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India has been a paradise for startups. The country has witnessed an IPO rush recently and has a total of 98 Unicorns. The startup ecosystem has been growing rapidly and with that, the startups have started expanding to international markets. However, some factors make one’s product acceptable in different geographies as differing geographies tend to have different needs and different pain points that need to be resolved for a startup to be successful. Speaking at the Global Unicorn Summit organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry, Bhavin Pandya, Rahul Garg and Mohit Dubey shared their thoughts on how to think out of the box and how to take an enterprise globally.
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Global acceptability of products
Bhavin Pandya, co-founder and co-CEO, of 24×7 Games, believes the reasons for the global acceptability of Indian products are due to the creative minds, technological prowess and an incredible start-up ecosystem in India. “As you solve problems that are more relevant to your ecosystem first, you will then build out products that can then cater to international markets,” said Bhavin.
Mohit Dubey, CEO, Chalo agreed with Bhavin over the competent talent pool existing in India while reminiscing of a time when India was churning out computer engineers for MNCs, US consumers and then the Indian consumers. “Indian start-ups are one of the most innovative start-ups, more recognized now in solving a problem that is relevant for many markets and can do it at a lower cost,” added Mohit.
Rahul Garg, founder and CEO, Moglix, believed that India was one of the best in the innovation of products and services. He agreed with Mohit on his statement and further added that India had been one of the most innovative product nations over the last two decades. “I think that the Indian brands have not marketed themselves enough to gain the due recognition,” shared Rahul.
Cross Geographies
Mohit highlighted the problems of daily commute faced by the commuters outside of India were similar to the ones Indians were facing. “We had an emerging product fit to begin with and it was easier for us to go and do it,” added Mohit.
Bhavin agreed with the points made by Mohit and added that culture is a guiding principle to be a part of a cohesive team. “Operating ethos is important and we leave no stone unturned to understand our players and we do so very scientifically and unless you understand your players well, you cannot make products for them” added Bhavin.
Rahul highlighted the gap that exists in the market in terms of the sheer size of disruption. He shared that the level of innovation, depth, supply chain, and technology that the company builds in India enables the company to go out into less fragmented markets than India and apply the same solutions to form a strong platform in those countries.
Advice for entrepreneurs to go global
“If you solve a problem in India at scale as it works across categories of consumers with different income groups and geographies, then that solution most likely will fit in many countries,” advised Mohit. He also advises not to underestimate the capability of the product.
“People are trying to emulate what has worked in the west in India without thinking about or understanding what is the problem for India,” said Bhavin. The advice given by Bhavin to entrepreneurs was to innovate, not replicate.
Rahul’s advice to the budding entrepreneurs was to go after the bigger problems. “Few leaders can propel and put companies, products and services into a completely different trajectory making them global-ready,” added Rahul
