This article is very shallow. I would say it wrong to assume that there is ever going to be a drought of customers. Investors with risk appetite? - may be, but there can never be a drought of customers.
Here is the real picture: there are over a billion customers in India. They need something. All you have to do is open your eyes and ears and figure out what they want the most.
Solve a pain that people currently have. Don't shovel your imported world-view of products because you stayed in Americas for a few years.
> All you have to do is open your eyes and ears and figure out what they want the most.
The Indian masses want food, shelter, and an education for their children. Oh, and they can't afford to pay for it. Doesn't sound like a very good business opportunity, especially for your average HNer.
> "Indian masses want food, shelter, and an education for their children. Oh, and they can't afford to pay for it"
I don't know which economic lens you're looking through but I do know that Indian middle class is swell, and has pockets deep enough to buy iPhones and Black Berries.
How can you even convince yourself that there is a drought of customers in India? That's not true. From your position it seems that there is a drought of entrepreneurs who are able to see the needs instead.
Here is the big picture: there were millions of customers in America prior to the great depression and the same number immediately after the onset. Aggregate demand dropped, consumers sought safety, etc. "People just need to find the right product" wouldn't have been sound advice when looking at the overall scenario.
>This article is very shallow. I would say it wrong to assume that there is ever going to be a drought of customers. Investors with risk appetite? - may be, but there can never be a drought of customers.
Oh, there can easily be a drought of customers. The article covers specifically the Indian market for one, but even in the US, with the squeezed out middle class, there can very well be a drought of customers.
>Here is the real picture: there are over a billion customers in India.
No, there are a billion _people_ in India, which is a different thing. Even if you bypass the starving masses, the actual internet ready audience for what an internet startup might sell is smaller than the US, less adopted to the internet way of doing business and with less money.
>They need something. All you have to do is open your eyes and ears and figure out what they want the most. Solve a pain that people currently have.
Well, most of their problems have nothing to do with what an internet startup can offer. Hence a "drought of customers" for internet startups.
You probably jump the gun again, but I do get your point about infrastructure issue. And I agree that the needs in India are probably towards lower-middle side of Maslow's hierarchy of needs. But the need is there for sure.
> "The actual internet ready audience for what an internet start-up might sell is smaller than" ... "less adopted to the internet way of doing business and with less money."
> "Well, most of their problems have nothing to do with what an internet start-up can offer. Hence a drought of customers for internet start-ups."
For example, shouldn't you then be looking to provide internet/bandwidth in the first place? This is a lucrative problem that you (entrepreneurs) can solve. Customers are always going to be there, no matter how you see it.
>For example, shouldn't you then be looking to provide internet/bandwidth in the first place? This is a lucrative problem that you (entrepreneurs) can solve. Customers are always going to be there, no matter how you see it.
Yes, of course. I agree with both statements in the sense that internet infrastructure and more basic needs are a big market in India, and that customers in general will always be there.
What I disagreed with is that Customers for some specific market or level of service will always be there.
>>actual internet ready audience for what an internet startup
It's really hard for me to grasp why people want to pin startup/business/entrepreneurship to Internet/website and iOS apps. It doesn't work everywhere and till it starts working you have the option of sitting out or start giving them Internet connectivity (not to mention device and training) or make something that they need now and will buy at a price they can safely afford, of course via a medium they use or have access too.
>>Well, most of their problems have nothing to do with what an internet startup can offer. Hence a "drought of customers" for internet startups.
Internet startups, many a times, start with a problem that doesn't exist here but they start it anyway because people in the USA had it and when last time someone in Germany had copied sth (or sth similar) from the USA it did actually work (as in got sold). Now, in the end you have narrowed down your opinion to a smaller subset.
There is a large population in India that accesses Internet through means that other part of world hardly shall ever recognise as Internet connectivity. That's an untapped one and many startups are taking small but significant startups towards it.
It is important to note that the author is from Canada and spent a significant portion of his life there, before trying to do something in India. So, his views are fairly biased about India - like trying to compare a Developed vs a Developing country.
I can give more info about him as I am his friend, he grew up in middle east, moved back to India, went to canada for graduation, did a startup, sold it, back in India, worked with RTBI in chennai for couple of years before starting StartupCentre.
so he spent about 3 years in Canada, yeah he is exposed to developed countries
Here is the real picture: there are over a billion customers in India. They need something. All you have to do is open your eyes and ears and figure out what they want the most.
Solve a pain that people currently have. Don't shovel your imported world-view of products because you stayed in Americas for a few years.
Get your karma right.