WHAT MIGHT WE SOLVE TOGETHER?
FOOTPRINTS & REFLECTIONS
I loved wordplay and solving puzzles as a child. Though it wasn’t until my Graph Theory professor introduced me to framing, the difference that makes a difference, that I genuinely started to play with “worlds”. Prof. Tamhankar first introduced me to framing in the context of jigsaw puzzles, and then as an abstraction to organize thoughts and structure meaning. His gift reframed my approach to solving problems and having problems solved.
Life goes on, and I became a software developer, a handicraft I enjoyed. However, I thought every day about writing programs to write programs than write programs (citing Dick Sites here). After “fourmative” years at Statart/ NDTV, programming Cricket, Elections, and the first English TV News Weekly in India, I set out to find the program I would rather write — my life.
HOW TO SOLVE IT?
My life took the form of AmSoft, bidding for mission-critical solutions, aiming to put India on the map. Our first win was to solve for live TV graphics for the Barcelona Olympics, 1992. We gave TV producers independence from designers and programmers, the evil twins they loved to hate. Our solution saved them double trouble while presenting the Games as a spectacular celebration, and we were off to the races.
Solving cross-domain jigsaws for the Global 500 revealed that a deliberate understanding of a problem is a quicker means to an effective solution. I discovered, to my joy and pain, that collaboration is fundamental to innovation, and enlisted friends and partners who helped scale the business. They taught me how to empathize with corporate stakeholders to identify new opportunities and build lasting partnerships.
HAVE THE NETWORK SOLVE IT
EQUALS
I found myself drawn into unpredictable environments, and moved to Silicon Valley in April 2007, a few months before Steve Jobs announced: “We’re going to reinvent the phone,” and the rest is history. It was fun to imagine an always-online world, to be highly available but on your terms. Equals network assistant presented a layer of privacy over Data and Transactions on a per-relationship basis. Equals was a decade too early, and it is gratifying to find that Google and Facebook are building intelligent assistants today, to be greater than equal to our work.
JUST DRIVE
The next opportunity to create impact at scale came with Cloudcar, racing to win the last unconquered screen. While Mobile made our voice and data to roam with us, JustDrive enabled “experience roaming.” It distilled the essence from apps and orchestrated it in a car safe manner allowing the driver to keep the phone in their pocket, hands on the wheel, and eyes on the road.
JOURNEY IS THE OUTCOME
Along the way, I got lucky to work with the best synthesizers and explainers of complex ideas. Every time the last piece clicked in, it validated that framing is the creativity to understand and change the world, and frameworks provide the context to evaluate potential upshots. Designing for desirable outcomes reinforced that my proudest moments are when the product, derived from simple principles, delights and surprises its users.
WHAT'S A BUSINESS FOR?
Purpose is on the agenda today, and to be purpose-driven, the new enlightenment. When stakeholder outcomes are the measure of success for a business, then its purpose could be to enhance the quality of life. It can be an active agent of progress to bring innovation to life, through resource attraction and technology allocation.
PURPOSE-BUILT STARTUPS
LORE
The pursuit of meaning and relevance led to the development of a digital learning platform, exclusively for Pearson, that leveraged Pearson’s content and pedagogy, as well as third-party services, to deliver superior learner outcomes.
EXPLORE LORE
MOOVE
Shared Mobility promises to restore the movement of people in cities. This vision translated into MOOVE, a startup purpose-built for Mahindra Logistics to deliver safe and reliable ride-sharing services for 24 X 7 enterprises, synchronizing resources’ commute, and their work calendars.
EXPLORE MOOVE
REBOOT
As a growth architect, I have experienced innovation from both sides — helped large corporations innovate, and built startups to disrupt them. These diverse experiences have rendered an opportunity to reboot Ajay. The “newmie” wants to help large enterprises get a slice of technology-powered growth through purpose-built startups. I have initiated ReBoot, a startup studio, to deliver new value by re-imagining the business, technology, and experience of the enterprise and combining them with the energy, agility, and efficiency of startups.
The purpose-built model enables Corporate Resilience by keeping its products, services, and business models evergreen.
EXPLORE REBOOT
I would love to learn about your journey and the next thing you are striving to create, even if we don’t know what that looks like today. LET’S TALK?
WHAT MIGHT WE SOLVE TOGETHER?
