Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet- parent company of Google, Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, Shantanu Narayen, CEO of Adobe System, Arvind Krishna, CEO of IBM and now Parag Agrawal, the new CEO of Twitter. All of them have one common thread, their Indian origin.
Following Jack Dorsey’s exit as the CEO of Twitter, and the subsequent takeover of Agrawal, the debate on ‘brain drain’ to the US (simply meaning the departure of qualified working professionals to another country in search of a better job and standard of living) has sparked off yet again in the startup space. However, this time around, there is a twist to the tale, with many entrepreneurs not necessarily agreeing with the ‘brain drain’ theory. Instead, what city-based entrepreneurs observe is a new ‘cultural phenomenon’ and a ‘new playbook’ that is taking shape in the startup space in terms of opportunities, funding, market demand and technology. On the other hand, some entrepreneurs believe that the US is still the destination for young techies for an advanced tech-ecosystem and a better lifestyle.
Responding to a report on the rampant brain drain theory in India on social media, Bhavish Aggarwal, founder of Ola, tweeted, “I don’t agree with this brain drain theory. Indians become CEOs of American companies because Indians are good, not because “Good Indians” leave India. Now the best talent is not leaving India, rather building here in India. (sic)”
Abhinav Arora, co-founder of Scenes, a Bengaluru-based drop-in audio chat app, believes that the theory could have been a topic to discuss 10 years ago, however, the ‘new playbook’ has already been ushered in. “Venture capitalists in India now just don’t fund but also assist in hiring, looking for good investors, and connecting with global distributors to launch the product,” says Arora.
However, Akash Bhat, a venture capitalist working in the USA, stills believes that, although the Indian tech scene is booming, techies cite the lack of good lifestyle, quality of life, independence and freedom in Indian societies. But he also points out that Agrawal’s case study isn’t a true representation of the real world, but a mere subset of it. “Perhaps I feel that it is not that easy to secure a working visa and a green card in the US today. From the political climate to the immigration laws, a lot of these factors impact the scope of working for foreign nationals. The way I see it is that both geographies are driving change. India is catching up in terms of the tech prowess with the US,” says Bhat.
Meanwhile, Gotama Gowda, a tech entrepreneur and founder of Open App, a smart locking product, feels that young businesspersons need to focus on pooling talent from tier-2 and tier-3 cities as a counter to the brain drain theory. “With the work from home culture in place due to the pandemic, the craze for working in the US has come down. Racism is still a problem in the US. Instead, Indians feel culturally connected to European and South East Asian countries to work. It is also important for startups to find hotspots in tier-2 and tier-3 cities and consolidate opportunities for semi-urban techies to work,” says Gowda.