In Silicon Valley, inventory choices mint millionaires in a single day. In Chandni Chowk, survival will depend on household ties, borrowed capital, and a prayer. India’s entrepreneurs aren’t simply constructing firms—they’re rewriting the principles of danger, reward, and resilience in a world the place the American playbook merely doesn’t apply.
Saurabh Mukherjea of Marcellus Funding Managers lays it out plainly on LinkedIn: Indian entrepreneurship is a distinct beast. “America’s per capita revenue is 20 occasions greater, and its social construction vastly completely different,” he writes, noting that in India, household and group aren’t simply cultural touchpoints—they’re the inspiration of most companies.
Within the U.S., tech staff count on fairness. In India, most don’t even know what ESOPs are. “While ESOPs are commonplace in America,” Mukherjea notes, “the vast majority of the 1.4 million firms registered to pay company tax in India don’t use them.” Bonuses—usually tied on to earnings—are the extra typical type of reward. It is a reflection of deeper realities: low liquidity, excessive borrowing prices, and a deeply private enterprise ethos.
India’s value of capital routinely exceeds 12%, in comparison with about 6% within the U.S. That makes huge bets uncommon. “The chance urge for food and wager dimension of the Indian entrepreneur is far decrease than that of his American counterpart,” Mukherjea observes. And but, as a result of launching a enterprise in India is cheaper and communities rally round even small ventures, entrepreneurship thrives—simply with a distinct rhythm.
Marcellus dissects this divergence in depth. Whereas the U.S. registered 30 occasions extra new companies since 2012, India has saved tempo in progress charges—regardless of weaker infrastructure, fragmented laws, and unpredictable financing.
As a substitute of blitzscaling, Indian founders construct to endure. The report lays out “Ten Commandments” tailor-made to India’s chaos: take sensible dangers, embrace failure, construct belief, assume long-term, and put money into individuals over pitch decks.
In India, it’s not about IPOs or unicorn valuations. It’s about staying alive, staying sharp, and betting by yourself grit—as a result of household capital, not enterprise capital, remains to be the startup fund of selection.