While business and curiosity have taken me in new directions, my greatest joy is to make ideas happen and lead change. My experiences are rich and varied, but you will notice a continuing theme — adapting to win in an ever-renewing world, where I continue to dream by day, at the edge of the unknown and the untried.
Thank you for stopping by.
FOOTPRINTS & REFLECTIONS
I loved wordplay and solving puzzles as a child. Though it wasn’t until my Graph Theory professor introduced me to framing, the difference that makes a difference, that I genuinely started to play with “worlds”. Prof. Tamhankar first introduced me to framing in the context of jigsaw puzzles, and then as an abstraction to organize thoughts and structure meaning. His gift reframed my approach to solving problems and having problems solved.
Life goes on, and I became a software developer, a handicraft I enjoyed. However, I thought every day about writing programs to write programs than write programs (citing Dick Sites here). After “fourmative” years at Statart/ NDTV, programming Cricket, Elections, and the first English TV News Weekly in India, I set out to find the program I would rather write — my life.
HOW TO SOLVE IT?
My life took the form of AmSoft, bidding for mission-critical solutions, aiming to put India on the map. Our first win was to solve for live TV graphics for the Barcelona Olympics, 1992. We gave TV producers independence from designers and programmers, the evil twins they loved to hate. Our solution saved them double trouble while presenting the Games as a spectacular celebration, and we were off to the races.
Solving cross-domain jigsaws for the Global 500 revealed that a deliberate understanding of a problem is a quicker means to an effective solution. I discovered, to my joy and pain, that collaboration is fundamental to innovation, and enlisted friends and partners who helped scale the business. They taught me how to empathize with corporate stakeholders to identify new opportunities and build lasting partnerships.
HAVE THE NETWORK SOLVE IT
EQUALS
I found myself drawn into unpredictable environments, and moved to Silicon Valley in April 2007, a few months before Steve Jobs announced: “We’re going to reinvent the phone,” and the rest is history. It was fun to imagine an always-online world, to be highly available but on your terms. Equals network assistant presented a layer of privacy over Data and Transactions on a per-relationship basis. Equals was a decade too early, and it is gratifying to find that Google and Facebook are building intelligent assistants today, to be greater than equal to our work.
JUST DRIVE
The next opportunity to create impact at scale came with Cloudcar, racing to win the last unconquered screen. While Mobile made our voice and data to roam with us, JustDrive enabled “experience roaming.” It distilled the essence from apps and orchestrated it in a car safe manner allowing the driver to keep the phone in their pocket, hands on the wheel, and eyes on the road.
JOURNEY IS THE OUTCOME
Along the way, I got lucky to work with the best synthesizers and explainers of complex ideas. Every time the last piece clicked in, it validated that framing is the creativity to understand and change the world, and frameworks provide the context to evaluate potential upshots. Designing for desirable outcomes reinforced that my proudest moments are when the product, derived from simple principles, delights and surprises its users.
WHAT'S A BUSINESS FOR?
Purpose is on the agenda today, and to be purpose-driven, the new enlightenment. When stakeholder outcomes are the measure of success for a business, then its purpose could be to enhance the quality of life. It can be an active agent of progress to bring innovation to life, through resource attraction and technology allocation.
PURPOSE-BUILT STARTUPS
LORE
The pursuit of meaning and relevance led to the development of a digital learning platform, exclusively for Pearson, that leveraged Pearson’s content and pedagogy, as well as third-party services, to deliver superior learner outcomes.
MOOVE
Shared Mobility promises to restore the movement of people in cities. This vision translated into MOOVE, a startup purpose-built for Mahindra Logistics to deliver safe and reliable ride-sharing services for 24 X 7 enterprises, synchronizing resources’ commute, and their work calendars.
REBOOT
Verifying the ReBoot model of corporate innovation with two large enterprises has rendered an opportunity to reboot Ajay. The “newmie” wants to help large enterprises discover technology-powered growth opportunities and deliver them competitive relevance through purpose-built startups. Setup ReBoot, a startup studio in January as an enduring commitment to creating new value by leveraging enterprise assets and combining them with the efficiency of startups.
The purpose-built model enables Corporate Resilience by keeping its products, services, and business models evergreen.
I would love to learn about your journey and the next thing you are striving to create, even if we don’t know what that looks like today. LET’S TALK?