Why is Entrepreneurship Still Hard for Indians?

Balaji's tweet got me thinking. Not around the point he is making on Indians abroad, but about a question I've had for a long time.

Indians are rising, but why is entrepreneurship still hard for Indians in India? There seems to be a cultural element that adds difficulty in India compared to some Western countries. When I did a quick search, I found the same usual reasons: bureaucracy, access to funding, cultural attitudes toward risk, and the education system. But I’m not convinced. The real challenge goes deeper into culture, mindset, and the way we view success and failure.

Cultural and Family Pressures

Indian family dynamics often discourage entrepreneurship by prioritizing job security over risk-taking. I remember growing up with a strong emphasis on a stable career—engineering, medicine, or government jobs. Starting a business is seen as risky. And I would imagine the bigger the family, the harder it is to make a decision because, in Indian families, decisions are generally made collectively. You need approval from older family members. If you fail, the entire family faces the consequences—both financially and in terms of reputation.

Mindset Challenges & Short-Term Thinking

Then there’s the concept of Jugaad, India's frugal problem-solving approach. I’ve always thought of Jugaad as a positive thing, making more out of less. But there’s a downside. It often means focusing too much on short-term fixes rather than long-term solutions. To build a sustainable business, you need a long-term vision. In the short term, you are taking more risk and probably not seeing the reward right away.

Trust-building is another challenge. If I just met someone, it takes time for me to trust them. A formal contract isn’t enough. To really trust someone quickly, there needs to be a personal connection. This makes it harder to seek mentorship or build networks outside one’s community.

Indians are always competing, and competition creates pressure. Pressure to succeed and monetize quickly. This can lead to burnout or unsustainable business models. In the West, failure is seen as a learning experience—so-called 'fail fast, iterate' culture. In India, failure comes with a heavier social and financial cost, discouraging many from even trying.

The Indian concept of time comes with high uncertainty. My German friends often joke about how unpredictable Indian time management can be. To an outsider, this makes long-term planning difficult. If entrepreneurs can’t make long-term plans or don’t have the right environment for it, unpredictability adds to the risk.

I still get this question a lot in Europe: “Hey, do you guys still have a caste system?” I don’t know the answer. But what I do know, or at least what I experienced, is a push for joining the same occupation as my father. If you want to step out of it, you have to fight harder. Now, if you’re an investor, you might also have subconscious biases toward certain backgrounds.

We also idolize certain figures. But if there aren’t enough role models in a specific field, it’s harder to be the first one. Convincing parents often requires real-world proof, such as successful Indian entrepreneurs breaking traditional career paths.

Further Observations

Another point is what we learn in school versus the actual skills needed for entrepreneurship—creativity, critical thinking, risk-taking. But this is not just an issue in India. It exists abroad too.

I’m lucky to have grown up in an urban area with good tech infrastructure, but I’m aware that rural areas lack access. Startups in those areas don’t have the same market reach. However, over the last few years, more people have come online and are consuming content, so this might be changing.

There are a lot of businessmen in India, but it’s often more brick-and-mortar rather than startup-driven. Many of these businesses are informal, don’t deal with regulations, and don’t require raising money or scaling rapidly. They are also entrepreneurs in the sense that they are taking risks and trying to build something. But they are not startups.

So, what can we do to promote more entrepreneurship in India?

Encourage individual agency over collective decision-making.
Normalize failure as a personal setback, not a societal one.
Make career experimentation accessible, not a luxury.
Incentivize disruptive innovation rather than subsistence entrepreneurship.
Create more relatable role models outside traditional success markers like engineering, medicine, or government jobs.

I could only think like this after living abroad for a while. The questions I hear from friends and colleagues at parties stay with me. They make me reflect and connect the dots.

If we truly want India to become a startup powerhouse, we need to rethink how we view risk, failure, and success.

Hope some of this makes sense to you.