Koushik Yachendra: Driven by Passion to Transform Edu Tech & HR Space Date:   Thursday , February 02, 2017 \"My father is a professor and I was traditionally brought up as an engineer,\" posts Koushik Yachendra, the CEO & Founder of Formac, a product company with a vision to make a change in the education and hiring space by allying technology. An engineering graduate, topping up with Masters and getting a secured job in a multi billion dollar company is every dad\'s dream in India. And Koushik outshined in all the three aspects. An engineer with Masters in Computer Science from UIC, Chicago, Koushik worked for Fortune companies like Yahoo!, Wells Fargo and Symantec. But it was not too late before he found his calling and unshackled from the alienation of insipid 9-5 job. His appetite to build something for the community that would last for generations could only be met by innovation, which his previous job merely offered. As Hunter J Thomson said, \"Anything that kept your blood racing is probably worth doing\", Koushik trusted his gut and quit his job to join the start-up revolution, and built Formac in 2013 with his childhood friend, college partner and co-founder Venkata Duvvuri. Today the company empowers educational institutions to produce high quality professionals by offering innovative solutions and software enabling the industry to identify and recruit the right talent though their products EPracto & EYardstick respectively. Learning from Failures Rewinding few years, the start-up scenario was different. Leaving his cushy seat of an established and stable career, Koushik had to combat the bitter facets of establishing a business, which were earlier regarded as insignificant. As every expedition has its highs and lows, Koushik had to battle his way to build a talented and robust team. \"When I approached talented people who could make a difference, most of them were unwilling to leave their comfort zone as start-ups involve a lot of risk,\" asserts Koushik. In the initial phase he played multiple roles - from running an idea to running the team and balancing multiple responsibilities at single time. However, through his imposing vision, self-motivation, and flat managerial techniques, Koushik triumphed over each barrier. \"Entrepreneurship is not easy; you have to undergo lot of stress, tensions and long hours of physical work. But at the end of the day when you go to bed, and think what your efforts will bear in the future and what difference it will bring to the society, it\'s the feeling that only an entrepreneur can have,\" elucidates Koushik. Being a modest human being, he doesn\'t consider himself as successful yet, but Koushik reckons himself as a man with a clear mission and undying passion. He feels grateful to his colleagues, friends and family for their faith, mentorship and support. Optimism and clear-cut visualisation being his core strengths, Koushik believes his emotional attachment with the products he built as his only weakness. Imparting Values as a Mentor Path to successful entrepreneurship is far sighted and not short. Hence Koushik recommends aspiring business moguls to visualise the path till end and then plan accordingly. Learning from his roller-coaster experience, he advises them to perceive setbacks as stepping stones and recommends them to do a thorough market research before entering the market. \"If you think your product is making any difference, if you think you can sustain without any funding and most importantly, if you think you can endure the hardships of entrepreneurship, there is no force that can stop you from being successful,\" cites Koushik. Though Koushik keeps beavering with the busy office schedules, he doesn\'t forget what got him started and does everything from his side to help the community. Koushik understands the value of innovation in boosting entrepreneurship, \"The main challenge for a technology innovation is the platform itself, Young innovators don\'t know how or where to start, and what arsenal they need to accumulate to build a product,\" asserts Koushik. To fill this dearth of an innovative platform, his company distributes basic verstion of CloudLearn which is an online IDE a PaaS (Platform-as-a-Service) product to all the students at free of cost. This online IDE provides comprehensive facilities to help students start building a technology product anytime anywhere. The Other Side of the Beaver While spearheading the growth and establishment of India\'s premier skill enhancement ans assessment solution company, Koushik manages to juggle between his work and family. \"I felt that if we strive hard and build a sustainable business, we can spend most of the time with the family, but lately I realise that it\'s not going to happen and it will be forever,\" exclaims Koushik. However, he chops off one day per week and keeps it aside to spend time with his family. An exemplary leader at work, Koushik is also a proud father of a four year boy. He vows to give every freedom for his child to build his own identity and comically adds, \"I don\'t rub any of my thoughts on him, but if in case, given a chance, definitely want him to do something for the country, maybe like Tony Stark\". Being a hard core South Indian, Koushik can\'t resist the temptation of Biryani. While in holidays, he loves to chill out in the sunny beaches of Miami and Cuba with his friends & family. To counter challenges on a daily basis, Koushik derives inspiration from the success stories of entrepreneurs and businesses, and dreams to leave behind something for the world.