NASSCOM EMERGEOUT Startup 22: Rohit Singal, Founder, Sourcebits
Wednesday April 21, 2010 , 6 min Read
Rohit Singal graduated as an MD in Radiology in 2006. Later that year, he founded Sourcebits in – yes – in a garage. Rohit is a relentless worker with a perfectionist’s eye. Whether brainstorming, coding, designing, or working the phones, his absolute devotion to success is the driving force behind Sourcebits.
Founded in early 2006, Sourcebits began with a focus on healthcare services software, cross-platform Win to Mac ports, Web development, Web applications design, and driver development for Mac hardware OEMs. As the popularity of the Mac gained steam, Sourcebits began fielding more and more requests for third party application development and – after huge initial success with in-house iPhone applications – shifted focus and quickly became one of the leading developers of third party applications and games for iPhone, iPad, Android, BlackBerry, and Palm. With over 200 expert programmers and critically acclaimed user interface designers on four continents, Sourcebits has unrivaled experience, capacity, and talent, enjoying a reputation as the go-to company for app development and publishing.
Doesn’t sound it a bit strange? A radiologist becoming an app developer. Mr. Sharad Sharma, in an interview to YourStory, was in full praise of the work of Rohit Singal. We understand you are now keen to know Rohit’s perspective on entrepreneurship. Read on…
1. Why did you take up entrepreneurship journey?
Rohit: I don’t have an incredibly interesting story in this regard. No clichéd daddy issues or anything mysterious or sexy. I became an entrepreneur because I wanted to do something I could be proud of, something entirely self-made, different and NEW, and get rich and famous. Of course!
2. What keeps you going (how and where do you find your motivation levels)?
Rohit: Well, I’ve got tremendous passion for what we do. I switched from a burgeoning career in medicine by going into software because I LOVE making software. The entire process, cover to cover, from inspiration to design to code and gfx, even the endless rounds of testing and fine tuning don’t get old for me.
Besides that, I guess now that we’ve become established with Fortune 100 companies seeking our services, one of my key motivators is protecting our reputation and track record – by far more successes than failures – and extending it.
3. What is your advice to wannabe entrepreneurs in India?
Rohit: It’s simple: there’s never been a better time. Start today.
4. What success means to you and your organization?
Rohit: Making innovative, well-designed software, software that our clients feel proud of releasing under their own brands, earning our client’s respect and recognition and that of our peers and those companies still a rung above us in terms of history, power, industry leverage. All that, and making lots of money!
5. What are your learning’s from the failures?
Rohit: Failure teaches you only one thing: never fail again.
Sounds like a typical, young guy geeky stuff. Lots of passion in what you do and a desire to make money and become famous. It takes guts to switch professions – that too from a lucrative radiologist position to a geek. Geeks are always made of that one stuff – they are weird! And Rohit is no exception. Don’t you feel the blood rushing in your veins to do something big now? That’s the effect people like Rohit have on us. Carry on Rohit, you are a true inspiration!
As part of the Indian Startup EMERGEOUT initiative by NASSCOM, 21 entrepreneurs have shared their views. To know what they are, please visit the links given below.
1. Kishore Mandyam of PK4 Software
3. Ajay Sharma of Shristi Software
4. Pallav Nadhani of InfoSoft Global (FusionCharts)
5. Manoj Srivatsava of Hanu Software
7. Sushil Chaudary of Mann-India
9. R. Swaminathan of Matrix Business Solution
10. Suresh Sambandam of OrangeScape
12. Prasad Guntupalli of Attra
16. Yadu and Naresh or Robust Designs
17. Ananth Seshan of Fifth Generation
18. Shoma Bakre of EmPower Research
NASSCOM EMERGEOUT Conclave, Chennai, April 30, 2010
NASSCOM EMERGEOUT conclave comes to Chennai on 30 April 2010. With “Nurturing the IT DNA in India’s growth sectors” as its theme, the conclave focuses on sectors that hold relevance to Chennai such as the automotive sector, in addition to opportunities that exist in the UID space, and workshops on marketing, product design, and many others.
Updates
The Chair of the EMERGEOUT Forum, Mr. Krishnakumar Natarajan, has provided the highlights of the EMERGEOUT Conclave in addition to details about EMERGE Forum and its activities. Please visit http://bit.ly/ckRFhI to read his interview to YourStory.
Keep watching this space for more updates leading up to the Conclave. Some interesting interviews and guest columns are going to occupy this space for you enjoy the Conclave.
Keynote address
Mr. Bharat Goenka, founder, Tally Software is the keynote speaker. It is a no-brainer right now that if you walk to anyone and ask them to cite you an example of an Indian product, Tally ranks among the top list, and it has been that way for a while. Talk to him about product positioning, understanding user behaviour, pricing, marketing and building a brand that is as big as Microsoft in terms of training and development centers, and you are sure to walk away in awe. Would you miss hearing him?Mr. Goenka is without doubt one of the most prolific icons of the Indian product software industry.
Valedictory session
To wrap up the conclave, Mr. Lakshmi Narayanan, Vice Chairman, Cognizant, is going to engage in rather inquisitive conversation with Prasanto Roy from CyberMedia. He has been a technology industry leader for over 30 years. As a founding member of Cognizant, he was been responsible for the company’s high-touch customer relationship and delivery excellence model. Under his leadership, Cognizant became the youngest IT services company to reach the $1 billion revenue milestone. He is also the part of NASSCOM Chairmen Council and under his leadership, some new initiatives in the EMERGE Forum were started.
Speaker list and program schedule
To find the speaker list, please visit http://bit.ly/dvMYqq.
The complete program agenda is available: http://bit.ly/9on2ci An impressive lineup of programs awaits participants.
Interesting speakers and some sessions of interest
Jessie Paul, MD, Paul Writer Strategic Services, author of No Money Marketing, and formerly Chief Marketing Officer of Wipro, is holding a workshop on “Frugal Marketing—What Works, What's Trendy, What's Hype.” Besides great product or service and innovation, marketing right is crucial to build a brand. Jessie is going to demystify the art of brand building using a frugal budget. Visit her blog post at the EMERGE blog http://bit.ly/ahqdqO for details.
Kiruba Shankar, CEO Business Blogging, is holding an “unconference” at the conclave.
The e-governance projects like the Unique ID Scheme of the government present huge opportunities for SMEs. One of the sessions at the conclave will explore this opportunity.
Register for the conference here
Don’t miss all the action! Join the bandwagon of the emerging opportunities in India!!
Please register for the conference here.
–Contributed by Venkatesh Krishnamoorthy, Chief Evangelist, YourStory