javascript
Search

How to build a world class technology company in India?
By Vimali Swamy   |   Thursday,August 25,2011
printer Print email Email
ical application of it, most of us fail. Shoaib Ahmed, President, Tally Solutions recalls, his experience as an entrepreneur before starting Tally Solutions. He has started a software company with out knowing what to do. Though he had some ideas but was unsure how to go about it. He approached one of his friends who did market research, identified market needs and helped companies take effective decisions. When he him about the company, ideas and the work, he gave an advise that Ahmed has held on to till date. He said, "Shoiab, dont waste your money with me. Rather what you need to do is go out to the market, meet customers, engage with them and they will tell you whether what you are saying has enough value or not and will actually work," reminisces Ahmed. The fundamental source of all revenue and all your decision making and design is based on your customer. In todays excitement and energy we tend to forget this focus. Though this takes time, but one needs to have patience even though there is tremendous pressure to bring in things faster. "I believe that the innate sense of what is the right thing to do, what they say is the instinct of a CEO comes from these things, which is, to be able to go out and understand what the right thing to do is. To cut a long story short, it is important to trust your instinct which developed over a time, is the key to success," he adds.

Similalry, Manav Garg, CEO& Founder, Eka Software, shares his story of building a product company. Having come from the commodities and trade background, he had met more that 500 companies. Though all of them talked about the need for a proper system, there was no one doing anything about it. One day he decided to leave his job and started Eka Software. It was then during a meeting with a CIO of a Fortune 500 company that something he said made Garg work on his ideas. "After the meeting, the CIO told me, though the product is great but he was apprehensive about it as he had seen even a single product company from India that could confidently claim to continue existing in the market after a period of time. Are you sure you will last long; will you invest in a R&D for next five years, he asked. These are some of the concerns customers abroad have about the software companies from India," explains Garg.

Shun the Naysayers

When Mukul Kumar, Co-Founder & SeniorVice President Engineering, PubMatic along with his co-founder was building an ad server, there were many who said it would not work. There were many companies like Double Click which had been doing it for a long time and for a startup to attempt same was impossible. "We bought two computers and set it up in my garage and started working on it. Though many discouraged us, we decided to follow our hearts and our minds. We were convinced that we can do it, and we can do it better than others. All the while we also took in some advice given to us by others," says Kumar. In three months time both had built the ad server and in six months they had released it to several ad publishers. It turned out to be one of the most performing ad servers in the market. "One of the lessons I learn was that when you are doing some thing big, there are always the naysayers but you must have the inner conviction but realistic," advises Kumar.

Hunger and Passion: The back bone of a startup

Obama once visited a school in the U.S. and told the kids there that kids in India and China are truly hungry and hardworking. Hunger here means passion. Shouvick Mukherjee, VP & CEO, Yahoo! India R&D, recalls his experience of working with the founders of Yahoo! in the late 90s. "When I joined Yahoo! 11 years ago, it had already become a highly valued company. But even then I saw David Filo and Jerry Yang put in at least 16 hours of time to make sure every product is successful," he says. Back then Yahoo! used to do one push every night at midnight. Though there automated scripts to check this, but still they would see them sit and check everything on page before leaving for home. And at that point Yahoo! was valued at least $30-40 billion. No matter how big your company is, you should always ensure everything is running smooth and give personal attention to the happenings around. It is this level of passion and hunger that makes people successful.

Another thing is customer base. When you are in consumer oriented business like Internet or Mobile most often you do not see your customers. You can see consumer patterns but not actual consumers. Leverage on the data you have, if you are building a global company then make use of the data insights for it will give you a the right market indicators and customer demands, says Mukherjee.

Organizational Culture

Most times, when asked "why are you starting a company?", people do not have the right answer. Decide why you want to do it. Is it because you want to make a quick buck or want to create a legacy of a business.
Vikram Shah, President and Director, NetApp India talks about the day the CEO of NetApp addressed the team after its successful IPO. He asked the team that now that we have done it and are successful what is it that you want to do? Unanimously the team replied that they wanted to build a model company. It is this thought and vision that matters.

Team is important and a successful company is built by the team. Very often people start a company with people who have been loyal and with one for a long time. This is the wrong approach. "When I went to start a company ten years ago, I had a great plan, a great PPT and I met Kanwal Rekhi. He looked at me and asked me about my founding team. I told him how each one of them had been with me for the last 10-12 years. He said I have a wrong team because they are too loyal to question you," says Shah.

Handpick the first 25 people in your organization and ensure they are the best you can get out there. This will ensure that the team they recruit later would be the best.

At the end of the day, what matters is the culture when building a company. As a founder ensure you have built an organizational culture where the employees feel a sense of freedom for their thoughts. When an organization grows, several layers come in where and an innovative idea gets lost in these.

Other Dos and Donts for a Startup

Be stingy: Even if you have raised venture capital, count your pennies. Make sure every dollar, rupee is accounted for and try to break cash flow even. Once you do that you have a lot more options. You can approach customers confidently and they will believe your stories.

Never think you are right at the first time You will make mistakes through out but learn from them. Never lose focus and walk through the value proposition with your customer. Being in right place at right time, this will give you less room to make mistakes.

Take risks: You have already taken the first plunge by giving up a well paid secure job to become an entrepreneur. The risk taking does not stop there. When you go to market and build a product, you have to decide and balance what features to build. Every customer will demand, the earth and the moon and the stars from your product, but it you have to decide what to include and what not to. Identify what features will fetch you money and keep customers happy.

Know your market Dont follow trends create trends. Unless you know your customer, trends will not help you. Trends only help in value proposition.

People: Invest in sales early on. Build a strong sales team even if your product isnt ready. They will go out and help the word get out for your product, line up customers and create a pipeline for demand. This way you will not have to start the sales cycle until after the product is ready as sometimes it takes too long a time.

Be ready for change: Never underestimate the power of your invention but falling in love with it is also a bad idea. Be ready to change it if the need be.

Do not confuse loyalty with competence: Surround yourself with competent people not loyal people. Success is what other people do to you. Ensure you have credibility in people around you so that they will can you in the journey.
<Back 1  2  
Post your valuable comment here
Email:     Password: 
Don't have SiliconIndia account?  Sign up     Forgot your password?   Reset
Char left
Startup Fundas
To start a company of your own, is a dream of most of the young professionals these days. And many among them go ahead and start the business of their dreams.
more>>
Friday,August 26,2011
Bangalore: Is this a good time to start a company? Probably not! The world economy is rather unstable and many economists are predicting another recession soon.
more>>
Friday,August 26,2011
I want to start a new enterprise. But, will I be able to do that? Do I need to sacrifice any of my luxury? If yes, then what? These are few of the common questions asked by a potential startup entrepreneur.
more>>
Friday,August 26,2011
In the past couple of years, specialists in the field of management have undergone a remarkable attitudinal change in how they identify and define leadership.
more>>
Friday,August 26,2011