Chinese rule Asia but Indians rule the world

Back in August, Sundar Pichai got promoted to Google CEO. That was just over a year after Satya Nadella became the CEO of Microsoft. Inevitably, it led to a flurry of media covering everything from the top Indian Americans in tech to insightful pieces on what makes Indians so successful as an ethnic group in America. All of these articles made me wonder, where are all the Chinese Americans? Why aren’t the top best Chinese and Chinese Americans rising in the ranks of American tech giants?

India and Indians are rising

In the last few years, there are two major trends for Indians around the world:

• India is finally waking up. Not only is the economy picking up, but the startup industry is also heating up in funding with blockbuster funds like Sequoia (US$530 million) entering the market and local companies like Flipkart raising over US$1 billion.
• Indians, especially in Silicon Valley, are growing in prominence, influence, and sheer population. The promotion of Satya Nadella, Sundar Pichai, and Nikesh Arora are just a few more recent examples. The fact is that Silicon Valley is the epicenter of the technology companies and people that run the world, and it just so happens that Indians have flocked to it with great success. And they’ve done this with much smaller numbers than the Chinese have.

China and Chinese are stagnating

• China, for the last decade, has been a rocket ship. It produced multi-billion dollar companies, rose to second place behind the USA’s economy, and is now a vital part of the world economy. And don’t underestimate how influential China is over the rest of Asia, especially in tech. Tencent, the progenitor of WeChat, has investments in VNG (in Vietnam), Garena (in Singapore), Sanook (in Thailand), and the list goes on. The tentacles of China stretch far and wide across the region. And even newer companies like Xiaomi are bearish on attacking India (caveat: Xiaomi ain’t doing too well lately). And although the Chinese economy is slowing, it’s likely the impact will be a bump more than a barrier to growth. According to our own Charlie Custer:

The consensus among China’s VCs seems to be that the stock market crash isn’t likely to directly affect the startup funding scene. But at the same time, many of them stress that the days of sky-high valuations and easy money are coming to a close.

• Despite China’s multi-billion dollar hits at home, Chinese individuals in tech outside of China are underperforming. It’s called the bamboo ceiling. Although, they may enjoy higher incomes than whites, they don’t touch Indian income rates in America, which makes America the highest earning ethnic group.

Communities, individuals, and culture

Chinese

Anybody’s first thought is going to be that Chinese don’t do well outside of China. The Great Firewall of China provides insulation for the best of China to grow without any encumbrances. It’s the Chinese greenhouse. Here’s some blasphemy for you: maybe Jack Ma couldn’t have made it outside of China?

But I’m sure there’s more to this. We can’t give too much credit to the Great Firewall. In the LA Times, Tracey Lien points out that Chinese Americans are well represented as employees but not as executives. She speculates that it may be due to values. She quotes Janet Wong, a partner at KPMG, who says:

I thought all I had to do was keep my head down, do good work, and I’d be acknowledged and have a successful career.

China vs India: who would you put your money on?