Reverse Engineering Their Way to Glory

It was the offshoring industry that gave us the sweet taste of Reverse Imperialism to begin with. Sitting in one of the Indian metropolitans, we would snatch away jobs of hundreds of Americans or British. All the wealth that was once drained out of the subcontinent would now gradually come back to where it belonged. This taste is indeed very sweet and no wonder most Indians just loved it. As one of my friends had put it- “Its payback time!!”

Just when we thought that the west would now guard themselves of any complacency and take strict steps discouraging offshoring, we see a striking new development. The human race, just like any other species on this planet is evolving continuously. But it’s the Indian people who seem to have invented a way of being the champions in the race of evolution. Since our reverse imperialists must ensure that the show goes on, we have now come up with a new breed of warriors for the cause – The Indian Entrepreneurs!!!

Whatever happened to the Tatas, Birlas and Ambanis? Were they not the first few entrepreneurs from India who really made it big? Well yes, of course they did. But this new class of entrepreneurs that is being referred to here is completely different. They are similar to the few great entrepreneurs mentioned above only in that they are innovative & have lots of guts and self-belief. How they differ from those great names is in their approach. Their tools to fight against all odds and reach the top do not consist of morality, ethics, original ideas or perseverance. Most of these are mere adjectives to them best suited to books. Their tools instead are being smart and assessing what is needed and how to create that either by replicating the best practices from west or by Reverse engineering.

More than relying on their conviction and instincts, these entrepreneurs focus all their efforts upon gathering competitive intelligence of other new innovations. Motivated to win under all conditions, our entrepreneurs are busy searching for all legal loopholes to ensure that their ideas click. Whether it is replicating a new concept of an automobile, cell phone or a brand new software or use of proprietary information, these men are bang on. It’s just a matter of time before Indian proprietorships start dominating all the global markets including application software, car engines, market research or any other sector that one could think of.

The answer to whether our entrepreneurs are right or wrong; morally or legally correct is elusive and shall always remain debatable. However this trend of entrepreneurs copy-pasting stuff and making it big has been influenced greatly by the conditions that the youth of this country live in. Most of them have incredible ideas but do not have enough power to convince VC firms to invest upon them. They spend their entire lives pleading for an opportunity to implement their ideas but fail. Most of them give in to their fate and lead a rather “common” life. The ones who do not know how to give up, resort to such innovative means.

What is interesting and more importantly refreshing though is to see a whole new wave of entrepreneurs coming out of the huge herd of the Indian population to take up new challenges. A country whose entrepreneurial capabilities had been deeply wounded psychologically during the long drawn imperial rule as well as the era that followed is now determined to succeed. Hopefully India will soon be more than just a center of low cost products and services.