‘Indian talent is quite poor’: Shark Tank judge Anupam Mittal explains why he no longer believes his
Shark Tank judge and founder of Shaadi.com Anupam Mittal recently praised the Indian tech talent saying that those who would’ve stayed in the US decade ago are coming back to India. In a post on Microsoft-owned LinkedIn, Mittal reflected on his experience building Shaadi.com two decades ago, when hiring skilled product and technology professionals in India was difficult. “Perhaps it was just trauma from 20 years ago, when I was building the early team at Shaadi.com and hiring was a nightmare. We didn’t have Product Managers, Devs or UX designers. We had project managers, graphic designers, journalists & PR folks whom I had to bribe with tea and dreams to help me build a website,” he wrote.Mittal compared it with today’s situation which, with deep talent at mid and senior levels, is different. According to Anupam Mittal, India’s growing digital ecosystem and mature product culture are driving this change, alongside a trend of professionals choosing to work in India by choice rather than compulsion.
Here’s what Anupam Mittal said
Indian talent is quite poorI used to thinkPerhaps it was just trauma from 20 years ago, when I was building the early team at Shaadi.com and hiring was a nightmare. We didn’t have Product Managers, Devs or UX designers. We had project managers, graphic designers, journalists & PR folks whom I had to bribe with tea and dreams to help me build a website.If you could speak English and didn’t blink for ten minutes, you were hired.Literally Today, its different. I’ve spent the last six months hiring for the mid and senior levels. The depth of talent isn’t just better, it’s world-class. People who would’ve stayed in Silicon Valley a decade ago are now landing in Bengaluru and Mumbai, not because they have to, but because the work here is inspiring. Yes, tighter immigration policies abroad have helped. But that’s not the story. The real shift is what we built here over 20 years.Internet-first companies. Real product cultures. Designers who think like builders. Engineers who’ve scaled from zero to millions of users. Operators who’ve survived chaos & shipped anyway. We used to import talent. Now we manufacture it. At scale Reverse migration is a headline. The digital ecosystem is the plot. Are we finally over the settling abroad obsession, or have we just found a better reason to stay?
