Expert's preview : Product ecosystem in India

Products v/s Services is one of the most talked about topics everywhere , be it a Conference, Unconference, companies or any other space that even has a slightest relation with IT. With a handful of experience in a product based company, one thing is quite evident : "Be whatever is the complication of the product, there is a fundamental difference between a service and product , the consumer. Consumer decides the fate of any product , which is very different than developing a software solution for a customer. A simple example is Microsoft Zune , the IPod clone which failed miserably and speaks out all the story

In a conversation with a founder of one of the product startups in Bangalore, he mentioned that "Working in Startups is like a marriage(since products always have a bigger life cycle than services) and entering/working in a product startup is always riskier than a services startup hence,many people tend to stay away from the same. So , recruitment always becomes a problem for product startups"

IMHO, for anyone to speak/write on "Why there is no product ecosystem in India", there would be many points that we can note down, but my decision was to focus on 'What the industry experts are saying about the subject - Why there are not much product startups in India' , let's look into the same.

Tejas Networks (Optical Networking) :
In one of the interviews by Sanjay Nayak, CEO of Tejas Networks; following are key factors that he mentioned to build a product ecosystem in India:

1. Close proximity to a vibrant market that acts as the breeding ground of new product ideas. It is very difficult for companies to be in India and develop products that are initially targeted for customers in the US & Europe.
2. Availability of critical pool of domain specific talent, both technical as well as managerial .
3. Access to adequate funding — both early as well as late-stage venture capital.
4. As a new product company, it is crucial to stay focused on a specific domain and try to be the best in it, rather than diluting the limited resources in multiple areas.
5. Success stories (especially in capital markets ) for product companies that entrepreneurs can look up to as role models.

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Yahoo, India (Internet) :
Below are a list of 5 recommendations made by Sharad Sharma, (CEO of Yahoo,R&D) to make better product ecosystem in India.

1. NASSCOM to take leadership to separate out the kaizen ecosystem from the Silicon Valley ecosystem, so that each may develop and thrive in its own right.
2. NASSCOM and TiE to join in a project to grow the number of product managers, product architects and product release managers, by getting universities involved in the process and by nurturing special communities for practitioners.
3. NASSCOM can launch a mission to multiply TeNeT type partnerships across the country.
4. Industry collaborates with academic institutions, regulatory bodies and government agencies to create standards for emerging local markets
5. NASSCOM lobbies to open up defense related technology work for local companies

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These were some of the thoughts from the industry experts from established companies(but from diversified fields).But IMHO, with more & more unconferences , things are looking bright at the grass root level . When I had passed out from college, things were much different but now lots of fresh passouts(non IIT) are also looking at opportunities in startups, which in itself is an indication of "Shining side of Indian IT"!!! Hopefully, very soon we should be able to see another Google or Microsoft being born out of India