The world is full of ‘Silicon Valleys’ today, with India too boasting of a few home-grown versions. But what makes the ‘start-up culture’ of the original Silicon Valley unique? Does its charm continue to hold, or is any one of our ‘desi’ versions as good a destination? We take a closer look.

At one time there was just one Silicon Valley in this world—the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California, nestled cosily amongst high mountains, and dotted with high-tech companies founded by whizzes from across the world. The scene has changed over time, and now, every country has its own Silicon Valleys. India has its share too—Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Pune, Ahmedabad, and more. Yet, not all Indians launch their start-ups in India. Many still head for the Bay Area. Why? What is the enduring charm of the original Silicon Valley that India perhaps still lacks? Will a time come when the Indian entrepreneur considers the start-up ecosystem in India on par with that of the US?

Here are five key differences that make the start-up environment in the US seem far more attractive than the one in India. Fortunately, the Indian ecosystem seems to be on the right track to bridge almost all these differences. As an interviewee remarked, the situation here now is on par with the one in Silicon Valley 10-15 years ago. The good news is that we will get into step much faster as the players here are backed by the experience and lessons gained from their own or their counterparts’ stints abroad.

Cost-consciousness and risk-aversion still rule in India

Umashankar S., vice president - Marketing, Four Soft Limited, feels that the innovation ecosystem in India has improved immensely with the greater availability of resources at optimal costs, government concessions, ease of starting, scaling and even winding up; and most importantly, the rapidly improving image of the ‘made in India’ tag. Yet, he feels {quotes}what chiefly slots the start-up environment in the US a notch higherin India is their risk-taking ability and attitude.{/quotes}

“In India, the public perception is that you need to be financially stable and wait for such a state to start a venture on your own, even if you have a great idea, backed by perfect timing. This is not the case in the US,” he says. In India, entrepreneurs are more conservative than in the US or even the EU. From Day One, Indian entrepreneurs are cost-conscious and sometimes this makes them even compromise on the quality of input and, consequentially, the output.

Umashankar adds, “Entrepreneurs have to learn to be in investing mode in the initial period rather than in profit-making mode. This, for example, could mean that they should target the best resources even if they are expensive, since a start-up needs outstanding and multi-skilled people more than an established set-up. Finally, venture capitalists (VCs) and other investors here have to change their attitude and understand that every big firm has been a start-up at some point of time!”

All this, together with an improvement in the availability of fall-back options in case of failure, would help Indian entrepreneurs shed their conservatism, in part, at least.