From quitting Google to starting up Atlogys: The story of Ritika Sanghi

Efficient technology management is both essential and tricky for companies. And in current competitive markets, the chief technology officer needs to be a complete package of a business analyst, a trendsetter in terms of product development and a skilfull implementor of the job. While the role of a CTO is indispensable, the ways of getting the job done is undergoing a change. The rising cost of maintaining a technology officer has resulted in IT services being outsourced.

Atlogys, an IT consulting company, provides you this solution in the form of an external CTO. The team is focussed on enhancing the offshore software development process by making it turnkey, reliable and hassle-free. Their services include everything from software design engineering to project management and maintenance, so the client can focus of the business instead of the software.

We spoke to founder Ritika Sanghi on what motivated her to quit Google and startup on her own and how the decision has fared so far.

The google impact

Ritika studied computer science at Carnegie Mellon University and found a job with Google through campus recruitment. “I love systems programming, data structures and theoretical computer science and CMU gave me tremendous opportunities during and right after, with the campus recruitment” says Ritika, of how she landed up in Google. The story continued similarly with her four years at Google being a huge learning experience, where she was exposed to different areas of work including web search, image search, opensocial and gradually she developed a passion for large scale web applications.

4 years into Google, she felt she had spent a considerable number of years away from home and she was looking at moving back to India and doing something on her own. “I knew it had to be something to do with computer science since that is what I had learnt at Google and at university,” says Ritika of her ‘favourite subject’ since school.

‘Starting up was a conscious choice’

While starting up was a conscious effort, the learning curve, Ritika says, was defined by ‘trial and error’. It was her first software development assignment, where she was a contractor, that showed her an untapped opportunity which she is now trying to bridge through the ‘offshore CTO’ consulting service at Atlogys.

Speaking of the business, Ritika reminds us that Atlogys is not a development company but a consulting organization, which guides, manages and monitors developments and efforts towards creating the right product for the client in the domain of large-scale web and mobile platforms.

Atlogys grabbed their first project from a CMU Alumni, who, in his own effort of helping other startups, gave Ritika the opportunity to do product development for his funded web 2.0 idea (Kuhono).

From there, the company has grown strength to strength, offering their services through fixed priced contracts, T&M based model or retainerships.

Growth

While scaling up was a challenge initially, since Ritika was working alone, and could only manage one project at a time, the hirings have made it possible to work on multiple projects, the key to growth.

“I hired the first employee 5 months into the business and now we're a team of 10” says Ritika.

Speaking of marketing, Ritika tells us she hasn't gone 'all out' marketing yet and most clients they source through word of mouth or repeat business from clients.

“Our clients have reported savings as high as 50% on development times and upto 30% on development costs via our engagement” says Ritika of the repeat business from clients.

With the right team in place, Ritika says they are now focused on the dream of being 'a small company, high on content'.

Website: Atlogys