My name: Amit Gautam
My company: Upside Learning Solutions
My title: Co-founder and director, UpsideLMS
My location: Pune, India
Best business advice I ever received: This question was a bit of an eye-opener forme. I realized that we haven’t sought or received a lot of business advice, probably because we never went out and askedfor it! (Note to self—do that more! We should leverage the experiences ofothers to do better.)
One thing my business partnerand I recognized prior to founding Upside Learning is that customer delight anda healthy cash flow are vital to business success. We have tried to stick tothese principles. Of course, there are many factors that go into businessfunding. A funny quote we heard from an MBA senior, who is now an activebusiness investor, was: “If you need money, ask for advice; if you need advice,ask for money.”
Most daring personal career move: I have only made three career moves so far;two were very daring for slightly different reasons.
I come from a humblemiddle-class background, the eldest of four siblings. My parents literallyinvested everything they had to ensure that my generation would have a betterlife. A lot was on my shoulders. I got placed with Infosys during my MBA, whichwas then a dream company for many. After spending about 15 months there, Irealized I wanted more. I always had this nagging thought to start my ownbusiness, but I didn’t have the courage to risk it all. Additionally, just forme to reach that point, my family was under a huge debt—with three moresiblings to graduate from college in due time.
Working at Infosys wasamazing. I traveled abroad and learned about projects. However, it became toobig for me, and I realized I just couldn’t be one of thousands of resources atan IT services company.
This led to my firstdaring personal career move. I joined a startup founded by two of my MBAseniors in the ed-tech space. It was risky because it was not a big pay jumpand I was leaving behind a brand name that many in India can only dream of. Withtheir jaws slightly open, almost everyone I knew asked, “How can you do this?Why?” Interestingly, the only ones who never asked me this were my parents! Asalways, they said if I knew what I was doing, then go ahead. They never onceput their worries in front of my decision.
I spent roughly threeand a half years at this company. It was a small team when I joined. I workeddirectly with the founders and promoters; it was the best experience I couldhave asked for. I loved everything. But that nagging thought about starting myown business never went away. After three and a half years, it looked like timeto move on.
So in 2004, I made mysecond daring career move. I left that startup and founded Upside Learning withmy business partner. It was also the year I got married. (So I actually made twodaring moves in that same year!)
Looking back, both careermoves made me stronger and moved my career graph forward very positively. I wouldn’thave done anything differently, even with today’s hindsight.
What I’m most proud of: On the professional front, I am most proud ofthe UpsideLMS team I have had the privilege to create, nurture, and lead. It isa team of rock stars, and just the people I want to take UpsideLMSto the next level. I am proud of the fact that this team displays a lot ofopenness, ownership, and competitiveness, some of the qualities I have tried tobuild on.
On the personal front,I am most proud of the fact that I have not let my work demands take time awayfrom the people I love most. At some point in my life I realized the trade-offsinvolved, and balanced those in order to give a lot of time and love to myfamily. I still do that consistently. (Of course, having an angel of a daughterjust makes it super easy, and her smile every day when I am home makes it allworthwhile!)
Current workplace challenge: Currently, the workplace challenge I amaddressing is how to scale up the top line without losing the bottom line. TheLMS industry is growing; many reports suggest it will remain a growth industryfor the next two to three years, and hopefully more. But the LMS space isalready crowded, and it’s a challenge to increase market share on a consistentbasis. As a strategy, growing at a steady, aggressive rate is part of our pushfor the next two years. When scaling up aggressively, it’s common to lose trackof the costs that keeps creeping up quietly but speedily. It’s important tomaintain profitability, and keep an eye on cost and efficiency at theoperations level.
Something people don’t know about me: There are lots, but thankfully I only have towrite about one! I would like to believe that at the core I am the same personat home, in the office, and in public. Almost everyone who knows me has told mehow mature I am at handling situations. I don’t lose my temper easily, and I canhandle even extreme situations with ease and calmness. Probably this is why Ican be cool even under extreme duress.
However,what people (other than a handful, thankfully) do not know is that I was a veryangry teenager. I still remember (not very proudly though, looking back) how I brokedoors, windows, and glass panes with either my bare hands or head whilearguing. It sounds kind of kung fu-ey now, but it’s not something people caneven imagine me doing. Now, I am all Zen!
