Bagchi gets candid on 10 year journey of MindTree

BANGALORE, INDIA: Subroto Bagchi is best known for co-founding MindTree in 1999 where he started as chief operating officer. In 2008, Bagchi took on the role of Gardener at MindTree. Few days back, he was made vice chairman of the company.

Apart from this, he is also known as a great orator and writer. Subroto has written hundreds of articles on management and technology issues in leading newspapers and magazines. He has lectured at management schools and industry platforms globally.

His first book, 'The High Performance Entrepreneur' was released in 2006 as a Penguin Portfolio publication to great critical acclaim. His second book, 'Go Kiss the World' was released in 2008 as a Penguin portfolio. Mark Tully hailed it as “a remarkable story of courage, integrity and enterprise”. His third book 'The Professional' will be released in September 2009.

On MindTree's 10th birthday, Bagchi shares some of his thoughts on the company with CIOL readers: Excerpts

Which was the most difficult decision to make when you started MindTree 10 years back?

Actually, I cannot think of one. We were blessed with bandwidth from the start, and we had diversified competence. As a result, nothing seemed “difficult” from a decisional point of view. Implementation wise, managing cross-cultural differences and investor expectations after 9/11 were significant and did consume us some but nothing overwhelmed us.

How far is MindTree from entering the big global circuit of CSC, EMC, HP, IBM etc in global deals?

We have a long way to go. We walk in the shadow of giants.

What's the biggest mistakes and lessons learnt from last ten years?

I was counting the number of $250,000 mistakes we have made since we started and I could easily count 10. All of them were taken by very senior people and we are OK with that. The lessons learnt are captured in my book “The High Performance Entrepreneur”

How is the company shaping up in response to changing industry dynamics with platforms, products, convergence, interoperability and frameworks redefining the landscape?

I think we are well positioned to serve a post-recessionary, emergent world with both breadth and depth. We have the critical mass in people, processes and technology to begin the journey for the next ten years.

What would Bagchi's garden look like in the next five years: what weeds would be pulled out and what new seeds to be sown?

I want MindTree to remain beneficially connected to whoever comes our way. We want MindTree to be memorable more than anything else. The purpose behind starting MindTree was to do three things: build an aspirational company, create shared wealth along the way and ensure that the enterprise is socially connected. We articulated our DNA, Mission, Vision and Values in line with these three ideas. I do not see ourselves deviate from those. Five years from now, we will still remain a work in progress.

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