As I see it, it's also the time for action in places like India right now. Some like CK.Prahalad expect China & India to dramatically change things in the years ahead. A recent delegation of venture capitalists visiting India, while noticing infrastructural problems, also noted the ethos of circumventing such difficulties to carry on. While some investments are beginning to happen, the ground reality is that vast majority of venture money tends to go into existing and later-stage businesses. There is little or no real VC money available in India that startups can tap easily.
Companies that are receiving money in India are either spin outs from existing large businesses, captive units, or second-tier outsourcing providers that may lack the size or scale to compete with IT service giants and want the private equity money to grow through rollup and acquisitions. In the US, venture money goes into early stage, pre-product, or pre-revenue companies, while in India, a majority of the private equity is going into late stage businesses. A friend asked me when to expect the likes of next Google to come out of India. I had no answer to provide.
Truth is that, in general, most Indian enterprises are hardly innovation-chasing entities, and the framework for VC entry & exits are poorly defined. Coupled with limited VC activity in the past and archaic regulations, these make it a tougher breeding ground for enterprises like that of what is seen in the valley. I agree with Sramana that the Valley shall continue to be the springboard of innovation and technological advances for some more time to come and we may see some limited action in other parts of the world – we may see the activity in India to be the equivalent of say a Boston area or Texas area for springing up startups but valley shall remain the central node for technological advances.
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