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Priyanandan Reddy

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Priyanandan Reddy

Founder

Styre

Priyanandan Reddy is a member of:

- Expert

Brief about company, offerings and foundation of the company

STYRE has 3 divisions - Apple Authorised Training Center (AATC), Software and iOS Development, Branding.STYRE’s AATC is India’s 1st Apple Authorised Training Center for Mac OS X. We currently offer Apple Certifications on Mac OS X, Professional Applications (Video Editing & Music Production), & iWork. Apart from authorised certifications, we also offer certifications on iLife, iOS Application Development, and customised courses for businesses and individuals.We also offer consulting services to businesses and education institutions that are moving on to a Mac platform. In the education domain we offer services on integrating technology in education and bringing greater collaboration between the students and faculty apart from helping the institution progressing to be an AATCe (Apple Authorised Training Center for Education).
Our Software and iOS Development division is into ERP solutions for education and iOS development for enterprises.Our Branding division offers brand consulting and web-based solutions for businesses.STYRE was established in the year 2008.

Risks involved in business and way of addressing

In the area of software development, we have a huge number of IT companies. Our core area of focus has been education, we have a strong set of advisors from the field of education who are actively involved in our product development and solutions that we offer. There are not many players whose prime focus is education, but we feel there is a lot to work on in this area and it is quite interesting.As an AATC, since we were the 1st in the country for Mac OS X certifications, our challenge was in creating awareness about Apple products and certifications. Indian market is still at a nascent stage with respect to Apple, but now things are slowly changing with a lot of businesses adopting this technology.

Most critical decision

The most critical discussion was venturing into the AATC business. AATCs in other part of the world are way ahead than what we are today and at the time of setting up the AATC it was a very new business in India. I took the decision to start an AATC just because of my belief in Apple and its vision , this was the only factor because of which I got into it. I always believed in doing something that I strongly believed in and once you strongly believe in something, just go do it you will definitely learn how to handle things as you move along.

Some of the difficulties faced while building product/ solution

We had a good but inexperienced team at the beginning and we had to learn everything on our own from scratch. There were a few certified trainers in India (in fact there are still a handful of individuals who are certified trainers from Apple) and even for the people whom I have identified it was a new platform and took some time to adapt to this technology.

Different actions if I rebuild my company from scratch all over again

Without hesitation I would hire a few experienced professionals for respective divisions.

Advice for fellow entrepreneurs

Never cease to Explore and Experiment.

Unique about my way of motivating troops

I do not have a strategy to motivate people but I strongly believe the energy that each individual carries rubs on to others and this is what I believe drives each individual at STYRE.

Way of choosing my people

Attitude is more important than talent for us. If an individual is willing to learn and has the attitude that fits our profile then we do not mind taking them on board and channelizing their efforts based on our requirement, of course the basic foundations need to be in place.

The challenges and lessons learnt to get first customer

As an AATC, our first batch of training was for the channel partners of Apple India and since we were the 1st training center for Mac OS X and there were a very few individuals (if any) who were certified on Mac OS X, it gave us the visibility, basically we filled the void in the market.Our challenges were mostly operational as we had a very young team without any experience and we had to learn one step at a time.

Three big lessons/ mistakes encountered while building company

Following are three lessons that I have learnt over last few years.a)Documentation:Documenting everything is very important be it your own employees or external associates / partners that you are dealing with.b)People / Employees: Identifying right people and who believe in your vision is absolutely necessary. A single person who is not in tune with what you believe in can ruin the environment. We ensure that we have a great working environment at STYRE and we go all out and ensure all the individuals are very comfortable to share their thoughts with us.
c)Communication:Communicating effectively with all the individuals is a key factor for functioning smoothly. I ensure that each individual of that particular division is aware or updated regularly on the goals and vision of that department.

My role at different dimensions as the company evolved

Right from the beginning of STYRE I am actively involved with each team from conception development to the point of delivery, we have a very healthy teamwork at STYRE and we have always been a flat organization.As the company evolved I have slowly given each individual more responsibility based on their strengths and now though I am involved in each process, my involvement is restricted. Since most of the members are with STYRE since inception, they understand the values and the vision pretty well.

As a leader how I make sure that I am connecting the right dots

Connecting the dots is crucial for any organization, but avoiding mistakes isn’t easy and we do not mind committing mistakes, I push my team to explore possibilities and learn from their experiences. With experience we now have a different approach to a lot of things than what we had initially.

My thoughts related to entrepreneurship/ leadership and management

For me being an entrepreneur is all about believing in what you do and grabbing the opportunities apart from learning and unlearning all the time.

Best company I admire globally

Apple- because they never deviate from processes and never cease to innovate and Starbucks - because they value their employees. Of course there are a lot of things that you learn from each organization.

Motivation and Drives factor

What motivates me is my belief in what I am doing and definitely happiness that I see in all the stakeholders. It is very important for me that people working for STYRE are satisfied with their work environment and share the vision of the organization.