What Indian Start-ups Can Gain from Global Strategy?

India is considered one of the region’s leading hubs for unicorn start-ups, with India experiencing a particularly rapid growth in its unicorn ecosystem. In finance, a unicorn is a privately held start-up with a current valuation of US$1 billion or more. India’s start-up scene is on fire, thanks to the unique spirit of innovation known as jugaad. From Bengaluru to Bhubaneswar, founders build businesses that solve real problems—often with minimal resources and maximum creativity. However, a hustle culture is insufficient to win on a global platform. Scaling chaos. Investor pressure. Global competition. What got them there—speed, frugality, flexibility—might not be enough to take them further.

That’s where global strategy comes in. By introducing structure, scalability, and long-term planning, a global strategy places Indian start-ups at the table with the big players internationally. With structured planning and strategic frameworks, Indian start-ups can build lasting ventures that attract international capital, talent, and customers—without losing their local edge.

How Indian Start-Ups Become Unicorns and Limitations
Indian start-ups are unique in providing hyper-local problems with creative and bold solutions with little resources. Their approach to business using frugal innovation and resourcefulness often referred to as jugaad, allows Indian start-ups to rise to unicorn status. A popular example would be Flipkart, the e-commerce household name in India. Flipkart started as a simple online bookstore, which was started by Sachin and Binny Bansal—two ex-Amazon employees. They built an e-commerce business with features tailored to Indian behaviour that global competitors hadn’t yet grasped. Flipkart became a household name by solving e-commerce challenges unique to India: poor digital payments, low trust in online delivery, and scattered logistics. By popularising Cash on Delivery, it became a milestone in Indian e-commerce.

Similarly, many unicorns began with just one simple idea but quickly rose in the market with an urgency to act fast despite the limited resources. Instead of relying on large capital, they creatively navigated market gaps, bypassed red tape, and rapidly built minimum viable products (MVPs) to test demand. This technique made it ideal for the unpredictable early stages of a start-up, encouraging founders to break norms, stretch limited resources, and stay customer-focused.

However, as start-ups scale toward unicorn status, the qualities that helped them initially can become bottlenecks. Hustle culture, though powerful early on, often leads to burnout, poor delegation, and inconsistent processes. Lacking structured systems, financial discipline, and consistency makes growing into a larger market or attracting global investors an almost impossible feat.

That’s why unicorns that succeed long-term often pair their jugaad roots with global strategies—implementing formal structures, scalable systems, and strong leadership pipelines. In short, while jugaad helps Indian start-ups start, structured management helps them stay and scale.

Read more on How Business Management Helps Indian Business Owners.

Where Can I Learn Business Management?
India’s start-up ecosystem is built on creativity, grit, and relentless hustle. However, scaling a business requires more than just passion.

Business management courses help aspiring entrepreneurs and founders bridge the gap between invention and strategic growth. With a curriculum that blends leadership techniques, financial planning, and operational systems, we help you turn your big ideas into long-term success.

Check out our courses on business management:

1) QUALIFI Level 5 Diploma in Business Management

This qualification aims to help learners to tackle complex and challenging organisational issues and opportunities in today’s workplace. The course content is designed to reflect real-world work challenges closely and will test and develop students’ experience and abilities.

2) OTHM Level 6 Diploma In Business Management

This course is particularly tailored for those who have already embarked on a career in the private or public sector business or intend to do so in the future. It is ideal for professionals ready to step into mid- or senior-level management roles or those already in such roles who want formal training to back their experience.

3) BA (Hons) Business Management

This qualification allows students to delve into the field of International Business. Upon completing the program, learners will possess the skills to make swift decisions in a competitive and dynamic business landscape.

Why Edvoro?
Edvoro is one of the leading professional education institutes in Kerala, India, providing globally recognised British qualifications. Edvoro is the trading name of the School of Business & Technology London (SBTL), who are accredited by Ofqual-regulated awarding bodies such as OTHM, QUALIFI, British Computer Society (BCS) and so on.

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