Final Up to date:
Dhruv Suyamprakasam realised that Bengaluru’s fast-paced tradition didn’t mesh properly with the slower, trust-dependent nature of a healthcare enterprise.
Dhruv Suyamprakasam’s firm iCliniq is headquartered within the US. (Photograph Credit: Instagram)
Bengaluru, the town, often called the startup hub of India, isn’t as welcoming to everybody as one would anticipate. Dhruv Suyamprakasam, the co-founder and CEO of the telemedicine platform iCliniq, has had one such disagreeable expertise in Karnataka’s capital. Dhruv’s journey by means of Bengaluru’s startup ecosystem reportedly revealed quite a few challenges, from unrealistic investor expectations to non-public biases.
Initially from Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, Dhruv got here from a household with an entrepreneurial spirit. His father’s profitable enterprise sparked his curiosity in constructing one thing of his personal. In 2010, he moved to Bengaluru, drawn by its status as a thriving startup ecosystem. “I had learn in regards to the metropolis being the mainstream startup ecosystem. Transferring to Bengaluru felt like the very best resolution for me as a founder,” Dhruv shared in an interview with Enterprise Insider.
Quickly, he realised that Bengaluru’s fast-paced tradition didn’t mesh properly with the slower, trust-dependent nature of a healthcare enterprise. “Bengaluru is a spot that encourages firms to develop quick and fail quick. That sort of stress didn’t align with the wants of a healthcare enterprise, which has no room for error and calls for important belief from folks,” he defined.
Investor expectations solely made issues extra difficult. “We met buyers who anticipated metrics like 100 paid consultations in a day,” Dhruv revealed. The truth of a healthcare startup, the place constructing belief takes time, didn’t align with the moment outcomes many buyers have been searching for.
On prime of the enterprise challenges, Dhruv confronted private hurdles within the metropolis. As a non-IIT graduate and somebody unfamiliar with Hindi, he felt remoted in an ecosystem that usually favoured these from prestigious establishments or who spoke the nation’s most generally used language. “I felt excluded as a result of I didn’t converse Hindi, India’s most generally spoken language, and I wasn’t an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Expertise, the nation’s most prestigious engineering school. Being from a small city that many hadn’t heard of added to the judgment,” he admitted.
After simply 16 months, Dhruv made the robust resolution to go away Bengaluru and return to Coimbatore, hoping to develop his enterprise at a extra sustainable tempo. Nonetheless, his transfer wasn’t with out its challenges. “We confronted points like unreliable web, which was by no means an issue in Bengaluru, and the dearth of a longtime startup group,” he famous.
In 2016, Dhruv gave Bengaluru one other shot, hoping for a extra inclusive setting and higher alternatives. However after 18 months, he realised that the town’s healthcare ecosystem hadn’t developed as he’d hoped. The pressures of fast development usually prioritised over trust-building, made him realise that Coimbatore was the higher place for his enterprise in spite of everything.
“I don’t suppose Bengaluru must be in comparison with Silicon Valley in any respect. Bengaluru has an incredible tech crowd, however Silicon Valley is Silicon Valley for a purpose — persons are much more open-minded and inclusive about giving alternatives to these from totally different backgrounds. Since 2018, I’ve additionally frolicked within the Bay Space rising our enterprise. Now, our firm is headquartered within the US and I spend 4 to 5 months of the 12 months within the US, he added.
