Startup Ecosystem in Kolkata: A Word From Tagore

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If you understand the language, listen to this in its Bengali original.

Here’s my English Translation of the poem for those who do not understand the language:

Startup Ecosystem in Kolkata: The Importance of English

Join us on Thursday, July 20, at 8:30 p.m. IST / 8 a.m. PDT for a special roundtable program: Brainstorming on Eastern India Startup Development. Come share your perspective, sign up to Speak and we will accommodate as many as possible with a few minutes to talk, register here. In case you missed it, you can listen to the recording of this roundtable here.

India’s success in the global technology firmament has been driven very significantly by the country’s prowess in English.

Startup Ecosystem in Kolkata: No Unicorns, Then?

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By de-emphasizing Unicorns, am I recommending that we should be less ambitious for Kolkata? Bengal? Eastern India?

No.

Bootstrap First, Raise Money Later is a GREAT strategy for building Unicorns.

Startup Ecosystem in Kolkata: New Technologies Bring New Opportunities

Join us on Thursday, July 20, at 8:30 p.m. IST / 8 a.m. PDT for a special roundtable program: Brainstorming on Eastern India Startup Development. Come share your perspective, sign up to Speak and we will accommodate as many as possible with a few minutes to talk, register here. In case you missed it, you can listen to the recording of this roundtable here.

I am sure many entrepreneurs are chomping at the bits to get a Generative AI startup going.

And, you are reading about hundreds of millions of dollars in VC funding being splashed on this quest.

Well, I want you to think differently.

Startup Ecosystem in Kolkata: Lack of Big Ideas

Join us on Thursday, July 20, at 8:30 p.m. IST / 8 a.m. PDT for a special roundtable program: Brainstorming on Eastern India Startup Development. Come share your perspective, sign up to Speak and we will accommodate as many as possible with a few minutes to talk, register here. In case you missed it, you can listen to the recording of this roundtable here.

Unicorn chasing VCs are looking for big ideas.

Their philosophy: Go BIG or Go HOME.

My philosophy: PLEASE DON’T GO HOME.

There are many more $5M, $10M, $20M ideas out there than billion dollar ideas. 

Startup Ecosystem in Kolkata: Low Appetite for Risk

Join us on Thursday, July 20, at 8:30 p.m. IST / 8 a.m. PDT for a special roundtable program: Brainstorming on Eastern India Startup Development. Come share your perspective, sign up to Speak and we will accommodate as many as possible with a few minutes to talk, register here. In case you missed it, you can listen to the recording of this roundtable here.

Why has Kolkata’s startup ecosystem failed to thrive thus far?

One hypothesis is that the Bengali population has low tolerance for risk. There is, obviously, truth to this, especially in view of the evidence that the bulk of entrepreneurial progress in Bengal has been led by the Marwari and Gujarati communities.

Startup Ecosystem in Kolkata: No Products, Only Services

Join us on Thursday, July 20, at 8:30 p.m. IST / 8 a.m. PDT for a special roundtable program: Brainstorming on Eastern India Startup Development. Come share your perspective, sign up to Speak and we will accommodate as many as possible with a few minutes to talk, register here. In case you missed it, you can listen to the recording of this roundtable here.

Kolkata doesn’t have many product startups. True.

Most startups are services based. True.

There is nothing wrong with services companies. Technical skill development in India has happened at scale in the services companies. It would be tremendously helpful to have large scale skill development happen in Eastern India. Entrepreneurs won’t build tech #startups without tech skilled people. An ecosystem has many dimensions. Also Bootstrapping tech product startups using services is a tried and true technique.

Startup Ecosystem in Kolkata: Lack of Role Models

Join us on Thursday, July 20, at 8:30 p.m. IST / 8 a.m. PDT for a special roundtable program: Brainstorming on Eastern India Startup Development. Come share your perspective, sign up to Speak and we will accommodate as many as possible with a few minutes to talk, register here. In case you missed it, you can listen to the recording of this roundtable here.

Another refrain that we hear a lot is the lack of role models.

Role models help. No question.

You know who is one of my role models?