Why I Moved to Bangalore
I’ve always thought of myself as one of, if not the hardest working people I know. Definitely not the most productive, but I try. I’ve sacrificed a lot over the years doing startups and I finally feel like I have taken the biggest plunge you can take in the startup game, moving to Bangalore India. On the spectrum of things you can do to execute on a startup, this is definitely the most hardcore move you can make. Being from the bay area, I knew I would be in for some culture shock and moving here has not disappointed.
Setting aside how you can see all the standard farm animals in the middle of an urban environment (saw a family of pigs today walking down the street on my way to work), this place definitely has it’s challenges but I want to talk about why I did it and there really is only one reason, to build a committed team that I can scale.
The most obvious variable here is salaries which are obviously lower but honestly, thats not the whole reason I am here. It is not about paying someone less but about paying someone more than they are used to so that there is no way they would leave your company. I am SOOOO tired of having to worry about recruiters poaching my employees like has happened in every startup I have done. Retention is such a struggle in the states and when you aren’t fully VC backed, then its near impossible to find good people who will stay working for you long term on startup wages + equity. I’m always using a bleeding edge stack so no matter what, my employees get leveled up and eventually will 100% be getting attractive deals that I might not be able to compete with. Losing critical employees early in a startup is such a massive blow and I feel like out here, I can always stay competitive while also not having to play money ball all the time when doing recruiting. I can actually get solid people with experience and be able to always give them a raise / bonus when they deserve it.
I sort of feel like I am a modern day colonialist out here but at the same time I know I am also going to be providing good opportunities to those I work with. Really hoping this one works out but if it doesn’t, will for sure have some good stories to tell from the whole experience. Like the time I saw all the pigs walking down a busy street causing a traffic jam. That one just got me how people weave in and out of the cows and pigs that roam free. Not used to that yet.