 Hello. Come to me. Come on me. What? What? What? Hey, welcome back to our Steward and Rexers, of course. I'm Rick. You can follow us on Instagram and Twitter for more juicy content. Thanks to Patreon. Follow us for your stream account. Subscribe if you haven't, and hit the like button. There you have it. Today we have a video. This is how Bangalore... I almost said Bengal. Bangalore, India, is outpacing Silicon Valley. Good. Take that. Silicon Valley. Their banks are probably doing better. Am I right? Oh man. Here we go. My mother-in-law. Once that happened. She told me she didn't have money over at SP. No, no, she called and she was like, you guys don't have any money in the Silicon Valley banks, do you? Nope. They ran out. I also don't live there. Nope. Here we go. What's wrong? How do you feel? Not what I expected. This is the Kauramangala district in Bangalore. And this is essentially where the tech boom started. If you know anything about the Star World, you've read anything past three decades, then you must have heard of this place, Bangalore. And this is the only time I'm going to call it that. This is a name that's inherited from the British occupation in India. But the real name for Indians for this city is Bangalore. This place is India's startup haven. It has a reputation that few other places in the world can even come close to matching. And for years, I've been puzzled by Bangalore. Now I'm finally here. I can tell, let's see what you would host your office here. I'm like, this is pretty. It gives me like Costa Rica beached on vibes, believe it or not. It's a city of contrasts. It's a city where a promising future meets this challenging present. Just take a look around. You'll see a city that has seen tremendous growth. People come here from all over India for a better future. Of the 13 million people who live here, half of them are immigrants. And traffic is just one of the many challenges that Bangalore has as a metropolis than it is. But the city has still flourished. I wouldn't have survived if we had done this like the first day, because like now I understand some of the rules of the road or the non-rules of the road, but I'm not sure I want to do it again. Thousands of startups have appeared in recent years, all with the goal to change technology here and at the global scale. So with all the changes that Bangalore faces, that still doesn't slow them down. And being here taught me that this is much more than just started. In fact, Bangalore is essential for India. It's essential for its people. And here's why. This is Sniper Planet Bangalore. Bangalore? Bangalore? Yes, technology story goes back at least five or six decades. I don't think anybody expected what really happened in the last seven or eight years. It's been a tremendous journey. When Infosys began in 1981, it was in a socialistic era when India was not really that friendly towards business. This is essentially where everything in Bangalore started. Everything tech started. The first tech company started moving here in the 90s, and it sort of exploded from here. A lot of people from all over India started moving here. Large brands started coming out here. And this was essentially the first big startup in the city. Kourangala is in the southeast of Bangalore. It's one of the largest neighborhoods, and a hotspot for commerce and for residences. It has seen tremendous growths in the 90s, especially thanks to the tech boom. Kourangala and Bangalore weren't always like this. In fact, this city was once this quiet retirement city during the British colony. Back then, less than a million people lived here. Rentoners and farmers shared this place thanks to the great weather, the lakes and the lush green fields. And it wasn't until after India's independence in 1947 that Bangalore began its ascent to this worldwide tech hub recognition. As a fresh, new and young independent nation, India needed to develop its military and its air force. And then the Indian government made this huge investment in Bangalore to help achieve this goal. And so the military usually brings money to cities. And with the military came companies like Injustice and Aviation Limited and others, and they needed people to work. So very similar to what happened in Silicon Valley in the 50s with the military, Bangalore exploded a little later in the 70s and 80s. And people got stable jobs and engineering and manufacturing and research. And the Bangalore that we know today largely transformed into this thing in the 90s. India took all these drastic measures, these measures to shift its economic identity towards markets and services. And then two companies were critical to this. These are the two companies that kind of started it all in Bangalore. The whole IT services boom happened with these companies. Infosys is such a key part of India's history. It's one of the most important IT companies. It migrated to Bengaluru in 83. And by 93 it went public. And it created hundreds of jobs in this city. In 1981, with initial capital of $250, seven engineers set up the business, marking the beginning of the private tech industry. Initial capital of $250. Since 45, the company used to do the vegetable boys. But they saw the future and then they converted, they migrated into this IT company in the 70s. Wow, natural progression. And by 2002 they were fully focused on computers. And by 2004 it was the second Indian company to earn a billion dollars in revenue. These companies, they set the standard. They set a new standard in Bengaluru and had a direct impact in regions like Kortamangala. Because of course people wanted these jobs. So masses flocked to Bengaluru in search for better and for more opportunities. So the city saw this flock, this growth, like few other cities in India or in the world. Becoming a computer engineer and getting a job with Infosys or Vipro was the thing, right? In the late 1990s and 2000s, Bangalore became a valid destination to chase a career in