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Compulink founder Vishwas Mahajan’s success
is an inspiring case for wannabe entrepreneurs, says Srikanth RP
 ‘Look
for the silver lining’ is a proverb often heard when one goes
through trying times. If one had to visualise an individual who
has lived his life by this proverb, Vishwas Mahajan is that person.
Always looking for small positive things even when faced with insurmountable
difficulties, Mahajan’s story is an inspiration for would be
entrepreneurs.
“Difficulties and challenges are always opportunities
for improvement,” says Mahajan, who has always sought to look
at the positive side of life. Born into a middle class family, Mahajan
lost his father when he was 18 months old. While his family faced
financial difficulties, he never gave up and managed to bag a scholarship
for his school education. Eventually, he managed to do his graduation
in Chemistry and subsequently, a MBA in marketing.
Mahajan’s first real experience with the
way business is conducted in the real world came when he joined
PSI Data Systems. While the firm was full of techies, Ajit Balakrishnan
of Rediff, who was an investor in the firm, saw the need for hiring
business people. Accordingly, the firm hired ten MBAs and Vishwas
was part of the troop. His early days at PSI taught him the survival
tactics which he put to good use when he built Compulink. Says he,
“For months, we had to go without salaries. We were also capable
of multi-tasking-handling everything from cash management to marketing.
We showed the same commitment when we built Compulink which today
is a global organisation.” From PSI, Mahajan moved on to Digital
Equipment India and then to Key Information Technology (Dubai).
While PSI taught Mahajan to survive, the stint
at Key Information Technology taught him one of the most important
lessons in life-the importance of customer inputs in building a
product. Key Information Technology was a significant player in
the hospitality industry. As a lot of hotel majors were setting
up operations in Dubai, there was a huge growth potential for software
packages targeted at the hospitality industry. While the common
industry practice was and has been to hire programmers from India,
Mahajan and his team took an unusual approach. He hired people who
worked in hotels and trained them in programming. The result- the
company was able to build a phenomenal system due to the excellent
domain knowledge.
This experience taught Mahajan the importance
of looking at the business aspect rather than technology which is
what most technology companies do. During his stint at Key, Mahajan
met up with Uday Kothari. As the two shared a bachelor’s room,
the idea of forming their own company took shape. Accordingly, in
1996, Compulink was formed. Initially the focus was doing product
development work for small companies in the US. While the company
was doing well, there was nothing in the company that could be termed
great. A chance meeting with Nasscom founder, Dewang Mehta changed
all that. Mehta told them to create intellectual property if the
company wanted to succeed in the global race.
This inspiration led them to create their own
product, ProjectByNet which today has an installed base of more
than 13,000 customers. ProjectByNet was successful as Compulink
decided to focus on building a product which could tap the growing
services boom instead of playing in the highly competitive services
market.
While Mehta inspired Mahajan on the IP route,
the other big experience which had a telling effect on his life
was a chance encounter with Mother Teresa. When Mahajan told Mother
Teresa on what he did for a living, she simply asked him, “That
is good but what do you want to do for society?” This question
stunned him and suddenly he realised that he was so small compared
to the person in front of him. Says he, “This experience taught
me that whatever you do in life, it is important to be humble.”
While most people give Mahajan and Uday Kothari
credit for making Compulink successful, Mahajan firmly affirms that
the entire team of the company is responsible for the phenomenal
success. Says he, “The management can take a dream only to
a certain level. Beyond this, it is the people of the company who
can take the dream to exponential levels.”
Mahajan is credited with initiating TiE (The Indus
Entrepreneurs), Pune chapter. He is also active on the Pune chapter
of Nasscom’s SME forum. Due to his firm’s experience in
project management, Mahajan is also a member of the Pune chapter
of Software Process Improvement Network (SPINs)—a worldwide
body of individuals who want to improve software engineering practices.
A team man, Mahajan is also deeply interested
in classical music. While life is certainly musical for Mahajan
today, he has never forgotten his roots and is involved extensively
in child education and charity programmes. As he says, “If
I was not given the right opportunities at the right time, it would
have been very different. I want to give the same chance to other
people.”
srikanth@expresscomputeronline.com
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