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October - 2014 - issue > Expert Corner

The Start-up Eco-system & Difficulties in the Space

By Viren Malhotra, SME Scale-up Specialist
Monday, November 24, 2014
By Viren Malhotra, SME Scale-up Specialist
Viren Malhotra is well-known and recognized as a 'Scale-Up Expert' among industry peers, specifically SMEs. He has been instrumental in helping businesses grow organically and scale new heights. He currently works as an independent consultant.

The Start-up eco-system in India has seen significant improvements and activity especially over the last decade. However much still needs to happen for the eco-system to be more conducive to innovation and risk taking. From my experience of working with SMEs and Start-ups, I have observed some key issues and challenges young entrepreneurs face. I have listed some of those below.

Firstly, lack of Innovative Ideas- Particularly in the core technology domain

While the Indian start-up eco-system has witnessed many pure business related ventures, there has been a limited presence of ones that focus just on core technology � which is the uppermost echelon of the Bay Area start-up caste hierarchy.

This is probably due to presence of only a limited number of pure technology Indian companies who look to buy out core technology start-ups (hence provide impetus to young geeks). Some other causes could be limited research funding and research orientation of Indian universities. Another factor could be limited specialization, knowledge and confidence at Indian VCs to back tech innovations.
Limited Early Stage Funding

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