The Persistent Systems story

For business to happen, you need to have three things, 'N, B, A'. You should create a 'Need', the 'Budget' and have the 'Authority'. A founder's job is to sell new ideas to employees and customers," says Anand Deshpande, founder and chairman of Persistent Systems.

After working for a year at Hewlett-Packard in California, Deshpande headed back to India to start his own venture. Giving shape to his entrepreneurial dream was a big challenge at that time as the economy was going through difficult times. But the passion to start an enterprise and be successful kept him going.

"There has been a big change in the way technology was perceived then and today, right from the government policies to the number of market players everything has changed and so has the market dynamics," Deshpande explains.

A small venture with a few employees has grown substantially. Persistent crossed the $100 million revenue mark during FY08 and has delivered over 2,000 software products in the last five years.

He believes the foundation of any organisation must be trust. "Starting a business is not a risky proposition. You get to choose what you want to do, so it is very exciting. You need to have passion and believe in what you do," says Deshpande.

Image: Anand Deshpande, founder, Persistent Systems. | Photograph, courtesy: Persistent Systems.

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