Umang Gupta
Umang Gupta is the Chairman and CEO of Keynote Systems. His earlier successes include Gupta Corporation which was the first Indian-American founded software company to go public in the world. Prior to founding Gupta, Umang was at Oracle and was very instrumental in their success. He has held various positions with Oracle Corporation and IBM. Please read below to get Umang’s perspective on the recent developments in the global economy, the implications for managers, innovators and entrepreneurs and his advice to IIT alumni in general. The concept of PAN IIT originated in late 2000, when several distinguished IIT alums gathered in Connecticut, USA and brainstormed about an organization that would not only enhance networking among alums from IITs but also serve as an umbrella to connect all the IITs. At a broad level, the organization that emerged had three key objectives, namely:
NL TEAM: What was your personal motivation to getting involved in this organization? For me personally, there were two key factors driving me towards this organization: first, a sense of altruism as I wanted to give back to the IITs, and second, to recreate the camaraderie that existed during my IIT days. I still feel that the best years of my life were my 5 years at IIT. The friendships and the relationships I built during that time were ever lasting. NL TEAM: What is your vision for PAN IIT organization and how it has been operationalised? We have very well designed and institutionalized governance structure across the globe. We have a well-functioning Global Board as well as Boards formed at the local country level. The board member selection process is well established to ensure elected representatives from all campuses participate and have a voice. No single person dominates the organization; instead it remains a very collectively driven institution. I would like to think that this structure could be sustained over many decades into the future. We have also been very effective in enhancing alumni connectivity and fundraising and I would like to see those activities to be further enhanced, along with the rest of our mission. Overall, I believe we have a pretty self sustaining, rejuvenating and renewing organization. NL TEAM: That is a very admirable vision and how do you see that vision being translated into measurable goals? How should one measure the effectiveness of the PAN IIT organization over the years to come? Well, there are definitely many operating metrics that are available to measure our effectiveness. However, please note that non-profits tend to operate differently than a for-profit entity and hence the effectiveness measures also need to be different. For example, the objective of enhancing networking is probably best measured by the number of chapters, memberships within those chapters, the number of PanIIT alumni events and their attendance, as well as growth in those numbers. The nation building objective is affected by many activities undertaken by our alumni in conjunction with campus administrations and with other government or non-governmental entitities. Lastly, on the community building front, we have delivered on several initiatives however we need to do a lot more. We very effectively participated during the Katrina tragedy in the US and also during Bhuj earthquake in India however we continually need to find ways to stay involved and create impact at the local community level. NL TEAM: So, would you like to suggest our alums to enhance volunteerism in local communities? Yes, although the last thing I would like to do is to imprint my personal preferences on our members. However, my message to our members is that if you do wish to get involved in local community initiatives, then while doing so, think of ways to get other chapter members also involved. NL TEAM: Shifting our focus on some of the more immediate factors impacting our members, the global economy has been in depression and turmoil for last several months. What are your perspectives on the state of the global economy and specifically on the US and Indian economies? I am not an economic expert; however I don’t think that what we are currently experiencing can be termed as a depression. It is however a very major recession. The current state of the economy is due to fundamental imbalances across the globe that occurred over last twenty years and we have a situation where several economies across the globe have to deleverage and that does not happen in a year or two. So, we may be looking at several years of deleveraging and correspondingly several years of no or slow growth. As far as Indian and Chinese economies go, they will also be affected maybe not as much though as western economies. Since both of these countries have dependence on exports (India less then China), they will feel the impact however my guess is they will experience less pain then others. NL TEAM: So, given this state of the economy specifically within the context of the US, where capital as well as credit had nearly dried up and are still in very short supply, how is this going to impact entrepreneurs and the creation of new ventures? I am one of those fortunate guys, who started his career in a no growth, high inflationary environment. Think of the entire software industry that germinated during the 70’s era of high inflation and low to no growth economic cycles. Microsoft, Intel, Oracle, all these firms started with a very limited amount of capital. When I started Gupta Technologies in 1984, the stock market was going no-where and access to capital hardly existed for immigrant entrepreneurs like me. However, I always felt that while I can not control macro conditions, all that should matter to my company’s success in its early days was whether I could build innovative technology that customers needed, and whether I could do it without “missing payroll”. Profits came eventually once the business was built up and economic cycles turned favorable. The necessary ingredient for success to entrepreneurs is not always easy access to capital. In fact, easy access to capital can sometimes be a bad thing if it allows lot of bad ideas to get funded. The last thing you want to be is a well funded VC backed start-up that’s the 7th company in its space. So, I would not worry too much about these (lack of capital) issues. If you have a good idea, desire and ambition to make it happen…then you’ll find a way to make it work. Sometimes, the initial business seed capital comes from friends and family who help you prototype your product, followed by early customers who help you bootstrap the business from there on. Or your idea may be in an industry which needs a lot of capital but where there is plenty of access to it e.g., clean tech or healthcare automation. So, my advice is to not let the macro environment be a pre-requisite or deter you from launching your business. NL TEAM: That’s very helpful advice. Now, given these shifts in economic conditions, what are the qualities of emerging leaders? What are the keys for good leadership? What will be your message to our readers? Well, that‘s a great question. I believe that one of the key aspects of great technology leaders is their ability to combine academic intelligence with emotional intelligence. Most of us IITan’s don’t have to worry too much about academic intelligence since we have already demonstrated the ability to excel in complex subjects such as Advanced Math and the Sciences. Additionally, good leaders are people who listen as much as they inspire. To listen well, you should develop good emotional intelligence. Of course there are several other skills that are needed. You should also be able to persuade people, which means you should be able to communicate effectively and have command over your language, both verbal and non-verbal. The IITs don’t always place an emphasis on cultivating or growing emotional intelligence. My advice to those still in the campuses is to take their humanities courses as those (courses) will set them in good stead down the line! NL TEAM: We thank you for your time and perspectives. Would you have any parting messages or thoughts for our readership? I’m pleased to say that as an alumni organization, Pan IIT continues to do well, however we have long ways to go to meet our full potential. P.S.: The interview was conducted by Amita Suhrid of Devry, Inc., Smita Goel Bagla of Amritt, Inc and Sanjeev Arora of Pipal Research. Document Actions |
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Pan IIT News letter team had the pleasure of interviewing Umang Gupta, the current Co-Chairman of the Pan III USA board recently. Most IT alumni in USA are quite familiar with Umang Gupta’s accomplishments as an entrepreneur as well as a visionary leader who has harnessed emerging technology trends with astute business propositions and human capital leadership to create superior shareholder value.
