"No Silicon Valley": Startup Founder Reveals Why He Left Bengaluru In Just 16 Months

The co-founder and CEO of a telemedicine startup, who relocated to Bengaluru, has candidly discussed the obstacles he encountered. These challenges include facing investor biases due to his lack of an IIT degree and his limited Hindi proficiency.

In an interview with Business Insider, Dhruv Suyamprakasam of iCliniq shared insights into his journey as a founder. His family hails from Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, where his father, a first-generation entrepreneur, ran a thriving business. When Dhruv started his venture, he initially considered Bengaluru. "I had read about the city being the hub of the mainstream startup ecosystem. In 2010, moving to Bengaluru felt like the best decision for me as a founder," he said.

However, Dhruv soon realised the city wasn't the ideal fit for his healthcare startup. "Bengaluru is a place that encourages companies to grow fast and fail fast. That kind of pressure didn't align with the needs of a healthcare business, which has no room for error and demands significant trust from people. We met investors who expected metrics like 100 paid consultations in a day," he explained.

Dhruv also encountered biases in the ecosystem. "I felt excluded because I didn't speak Hindi, India's most widely spoken language, and I wasn't an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology, the country's most prestigious engineering college. Being from a small town that many hadn't heard of added to the judgment," he said.

These challenges led Dhruv to reconsider his decision, and after 16 months in Bengaluru, he returned to his hometown of Coimbatore. While the move allowed him to grow his business at a manageable pace, it came with its own set of hurdles. "We faced issues like unreliable internet, which was never a problem in Bengaluru, and the lack of an established startup community," he noted.

In 2016, Dhruv gave Bengaluru another shot, hoping for greater inclusivity and better conditions. However, he found that little had changed in the healthcare industry, prompting him to return to Coimbatore once again after 18 months.