Anand Deshpande Live Session Report

The MHRD innovation cell conducted Indias second leadership talk series,an interview conducted with Dr. Anand Deshpande, Founder, Chairman and Managing Director of Persistent Systems Ltd.by Dr. Abhay Jere, Chief Innovation Officer, MHRD Innovation cell. The interview was held on on 8 january 2019 at 2:00 pm.

The primary objective behind this leadership talk series was to give students the chance and opportunity to interact with successful leaders. Forms were sent to every college in India and students were asked to write down their questions and sent, after which they were categorized into different categories and the best questions were chosen.

It was categorized into:

1. Start ups

2. IT field and how it is moving forward

3. Career based

This series focuses on what motivated Dr. Anand to become an entrepreneur and start his own business.

In 1990, he was working in a laboratory in California. After his PhD, he had a data based job and had many opportunities within the US, but he always had the desire to come back and live in India. He says that since the goal was to come back, he wanted to do something exciting. He had multiple ideas for businesses and he decided that instead of joining someone with their projects, he would start his own.

He always had the passion to start his own business and be an entrepreneur 10 years before he even started his company. He started his business at 28 and has been in it for the past 30 years.

In 1990, when the IT infrastructure was not so great, he was asked if he faced any bottle necks when he was trying to communicate with his customers.

To this he replied that in 1990, there were not many opportunities. The lack in telecommunication infrastructure, the networking facilities available made communication via message and email very difficult. The government had the foresight about creating a software technology park to help companies doing software related work and he considered himself lucky to be a part of these STP businesses. He said that although he came from the US, worked in US, studies in US and then moved into India and got adopted into the Indian bureaucracy, he never felt frustrated or felt like nothings was working out. He always had a plan in his mind and also had 2 customers who were willing to give him work so there were always things to do hence he never really felt that he needed to leave; plus he had grown up in India.

There were a large number of students who were in 2 frames on mind about what their next step would be after their education, whether to work for an organization and then think about entrepreneurship or weather to directly go into their own business. They also faced this problem as there was a lot of pressure from their parents and from society to get a good government job and to leave their entrepreneurship dreams behind. To this he replied saying that being an entrepreneur doesn’t mean you just go into it for the sake of getting tagged as an entrepreneur. We must first find a problem which is compelling enough to be solved and when we have the ability to deliver a solution is the point at which we become an entrepreneur. If we cannot solve the problem or if someone is not willing to pay money for your solution, then it does not make any sense to become an entrepreneur just for the sake of it.

He also said that if he was a young student who had just graduated from college and is not sure what to do, it is better to work for a firm or work for small industries or entrepreneurs itself so he would get more knowledge. If one is still interested in going into the entrepreneur field, it is better to get an idea before going into it rather that go into it and then think about what you are going to do.

There are many students who have come up with some good innovative ideas and technology but their approach should be on how they can use their technology to solve a particular problem.

He said that at the end of the day the product or company that you make in return has to make you money as well. So at the end of the day we need to have a product that customers will be willing to buy for a price that is reasonable to make a business viable and if you cant then it is not a very effective way to run a business.

So just if you have an idea or technology its not enough to build a business. To make a business it is important to have customers that are willing to pay enough money to make the business viable. A business is not just about starting something but it is also about sustaining it as well.

When asked what were his views on the large concern among youngster weather the jobs are getting evaporated due to the advancement in technology and artificial technology He replied saying that there is a lot of advancement in technology and youngsters who are well versed in these areas of technology will be in demand but for those who cannot keep up with new stuff, they will suffer a bit in these areas. So it is expected for every student to keep themselves up to date with technology.

He gave an example saying, ¡®consider our lives 10 to 15 years ago. Google was hardly there, cellphones had just come, smart phones did not exist and neither did 2G & 3G network. So if we think about 10 years in the future, no one knows where technology will reach and we have to keep pace with the technology going on. So students should not think that once college life is done, so is their learning but they now have to learn more skills which will be helpful for them in the day to day world and which is in demand in the industries.¡¯

Dr. Anand Deshpande gave his opinion about what students really should focus on in school. He compared college education to a 3 legged stool. He said that in one area they should try to build their technological skills and curriculum skills.

The second important thing is that we need to know how to work with our own hands because when and if you become your own entrepreneur you need to know how to make and tweak your own stuff, be creative and make things. He here talks about Smart India Hackathon saying that its a very good initiative taken by the government as it provides a base for young talent to show their work and also to come up with innovative idea of their own.

The third most important area people need to focus on is communication as it is communication skills which is very important in every day life because if we have a good product and we lack in communication skills it could lead to its downfall.

When asked about his views on why after education people usually spend 40 years in the working field, he said he would like to divide this into 4 segments.

The first segment of the first 10 years usually from 22 to 32 years of age, he said we should focus on learning and networking. Learn as much as you can and network also such as get to know many people, have mentors, be open to ideas, etc. As these traits will help you in the future.

In the second segment we need to take a slightly different view. At the end of the 10 year segment we need to say that we have gained a particular skill which we are really good at and might even say that we are experts in this area, as companies will give more importance to those people who are specialized in a particular field. Also in these 10 years we need to see our financial planning and think about retirement plans.

The third, 10 years you will be about 40 to 42. When you reach this age you have a good sense about where you will be when you are at the peak in your career and at this point we need to plan on how to get to that. And in the final 10 years we need to plan for retirement. So we need to plan financially to live a good and happy retirement life. A lady asked Dr. This question, When you are recommending these career guidance, is this gender biased or is it only towards males?

This has been a truly enriching and enlightening experience, one that will surely benefit all the future entrepreneurs in our class. It has provided us with the building blocks to help us take steps in the right direction to a brighter tomorrow.