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Can India be next Y Combinator destination?

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Re: Can India be next Y Combinator destination?

#31

Post by plinkplonk »

Keios wrote: post #27
plinkplonk wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Indian Fashion designers often also do work in Paris" Do they ask angel funds focussed on the USA to "come to India" and sponsor their visas to France ? :-) news to me - please send some references. "you base your argument on a assumption that India should already be SV" Huh? I said there is little demonstrated high quality technical (significant contributions to open source projects) or entrepreneurial (in the Y fu…

1.As far as fashion is concerned, they do ask for both funding and contacts to sell merchandize, you should check. It is not cheap to do a ramp show in Paris or New York, it is not always succusful.I am not suggesting sponsoring visas - I never did. 2. I suggested that there is much demonstrated capability, I also suggested you do some research starting from the 1980s. I also highlighted why I think there has been la…

"I have some advice too, I suggest you study hosting costs along with hardware costs - there is no way any salary in Banglore(for a techie) is going to take care of your hosting costs and just how long are you planning to host for before you need help. "

Really? my last job at Bangalore was a little bit more than 80,000 $ - 38 lakhs to those who want the Indian equivalent - (but I have about 10 years of experience and if I do say so myself, I am pretty good at what I do.) . I plan to take care of my n hosting for a while.

Do you mind sharing (here) how much you think hosting would cost? YCombinator companies seem to get by for quite a while on comparaitive amounts of money.

But I could be wrong I was estimating about 250 $ or so per month for your own rackmounted boxes to start with.But let's say about 900 $ a month - . Do you seriously estimate spending more than 10,000 $ a year on hosting before hitting ,say, 100,000 users , at which point you'd have no problems attracting funding?

If you have about 2 years of experience, you can earn 10,000 dollars in 6 months (trivially easily) in Bangalore (if you are any good at coding). As I said earlier people just out of college are paid about 1200 $/month.

Also for "significant contributions to Open Source" (by which I mean something like "wrote and maintains the tcp/ip stack in Linux" or "added and maintains SSA based optimizing phase to the GCC trunk" or even "wrote Ruby on Rails or Django" (not things like "contributed documentation to Ubuntu" or "localized Strings to Hindi"), please name specific people and specific achievements. of the magnitude stated above.

And then tell me how many of those people live in India so that folks like YC should look for them here.

And you can't brush the "not resident in India" part away. That is the point. The really good technical people from India move to the USA or Europe for the tech and startup culture (and of course $$$ :-P ).They still do. To find he most talented Indian Hackers therefore, a search in California is better than one in Bangalore. .That was MY point.

Ahh I am spending too much time on this. I have work to do and code to write. Ciao

Re: Can India be next Y Combinator destination?

#32

Post by plinkplonk »

rsdighe wrote: post #29
plinkplonk wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please name some successful startups that came out of India. Acquisition data would be nice! Now it is possible that there is a bit of a chicken and egg problem here. But, imho, it is not enough to state baldly that there is significant entrepreneurial and IT activity happening here. IT as in "outsourcing" or "India Development Centres" sure. But the level of talent or software startups available is nowhere near what…

i do believe that something Y combinator could be the early initiators of change, of course the startups are flaky but I wonder why google can hire top talent in bangalore and something like guruji cannot build a better search engine?? it can't be lack of talent ? zoho is based in pleasanton if i am not wrong its just owned by indian that hardly makes it a Indian startup. anyways it doesn't have to be Y Combinator i…

"I wonder why google can hire top talent in bangalore and something like Guruji cannot build a better search engine?"

Ha but that was my point. The really good guys prefer to work for companies (and mostly emigrate to America) rather than start their own companies in India.

Guruji can't build a better search engine because they aren't as good as the folks who work on Google's Search Engine.

hint: that (kind of core tech )work doesn't happen in Google Bangalore anyway.

hint2 : look at the bios of Guruji's founders and employees for evidence of significant technical expertise. Compare them to Page and Brin and the others who created the Google search engine :-)).

Someone will outcompete Google some day. It won't be Guruji.

Do you know how hard Google has found it to hire the (very few) people they have in their Bangalore centre in spite of offering astronomical (compared to the rest of the market) salaries? Talk to someone in Goog recuiting for their tale of woe.

I have friends in Goog India and I know what they work on - believe me it is nothing of company shaking importance.

The technical centre of gravity of Google (or Yahoo or Microsoft, or Oracle, or Intel) , especially on the innovation axis (which is what we are discussing here) is well away from the shores of India.

Google hires some 'technical talent' in India sure enough.But do they hire people good enough to create the next killer startup? There is no evidence yet. I'll be glad to be proved wrong.

"I think there are pretty smart people will India who will start it sooner or later it just remains to be seen who it will be."

I agree. But I'd bet on "later". It is not about how smart people are. Given a billion people one would expect quite a few smart people. It is (among other things) about what the culture is like as (you report) Sacca pointed out.

Re: Can India be next Y Combinator destination?

