INDIAN INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT TIRUCHIRAPPALLI

Entrepreneur Interview
New Venture Creation
Mr. Dilip Kumar Founder Tenet Techtronics, Bangalore

Submitted by Group 2 1201038 1201089 1201093 Preetika Agarwal Mohit Kumar Navin Kumar L

The air in the small office space of Tenet techtronics in Banglore is always afloat with new ideas as the brainstorming never stops. Be it the little projects of college students or the prototyping of large government projects, the team at Tenet always come up with innovative solutions and this has held them in good stead throughout the 5 years where they had grown from a group of 5 college graduates with a mere 3 Lakh rupees investment to a Rs 3 Crore enterprise today.

Decision to Start The decision to start had come to the team of five engineers during their pre-final year itself when they worked on their own project as part of the curriculum an automatic water level detector connected to the electric motor in household to prevent the wastage of water from overhead tanks. The idea of doing something on their own and making it work excited all of them. They also saw their friends having great ideas but not being able to bring them to life. They saw the potential even within their own institute. All this, combined with their keen interest in the field of electronics led to the founding of Tenet techtronics. The Team All five founders are Electronics and Communication engineers from Bangalore. Their decision to start on their own was very clear that they decided not to take up the placement process. In fact, one of the founders, Mr. Dilip Kumar, who was interviewed did not even prepare a formal resume (he doesnt have one till date). From being a team of five, today the organization employs twenty young engineers from all across south India. The entrepreneur feels that their strong knowledge in the domain of electronics and the excitement of trying something new every day has been the key ingredient present in all the team members which has been the driver of the organization. Also, all team members have a clear understanding of the international developments in the area. This has over time, helped them largely in sourcing the hardware they use in their projects and also their e-commerce division.

The concept Tenet started out as a solutions provider for all electronics and communication oriented projects for college students and organizations. But over time, it has evolved in to a company with many business divisions. All these new divisions have evolved as related businesses that either the customer wanted or as an effort to differentiate themselves from the competitors. The first of such ideas came when they were buying electronic components for their different projects. When sourcing these components, they found value in purchasing from certain dealers who provided these at cheaper prices and also with high discounts. But they dealt only in large volumes and the discounts were also volume based. Though this looked like a problem, they were able to convert it into an opportunity and hence was born the Tenet online shopping division. Today it is the top revenue generating business for the company. The next business they diversified into was software solutions. This was a move to differentiate themselves from the competitors. All the electronic projects that they were doing needed some sort of software support as they were all interfaced with some computer system. They found out over time that their customers had to go to a different solution provider for their software needs. Hence, this insight into customer needs led to the software solutions division. They had to hire people with expertise in this area and this was the first time they went out to the market for talent acquisition. They have a clear and rigorous selection process in place today which is discussed in the talent acquisition section later. The software solutions division today comprises of three major areas apart from project based software web development, Java based software development and Android platform software development. One of their most popular products is Arduino Meets Android a collection of applications that run on android which helps users learn and configure electronic boards and components. One of the latest markets that they moved into is the education segment. Tenet has opened a separate portal Tenet Varsity which provides training for system design. They even conduct regular workshops in the city to encourage interest in the area of electronic systems

development. There are regular videos being uploaded on their site explaining the features and usage of various electronic boards. Evolution of business The initial years have been very difficult for the organization as they had only seasonal demand coming solely from college students who work on various electronics and communication projects. There were many people who discouraged the team telling them that this wont work out. One of the founding members even left the company because of these initial hiccups. But the team hung on and once they understood that there was a huge demand for electronic components, they came up with the online shopping portal and cut down on most of the physical administrative and marketing efforts and were able to sustain later on. One of the key things that the entrepreneur believes has helped them during this period was the level of commitment shown by the team. They always gave their customers the best they could even if it meant a hit on their profitability. This has given a good image in the market as most of the customers that they have today have been through networking and word of mouth only. The various divisions have evolved in more of a scenario based manner and not on any broad based strategic plan. But the founders have always ventured in to areas that have a strong potential for innovation and challenges their thinking. They have also stuck to only related segments and they all have their electronics business at the core. The only criteria that they look for in any new business apart from profitability, is the scope for their own learning in that field and the level of commonality with their interests. Talent Acquisition As discussed earlier, they have a standard policy in place for recruitment. They look for people with a keen interest in generating new ideas and their selection process is also geared towards analyzing the problem solving capacity of the candidate. They follow a five stage screening process - Profile screening, Aptitude test, Circuit development for a given problem with the given resources/components, Technical interview, HR interview. The third round is where the maximum filtering happens as they look for candidates who are able to think on their feet and develop a hardware that solves the given problem based on the limited number of components provided to them.

