India's World Startup Report Is Released And The Future Of Technology Looks Bright For The Country

Wrapping your brain around technology trends here in the United States, or even just in Silicon Valley, is a chore. Figuring out the trends and who the major players are in an emerging market like India is ten times as difficult. Bowei Gai, former LinkedIn employee by way of his company CardMuncher, has done just that under his World Startup Report umbrella. Brad Feld and Dave McClure have been leading the mentor and seed-funding charge in India, as well as the valley, as of late, and shared some interesting thoughts with us based on what they were able to pull from the report. Feld told us that the online and offline business differences in India are what stood out to him: I wasn’t tuned into the difference between online and offline businesses in India. The friction in offline society has a tremendous impact on any businesses, especially ones outside India, whereas the online world has enormous opportunities that seem unconstrained in the near term due to the extremely low penetration of smartphones when compared to the high penetration of mobile. Here’s the extremely detailed report, complete with population information, market opportunity and current players in the country: The idea for the World Startup Report is that one will be done in all major markets that are up-and-comers in the tech space. This is no small task, but if this India report is indicative of the types of information that Gai and his team are mining, then good things are bound to happen. Its mission is to share these documents for free, to empower local startup “activists” to become ambassadors for their region and ecosystem. Once those leaders emerge, then all of the pieces will start coming together for places like India. McClure talked to me about what it means to be more global as far as investor and why 500 Companies is starting to spend actual time, and money, in India: The benefits and opportunities for getting in early (but not *too* early) in India are tremendous. For only small amounts of capital and resources (say, $1-2m/year?) we can get started now in India, and potentially see impact and returns within just a few years. Particularly seeing the rise of mobile / smartphone business in india, and the Indian middle class growth opportunity over the next 3-5 years is amazing. Yes, mobile is something that you’ll hear about a lot

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