What is the latest fad among the youth of India?

In the ever-changing dynamics of business in India, there is a new entrant. Step aside corporate firms and family holdings, for here are the Startups.  That’s right, startups are the new trend in doing business in India and they’re doing it the mean and lean way.

There are dozens of new startups springing up in cities like Bengaluru, Gurgaon, Hyderabad, Delhi and Pune, ranging from healthcare products to food delivery options to getting your daily grocery shopping done sitting at home.
So how did these outfits start off and why is India finally ready to shed its tag of being a conservative destination when it comes to doing business and taking risks?

The Culture Change

1. Scores of young Indians, raised in the era of liberalization and increasing globalization, are taking a leaf out from their peers around the world and are working on making their ideas and business ideas a reality.
2. Gone are the days when one would join a firm post their formal education and work for the next 40 years for a salary determined by the firm they worked for.
3. We’ve spoken about this before, but it makes sense to mention it every time we talk about entrepreneurship and the startup culture blossoming in India.
4. Acceptance of failure and risk taking were probably the first two factors that allowed Indians, especially the youth, to venture into the unknown and do their own thing.
5. Risk and failure are terms now embraced as essential learning curves with the startup culture.

Taking the Risk and making it Large

The risk initially seems slightly daunting, with the right approach and basic hard work, it isn’t hard to succeed at your idea.

1. Take for example two IT professionals from Bengaluru, who noticed all office goers faced a common problem i.e. having to rely on take-outs and roadside vendors for meals, while at work. This led them to start a food delivery service (mealboat.com), to cater home cooked food to the office going crowd.
2. Local Baniya is another prime example of this mindset. From an app on your phone, you can sit at home and order groceries to your doorstep, which are organic and pesticide free. In case you don’t like the purchases, there’s always the option of returning them.

Keeping It Simple

1. You don’t necessarily need to come up with a fantastically original or brilliant brainwave; observing your surroundings and finding simpler or better ways of going about things could be all you need to begin with.
2. India is an emerging market, which means it is far from its saturation point.
3. The opportunities to grow and develop products to fill gaps in the ecosystem are plenty. You just need to find these gaps. It could be something you’ve complained about for ages, online vegetable marketing being a prime example of it.

Hence the startup or entrepreneurial streak that we see around us is more than just a fad, it is fast becoming a part of our business culture, one that will usher in a new way of succeeding in India.