#33

Post by plinkplonk »

udai wrote: post #28
plinkplonk wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"If YCombinator helped with Visas" Yeow I hope not! INS's visa rules are a legal and procedural snake pit, with plenty of people abusing and bending the rules to get a chance to come to the USA. IMHO YC should keep to doing what it knows best . It is bad situation but not YC's problem to solve. I would imagine that YC has (a LOT) more work than it can handle. Why would YC want to add to it by expanding to India (or a…

plinkplonk - find what u're saying pretty interesting, and wanted to bounce some things off you. What's best way to connect? You can email me at udai (at) askme (dot) com

see my id details it includes an email address

Re: Can India be next Y Combinator destination?

#34

Post by Keios »

plinkplonk wrote: post #31
Keios wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1.As far as fashion is concerned, they do ask for both funding and contacts to sell merchandize, you should check. It is not cheap to do a ramp show in Paris or New York, it is not always succusful.I am not suggesting sponsoring visas - I never did. 2. I suggested that there is much demonstrated capability, I also suggested you do some research starting from the 1980s. I also highlighted why I think there has been la…

"I have some advice too, I suggest you study hosting costs along with hardware costs - there is no way any salary in Banglore(for a techie) is going to take care of your hosting costs and just how long are you planning to host for before you need help. " Really? my last job at Bangalore was a little bit more than 80,000 $ - 38 lakhs to those who want the Indian equivalent - (but I have about 10 years of experience an…

Are you suggesting the average coder earns over $80K+. I don't think so. If the average age for founders is 26, then they possibly have half your work ex, which translates to a significantly lower salary. Here we are talking about people in general not your case specifically.

Server costs can vary, but I would estimate my needs at around $1300+ within 6 months of launch (I will know exactly only once we have launched, I am hoping this turns out to be an understimation ;) and I am looking at service providers such as rackspace.com, servint.com, datapipe.com and serverbeach.com to name a few. Also what kind of servers are we talking here - in terms of hardware? Are you considering a separate db server? Can you refer me to some reliable host who has rack-mounted, dedicated servers at $250 and provides decent support.

I don't know how long most ycombinator companies get by and on how much. It might be interesting to know. I would 'assume' that $15,000 finish in the 3 months. That's a fully loaded cost of $5000 per month. Typically people and hardware are the biggest costs, because there are no employees I think the larger cost may be servers and connectivity. And so it seems server cost is significant. Maybe someone with facts can add to this.

Re: Can India be next Y Combinator destination?

#35

Post by plinkplonk »

Keios wrote: post #34
plinkplonk wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"I have some advice too, I suggest you study hosting costs along with hardware costs - there is no way any salary in Banglore(for a techie) is going to take care of your hosting costs and just how long are you planning to host for before you need help. " Really? my last job at Bangalore was a little bit more than 80,000 $ - 38 lakhs to those who want the Indian equivalent - (but I have about 10 years of experience an…

Are you suggesting the average coder earns over $80K+. I don't think so. If the average age for founders is 26, then they possibly have half your work ex, which translates to a significantly lower salary. Here we are talking about people in general not your case specifically. Server costs can vary, but I would estimate my needs at around $1300+ within 6 months of launch (I will know exactly only once we have launched…

Read my post very carefully I never said "average coders gt 80 k" you are reacting to a strawman. "Average coders" probably shouldn't be attempting a world changing startup (strictly imo) Please react to what I actually said. I explicitly mentioned I am an outlier.

anyway , using your figures, 1300$ for 12 months = (approx) 15 k.

Are you saying a good technical person with about 3 years in the Industry can't get together with a couple of friends to fund their hosting ? (A good dev with 3 years exp can get 15k annual pay easily in Bangalore)

Yes it is a little bit more difficult for people just out of college but hey all of us have to tailor our plans to our resources. If you can manage a decent user base in 3 months (3 months is how long YC funds their teams iirc ... hosting will cost bout 5000 $ - Even two kids just out of college should be able to manage that) you should do well with the vc folks.

Now, if you are saying that you need lots of moolah in the bank before you attempt a software startup, I can only say my perceptions differ.

Maybe you are right and I am wrong. Time will tell.

I am too tired to continue. Been coding the last 15 hours or so. Ciao

Re: Can India be next Y Combinator destination?

#36

Post by Keios »

plinkplonk wrote: post #31
Keios wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1.As far as fashion is concerned, they do ask for both funding and contacts to sell merchandize, you should check. It is not cheap to do a ramp show in Paris or New York, it is not always succusful.I am not suggesting sponsoring visas - I never did. 2. I suggested that there is much demonstrated capability, I also suggested you do some research starting from the 1980s. I also highlighted why I think there has been la…

"I have some advice too, I suggest you study hosting costs along with hardware costs - there is no way any salary in Banglore(for a techie) is going to take care of your hosting costs and just how long are you planning to host for before you need help. " Really? my last job at Bangalore was a little bit more than 80,000 $ - 38 lakhs to those who want the Indian equivalent - (but I have about 10 years of experience an…

You said: "Enlighten Me" - then you edited it (I think) Anyway here is something about Indian Contributors to linux, The links below will prove my point.

http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/Contributors

http://news.monstersandcritics.com/india/article_1226891.php

http://linuxinindia.pitas.com/

Also: CDAC is doing some interesting work - http://www.cdac.in/

Re: Can India be next Y Combinator destination?

