Develop long haul approach in building businesses, Sridhar Vembu tells students at alma mater IIT-M

Chennai, Apr 20 (PTI) Zoho Corporation chief Sridhar Vembu on Thursday advised students exploring the idea of starting up businesses to develop a "long haul approach" while launching their venture.

The Padma Shri awardee, speaking at the 64th Institute Day of IIT-Madras here, said from his experience in building Zoho Corporation he had learnt that one must have an approach that builds curiosity, but that one should also create real-world models and do competition analysis while setting up a new venture.

"The models must represent the real world because we are building systems for the real world. That is when I realised this is what real engineering is about. We had to build models to fit the real world. That was probably one of the deepest lessons I learnt." he said.

Reminiscing about his past on the campus of IIT-M, where he did his BTech in Electrical Engineering in 1989, Vembu said he had been a part of the second batch when the building for the Students Activity Centre was constructed.

A student of former IIT Madras director Bhaskar Ramamurthi, Vembu said it was he who advised him to pursue higher studies overseas.

Vembu, who holds a doctorate, recalled the early days of his career when he was a programmer and how he later began to sell his products after venturing into business. Recalling how a friend advised him to learn the basics of sales after he sold a product to a company for just USD 30,000 which was actually worth USD 300,000, Vembu revealed how poor he had been at sales.

"I learnt from that advice and stopped selling. Instead I hired a person for selling and I assisted him so that I could learn," he recalled.

Zoho Corp, which he founded, had a presence in various overseas locations, Vembu said, recalling how through the Kalaivani Kalvi education initiative, his company was able to identify two people who could become a C++ programmers in Tenkasi about 650 km from here.

"If we can identify two people who could become C++ programmers from a remote town like Tenkasi, we have a lot of work to do (in creating new jobs across India)," he said.

With Zoho Corporation having an employee base of 12,000, Vembu said every day he received almost 500 job applications. "Well, our people (India) need jobs and I get emails from at least 500 people every day seeking job opportunities at Zoho. If one person from IIT can create a job in a remote town, from all the IITs we can create jobs. That is the challenge here which is also an opportunity," he said.

Vembu said, if possible in another 25 years, he would add another 15,000 people to the employee base of Zoho Corporation. "If you have a long haul approach and build long term strategies, hundreds of zohos can be created in the country," he said.

He also suggested that aspiring entrepreneurs go for "lesser-known places" to start their ventures, as "cheap real estate" offered a "long runway" to build their businesses.

Earlier, IIT Madras Director Professor V Kamakoti said a team of 72 students were working on the Hyperloop project which aims to set up Asia's first 500 metre test track at IIT Madras Discovery campus.

He also said IIT Madras' first overseas campus, in Tanzania, was expected to commence operations in October this year. PTI VIJ ANE