Nalin Savara is an alumnus of the 1999 batch. After working in Aricent and EscoSoft, he took the plunge into entrepreneurship, and opened his own company, DSTech. However, that’s not the only place he’s well known, he’s also one of the most familiar and active faces in the NSIT Alumni circuit. Here’s his advice to the students.

1. Please describe in brief your career path leading to your present position?
In college I used to be quite good at programming and I did not focus much on academics other than programming and core computer science subjects; but instead I tried many things- including doing projects for the automobile spare parts market in Kashmere gate and working part-time for a startup, developing prototypes for a 3D game based on Indian mythology and also participating in a lot of programming contests, quizzes and other cultural activities.

I subsequently worked in Aricent, Bangalore (then called Hughes Software Systems and later renamed to Flextronics Software Systems) from June 1999 till February 2001.

From February 2001 till June 2002, I worked in EscoSoft, a software company floated by the Escorts group which had bought the company for which I developed gaming technology prototypes while in college and after heading the Game Engine Technology team at EscoSoft Interactive, I started my own company in 2002.

This interview is intentionally sketchy about several details because of the confidentiality involved in some projects

2. What do you think are the qualities of a successful entrepreneur, and do you consider an MBA degree is necessary for becoming a leading entrepreneur?
To be an entrepreneur or even to be a professional who is responsible for game-changing innovations; I believe one needs to feel a sense of connection with the market or technology domain one has chosen. Also, to be a game-changer one needs to have a deep level understanding of the practicalities of one’s chosen domain. A person needs to believe that he, his team and his company can compete with the best in the world and win.

I suggest a person should work in the industry for at least one or preferably two years before pursuing an MBA.

When you go out into the field and face the challenges of trying to get work done you will discover what you like, what you want to do and what it is that you just hate doing. This self awareness will take you a long way- and help you make sense of the vast opportunities and possibilities that exist in the world today.
I strongly recommend that a person get this exposure and develop this sense of self awareness before going for a MBA. This exposure and self-awareness will help you quickly get into positions of responsibility after you get an MBA and upon getting your MBA, whether you get placed in a frontline role or whether you are in a support role- your exposure and experience will help you find opportunities and quickly rise through the corporate ranks.

The world is changing and the pace of change today is truly mind-boggling. The biggest opportunities today are not the ones management books point to- but the opportunities you will stumble upon while working long hours as a professional trying to get your job done.

This early experience and exposure which you gain immediately after getting your BE degree will stay with you for life and it will help you even if the market is in a recession.

3. Opportunities you would recommend students to explore while at N.S.I.T.?
Students should try to do as many practical real world oriented projects as possible- write as much programming code as possible.
Remember that the founders of Google, Microsoft, Yahoo! started their journeys while they were still in college- and Linus Torvalds started writing Linux too while he was still in college.
* Participate in as many programming contests as possible, during your college life itself, take a shot in working in at least one project having over 10,000 lines of code: whether developed by you or as a contributor to an open source project.
* Participate in the Google Summer of Code- that exposure will really help you.

4. Some points a budding entrepreneur should consider in this phase of global recession.
In the technology industry, if one wants to be a leader, at least internationally, the first thing one must display is technical leadership.
In India- for 50-60 years after independence things were different, but today they have started moving the same way here as they are in the rest of the world.
Over here, till the very recent past; one could always try to stay on top and be the decision maker as the manager or the owner; and one would find people below who would handle the technology. But today even in India we are moving away from that.
I suggest one tries to be as solid as possible in what one does- even if one doesn’t like coding/technology/engineering- one should at least be as good as the next guy.
A lot of guys make the mistake of living it through a boom period thinking that based on what they have seen in a booming market and because they are from one of the best colleges; they can take it for granted that they will have a well paying job when they graduate- so why not instead prepare for an MBA that guarantees even better pay?
Many guys think: Why not just dump the projects, the practical trainings and the coding skills and instead party and socialize and also study for GRE because even if one has zero coding skills, one will still have a Rs 50,000 a month job in any case?
Well, today the slack that existed in the industry- that the great guys do well and the average or not so great guys also get carried forward by the brand-name of their institute or by their degree- that slack no longer exists and the job-market and the industry is much tighter today. Companies today reward top performers more than ever before.
But that element of stability and financial security that once existed is gone. Average performers are no longer taken care of- due to the brand-name of their institute. Today every company- whether big or small is forced to pay top performers and solid professionals as per the market value for their skills. But today getting entry into a top company guarantees neither growth nor job security- because everybody everywhere is tightening their belts and cutting down on slack.
The reason I mention this as an answer to a question on “How should would-be entrepreneurs deal with recession?”- is because unlike 10 years back; would-be entrepreneurs today no longer have the luxury of saying “arre… main kyun seekhoon programming? mainay toh waisay bhi pahlay MBA karna hai… aur phir business… pahli baar MBA mein admission nahin hua toh ek-do saal koi achhi job karte huay phir MBA ki koshish karoonga”.
I advise all budding entrepreneurs to be totally hands-on and to get really solid at what they are doing- because today, technical excellence and technical leadership is the key to success in the technology industry.

5. What is your message to the young and creative students in campus?
Try to always make an honest effort to be really good at what you do. Keep trying to be better than you were yesterday and you will find yourself on the path to becoming the best you can be in whatever you are doing.
Always maintain your ethics, your integrity and do your level best to honor all professional commitments- because as an engineer your professional credibility and reputation are important

Please do feel free to write to me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it with comments, criticisms, questions or feedback.
Also, please feel free to add me on face book, Orkut and LinkedIn- I am happy to hear from my juniors. If there is a cool project you have done you want to tell me about OR if there is information or guidance I can help with OR if you want to sound me off and get guidance about the technical feasibility of a project idea OR even if you just want to say ‘Hello, I read your interview’- please do feel free to write to me.