Startup ecosystem has evolved with diversity, says eBay's Narayanan

The Indian startup ecosystem has evolved with the diversity of issues they are solving, and is not confined to the eCommerce segment where there is momentum, said eBay India  product development centre  general manager  Ram Narayanan on Wednesday.

“I am amazed at the diversity of issues they are trying to solve. We can see from travel, to fin-tech, sales enablement to solving B2B issues, and software as a service (SaaS) to healthcare, the common underlying theme is that there is commerce involved in each segment,” said Narayanan to Deccan Herald on the sidelines of the Nasscom Startup Konnect.

Narayanan said he has stumbled upon companies solving payment issues, cross-border shipping, cloud enablement, solving healthcare issues and even, how to care for pets, among other things.

“From analysing media reports, we know that all startups are flourishing in one area — eCommerce. So, while we may feel it is unidimensional, it is not true. We have startups that are solving issues at the bottom of the pyramid,” he said.

When asked about the product ecosystem in the country, he said, “Few companies are in the early stage of product fit. But, they are addressing real problems of the market in a targeted manner. I do hope that they will find visibility globally,”he said.

He also said there are some missing links in their approach. “If you are going for market place companies, trust is very important. Here entrepreneurs should understand dynamics of the entire problem, which they are solving,” he said.