Ashok Soota, one of the co-founders of MindTree and a veteran of the IT industry knows what it takes to try and reach $100 million in five years—his ambitious goal for his new company titled ‘Happiest Minds.’ Not surprisingly, he chose Vikram Gulati to lead his new firm towards that target.
Gulati, with an experience of over 23 years in the IT industry is known as a specialist in building and leading businesses.
Gulati, who is an electrical engineer and an MBA from Bombay University, was the right person to knit together a strong team for Happiest Minds. On the company website, he has been defined as a person capable of driving revenue and margin growth, launching new services and managing mergers and acquisitions.
Prior to his new role as the CEO & MD of Happiest Minds, Gulati, was the CEO and President of Intelligroup which was acquired by Japanese IT firm NTT Data Corporation.
During his stint at Intelligroup from 2005 to 2011, he was responsible for creating and executing strategy for the corporation. For Soota, who has been testing his luck in the services market during a turbulent time, Gulati's role in Intelligroup has been a true compass for his abilities.
Before joining Intelligroup, Gulati was the head of Wipro's global enterprise application solutions business. At Wipro he was responsible for growing the enterprise application solutions business.
“I was given an opportunity to build a business for Wipro with a small team. I turned the business into a leading arm of Wipro with a strong team," says Gulati. He was the brains behind the rapid growth of the business from $20 million to $160 million in revenues over five years.
Gulati, also a co-founder and an investor in Happiest Minds, believes that new customer-centric model and new technologies and focused verticals will help to drive the growth of the company.
Agree that times have changed. But remember , Business is not just one man show , It's team effort. He is now working with a different team at different times. May be , it'll be a hit , who knows. Time will tell , let's wait n see.
Wish him and the HM team all the best
Times have changed. From Wipro to Mindtree to Happiest Minds, a very long journey for Soota. The kind of business environment that existed in early 80s is not there now. There is too much competition, too many companies eying for the same business. From the retail investors point of view Mindtree failed to live up to the expectations. Only the early investors including Soota and ESOP beneficiers have made money. What he couldn't deliver in Mindtree to retail investors, I do not think Soota will deliver in Happiest Minds.