Clarity, Reality & HyperVerge
Can entrepreneurs be yogis? Can founders discover their inner purpose? The answer lies when ‘clarity’ meets ‘reality’ and entrepreneurship gets driven by the twin engines of economics and contribution. Meet the HyperVerge yogis!
May 2015. Chennai
Picture this. Oppressive temperature, stifling heat, drenched tees, parched throats, flushed faces…that’s Chennai summer for you. But for five restless souls, it was a picture-perfect afternoon. For Kedar Kulkarni, Kishore Natarajan, Saivenkatesh Ashokkumar, Vignesh Krishnakumar, and Praveen Kumar, there was nothing stifling about that Monday, weather or heat. It was liberating. Empowering. Small beads of sweat trickled down from their foreheads and magnified the radiant optimism reflecting from the faces of the five friends. The ‘say cheese’ moment was around the corner.
Brimming with hope, the grads from IIT Madras were upbeat. They were looking forward to a bright, new innings in their fledgling entrepreneurial journey, which was punctuated by a familiar narrative: promising start, meandering middle, and deluding end. They always had clarity about their vision — solving real-world problems and making an impact. And this is what they did with a flurry of consulting assignments on industrial automation projects since 2012. From Indian Railways to ITC to MRF, the clients used their prototypes and pilot systems to solve a painful problem.
The customers, naturally, were elated.
But every project underlined a cruel irony for the friends. The consulting gigs did wonders for big business clients but did little to move the needle for the hustlers. The consultants wanted to morph into a company, and the only thing needed to make the transition was one bulk order from any of these conglomerates. Just one bulk order. That’s it. They hoped this spark would ignite a fire.
Somehow, it never happened.
There was HyperVerge on paper — the company was started in December 2013 for the billing purposes — but that’s it. It was just a name. There was a body but the soul was missing. The yawning gap between clarity and reality could never be bridged. B2B, they deduced, was not their calling.
B2C, therefore, was the next logical move. In 2014, they raised a seed round of funding and doubled down on their efforts to create an app in which users would be able to search through all the photos on their phone. The app was named Picsaur, which was billed as ‘Dinosaur of all pictures.’ Kedar decodes the uncanny name. “It (choice of name) was largely driven by the domain name that was available,” he recalls. The name, he underlines, should be self-explanatory. So, an app for pictures should have ‘pic’ and ‘saur’ emerged as icing on the name! Okay. Naamkaran — baby naming ceremony — done, now the job was to make the baby run.
PICSAUR MEETS DINOSAUR
Over the next twelve months, the greenhorns hunkered down on their mission. “We worked like crazy,” recounts Kishore. To be fair, it was not an easy job for the engineers. A lot needed to be figured out: deep-learning, server architecture, android app, workflows, design, and finally the launch. And they did it all with a smiling face. This time, they hoped for a better outcome.
Come May 2015, baby Picsaur was ready to take a giant leap. It was rolled out as a freemium model, which means up to 2 GB of free storage and after that you need to pay. It was a picture-perfect launch. Exciting product, thrilling response, and a promising future. Well, this is what the rookies thought, hoped, and prayed.
The reality, though, was not in sync with clarity.
A month later, baby Picsaur had a tryst with the papa dinosaur: Google. The search giant gate-crashed into the party by launching Google Photos. The unkindest cut, though, was the killer proposition: free and unlimited storage! Google flexed its distribution muscle and pre-loaded the product on every Android phone. It’s free. It’s accessible. And there is no need to download. For the friends, it was a brutal reality. Picsaur went out of the frame. “We got killed overnight,” recalls Kedar. In one click, Google Photos killed Picsaur. In a flash, the five musketeers were ambushed.
The friends were shaken but not stirred.
The next twelve months were spent in exploring ‘what next’ and experimenting ‘what if.’ Picsaur might have been dead but it had a lingering impact. “We spent one year trying to become Snapchat, Face Mask, and all variants of pictures,” says Kedar. Clarity, unfortunately, was still nowhere even remotely close to the reality. Though the cofounders in sync with the need to do something disruptive in consumer space, they failed to picture in time, money, and runway.
Time ticked away. It was 2016. A year after Picsaur. And only six months of runway was left. “We did not want to build one more consumer app,” says Kishore, adding that the team was exhausted doing ‘weird’ things. “We were done. We could not do this anymore,” he says, sharing another slice of realisation. ‘Engagement’ per se could be misleading.
QUESTION HOUR & SOUL SEARCHING
Here’s how. While it’s true that engagement comes when a user spends time, a lot of time, the time spent is not productive. HyperVerge had a bunch of hyper-talented young employees who dumped MNCs and joined the startup. But what for? “All these kids are thinking how to waste user’s time,” rues Kedar, alluding to a bunch of experiments that were not solving any fundamental problem. What was adding to the woes was a glaring absence of any revenue stream.
No revenue, six months of lifeline left, and the founding team huddled into a manthan (brainstorming). The selection of venue, too, did its bit in triggering food for thought: office pantry!
