Santosh A.R - Do Not Have a Plan B (CEO - Bitlasoft)

If you are an aspiring entrepreneur: Be relentless to find a problem and solve it. Do not have a plan B. If you are eyeing a top job: Develop clarity of the vision and repeat it often. Coach others to become better. It's not possible to please all, it can get lonely.

Tell us about your background, journey, and upbringing. 

I spent my childhood in Shivamogga town. Though I have lived in Bangalore for the last 30 years, I remain connected with my roots. I was fortunate to get a good education, where peer pressure tipped me from one to the next one. My real calling came when I started on my own after spending 12 years in the industry. 

I couldn't succeed in building a business with that attempt, but the learning was immense. It could not have come from B school or any number of years working in the industry. My respect for entrepreneurs or achievers in any field has gone up after that experience.

What inspired you to take action in your direction and what are your future plans?

It started while I was working with Intuit. Through "follow me home" programs, I visited SMEs in the US and learned by observing how they spent time leading their life and doing jobs. Their problems connected naturally. I still wanted to solve problems closer to home. 

SMEs in India contribute to 30% of GDP and 40% of employment. Despite dis-organized policy support in matters related to financing, taxes, labor, legal, etc, they remain prime examples of entrepreneurial resilience. That inspires me. Working with Tally gave me new perspectives about solving India's SME problems. 

I was fortunate to work closely with Bharat Goenka Ji, co-founder of Tally, from whom I learned new ways to approach SME problems and solve at scale using first principles. With Bitla, I see a unique opportunity to develop India-first solutions which can be scaled across other countries. 

The bus industry belongs to the travel vertical, which contributes to 8% of India's GDP. I revere bus entrepreneurs and take pride in helping them succeed. Bitla is the market leader in India and we are growing faster than the industry growth rate. 

We are blessed with customers who love our products and who have grown with them. We learn from them. By using technology, we are solving unique problems which will help bus operators to earn more in the evolving market. In the bus industry too, technology is turning out to be the key to give differentiated experiences for passengers. 

However, technology has not been the forte of bus operators. This is where Bitla adds value as a technology partner to complement its expertise in operations. We have expanded into Indonesia, Malaysia and will continue to scale there. We will soon be starting sales operations in Nigeria, and have ambitions to expand into South-East Asia, Middle-East, and South American countries. 

Studies today show that an organization can lose INR 10 lakh (~ $17,000) on average on a wrong hire or for hiring someone with a false degree. The only tried and tested way to prevent frauds is via a thorough background verification process. Download SpringVerify's e-book for a comprehensive guide to Employee Background Verification in India.

What does your typical workday look like? 

I am an early morning person. Jog or walk, followed by meditation: just enough to keep up the health and equanimity required to deal with situations. Morning time is mostly with family before starting work. At work, I am required to wear multiple hats. 

A good portion of my time is spent on coaching leaders, retaining key people, or in recruitment decisions. I am hands-on in product strategy, grooming tech backlog, and constantly trying to increase product quality. In the last 12 months, I have spent considerable time inculcating value articulation into the sales process and structuring our customer success process. 

Weekends are a mix of spending time with friends, startup founders, pursuing singing as a hobby, or catching up with books. 

Several global companies have come out and thrown their support behind not needing a formal education. What is your opinion about this? 

It depends on the role, customer vertical, and the stage of growth of the company. In most verticals, the tech industry needs people with problem-solving skills, analytical thinking, and the ability to learn on the job. Although there are exceptions, the majority of specific job skills are learnable. 

Formal education is used as a filter to optimize on time to hire. If there are easier ways to recruit people with the required skills, then formal education would be less relevant. 

How do you handle someone who has lied on their resume? 

It depends on the area of the resume. As a thumb rule, honesty cannot be compromised and so I would not hire. Everyone makes mistakes and it's fair that one gets more chances to make corrections. I would pass on the feedback. 

How has covid changed things at your workplace & which of these changes do you intend to make permanently? 

In countries where we operate, SMEs expect a salesperson to turn up and make a sales pitch in person. Few the prospects have started to shown openness to online meetings. This is a positive change and will help us save travel time and hence increase sales outcomes. 

Productivity has increased for our engineering and product teams, but newer problems have surfaced. We are still trying to understand it better. Our support functions including HR, finance, and customer success teams have fully adapted to working from home. 

What we are missing really is innovation when people ideate using a whiteboard and new joiners unable to learn by observing others. I feel things may further evolve, so want to wait before deciding on making any change permanent. 

What advice do you have for aspiring entrepreneurs or those eyeing the top job? 

If you are an aspiring entrepreneur: Be relentless to find a problem and solve it. Do not have a plan B. If you are eyeing a top job: Develop clarity of the vision and repeat it often. Coach others to become better. It's not possible to please all, it can get lonely. 

Which is your favorite book/show and why? 

How to make friends and influence people: By Dale Carnegie changed my perspectives during my college years. Imagining India: By Nandan, Nilekhani demonstrated a living example of thinking big, which seeded the implementation of Aadhar.