>This article is very shallow. I would say it wrong to assume that there is ever going to be a drought of customers. Investors with risk appetite? - may be, but there can never be a drought of customers.
Oh, there can easily be a drought of customers. The article covers specifically the Indian market for one, but even in the US, with the squeezed out middle class, there can very well be a drought of customers.
>Here is the real picture: there are over a billion customers in India.
No, there are a billion _people_ in India, which is a different thing. Even if you bypass the starving masses, the actual internet ready audience for what an internet startup might sell is smaller than the US, less adopted to the internet way of doing business and with less money.
>They need something. All you have to do is open your eyes and ears and figure out what they want the most. Solve a pain that people currently have.
Well, most of their problems have nothing to do with what an internet startup can offer. Hence a "drought of customers" for internet startups.
You probably jump the gun again, but I do get your point about infrastructure issue. And I agree that the needs in India are probably towards lower-middle side of Maslow's hierarchy of needs. But the need is there for sure.
> "The actual internet ready audience for what an internet start-up might sell is smaller than" ... "less adopted to the internet way of doing business and with less money."
> "Well, most of their problems have nothing to do with what an internet start-up can offer. Hence a drought of customers for internet start-ups."
For example, shouldn't you then be looking to provide internet/bandwidth in the first place? This is a lucrative problem that you (entrepreneurs) can solve. Customers are always going to be there, no matter how you see it.
>For example, shouldn't you then be looking to provide internet/bandwidth in the first place? This is a lucrative problem that you (entrepreneurs) can solve. Customers are always going to be there, no matter how you see it.
Yes, of course. I agree with both statements in the sense that internet infrastructure and more basic needs are a big market in India, and that customers in general will always be there.
What I disagreed with is that Customers for some specific market or level of service will always be there.
>>actual internet ready audience for what an internet startup
It's really hard for me to grasp why people want to pin startup/business/entrepreneurship to Internet/website and iOS apps. It doesn't work everywhere and till it starts working you have the option of sitting out or start giving them Internet connectivity (not to mention device and training) or make something that they need now and will buy at a price they can safely afford, of course via a medium they use or have access too.
>>Well, most of their problems have nothing to do with what an internet startup can offer. Hence a "drought of customers" for internet startups.
Internet startups, many a times, start with a problem that doesn't exist here but they start it anyway because people in the USA had it and when last time someone in Germany had copied sth (or sth similar) from the USA it did actually work (as in got sold). Now, in the end you have narrowed down your opinion to a smaller subset.
There is a large population in India that accesses Internet through means that other part of world hardly shall ever recognise as Internet connectivity. That's an untapped one and many startups are taking small but significant startups towards it.
Oh, there can easily be a drought of customers. The article covers specifically the Indian market for one, but even in the US, with the squeezed out middle class, there can very well be a drought of customers.
>Here is the real picture: there are over a billion customers in India.
No, there are a billion _people_ in India, which is a different thing. Even if you bypass the starving masses, the actual internet ready audience for what an internet startup might sell is smaller than the US, less adopted to the internet way of doing business and with less money.
>They need something. All you have to do is open your eyes and ears and figure out what they want the most. Solve a pain that people currently have.
Well, most of their problems have nothing to do with what an internet startup can offer. Hence a "drought of customers" for internet startups.