Full Interview: Caya From Slidebean on India’s Startup Ecosystem

In this video, Caleb catches up with Caya from Slidebean to discuss startups. They talk about how India’s startup ecosystem is different from the United States.

Visiting India’s Silicon Valley – Bengaluru: Bengaluru is the place to be to truly understand the depth of India’s startup ecosystem. You can regions inside of Bengaluru which is dedicated to startups – walk down miles and you can find hundreds of startups talking about disruption.

India’s SaaS revolution: Slidebean has been a customer of a lot of Indian SaaS startups including Zoho, Freshworks and Chargebee and a lot more. What’s surprising is that even though they have been a customer of a lot of Indian SaaS startups, they didn’t even know that these companies were from India.

India’s booming EV space: Even though Tesla is yet to make its mark in  India, Indian EV startups have been taking over the country in the last few years. From Tata’s Nexon to Ather’s scooters – electric vehicles are driving the revolution in India. All of this probably might not have been possible if Tesla might have entered India early.

Differences between India and United States’ Fintech ecosystem: India’s fintech ecosystem is quite unique with UPI playing a significant role across the ecosystem. Transactions are a lot smoother and more seamless due to UPI, but the entire thing is dependent of India’s own ecosystem and isn’t compatible with United States’ fintech ecosystem.  Understanding salary differences: India is the place for global companies to hire a quality workforce at cheaper costs. This is only possible due to the huge salary and living expense differences between  India and the US.

India’s closely-knit startup culture: The concentration of startups in a single place in cities like Bengaluru is mindboggling. You can go out for a coffee and you might bump up with some of India's leading startup entrepreneurs.

The ‘Jugaad’ mentality: With a lot of the new-age startup founders coming from small towns and cities where they had a lack of resources - a  lot of Indian startups have this 'Jugaad' mentality - which keeps them frugal while building some world-leading products.

Different countries, different problems: While startups in the US are more focused on streamlining and making things more efficient, startups in India have the opportunity to disrupt industries completely.

India’s savings culture: India is more of a savings focused economy where people are used to buying products only from their savings and mostly stay away from taking any loans. This is why credit card penetration in the country is extremely low. On the other hand, people in the US are a lot more comfortable with buying things they can't afford. This is why credit card penetration is a lot higher in the US.  

More cultural and lifestyle differences: Caya was blown away by the fact that there is a market for super expensive products in India while at the same time India's average salary is on the lower end of the spectrum. He believes that it's the cultural differences like focus on savings and salary differences that make up for these extreme lifestyle differences.

India’s wealth disparity: Also, the fact that there is a growing opportunity in India's tech space for engineers who are getting paid much higher than average salary is creating a huge wealth disparity among Indians. Startups are creating disproportionate wealth and enabling the Indian markets.