The entrepreneur feels this is very critical as this is the closest the candidate can get to the actual job that he will be doing with Tenet techtronics. Competition Though there are many electronic solutions providers in the market, the wide array of businesses that Tenet has taken up over a period of time has made it a unique entity in this segment. Hence they enjoy a good competitive position. Also the image that they have built through complete follow up of all their previous clients including all round service support, has been the base from which they have been able to build contacts and potential customers. The network that they command today is the key differentiator among its other competitors. When asked about their competitive strength, the entrepreneur feels that their key differentiating factor is the six step problem solving process that they have adopted and follow it almost religiously. He feels that this has won them most of their customers. The process is described briefly: 1. Requirements analysis: This first step is also the most important, because it involves gathering information about what the customer needs and defining, in the clearest possible terms, the problem that the product is expected to solve. Analysis includes understanding the customer's business context and constraints, the functions the product must perform, the performance levels it must adhere to, and the external systems it must be compatible with. 2. Design: This step consists of "defining the hardware and software architecture, components, modules, interfaces, and data...to satisfy specified requirements". This is also the stage at which user interface design is addressed, including issues relating to navigation and accessibility. The output of this stage is one or more design specifications, which are used in the next stage of implementation. 3. Implementation: This step consists of actually constructing the product as per the design specification(s) developed in the previous step. Typically, this step is performed by a development team consisting of programmers, interface designers and other specialists, using tools such as compilers, debuggers, interpreters and media editors. 4. Testing: In this stage, both individual components and the integrated whole are methodically verified to ensure that they are error-free and fully meet the requirements outlined in the first

step. Our independent quality assurance team defines "test cases" to evaluate whether the product fully or partially satisfies the requirements outlined in the first step. Three types of testing typically take place: unit testing of individual code modules; system testing of the integrated product; and acceptance testing, formally conducted by or on behalf of the customer. 5. Installation: This step occurs once the product has been tested and certified as fit for use, and involves preparing the system or product for installation and use at the customer site. Delivery may take place via the Internet or physical media, and the deliverable is typically tagged with a formal revision number to facilitate updates at a later date. 6. Maintenance: This step occurs after installation, and involves making modifications to the system or an individual component to alter attributes or improve performance. These modifications arise either due to change requests initiated by the customer, or defects uncovered during live use of the system. Customers Tenet started out with a few college students as its customers and today its customer list consists of reputed organizations like Robert Bosch, National Institute of Technology Karnataka, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Sony, Caterpillar, Infosys, L&T, Sony and Shell among others. The single reason that the entrepreneur feels for the successful acquisition and maintenance of goodwill among all these customers is the overall support provided by Tenet in solving the customers problem as a whole rather than focusing only on the hardware or electronics part of it.

Future plans Though they have an impressive list of customers as discussed in the previous section, they keep scouting for potential customers. They have always been able recognize the potential in any particular industry or organization and hence have been having a successful initiation to conversion ratio in all their marketing efforts. They also enjoy strong word of mouth publicity thanks to the efforts they put in on all their projects. The workshops and tutorials have started

generating a lot of interest and they are looking to improve on this as it serves as the perfect base to generate future customer queries. The organization is looking to move into more governmental projects as well. They are already in talks with Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) and National Aeronautics Laboratory (NAL) for projects and they believe they could start working on the BEL project before the end of this year. The long term vision for the company is to move away from being a solutions provider to a core designing or a Product Development company. Takeaways One of the key takeaways from this interview was the amount of commitment shown by the team. They look at the overall problem of the customers and look at it like their own problem and they do not take the easy way out while trying to solve it rather they strive to provide the best possible solution and also partner with the customer for the lifetime of the product without thinking of closure once the sales happens. This has been the reason behind the success of this organization. The entire outlook of the team is aligned towards identifying problems and working on them as challenges. Even when they dont have customer orders, they brainstorm solutions for problems that are self-generated. This alignment towards problem solving is something that all entrepreneurs should follow, because every business opportunity is present only as a customer problem.

The interview The excerpts presented above are from the telephonic interview with Mr. Dilip Kumar, one of the founders of Tenet techtronics. The following questions were asked to arrive at the above observations: Questionnaire 1. Can you please share your background with us? 2. Please explain the business that you are in. 3. What was the reason behind this idea? 4. What goals/vision you had when starting this organization? 5. What challenges did you face at the early stages of the organization ? 6. Did anyone tell you that this wont work ? 7. What has been the progress so far ? 8. How has the organization evolved over time? The new divisions that have been started? 9. Reasons behind starting these divisions. 10. How has your team grown ? How many people have you employed/plan to employ? 11. Tell us something about the people who have supported you? 12. What are your expansion plans ? 13. What are the various areas where effectuation has helped this organization grow ? (this question was asked after briefly explaining the effectuation principles) 14. What things would you do if you could start this all over again ? 15. Tell us about a time when things went really wrong and you were on the verge of shutting down. How did you tide over it? 16. What is one project/innovation that you will never forget ? 17. What about competition in the region? What according to you are your points of differentiation? 18. Can you explain a typical day in your life? 19. What do you like and dislike the most about being an entrepreneur? 20. How do you motivate yourself? What is the one thing that keeps you going? 21. What role does ones hometown play in terms of starting an organization? 22. Can money be the sole motive behind a successful enterprise?

23. Where do you see the company two years from now? 24. Your words to the aspiring entrepreneurs?

TENET TECHTRONICS #9/3, Shree Lakshmi Complex, 2nd Floor, Opp. To Vivekananda Park, Girinagar, Bangalore - 560085. Karnataka, India. Ph No : 080-26722726. Email Us: info@tenettech.com Web Site: www.tenettech.com

Mr. Dilip Kumar Founder, Tenet Techtronics E mail : dilip@tenettech.com Mobile : +91- 9901019996