technology on its own. People wanted to be here. It's really just five miles or eight kilometers from Electronic City, which is another key part of Bengaluru. But Infosys and Vipro's impact went beyond migration. These companies were vital in jump-starting the startup scene in Bengaluru in a way very similar to how the earliest Silicon Valley companies helped shape it for the future. Take Infosys, for example. They had a culture of entrepreneurship instilled in its essence from the start. The founders wanted to create this environment where people worked and also learned about business. This knowledge inevitably led to employees leaving and then creating their own companies. Take Strat Heads, for example. He joined Infosys in 83, worked there until 2002 and learned so much that he quit the company to provide mentorship to other startups. Then he founded his own company, PhonePriceNet, which earns millions of dollars annually. And that's, of course, not the only example. Two more former employees left the company to create Inju's Web Solutions in 2006, a social platform that helps businesses mine data. Examples like these are almost endless. After all, Infosys was the first job of many of these people and what they learned there helped them create their new ventures. One vital element of this growth is that Infosys gave employees stock options, which gave them stability, it gave them wealth and the confidence to try new things. If you can get in at a relatively early stage where the company is not going to be able to pay you as much as a Google or a Swiggy, but still has deep enough pockets that you get by with a good amount of salary, maybe like your UX guy, right? Like $3,000 or $5,000 a month. Wipro is no different. Their first CEO went on to create a massive media company. Another two former Wipro has founded another internet company back in the year the 2000s, and then there's MindTree. This massive tech company was created by six former Wipro employees. Now it has 36,000 employees, making $1.3 billion in revenue annually. Hundreds of startups emerged from these two companies and grew to almost limitless potential. And so, Bengaluru and India have not only benefited from the companies that were born here, Bengaluru has also become so powerful that it has even drawn the attention of global giants. This is a very exciting area. You have a lot of bars, you have a lot of restaurants and stuff going on. Like I can see why a company would want to have their office here. The media that we did was actually around this area. People said, oh, Amazon's going to be the Amazon of India. It's not Flipkart anymore. But they have kind of like weathered down a salt, grew alongside, competed with Amazon and sold out to Walmart, right? And the senior folks, not just the founder, the whole senior team, the core team, they're killing, right? Massive, massive killing. This brings us back to the migration and why people move here. One reason is its closeness to the electronic city. And in many ways, electronic city is like the nervous system of India. It's 800 acres packed to the brim of IT companies over 200. And this area of electronic city goes back to 78. And back then, Archie Baliga, an engineer and professor, he wanted to create this hub, this place that would rival Silicon Valley. He started creating what would become the leading outsourcing IT hub in the world. So you can see how all these factors pile up one on top of the other to create essentially a nucleus, like a core of talent that inevitably eventually drives growth. And they're reaping the benefits today. Electronic City lies on the Hussur Road. That's a vital highway for Bengaluru. So because it was there and with Karmangala so close, this road also became essential to the city. Hussur is one of the main new starting blocks around the city. It sits between Karmangala, which is the main hub up to the north, and electronic city in the south, which is an older IT hub that's been around for a while. And getting around Bangalore is not particularly easy. Traffic is a bit of a mess. So this Hussur location is actually quite ideal. So a lot of companies are choosing to move here now. But all of this growth, as always, comes at a cost. So many people have moved to Bangalore that the city obviously has struggled to just keep up with this demand, like any city. Wow. And traffic is one of the most obvious places where you can see that reflected. Not in LA. So it's just that it's one of the worst city traffic in the world. Let's try and rent one of these scooters and see if we can get the you. How do you go out? It's cool, they have scooters here. Try faster. South Indian filter coffee. Oh, that's great. I can't get what's wrong. How do you feel? Uh-oh. The chance for us to drink the water is 55% from 2018 to 2020. It is a significant adoption that happens in that market as well. From 2010 to 2020, rent has gone up about 50%. In one bedroom apartment inside of Bangalore has grown from around 9,500 in 2010 for around 7,000. Must be not. Some salaries are so high that they are compared with San Francisco salaries. That income is, of course, reserved for tech employees. By the way, this is Ola's founder, Bhavish Agarwal. Ola started in 2011 and it's India's biggest right-sharing platform with around 60% of the market. Despite all the challenges, despite the chaos, the improvised infrastructure, Bangalore is unstoppable. Get this. If you want to study computer science here, there are around 100 institutions that offer that degree. Bangalore produces thousands of new engineers every year. This city lives and breathes technology and you can see it from 2015 to 2021. Bangalore outperformed San Francisco in its creation. In two years alone from 19 to 21, the city saw the birth of around 5,000 new startups and that's not an easy feat. People want to be here from the rest of India or from the rest of the world. There's everything that you need to be in one of the most