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Pradeep
Kar, Chairman and Founder, Microland
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Acknowledged
as a “serial entrepreneur,” Kar is known for his mysterious
charm for luring investors. He tells Pankaj Mishra that wooing
investors is more about a convincing business plan than inter-personal
relationships
“I
wanted the freedom to execute my business ideas and enhance my earning
capabilities. This prompted me to become an entrepreneur,”
says a beaming Kar. After finishing his Bachelor of Engineering
and Post Graduate Diploma in Management, Kar joined Wipro in the
early eighties. “Wipro at that time was an organisation of
80 people with a turnover of Rs 4 crore,” says Kar. He left
Wipro in 1984 to join Computer Point, a retail chain selling computer
products. Kar honed his skills across functions like finance, human
resources and administration before launching Sonata Software’s
US operations in 1987.
Kar
returned to India in 1989, for fulfilling his dream of launching
a computer company. He, along with Anand Sudarshan and Jawahar Bekay,
launched Microland, which is focused on the networking business.
They got an early investment of Rs 20 lakh from the State Bank of
India. In the late 90s, Kar decided to join the Internet bandwagon
by launching Planetasia.com. “Planetasia was the first Indian
company to have .com in its name. There were hundreds of companies
listed on BSE and NSE looking to build their websites. Through Planetasia,
we wanted to tap that potential
market.”
Around
that time he also launched Indya.com and Itspace.com. When Kar sold
Indya.com to Star, people started describing his ventures as futile.
“I think we don’t have enough maturity in the country
to understand the dynamics of starting a venture and selling it
off. Just because I sold Indya doesn’t mean the venture was
a flop,” he argues. In its first round, Indya raised $53 million.
Kar says that the investors made a happy exit, because they got
a good RoI (Return on Investment). When the dotcom bust happened,
Kar was left with no choice, but to exit from the Internet space.
“We could either continue to be in the dotcom business, or
make a complete exit. Fortunately for us, ‘Uncle Murdoch’
came in the right time and offered to buy out Indya. Now the group
has been restructured with two entities Microland and Planetasia.”
Kar’s
passion for launching new ventures is well acknowledged amongst
the CEOs of Bangalore, who also know him as the founder of Beer
Drinkers Association of IT (BAIT). “On July 1st 1994, MAIT
was having its annual convention in Bangalore. We got some time
off and I, along with a few friends, decided to have a gathering
at PubWorld. Around 35 CEOs turned up, including Ashok Soota of
Mindtree. In those days the hardware industry was witnessing cutthroat
competition because of the limited number of clients. We needed
a platform to ensure that camaraderie is not lost amongst the industry
players. One of the goals of BAIT was to ‘Drown Our Sorrows’
(DOS).” BAIT still has 40 member CEOs who meet at least twice
a year to network with each other.
Kar
is an avid reader and he takes time out to read books on management,
especially those which talk about building companies. ‘Tornado’
by Jeffrey Moore and ‘Crossing fault lines’ are two of
his favourite reads. “I also enjoy reading books written by
Bill Gates. I read at least one book every month,” he adds.
Since his college days, Kar had the urge to become an entrepreneur.
From
three professionals in the late nineties to managing a team of over
a thousand professionals, Kar has definitely come a long way. “I
have always believed in hiring good people and delegating work to
them. So far, we have managed to develop a work culture which is
devoid of any politics.” Entrepreneurs, according to Kar, are
the key to Indian success in the field of IT. “If we look at
the period between 1999-2000, we will realise that the industry
churned out more CEOs during that period than in the ten years before
that. This is because at that time VCs were not apprehensive about
investing in start-ups. Today, after the bloodbath in the Internet
space, it is difficult for start-ups to woo a VC.”
Kar
is a member of the Chief Minister’s Task Force on IT in Karnataka
and a Charter member of The IndUS Entrepreneurs (TiE), Bangalore
Chapter. He is also on the Listing Committee of the National Stock
Exchange.
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