'Nepal is not short on ideas, ambition, or young talent'

Nepal is not short on ideas, ambition, or young talent. What we lack is momentum that converts innovation into scale. Over the last decade, the word “startup” has become part of everyday vocabulary - hackathons, pitch events, incubators, awards and policy announcements. Yet, very few startups grow beyond survival mode. The gap between intent and impact remains wide.

While there are multiple causes that inhibit startups, what we first need is a shift in mindset and a clear understanding of the structural constraints. The most obvious limitation is market size. Our domestic consumer base is small, price-sensitive, and slow to adopt new products at scale. Many startups are forced to fight for the same narrow slice of customers leading to replication rather than innovation. Without early access to regional or global markets, even good ideas plateau quickly.

The second constraint is capital, not in quantity but in quality. Early-stage funding is limited, risk-averse and often informal. Founders frequently face unclear term sheets, lack of follow-on capital, and pressure to prioritise short-term revenue over long-term product building. Venture capital, where it exists, is cautious due to regulatory ambiguity and limited exit pathways.

Policy and regulation form the third barrier. While intent has improved, execution remains slow. Startups still struggle with cumbersome incorporation processes, unpredictable tax interpretations, lack of clarity on foreign investment, convertible notes, and cross-border revenue. For young founders, navigating bureaucracy consumes time and energy that should be spent building products and customers.

Finally, there is a capability gap. Many startups are founded by first-time entrepreneurs with limited exposure to scale, compliance, governance or international markets. Mentorship exists but it is often fragmented or theoretical rather than deeply operational.

The future of Nepal’s startup ecosystem depends on a shift in mindset: from local-first to market-connected. Startups must design products with regional relevance from day one, especially for neighbouring markets like India and South Asia. This means building for interoperability, multilingual users, and scalable pricing models.

At an ecosystem level, collaboration matters more than competition. Shared platforms for legal support, compliance education, investor readiness, and export facilitation can reduce duplication and costs for early-stage startups. Universities, corporates, and policymakers must work together - not in silos - to turn innovation into enterprise. Policy reform, too, must become founder-centric. Clear, predictable rules around taxation, investment instruments, and exits will do more to attract capital than promotional summits. 

Most importantly, Nepal’s startup future cannot be built by a narrow demographic. Women founders, founders from outside Kathmandu, first-generation entrepreneurs, and those building in vernacular markets remain underrepresented. Inclusivity is not charity; it is economic intelligence. 

Nepal’s USD 100 million startup economy will not be built by slogans and summits, the real metric of success will be in the capital, equity and networks our entrepreneurs build into the economy so that it doesn’t rest so heavily on remittances.