It is unclear what you are trying to accomplish with this post. If you want to talk to PG, perhaps an email would have been better; if you wanted to start a discussion about startups in India, the title could have been rephrased.
As you might have guessed, this is my personal opinion - so feel free to take it, or leave it.
I don't know why this post is getting so many upvotes and got onto front page. May be more people are interested in this topic? I thought sending a private email asking this question would be awkward, whereas here he can choose to answer or just ignore it.
Hey - thanks for this news. We were not selected for the YCombinator round, but I just sent in an application for the seedcamp 'india' edition. Im from Mumbai :D
There is an even inspired by startup school in India. Its by IIM-A called CIIE. And they do not concentrate just on web startups. Maybe you can visit that sometime
India is great. I spent 6 weeks there. Not really a good place to just wander around though....I will eat you up....assault all your sense at once. I recommend getting a few contacts before heading over there and then work from there. Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad seem to be the big centers of tech over there. Have fun!
Haven't been in about 10 years but it was an awesome trip. I would love to go back some day after the kids are grown. I spent a month there interviewing H1B candidates.
I know I'm not Paul Graham, but since we're on the subject...
I'm very excited and am actually going for two weeks in May/June for a class to Delhi, Mumbai, and maybe Jaipur/Agra on the way for a day or so. Any recommendations besides the obvious things everyone does/sees?
Whoa... Delhi/Jaipur in May/June? That's probably the worst time to visit the north. I was there this year in May, and the temperatures were regularly over 45C (113F) during the day. It's hot, Hot, HOT in May/June. If you're not accustomed to that level of heat, you'll have a tough time.
I've only spent about a week in India (Delhi, Agra and Jaipur). It was a good trip, but not necessarily 'fun'.
If there is one thing I learnt (as a caucasian), it is that anyone who talks to you on the street (who doesn't have an obvious reason to be there like a shop keeper with merchandise) is probably trying to scam you. Trying to buy a train ticket to Agra from Delhi was a nightmare; we ended up organising a taxi through our hotel. It was hard going from being used to trusting directions and advice from strangers at home, but I got over that pretty quick.
Also, carry plenty of small change; anyone who does absolutely anything at all for you will expect a tip.
I can really only speak for Mumbai, as I've visited Delhi only as a tourist myself a handful of times.
The charm of Mumbai is on the streets. The street food, the markets, walking on Marine Drive etc. If you let me know when you're coming and some way to contact you, I'd love to grab a drink and show you a few interesting places in the city.
Wow thanks for all the responses everyone. I am actually going with a few other students for a college class and am not sure how much freedom we have (to go and grab drinks etc) but I will let those who offered to meetup know when I find out.
It is actually a finance class and we are going to look at some publicly traded companies, but Startup Saturday sounds awesome. I am going to go and talk to my professor and see if we can all attend in either Delhi or Mumbai (depending on our schedule). It would be great to be able to check out some smaller and newer companies as well as the larger and more established ones already scheduled, at least that's the argument I'll make with my professor. And it just looks like a lot of fun.
If you can take a trip into Punjab, it's breathtaking to take a walk in the morning fog amongst the irrigation canals and fields of crop. If you have any local friends it's a lot of fun to visit places like that which you wouldn't normally visit.
There's really so much to do that you can't do it in two weeks, but be sure to explore as much as you can. Careful with the food, though, some of it may not be so great for your stomach.
If your are going to Mumbai, don't miss the street food. Especially the vada pavs. And you must absolutely take a ride in the local trains! Save the touristy stuff for later.
I've very excited to see India from a tourist perspective.
From a business perspective, I'm a little leery. I've read too many articles on the bureaucracy and corruption that makes running a business tough, even for the locals.
I will be staying in Hyderabad for 6 weeks in Jan and Feb. It will be my second time there, and I'm definitely interested in plugging into the hacker scene there. Any events/tips to know about?
There's probably no big "startup scene" here worth talking about (except may be in Bangalore) but if you are in Delhi, it'll be great to to meet you :)
My experience with Indians is fantastically good, but I am wary of India itself.
They have a very elaborate system of granting and refusing permission for doing practically anything, called the "license raj" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Licence_Raj). The ultimate purpose of that system is to make sure that the designated winners win, and that the designated losers lose; as everybody happens to be born into their designated places.
If the situation accidentally starts working out differently, the "license raj" bureaucrats will keep changing the rules, until the social order desired, has been restored, and the designated winners are winning and the designated losers are losing again.
Nowadays they pretend that they are abolishing that system, but that is not true at all, because they cannot abolish its underlying motivation. As soon as too many designated losers start doing too well -- instead of starving as they are supposed to -- they will urgently reign in that kind of social disorder.
As a foreigner, you cannot expect to be anything else but a designated loser; even though you are probably still considered "touchable" :-)
This is true. You absolutely need to know the art of bribing to get things done in India. Because people who pay Rs50-100 ($1-2) to the right person will jump way ahead in the line. So if you don't bribe - or don't know how to bribe - things will take very very long for you. This goes for everything from getting a new internet connection to filing papers for a new company incorporation.
The reasoning about "everybody happens to be born into their designated places" is not true however. India had the caste system. Not anymore. Sure you'll find a few pockets of exceptions - a few villages that still think they are living in the 16th century. But by and large, this is not true.
That would be like comparing communist china of Chairman Mao's era to the china of today.
The whole process of dis-mantling the license raj was started by the current Prime Minister in 1991 when he was appointed the finance minister of india. He has continued to push his economic agenda on modern india and the results are plain to see. A GDP growth rate among the highest in the world for the last 15-20 years. Among the world's leaders, i doubt if anyone has half his knowledge of world or indian economy or his educational qualifications.
There is a realization within the entire beurucratic and political framework about the importance of openness and integration with the global economy. Which is one of the reasons why so many IT and BPO organizations have sprung up all over india.
You are talking about the India before 1991. "Licence Raj, also the Permit Raj, refers to the elaborate licenses, regulations and accompanying red tape that were required to set up and run businesses in India between 1947 and 1990.[1]"
There has never been a more supporting ecosystem for entrepreneurs in India. Shaadi.com/Rediff.com/Naukri.com/JustDial.com and many others are just few of the success stories.
As you might have guessed, this is my personal opinion - so feel free to take it, or leave it.