#37

Post by Keios »

plinkplonk wrote: post #35
Keios wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you suggesting the average coder earns over $80K+. I don't think so. If the average age for founders is 26, then they possibly have half your work ex, which translates to a significantly lower salary. Here we are talking about people in general not your case specifically. Server costs can vary, but I would estimate my needs at around $1300+ within 6 months of launch (I will know exactly only once we have launched…

Read my post very carefully I never said "average coders gt 80 k" you are reacting to a strawman. "Average coders" probably shouldn't be attempting a world changing startup (strictly imo) Please react to what I actually said. I explicitly mentioned I am an outlier. anyway , using your figures, 1300$ for 12 months = (approx) 15 k. Are you saying a good technical person with about 3 years in the Industry can't get toge…

Friend, I say are you 'suggesting' not 'saying'. I said this because I don't know why else you stated your salary. Maybe I was mistaken. A good dev with 3 years of experience will have to spend money on absolutely nothin else if he spends $15000 in hosting annually. Surely you are not suggesting that ALL income can be put into hosting.

Re: Can India be next Y Combinator destination?

#38

Post by plinkplonk »

Keios wrote: post #36
plinkplonk wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"I have some advice too, I suggest you study hosting costs along with hardware costs - there is no way any salary in Banglore(for a techie) is going to take care of your hosting costs and just how long are you planning to host for before you need help. " Really? my last job at Bangalore was a little bit more than 80,000 $ - 38 lakhs to those who want the Indian equivalent - (but I have about 10 years of experience an…

You said: "Enlighten Me" - then you edited it (I think) Anyway here is something about Indian Contributors to linux, The links below will prove my point. http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/Contributors http://news.monstersandcritics.com/india/article_1226891.php http://linuxinindia.pitas.com/ Also: CDAC is doing some interesting work - http://www.cdac.in/

I did "edit the post" . As I said I am too woozy and making some mistakes. So when I see a typo , or just feel I am being too sarcastic, I use the edit button. I must be doing something wrong because my posts were cut off a few times.

Sorry for any inconvenience.

Ok now to your list of people.

This is good work ! Thanks!

But ... Do you know what these people actually do or are you just pulling names off a google search?

I believe I explicitly asked for names and specific contributions . All those pages are light on the specifics . I gave some examples of specific cntribs earlier.

I asked explicitly for significant contributions with details.

On the linux India list, if you remove all the "internationalization" type of contributors there are a bare handful left. But Do you know if any of those people (good people no doubt) are major contributors to their projects?

As for CDAC, do you know people who work there? I do. They are severely hit be people leaving to -- guess where -- the United States. Many of their projects (not all) don't have much more than web pages. (Like wise for the DRDO - Defence Research and Development Organization for the non Indians reading this).

Again (just to stop arguing _ I will be glad to continue offlist ;-) ) I will concede the point.

The Linux Kernel, GCC and other open source efforts would be hamstrung if all the Indians suddenly disappeared ;-)

You are right. India is a powerhouse of open source contribution. ;-)

This thread has deteriorated too much. Apologies to all for my part in said deterioration.

This is my final post.

Take Care,

Re: Can India be next Y Combinator destination?

#39

Post by Keios »

plinkplonk wrote: post #38
Keios wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You said: "Enlighten Me" - then you edited it (I think) Anyway here is something about Indian Contributors to linux, The links below will prove my point. http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/Contributors http://news.monstersandcritics.com/india/article_1226891.php http://linuxinindia.pitas.com/ Also: CDAC is doing some interesting work - http://www.cdac.in/

I did "edit the post" . As I said I am too woozy and making some mistakes. So when I see a typo , or just feel I am being too sarcastic, I use the edit button. I must be doing something wrong because my posts were cut off a few times. Sorry for any inconvenience. Ok now to your list of people. This is good work ! Thanks! But ... Do you know what these people actually do or are you just pulling names off a google sear…

You must not have read some of the profiles which are hyperlinked in that page. Anyway, this discussion seems to have become to trivial. Cheers

Re: Can India be next Y Combinator destination?

#40

Post by jey »

plinkplonk wrote: post #13
jey wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot, lot further than it would in the US. Your average Indian worker probably earns somewhere between $75 - $150 USD per month.

an average Indian programmer gets significantly more. the average salary for someone just out of school is about 1200 $ /month (in Bangalore, as of today). Companies like Google pay much more.

Yes, but I think he's asking about lower-bounds on money needed to survive while starting a startup. When you're starting a startup, you can't afford an opulent lifestyle. In the US, a programmer would make a lot more than $6000 per 3 months, but YC only gives you about $6k to $7.5k per person, and this money is expected to sustain you past the 3 month YC program until you get external funding. A programmer in the US probably earns between $70k and $90k per year. (Although it can be considerably higher in places like Silicon Valley)
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