Should you be bullish on Indians | web3 X media
India's bet to become the global superpower in this decade
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Most of us have this question - “Can we be a part of the future growth story sitting in India and can Indians create massive global impact?”
Today, we’ll hear and opine on some of the assumptions and realities of the above statement, drawing inspiration from The Superteam Podcast with Balaji Srinivasan.
This perhaps is a good representation to start with:
If you noticed, there was an emphasis on ‘Indians’ vs India. You might wonder what’s the difference? That’s because the success of Indians is no longer tied to India’s success story. As Balaji says:
While the Indian state is itself progressing, it's often two steps forward and one step back. At the same time. India acts as a strong launchpad for globally competitive Indians — to succeed both within India, and outside it.
So, how will Indians influence the world?
Phase 1: Global movement, Young + Ambitious talent
Indians are globally connected through the internet (all hail Jio), and have the freedom + willingness to move around the globe. They are no longer restricted by geographical boundaries to unleash their ambition. Much like Israelis, Indians can have their base in India and work out of Dubai, Europe, or any place in the world that offers the right set of regulatory frameworks to drive innovation.
Unlike the Chinese diaspora, which has run into problems with regards to global movement (case in point: Meng Wanzhou detention in Canada), India is a dark horse in global mobility - the ability to migrate and friendly geopolitical relations make Indians ideal candidates to build for the world, which brings us to Phase 2.
Phase 2: Global Founder Mentality
The key to having a Global Founder Mentality is not to be irrationally optimist, but to believe that Indians can compete at the world-class level. The founder that builds for the world, i.e the Global Founder, can do things American and Chinese cannot.
As Balaji says - ‘While China plays world’s best home game, India plays world’s best away game.’
To build for the world, Balaji suggests Indians start with what they do best - Software, then add on to it. Software powered media, software powered medicine and so on. It is about capitalizing on India’s huge base of engineers to create new world-class startups, especially in sophisticated and underpenetrated domains such as space-tech and robo-tech.
Phase 3: Emerge as a Media Superpower
Just like China is a manufacturing superpower and US is a tech superpower, India is well suited to become a Tech + Media superpower. Media is an industry where India ‘levels out on a keyboard.’ And Indians have already demonstrated their prowess in working behind the camera - Animations, VFX, Graphics etc.
Drawing a few parallels from China:
Just as the Chinese ascended the value chain — started with making plastic items for Walmart to assembling iPhones and now making drones, missiles and sophisticated infrastructure — Indians can get #1 in everything digital.
China builds global products that just happen to be made in China. Eg. China makes a plastic chair but the chair is good enough to compete in the global market. Similarly, India can create global quality products and content which just happen to be made in India. Like VR movies, Video games, Content, NFTs, or even Memes. Similar to the content made by Superteam podcast around everything crypto!
With Media, you can influence the ideas and notions of the world. Indian YouTubers can educate the world sitting in India, Indian engineers can teach code to the world, Indian artists can entertain the world. Internet and media can help Indians establish a global standing and shape the future.
Wait, but what about US and China?
The world is changing. Both US and China are rapidly declining in world power. There is a regulatory flip taking place, and America is no longer the best place to do business - could even be the worst place in certain spaces. This is evident in the declining physical world innovation, lack of creativity in media productions (especially Hollywood), political polarization, among other aspects. In China, hardly any big name in the tech industry has been spared government intervention, threatening growth and innovation.
While China and America are engaged in cold war and are fighting to win, India can play to win-win with the rest of the world, aka positive-sum game. While India might not be the dominant country, it can play a balancing role in this redistribution of power by virtue of its non-threatening and flexible nature. Moreover, there is already evidence of the Indian diaspora being successful on the global platform.
India can soon replace US-controlled multilateral institutions with neutral protocols & NationStacks (think India Stack, Aadhar Stack). This gives the world a 3rd option, not US or China.
Yeah, this is all fine, but I thought we had Balaji on the podcast, how come we haven't come to crypto yet?
That’s a valid point. How can we have Balaji as a guest and not discuss crypto!
As we are transitioning away from a US-led hierarchy (and people don't want China-led hierarchy), India can advocate for a peer network and neutrality enforced via code. It can initiate a decentralized movement through techno-economic networks (like Bitcoin/ Ethereum networks), where different parties are economically aligned. Crypto is fairer compared to an arbitrarily enforced regulation, which leads it to be a much more realistic ideological competitor to the top-down control of a dysfunctional America or the communist regime of China.
India can become a global champion of decentralization. For this to happen, Indians cannot wait for the state to do it, but do it as individuals. Go set up media operations (YouTube/ Substack), create NFTs or global crypto protocols and start advocating to make it happen.
Beyond advocating for a decentralization network, crypto will play a critical role in ownership and distribution of content. Through crypto, you have the digital property rights to your content, vs the Web2 content being owned by Facebook/ Instagram/ Youtube etc. If Donald Trump could get de-platformed from Twitter, all of us are at the mercy of the whims of these all-powerful platforms.
To free oneself from the clutches of the platforms and truly be a creator, one should leverage crypto tools to build their own distribution, self-govern the terms of relationship with their viewers and monetize in the way they want.
Centralised media platforms → Decentralised ownership of content
Akshay BD - "If a million people got the H1B visa, there's like 700 million that'll get the crypto visa” — India + Crypto = Win!
For Indians to achieve exponential success and impact, they no longer have to look to move to the west, but build global decentralised tools sitting anywhere in the world.
The possibilities for Indians to win globally are endless - you can pick an industry and start there.
Just like India did well on software, Balaji suggests opportunities in Media, Medicine, Spacetech, Multilateral Institutions. For instance:
India as Teacher of the World > Indian Youtubers can educate the world with the unique style of teaching - fun, graphical and engaging - hence establishing trust from learners globally
India as Doctor of the World > With telemedicine, medical tourism, generics, the Indian diaspora can reinvent the Western healthcare system, which is the most expensive and worst-performing healthcare system in the world
Exporting Robotic Autarky > India can leapfrog Chinese manufacturing and reach self-sufficiency with robotic autarky and then export this autarky to the rest of the world, such as robotic manufacturing, farming, food service etc
For India to win-win in this decentralized world, it will not be the leader of the free world, but rather the ‘bootloader’, i.e - it’ll help boot this movement up.
India can be the bright star to West’s Black Mirror and truly transform the decades to come. The stars are aligned for Indians to shine!
If you are reading this and are excited to contribute to world’s growth story, start building/ creating! It can be as simple as starting a Substack or a meme channel, or joining The Superteam DAO and participating in high-impact crypto projects globally. Do hear the full Superteam Podcast with Balaji to connect the dots further.
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👋🏾 A bit about me:
Hi! I'm Rachita Kumar, a private equity investor with a keen interest in public markets and startups. Also run a community of curious folks at FutureX Learning.
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