My friend, of East European descent (immigrated to the US as a teen), has started a company with a small number of software engineers from his home country. He is US-based and seems to be having success with these engineers building a platform and finding business.
The big win though is that he speaks the language and has direct hired his employees. This could be a catch for you if you are considering working with an outsourcing company. My friend is successful with his hires because he has the intangibles in place - speaking the language, occasional trips back to visit with them, works hard to direct hire (and keep) smart engineers, and he is personally vested in making sure he shares the "spoils" of the business with his employees. He also hacks on the platform, although not as much as in the beginning.
It sounds like you are considering a similar option, so you might be successful. You'll be putting in a lot of time though - frequent conference calls, code reviews, dealing with the occasional bad-fit, etc. In many ways, I think it would be harder than finding someone local to you.
Thanks for your feedback! I'm not an Indian native but I am taking language classes in anticipation of doing something in the future. I'm hearing that it really depends on the people.
The big win though is that he speaks the language and has direct hired his employees. This could be a catch for you if you are considering working with an outsourcing company. My friend is successful with his hires because he has the intangibles in place - speaking the language, occasional trips back to visit with them, works hard to direct hire (and keep) smart engineers, and he is personally vested in making sure he shares the "spoils" of the business with his employees. He also hacks on the platform, although not as much as in the beginning.
It sounds like you are considering a similar option, so you might be successful. You'll be putting in a lot of time though - frequent conference calls, code reviews, dealing with the occasional bad-fit, etc. In many ways, I think it would be harder than finding someone local to you.