Sean Blagsvedt came to India in 2004 to set up the Microsoft Research Lab. While working on his research on using technology for social and economic development in emerging markets, Blagsvedt came across a Duke University paper that said people can move out of poverty by diversifying their income. Inspired by that insight, in 2007, Blagsvedt started Babajob, a web and mobile startup that connects informal sector job seekers such as cooks, drivers and security guards with the right employers. Since founding, Babajob, which has investors such as Vinod Khosla, Gray Ghosts Veture and USAID-DIV, has listed 2.3 million job positions from 1,00,000 employers and registered two million job seekers on its portal. Blagsvedt takes us through the journey of building a company that has tried to bring some method to India’s vast informal sector.

In every country, you can take a position which helps you steer clear of odd situations.

Would you say India is one of the most difficult places to do business in?
Well, I’ve never built a business anywhere else but India. Actually, whether India is a difficult place to do business in depends on what field you’re working in. In the internet mobile space, it’s not that much different from any other country. Our content isn’t regulated, we’ve never paid a bribe and we’ve never been asked to pay one. When I started out, I was sure I wanted to work in an industry where opportunities for corruption don’t exist. Also, we’ve never pursued contracts with the government where the possibility of a kickback exists. We don’t want the government to be a customer. In every country, you can take a position which helps you steer clear of odd situations.

Have you faced any unique challenges while running Babajob in India?
When we began, there wasn’t a mature ecosystem for capital. That has now completely changed with several VC funds in the tech space. More than that challenge, our biggest difficulty was illiteracy. Most of our targeted users have limited literacy; their capacity to pay for a service is also less than in other places and the availability of digital mechanisms by which they can pay for a service are limited too. But these challenges are to be expected in any developing economy.

Has it been difficult to build credibility as a foreigner while running a business?
There’s a natural skepticism when it comes to foreigners anywhere—people might think you’re not going to be around for more than a year, and they’d rather not partner with you. That is a reasonable doubt. By being here for a while now, we have demonstrated our commitment to building this business in India.