A start-up moving out of India

Munjal writes about dismantling Riya operations in India. He talks about many of the problems I have observed over the past few months trying to recruit and retain talent in India. I sincerely hope this is not the beginning of a trend...

Sometime I wonder if we can estimate how much value is being eroded by service sector companies! I know that sounds rather negative but it is true. For creating value in a start-up environment you need long term commitment, you need to be able to sweat it out, you need to persist through the highs and the lows. The ability to make a lot of cash in the short term as part of a services organization trumps the dreams and the possibility of creating something big by being part of a start-up. There seems to be little scope for fostering valley type culture where entrepreneurial pursuits are appreciated. And that is eroding the future value top notch talent in India is capable of creating...

The story of India

Came accross this nice article by Gurucharan Das on the story of economic development of India.

After being shackled by the government for decades, India's economy has become one of the world's strongest. The country's unique development model -- relying on domestic consumption and high-tech services -- has brought a quarter century of record growth despite an incompetent and heavy-handed state. But for that growth to continue, the state must start modernizing along with Indian society.

GURCHARAN DAS is former CEO of Procter & Gamble India and the author of India Unbound: The Social and Economic Revolution From Independence to the Global Information Age.

Long but worth a read.

The complete line-up

Here is the complete line-up for the Stanford/Wharton E-Trek this weekend.

Martin Eberhard, Tesla Motors
Rajeev Madhavan, Magma Design Systems
Colin Roache, PenAgain
Zaw Thet, 4INFO
Ross Mayfield, Socialtext
Ajit Nazare, KPCB
Scott Weiss, IronPort Systems
Samir Arora, Glam Media
Hans Peter Brondmo, Plum.com
Andy Stack, Mozes
Saroj Sahu, Deeya Energy
Terrapass, Tom Arnold
David Sifry, Technorati

I am so excited... cannot wait to hear the stories of these entrepreneurs...