Startup CEO reveals reason behind leaving Bengaluru says ‘I felt excluded because…’

Telemedicine startup’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) revealed the reason behind him moving away from the city of Bengaluru after spending 16 months, reported the news portal Business Insider on December 16.

iCliniq founder and CEO Dhruv Suyamprakasam told the news portal that he shifted out of the tech hub because of hindrances like investor biases, lack of an IIT degree, and limited Hindi proficiency. 

“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,” the startup chief told the news portal.

Dhruv’s family was from Coimbatore, where his father runs a business. After moving to Bengaluru, the founder said that he felt that he was excluded because he did not speak Hindi, and also that he was not from an IIT.

“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,” said Dhruv. 

He felt that the Silicon Valley of India was not the right 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,” the founder told the news portal. 

Bengaluru comeback

The startup CEO left Bengaluru and moved back to Coimbatore, yet he still faced issues like unreliable internet and the lack of an established startup community.

Despite having had bad experiences earlier in the city, the founder returned to Bengaluru in 2016, hoping for greater inclusivity and improved conditions.

In the next 18 months, he understood that the healthcare industry has not changed much, hence he move back again to his hometown, away from the Silicon Valley of India, according to the report.