US is more vibrant, but India can build global success stories: Amar Goel of Komli Media

There is a talent shortage in the country, in terms of product engineering, which has slowed down India's growth in the digital entrepreneurship space, noted Amar Goel, founder and chairman of Komli Media India Pvt Ltd, an online ad network and audience measurement provider.

During a panel discussion with Vijay Shekhar Sharma (founder of One 97 Communications) at the recently held Techcircle Startup 2012 event, Goel also said that international product managers are now getting interested in India as the country offers some good opportunities.

"If you ask me why the US is more vibrant than India, I would say more capital is there, and many more great developers, designers and advertisers than we have in India. Indian ventures also need to rope in the best people, advisors, etc., to build a successful global business while sitting in the country," said Goel, who had built another global business PubMatic, a digital media platform, along with his brother.

Goel is of the view that cultural differences don't matter when it comes to managing people in a company. "It is not the culture, but the kind of people you hire matters most. We always hire people who we think would fit into the culture of our companies. We have people from different countries and cultures working with us."

Asked how PubMatic managed to win marquee clients such as Huffington Post, New York Times and AOL, Goel said, "Most of our senior leaders sit in the US, taking care of our global operations. That gives us more exposure and helps in winning big customers. If any other Indian business follows this path, it can also build a successful venture."

Sitting in India and catering to global consumers could be a long-term opportunity for Indian entrepreneurs, noted Goel. "If our system continues to develop more entrepreneurs, more VCs and more mentors, we will see global success stories out of India," he said.

Indian VCs are, however, more interested to invest their money in product companies, he added.

Goel founded Komli Media in 2006 and scaled it to become the Asia-Pacific's leading real-time digital technology platform. Komli, which raised $15 million in a funding round led by Norwest Venture Partners earlier this year, acquired Los Angeles-based ZestAdz, a mobile ad platform with offices in Des Moines, Iowa and Chennai. It also acquired Aktiv Digital, a Singapore-based online media firm for branding, lead generation and marketing, to strengthen its reach in Asia. The ad network claims to have over 20,000 publishers on board.

(Edited by Sanghamitra Mandal)