Sandeep Mundra - If You’re Not Changing or Improving Continuously, You’re Going Backwards (Founder - Indianic Infotech Limited)

 

I have had many people who were poor in their academic track record but

their hard work, focus, and sincerity made them extraordinary at what they

were doing.

Tell us about your background, journey, and upbringing.

I belong to a small traditional Indian family. My journey started from Mumbai
where I was pursuing my Chartered Accountancy - where in due to a series of
events, I had to eventually come down to Ahmedabad, Gujarat, to join a small
IT hardware business with my younger brother.

My Dad used to work in a mechanical industry so we didn't have a huge capital
or an angel who would put in a pile of money to do something big. I, along with
my brother, worked round the clock to fill in whatever we could do to sustain
our Hardware and IT maintenance business.

Gradually, we ventured into making smaller websites and that’s a start I would
say that brought me to build one of the most reputed firms in India for
Software Services.

It has been a great journey and I’d not change even a second of what I went
through - it has been a great experience and something that makes us what
we are today.

When and how did you get clarity on what you wanted to do?

I started developing small static websites myself during the late 90’ but I got a

real breakthrough and clarity from a website called Namaste.com - which is

in the top 100 e-commerce websites at that time from a Chicago-based startup.

The first thing which I did was buy a book of PHP for dummies from Amazon in

the USA and had it shipped to India. I along with one developer (the only team

member I had) - started learning PHP from that book and eventually delivered

that after a month.

That struck me immediately and I was confident we are onto something here. I

started growing the team and focused on bringing more business. The rest is a

long and wonderful story :).

What does your typical workday look like?

Well, I am an early riser. I am heavily invested in health, mental happiness, and

focus. I still spend about 7-8 hours in the office working with multiple team

members and stakeholders - to continually hear them, seek advice, and what

could make us better every single day.

My involvement is driving the strategic focus of the business and enabling my

people to make them extraordinary leaders so that we can continue to do

what we do best and grow along with it.

Equally important - I spend very healthy time with family and friends. My two

daughters are getting on their feet with their own startups and I spend time

with them discussing business as well as fun times. 

I share a badminton court with my wife and believe me, I can debate all day long on why you shouldn’t take female players lightly on a badminton court having played with her quite consistently. She’s a champ!

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Several global companies have come out and thrown their support behind

not needing a formal education. What is your opinion about this?

I believe education is the foundation. It is definitely a key ingredient of making

a person who would build a career that would last for decades. Honestly, I have

a mixed opinion on whether one needs to be educated or not - especially

considering the current state of Technical Education in India, besides some of

the handful institutes that produce talent that can stand anywhere in the

world.

I have had many people who were poor in their academic track record but

their hard work, focus, and sincerity made them extraordinary at what they

were doing.

However, I still believe one should finish their education as that gives them

analytical power in whichever field they go whether it’s related to their

education or not before they start their professional journey.

How do you handle someone who has lied on their resume?

Honestly, Resumes and CVs are not the 100% benchmark to evaluate someone.

Forget lies, nobody talks about challenges and their failures. Everyone talks

about all that they did, and that too only positives. 

Rarely you’d find someone who’d even talk about what challenges and shortcomings they carry. There’s no definite way to find if anyone has lied until you at least speak to them. 

I have heard from my team and also found at times, a complete lie mentioned in the resume, the best we could do and which we do is to advise them what’s the effect of doing such things. 

Other Than that - everyone must know the implication of getting through the interview and hitting the ground while working to deliver what’s required out of their job roles.

What are some of your typical challenges and how have they evolved over time?

I believe the biggest challenge is adapting to the change. In the software

industry, everything changes so fast. If you’re not changing or improving

continuously, you’re going backward. Knowingly or unknowingly, there’s

always someone somewhere in the world competing against you. 

As an individual and as an organization - it is important that your entire team grows together and has an attitude to innovate. There’s a lot of companies out there who do probably the same thing as you do - one needs to find what

differentiates them from others and what value you provide to your customers. 

They’ll remember what you made them feel during the course of engagement and not just what you deliver that’s tangible.

What advice do you have for aspiring entrepreneurs or those eyeing the top job?

I believe it is inevitable that business is more competitive and the working

models and organization hierarchies have carried over from the machine-driven industrial era - it's time to think more about self-organization,

responsibilities, and more transparency across the board. 

One piece of advice I’d give to an entrepreneur is to be able to be ready for the change and deliver the best of what you can - one needs to build empathy - with customers and employees and fuel a sense of responsibility and accountability.

The tactical path of business would take its own course, but if your vision doesn’t carry the long-term effects of everything you do today, it’s not going to last long. Try to do something original, and that’s what is going to create lasting relationships with everyone you engage with.

Which is your favorite book and why?

There are many books that I’ve read and I like many out of them already. If I

had to pick one - I’d select Biography of Steve Jobs by Watler Isaacson. 

I’ve followed him as a leader for a long time and the book gave me a lot of fine

degree insights - mentioned explicitly and implicitly - when a specific event

happened and how he tackled it as a leader - who only looked for innovation

and striving to do the best every single time without compromising little detail.