The Awesome Startup Team that helped Pallav Nadhani Script the FusionCharts Story

As a part of our ‘Awesome Startup Employee Series‘, we bring to you the employees from one of the biggest tech product success stories from India, FusionCharts. 

FusionCharts is one of those rare success stories wherein a 16 year old Pallav Nadhani, bored of Microsoft Excel, thought creating a better charting solution and came up with FusionCharts. Now a multimillion dollar company, FusionCharts has some of the biggest names as its clients; including the likes of Google and Apple. And Pallav did all this from India and from within India; from Kolkata! He couldn’t have done it without a supporting team and a ‘supporting team’, he did have!

We got in touch with 4 of the earliest employees and talked to them about their journey and they had all one strong thing in common: They all believed in Pallav and shared the same dream. This says a lot about the leader at the helm and the ideals of a company. Read on to find out from these ordinary men about their extra-ordinary journey with FusionCharts.

Nilanjan Roy Chowdhury, Senior ActionScript Developer

Nilanjan, the first employee of FusionCharts is a completely self-learnt programmer. Having no formal education in engineering, Nilanjan rented a computer to explore under the hood and from that, he assembled his own machine. Learning stuff on it, he started out with a job where he was trudging along but his true calling came when he read a mail from FusionCharts inviting him for an interview.

“I thought it’s an overseas company. The website had an international look and I was thrilled to get a call. And I was even more surprised when I found out that the company was Indian! And that too, Kolkata!” exclaims Nilanjan. Pouncing on the opportunity, Nilanjan worked on the first thing FusionCharts had to offer- 3D Pie Charts.

“Awesome projects and working with Pallav have been the biggest motivations for me,” mentions Nilanjan. With FusionCharts for more than half a decade now, Nilanjan has been with Pallav throughout the journey and has seen the whole roller coaster journey. Advising people to join a startup, Nilanjan says, “It’s tough but a startup job will open up immense opportunities. If you have the courage, attitude and will, join a startup and you’ll reap very sweet fruits.”

Shamasis Bhattacharya, JavaScript Architect

Post his graduation, Shamasis had a corporate offer on which he was pondering over. He also did freelancing jobs but at the right time, he landed up with an offer from FusionCharts. The year was 2008 and FusionCharts was just a 4 member team. “One thing clicked,” says Shamasis. “Pallav had this fanatic attention to detail which I shared with him,” he adds. This is what made Shamasis confident about FusionCharts and it has been the best decision he ever made he believes.

“I’ve been so involved with my work here that it has become to separate work from life and I’m not saying it in a bad way. At FusionCharts, you’re yourself and it’s like your home,” says Shamasis straight from the heart.

Shamasis was responsible for bringing in JavaScript charting to FusionCharts as previously, it was all in Flash. A feat which might look meager to the lay eye but it was a herculean task which Shamasis completely managed. Talking about working in a startup, Shamasis says, “You can’t work in a startup if you think of it as a company. It is your company!”

Sudipto Choudhury, Head of Implementation

An MA in literature, Sudipto is a glib computer geek. Fond of computers since school, he started playing around with codes since Grade 7 and the magazine PC Quest was his companion. As happens in many cases, he was studying something and his interest lay elsewhere. “FusionCharts gave me the freedom to pursue my dream,” says Sudipto. Sudipto joined as a junior technical writer but having immense technical ability, FusionCharts found its perfect match.

He developed the Google Gadget for FusionCharts and is currently the head of implementation. Sudipto indulges in a lot of research, exploring new horizons, manages content and does release management as well. “I’ve been with the company for more than 5 years now and haven’t even thought of shifting or jumping jobs. I’ve found everything I could have dreamed of here,” believes Sudipto.

Sudipto is also involved deeply in the hiring process at FusionCharts and the most important thing he looks for is passion. Advising people to join startups, Sudipto says, “Working for a startup will keep the flame burning in you. You’ll keep on learning and that is the best thing that can happen to a human.”

Sumantra Sengupta, Creative Head

Sumantra has been the one man creative army for FusionCharts ever since he joined back in 2006. Sumantra had a lot of experience in the ‘services’ side but this was the first time he delved into product. “FusionCharts has been a very interesting journey for me. Every new release has been a milestone,” says Sumantra.

From a very small company with a functional site to something that has scaled globally with a great reputation, Sumantra has thoroughly enjoyed the journey. “There have been pressures. We have worked till 3 or 4 in the night to get the release out but it’s always been fun,” he says. “Pallav has always been a friend and the work culture we have at FusionCharts is very open and transparent,” adds Sumantra.

There is one specific moment Sumantra distinctly remembers. FusionCharts had to demo in Germany and unfortunately, Sumantra couldn’t make it there but he designed all the creatives from Kolkata without having a look at the venue and at the end, it all worked out! Such and many more incidents is what keeps Sumantra going and is a huge protagonist of the sense of unity that the FusionChart team has and suggests every work culture to develop this.

Website: FusionCharts

Wasn’t that inspiring? These were the amazing startup employees from Fusioncharts. Join a startup today!  

- Jubin Mehta