exciting startups on the planet. On a global scale, Bangalore is outgrowing any other tech hub. Over $18.6 billion in investments last year. That's more than Beijing, that's more than Shanghai and all of that money is going to these startups. Anyone here walking next to you is probably related to startups. Bangalore is a haven for startups and as far as IT goes, it's an essential piece of India. In the country, there are around 5 million people who work in IT and BPM sectors. In Bangalore alone, companies employ 1.5 million people. That's a huge chunk. That's a huge chunk. Yeah. Just concentrated on this city. And that's not all. Bangalore accounts for 40% of India's total IT activity. Wow. Not for the reason of being Silicon Valley. Silicon Valley of India. Bangalore is called the Silicon Valley of India. Yes, of course, it's not unusual for the media to pounce on the idea that this city, Bangalore, might just be the next Silicon Valley. And of course, it makes sense to draw that comparison. To answer the question, you have to look at where they're similar and where they're different. What does Silicon Valley mean? First of all, Silicon Valley is about history. It is the birthplace of technology. It's a birthplace that has changed the entire world from everything that we do. Yes, Silicon Valley has an unprecedented and uncomparable lead, but Bangalore is catching up. It's catching up at a blistering place. From that, one company that revolutionizes technology at a global scale, others will come. Others can come. But this is the other side of the world. The ecosystem in Bangalore certainly has the potential to transform into soon-the-most-popular country in the world. There's something called Flipkart, which is basically the Amazon of India. The first dawn of which kind of made it to the big league. And so much so that Amazon realized that, hey, this is an opportunity and we're going to enter India. And that's one company that kind of redefined. If Infosys started the whole services, IT services, the whole thing, you know, there's an eyes on whatever, the revolution. The start-up revolution for me was a Flipkart. A city like Bangalore can transform a country like India. Can then India lead the transformation of the region? Can they lead the transformation of cities and societies that started in developed countries usually overlooked? Judging by what I saw, most of the elements are already here. And I am really excited about what's to come. Fantastic video. Man, it was so informative. Very well made. It was from a channel called Slidebean. Slidebean, which is what I didn't hear Mom's Bean. Yes. I heard. But fantastically well made video. Very informative and very well put together. How many stupid babies are there that are in this location? Bangalore? And are part of the IT world. It's one of the most, I think, there's probably, my bet is there's more stupid babies from Bangalore than any other. It's a bold statement than anywhere in India. India? Yeah. Well, the three options, I think, are probably Mumbai, Delhi, or Bangalore. I guess Chennai would be another one. I think since there's so many young people, which would be our main demographic people between 18 and 35 to 40. Yeah. But India's a young country. Yeah. Since they're all basically there, my bet, there's no way to... No way to know, but let us know if you're there. It doesn't, or maybe it's changed. I haven't looked in a while. Because YouTube will tell you based off of country. Right. But it won't break down region. I don't think it does. No. Which would be cool if it did. That would be really cool if it did. That would be awesome. But if you are from Bangalore, please let us know. Obviously, I'm sure a lot of you are in some of these. And this is something that I think we have seen coming for a long time. The world has seen coming. I mean, there's a lot to do with it. Obviously, it's probably a lot of natural growth from India as a whole. And a lot of Indian staying in India rather than leaving. Yes. Yes. Because I think that was an emphasis that whatever, I don't know who the people of people just wanting to make a good living in the United States. Yep. But I feel and I think we've heard people say it. Indians want to stay in India. Yeah, they do. But if the opportunity and the money is better, and we in America. It's tough to turn that down. It's tough to turn that down. Especially what you would make in India as opposed to what you... Because they just said the median house is $600. Which obviously for what people make is a lot. Right. Obviously in India. Right. But that is... That's impossible here. You can't buy stocks. You can rent stocks. You can... You can find roommates in a very, very, very, very cheap place and not really good neighborhood and pay $600 for a room. That would be a cheap room too. That would be a very... I mean if you found that and you were only paying $600 for a room, people would say... And that's not anywhere. I'm not talking just... I mean LA and New York obviously that's cheap but that would be inexpensive if you were living say in San Antonio, Texas. Yeah. Yeah. My bet is the median if you were wanting... I bet it's between $2,000 and $3,000 now in terms of dollars for an average apartment. Average one or two bedroom apartment. Yeah. It's probably around that. Yep. And that's just like a regular room. And that's just averaged out. In New York you can't get an apartment for under $4,000. And then if you want an actual house it's gonna go way up. Insanely from there. Yeah. Way, way, way, way up. We have a housing crisis here too. I'm still flabbergasted at the prospect of a startup with... that they used the term capital because it is capital. But $250. That's extraordinary. That's only like between $18,000 and $20,000 rupees. Yeah. Insane. That's amazing. Anyways if you are from Bangalore or in a startup please let us know and if you think this is accurate please let us know your thoughts down below. Josh!