Ashu Garg, general partner at Foundation Capital
RITU JHA
Ashu Garg, co-founder of the Aptech Internet, an Indian online services startup founded in the start- ing days of the Internet in India, was recently promoted to general partner at Foundation Capital, California.
“When I was setting up Aptech Internet to get a 256 kbps
connection was very difficult,” Garg says. “If you wanted to
get a G1 line in India it took many months. I have spent a
lot of my time getting into infrastructure issues at a very
basic level — like how to get an Internet connection and
how to get compliance with government regulations.”
It was also hard to raise money in those days, because
there were a very few venture firms then, he says.
Though things have changed dramatically, he still sees
many problems — infrastructure takes more time; hiring
talent takes more time; raising money is harder; finding
angel investors is harder; there is more friction in India
than in the United States, the entrepreneurs are less experienced in India, and there are a fewer role models and
mentors.
“It’s still much harder to open companies in India,” Garg
says. “The operational aspect of doing business in India is
much harder.”
Yet he finds something exciting about India. “I invest in
India not because what India is” he says, “but what India
could become in next 10 years from now. I believe India will
change in the next decade and that excites me.”
Delhi-born Garg, an alumni of the Indian Institute of
Technology-New Delhi and the Indian Institute of
Management-Bangalore, came to the US in 2000 when
things were falling apart for the information technology
sector.
“It was hard to establish in the (Silicon) Valley,” he recalls,
“but it is a great place for venture capitalists and entrepre-
Ashu Garg
neurs from around the world, with no shortage of opti-
mism, talent, capital and mentors.”
Garg came to Foundation Capital, a venture capital firm,
when he wanted to start a company of his own after 15
years in a variety of strategic and operational roles, in the
US and in India.
“As I was exploring a variety of products, I got the idea of
partnering with Foundation Capital,” he says. “It is an
amazing group of people to work with. One thing led to
another and I started investing, and they invited me to join
their partnership.”
With a focus on digital media and India, Garg brings to
Foundation Capital a wide range of experience at global
enterprises like Microsoft, McKinsey & Company and
Hindustan Unilever, doing everything from product con-
ceptualization to customer acquisition. He has worked in
consumer products, software, electronic designing, phar-
maceuticals, and has even helped the government in policy
advice.
;Page A24
analyzing the effects of ethnic professional
networks,” Kapur said. “Understanding
these differences can be important for long-run perspectives on the role of the Indian
Diaspora for India’s economic development. In this regard, the study will also
explore, more carefully than previous work,
the nature of financial, human capital and
other knowledge linkages between the US
and India.”
COUR TESY: W WW. UCSC. EDU
In the first stage, Kapur said,
over half a million dollars have
been received from the Indian
government to undertake
three projects — financial
remittances to India; building
data bases and detailed picture of the Indian-born population in the US with the distribution of the Indian-born
population, with an emphasis
on the geographic distribution, as well as a study of the
socio-economic characteristics of this population, with as
much geographic specificity as
the data allow.
Almost half of the fund has
been allocated for the third
project — Indian-American
Entrepreneurship.
Kapur and Singh will soon
send out an online survey to
“The project aims to make a rigorous aca-
demic contribution to the understanding of
the entrepreneurial performance of the
“Before we began the project
we did an in-depth survey of
the now large literature on emi-
grant entrepreneurs (notjustin
the US),” he said.
Indian Diaspora as well as to impact discussions on policy issues in India that pertain to overseas Indians and those of Indian
origin,” Kapur said, adding that
while several researchers have
explored the topic of immigrant
entrepreneurs in some detail,
many important questions are
left to be answered.
“Our study will contribute substantially
to research on emigrant entrepreneurs by
providing more rigorous econometric
analysis of survey results, by capturing differences across first and second generation
immigrant entrepreneurs with respect to
motivations, by identifying triggers for
business ideas and innovation, by pinpointing goals and success measures, and by
COUR TESY: W WW. POLISCI. UPENN.EDU
Devesh Kapur
Nirvikar Singh
databases of Indian American and other
entrepreneurs.
“Like any survey-based research study,
there is a high correlation between the
number of respondents and successful
results. We would like to raise awareness
among Indian Americans of this project,
and to reach out to as many entrepreneurs
and other Indian-American professionals
as possible,” Kapur said. “The outcomes of
the study will further document the posi-
tive role played by Indian-American entre-
preneurs in the US economy. It will con-
tribute to our understanding of the chan-
nels and mechanisms that link the US and
India together through flows of investment,
ideas and business relationships. The proj-
ect will identify mechanisms and policy
interventions that can enhance business
ties and business creation in India by
Indian-American entrepreneurs.”
He said the goal of the project was to
reach out across the US and include all
types of entrepreneurs, both established
and aspiring, and not just those in hi-tech
sectors.
“We are aiming for a large sample size, at
least in the low four digits, so that we can
draw robust statistical conclusions from
the sample,” he added.
Kapur, who will not take any remuneration for the project, said the survey could be
completed at Sasupenn.qualtrics.com
