am a CFA Level 3 Candidate. Also, I am the co-founder of Aho Labs. We are building an Employee Commutation Solution for corporate firms which can help them manage the daily commute of their employees. It has features like automatic rostering, cab allocation, route optimization and women safety.
What is the entrepreneurial ecosystem like in your country?
A lot has been done in the startup space of India in the past 3-4 years. Now, we can boast more than 50 incubators/accelerators out of which 10 are pretty awesome. Some major ones are GSF Accelerator, iAccelerator, Microsoft Accelerator and TLabs.
Also, the culture of co-working spaces is picking up. Bangalore known as the Silicon Valley of India has the most number of co-working spaces. Some good co-working spaces of Delhi are Stirring Minds, 91 Springboard and Moonlighting Delhi.
There was a time when Startups in India struggled to raise their first round of funding. But now we see a different landscape altogether. If the product and the team are good then many Angels and Venture Capitalists are willing to invest their money in the startups. 500 startups, Sequoia Capital and One97 Mobility Fund are the major Angel Groups of India.
Networking, collaboration and pitching are the most important aspects in the startup world. This is facilitated by various events, startup groups and meet-ups like Startup Weekend, Headstart Network, Startup Saturday, TechSparks, etc.
But still we are in our early stages and still there’s a lot of work to be done.
What would be the three main challenges for entrepreneurship in your country?
1. Few entrepreneurs: Entrepreneurship is not a very sought after career in India. Parents want to see their kids earning good salaries in Multinational Companies. There is a little help from relatives and friends. Risk-appetite is low. Also, there is a dearth of tech people who can take up the role of technical co-founders.
2. Lack of mentors: It is difficult to find mentors who are as committed and enthusiastic as the co-founders in building up the start-up.
3. Zero government support.
The three assets?
1. Huge Market: India has a population of 1.2 billion people, more than 60% of which is young (less than 30 years old). Just imagine the amount of money a startup can make if it is able to capture even 5-10% of this market. Its huge!
2. Opportunities: There is a plethora of opportunities in Education, Healthcare, Agriculture and Internet Domain.
3. Seed Capital: Funding, I believe, is no more an issue. Angels/VCs have shown the willingness to invest their capital in Startups.
How do people feel about entrepreneurs in your country? Is there a specific role model?
As already told, entrepreneurship is not a very sought after career in India. There is a high social risk for the Startup Founders: Entrepreneurs find it difficult to get married. Thus, if you want someone to join your startup, you may end up convincing his/her entire family.
Narayana Murthy, father of the Indian IT sector, is the role model for many tech entrepreneurs. He co-founded Infosys in 1981. Infosys is an Indian multinational provider of business consulting, information technology, software engineering and outsourcing services. Apart from this, the man is known for his simplicity, benevolence and social work.
What has been the most successful start-up in your country in the past 5 years?
Flipkart, founded in 2007, is undoubtedly the most successful startup of India in the past 5 years. It is an e-commerce company that made online shopping popular in India. It introduced a very unique tool to address the biggest challenge of E-commerce Industry in the Indian Market: Cash-on-Delivery (COD) which is considered to be one of the main reasons behind its success. For COD, it created nation-wide team to solve India’s payments and logistics challenges.
Numbers speak for flipkart. Valued at more than $1 billion, it is one of the top 20 Indian Websites. The company clocks 17 orders per minute or approx 25,000 orders per day.
According to you, what's the most promising start-up right now?
There are many and it will be difficult to handpick a single startup. But if I am asked to select one, I will choose Wingify. Their main product, Visual Website Optimizer, increases website sales, signups and conversions. They have more than 3000 customers with Microsoft, AMD, Groupon and GE as one of the clients.
What's a young Indian's dream today ?
India is a developing nation with a whole list of problems that plague our society. We have issues of Rampant Corruption, Poverty and Inequality, Illiteracy and inappropriate Infrastructure for our rapidly growing population. Young India wants to solve these problems. It wants to have that eco-system which can give it the tools to solve these problems. Young India wants a better place for the future generations to come. And I believe the growing startup ecosystem is going to provide these tools.
Do you have a message for French youth?
I will ask the French Youth to explore and not to settle until they find their dream career. I would like to share one opportunity with the French Youth which can expose them to people from various backgrounds and hence can help them decide their career path.
It is called Jagriti Yatra, a 15 day long train journey covering 8000 kms across 12 cities of India with 500 young people from various nationalities. The aim is to celebrate the spirit of entrepreneurship and build India through enterprise.
I have been part of this amazing journey in 2012. It is not just a journey from the outside but a journey starts happening from inside as well. One gets a chance to see the demographics of India. One gets to witness how people despite various difficulties have come up with innovative solutions to solve socio-economic problems. Meeting Leaders and Change-makers on this journey gave me a new and a broader perspective; an inspiration to start something from my own, on a journey of my own.
Registrations are still open and will close on 15 November, 2013. Go for it!
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To get in touch with Rahul, please e-mail him ([email protected]) or connect on LinkedIn.