The soul searching began. If money, expectation of society, and other external variables are removed or are no longer constraints, then what kind of work would the founding team like to indulge in?
The first question carried heft and substance. The answers too were sincere and came from the heart.
One voted for rural employment.
Another one batted for healthcare.
The third one wanted to return to the first principles.
The fourth one pitched for some elementary issue.
Kedar, meanwhile, reiterated his love. He wanted to do something in education. This is what he had been doing since his IIT Madras days where he anchored not-for-profit Lema Labs in May 2010.
Kedar joined Lema Labs — a year-long tech course in robotics, machine learning and emerging technologies for under-privileged students — in the second year. While the other founding members exited after graduating from college and taking up jobs, Kedar stayed back, and ran the operations.
It’s tough to run a not-for-profit venture. But if the entrepreneur happens to be an IITian like Kedar, it becomes toughest.
Sample this. Lema Labs’ first-year turnover stood at Rs 8 lakh. You read it right. It was just Rs 8 lakh. Like many, this is what astonished Kedar’s father, a chartered accountant who worked at Crompton Greaves.
“Rs 8 lakh turnover? What is your salary,” he asked. His tone was laced with concern. Kedar’s mother was employed at Bank of Maharashtra. She too wanted the best deal for her son. A middle-class family, a diligent student, and the IIT tag! Is there a missing element? Yes. And it’s a no-brainer. All the chatter around salary!
All of us are fascinated by the glamour around the salary of the IITians. Right? Thanks to pink papers like The Economic Times, everybody is aware of the hefty pay packs at the campus placements. The unanimous perception — at times, it is erroneously perceived as reality — is that all IITians start their professional career by minting lakhs. Kedar, however, was the odd one out. “After I graduated, I had a salary of Rs 20,000,” he recalls, adding that Praveen, Vignesh, and Kishore were still at IIT Madras. Though Kedar valued his passion over everything, the world was asking questions.
His father too wanted an answer.
Kedar politely, and smartly, skirted the issue. “As long as I am not asking money from you, please don’t ask about my salary,” he pleaded. The topic ended. PERIOD.
What, though, didn’t end was his blues. His salary jumped from Rs 20,000 to Rs 30,000 but whenever the account balance of Lema Labs slipped below Rs 2 lakh, the entrepreneur would stop taking salary. The Rs 2-lakh mark was sacrosanct. It can’t be breached.
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A modest lifestyle, a bootstrapped existence, and a yogi mindset…Kedar was busy with his vision and mission after graduating from IIT Madras.
SO, YOU WANT TO BE AN ENTREPRENEUR?
Then came an interesting twist.
One fine day, Kishore and Vignesh paid him a visit, and made a weird request.
“We want to start a venture, and we want to do it with you,” they implored.
Kedar was stunned. Reasons were obvious. He didn’t want his juniors to embrace an uncertain and rugged life. While Kishore was an intern at Schlum, Vignesh was having a similar stint at Microsoft. Both were earning more than decent stipend. “I tried to deter them by showing the reality,” recalls Kedar. A scanty house, inhospitable conditions, and meagre salary…three dampeners. Three red flags. “This is my life. Why do you want to become an entrepreneur,” he tried to reason with the visitors and shoo them away.
The ploy didn’t work.
Next day, both came back. Kedar repeated the exercise. The result, though, remained the same. They went back.
The next day, both showed up again. “Okay, if this is what you guys want, let’s do it,” Kedar relented.
For the next three years till 2014, the converts led a regimented life. For Kedar, day-time was devoted to Lema Labs. During the same hours, his partners studied at IIT Madras. Everyone used to huddle at 8 pm. “We would then work till midnight, and at times, much beyond midnight,” recounts Kedar. The first revenue cheque for HyperVerge came in 2012. And then for the next four years, it was zilch! Nothing. Zero revenue.
So, here’s the ground reality in early 2016. No revenues, six months of fuel left in the tank, and the cofounders were in a huddle at the pantry. All had shared their wish list, and there was one thing in common. Whatever they wanted to pursue, if given a free hand, was hinged on impact. “Everyone wanted to solve a fundamental problem,” says Kishore.
Kedar chips in to explain the unambiguous definition of a fundamental problem: anything, he underlines, that has the potential to change someone’s life. Solving the problem of buying a shirt or a blazer is a perception problem. Why? It might make you feel good for a few hours.
“But it’s not going to change your life,” says Kedar.
Once there was a clarity on what to do, the next question for the cofounders was a breeze: why aren’t we doing it? Simple. What’s stopping us? All went to their seed investors and discussed the problem. The backers, Kedar points out, were kind, empathetic, and encouraged honest and hard conversations. The problem was discussed threadbare.
There was a solution too. And it was a pragmatic one, as far as investors were concerned. It takes years, underlined VCs, to tackle fundamental problems. Education, healthcare, and other impact ventures need years and money. A realistic time frame to make an impact would be 10–20 years. All agreed. So, there was absolute clarity.
