New | India’s tech start-ups embrace ‘fail fast’ culture of US Silicon Valley

After ping pong tables, motivational posters and casual dress codes, India’s tech start-ups are following Silicon Valley’s lead and embracing the "fail fast" culture credited with fuelling creativity and success in the United States.

Taking failure as a norm is a major cultural shift in India, where high-achieving children are typically expected to take steady jobs at recognised firms. A failed venture hurts family status and even marriage prospects.

But that nascent acceptance, fuelled by returning engineers and billions of dollars in venture fund investment, is for many observers a sign that India’s US$150 billion tech industry is coming of age, moving from a back office powerhouse to a creative force.

"There is obviously increased acceptance," said Raghunandan G, co-founder of TaxiForSure, which was sold to rival Ola this year. He is now investing in others’ early stage ventures.

"My co-founder Aprameya (Radhakrishna) used to have lines of prospective brides to meet ... the moment we started our own company, all those prospective alliances disappeared. No one wanted their daughters to marry a start-up guy."

Srikanth Chunduri returned to India after studying at Duke University in the United States, and is now working on his second venture. "I think what’s encouraging is that acceptance of failure is increasing despite the very deep-rooted Asian culture where failure is a big no," he said.