The making of a startup nation

By Ritu Marya | Dec 28, 2015
Entrepreneur India

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What are you doing at 20? It is a loaded and a very introspective question when you ask an IIT student – simply because they are doing quite a lot.

One in five of the young, fresh, business-minded, IIT students or graduated is eager to build his/her own thriving business. The corner office has lost its allure for IITians who feel it is suited for bankers and lawyers.

This spirit transcends that roughly 2,500 new startups in India in 2015-16 will come from IITs alone. What will happen in the future is a large part of what you are creating right now. Our recent visit to IIT campuses was a revelation where we found a whole contrivance running to get entrepreneurship alive and startup ventures sustainable.

Inside the IIT, innovators are pushing the boundaries, challenging convention that will make users uncomfortable (at least in the beginning) by creating something new. This is true of IIT in the classroom, in the hostel and in an entrepreneurship cell.

As far as culture goes, in this issue we have captured a wide spectrum that ranges from the campus to the business world. In addition to IIT campus culture, the editorial team spent a day in life and work at InMobi Headquarters.

The place sure has fun as its middle name with a devil-may-care playfulness of its people within the corporate realm largely made of people under 30. Today, workspaces need to be as much a part of your brand and more importantly be high on appeal to the brightest young workers – It’s a crucial part of the business culture you are creating, and the message you send to the market.

What are you doing at 20? It is a loaded and a very introspective question when you ask an IIT student – simply because they are doing quite a lot.

One in five of the young, fresh, business-minded, IIT students or graduated is eager to build his/her own thriving business. The corner office has lost its allure for IITians who feel it is suited for bankers and lawyers.

This spirit transcends that roughly 2,500 new startups in India in 2015-16 will come from IITs alone. What will happen in the future is a large part of what you are creating right now. Our recent visit to IIT campuses was a revelation where we found a whole contrivance running to get entrepreneurship alive and startup ventures sustainable.

Ritu Marya

Editor-in-Chief, Entrepreneur Media (APAC & India)

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