Now, comes a brutal reality. HyperVerge had just six months of runway and no revenue. The existing backers were not pumping in more money, and there was no funding in sight. So, there was only one solution: exit. Sell out. HyperVerge was getting inbounds. The companies that were funded in 2013 and 2014 were getting acquired by 2016.
So, there was an outcome.
And there were takers for HyperVerge in the market. Reason? The founding team had built amazing tech.
First, the face-recognition technology scored high in accuracy. Second, it worked on low-end devices. Third, it worked on low bandwidth as well. So, exiting made sense.
The investors tried to sweeten the deal for the first-time entrepreneurs. The next venture, they assured, would have their backing and by then the cofounders would have ample money to pursue their impact and ‘fundamental problem’ venture. Practical solution.
HERE COMES THE GURU!
The evangelists, though, were not convinced. “Exit can’t be the end of our story,” the cofounders were unanimous in their clarity.
So, what next? Still there was confusion around ‘what next.’
There was another interesting twist waiting to unfold. One of the professors at IIT Madras connected the entrepreneurs to Sridhar Vembu.
As the saying goes: when the disciple is ready, the guru appears.
For HyperVerge cofounders, the guru appeared at the dead of night. “His words cut through our confusion,” recalls Kedar. The guru started his masterclass and offered three lessons. First, fundamental problems need a long-time horizon. So, make a transition to a B2B company. That’s a prerequisite. B2C venture, he underlined, won’t help in moving the needle.
Second, the B2B venture has to be run profitably. Any impact venture is difficult to run on investors’ money. There are exceptions but that’s why they are labelled as exceptions. Become profitable, earn money, and then take your vision ahead. Third, be focused. Try to get two customers who would pay quarter million dollars each rather than find 20 customers who would pay $20,000 each.
Moved by the ideology, the cofounders visited Zoho.
Sridhar Vembu had been successfully running his venture on two engines: economic and contribution. While the former is the cash cow and brings money, the latter deals with impact and solving fundamental problems. Meanwhile, a chance encounter with a programme manager in the machine learning team of Zoho was exactly what the doctor — and God — ordered.
The programme manager came from a humble background. His dad was a school dropout and used to run a cycle-repair shop. The son too couldn’t complete his education. But as a programme manager, he had a salary compensation of around Rs 25–30 lakh. How do you explain the math? Simple. Zoho University was the answer. He enrolled when he was 19, got stiped, food, accommodation, and education, which eventually uplifted his life. “This is an impact. This is solving a fundamental problem,” says Kedar. “That was the day when we found our purpose as entrepreneurs,” he adds.
WHAT’S YOUR PURPOSE IN LIFE?
Chasing material things brings happiness. But it’s short-lived. “It brings joy but again it’s temporary,” says Kedar.
The cofounders started ‘HyperVerge Academy’ in 2020. It’s a platform that brings together techies to mentor and sponsor motivated learners — upskilling them in a few months — so that they can get a creditable, and well-paying job. “Our aim is accessible learning and empowering students from under-resourced backgrounds in tech for better job opportunities,” reckons Kishore.
His partner, Kedar, sums up the mission and vision. “We are enabling accessible learning for a more equitable world,” he underlines. The idea is to use education as a tool to create a meaningful, positive impact in the lives of human beings. Many young Indians who come from under-resourced backgrounds struggle to find decent paying jobs. “HyperVerge Academy is changing that,” he says, adding that individuals have an innate power to solve important real-world problems. HyperVerge Academy is trying to incorporate this philosophy in its daily curriculum, meetings, and session designs. “Our first mission is to have at least 1,000 learners graduate from this academy,” he says.
HyperVerge too has built twin engines: economic and contribution. And both the engines are powered by five principles: innovation, compassion, integrity, collaboration, and resilience. The cofounders have had more than their share of lows but they have stayed together and remained true to their vision. Kedar tells us what has helped them in their roller-coaster journey. First, the entrepreneurs always stayed in touch with brutal reality. “Whatever the reality is, accept it,” he says. Second, they had an unwavering faith in the future.
The difference — brutal reality of present and unwavering faith in future — is subtle. A lot of times, an entrepreneur remains steadfast in a promising future. “But it’s equally critical to be grounded in reality. If not, it becomes a pipe dream,” says Kedar, sharing the second scenario. At times, entrepreneurs are so data-driven and so much in sync with the brutal reality that they end up losing faith in the future. “It’s equally counter-productive,” he says. The magic happens when one strikes a balance and finds purpose in life.
For SaaS founders, and all kinds of entrepreneurs, the gritty journey of HyperVerge has two big takeaways. First, be grateful. During the early part of the journey, there were umpteen unsung heroes. “The core team of friends and IIT Madras juniors who tirelessly alongside us,” says Kedar, acknowledging their contributions. “Our success is equally theirs,” he says. Second, entrepreneurs should add CaaS (contribution as a service) to their lives. It will SaaS up the journey, emotionally, spiritually, and professionally.
