At the age of 14, he was intrigued by the world wide web, wanted to explore the virtual world and the possibilities it offered him. Now at 24, his multinational company Globals Inc, operates out of 11 countries and he further desires to conquer the world with his technical knowledge.
Suhas Gopinath is a young entrepreneur who is simple, approachable and perhaps the most eligible bachelor in town. Hailing from the Garden City, Gopinath entered the Limca Book of Records for being the youngest CEO in the world.
Where it all began
Suhas’s flair for business was evident when he was a Class 9 student at the Air Force School, Bangalore. “There was an Internet cafe near my house which used to close for lunch,” he
explains. “I convinced the owner to let me take care of his shop during lunch. This would ensure him money and in return I’d get to use the Internet free of cost whenever I wanted to.”
The owner was convinced and Suhas began using the Internet to read books on website building. “Making a website was easy to learn. I was excited about the world wide web and this led to creating websites,” he says.
Suhas was barely 14 when he launched his own website, ww.coolhindustan.com in 2000. The site offered e-mail services and also provided a unique initiative, in terms of voice mail and voice chat. “This service targeted NRIs as they could record voice mails and e-mail them to their friends and family.”
He later started freelancing for American companies, building and creating websites for them. His first international website was for Network Solutions (owned by the New York-based Verisign), where he built internal sub-sites. “I used to work during the nights, as the US and Indian time zones differed — in school until noon and work at night. I used to sleep for barely four hours,” he says.
‘Bill Gates, my inspiration’
Suhas was thrilled when Network Solutions certified him as a professional web developer. The company also offered him a job, which he declined as Suhas wanted to start a company.
‘You don’t even have a moustache, and you want to take up work’ was the comment he received but he stuck to his faith. “Bill Gates started his career in his backyard. He was my inspiration. I wanted to be like him someday, and I had to start somewhere,” he explains.
So, Suhas discussed his idea with his friends — Samuel of Stanford University and also Vinay, his school friend. “I told them about my plans of starting a company and how it would deal with website building and web applications,” he says. Samuel immediately supported the idea, and in 2001, Suhas set up his first office, Globals Inc, in San Jose, California, with his friend’s apartment as the postal address.
His mother, though, stressed the need for a formal education. “I failed in maths in Class 10. When my mother asked me, I told her that Bill Gates had not completed his education and so I could give it a skip too,” he laughs. “But she was smarter than me. She said, ‘you and Bill Gates don’t share the same horoscope, so please understand that education is very important’.”
Rs 50 as pocket money
Suhas pursued UG in information science engineering at MS Ramaiah College for Engineering, Bangalore, where his dreams of building websites began to take shape.
“I started studying the automobile companies in America. I would look for their websites. If they didn’t have any, I would pose as an investor and send them e-mails saying that since they did not have a website, the company fell below my standards and I wouldn’t be interested in them” he recounts. A week later he would send them another e-mail saying he sent the first e-mail and request them to give him an opportunity to create a website. The rest is history.
Thanks to his hard work, Suhas managed to earn and save Rs 5-6 lakh. “But I would still take Rs 50 as pocket money from my father during those days. I’d tell my father that as an entrepreneur, I wanted to save and expand my organisation. Since I didn’t want to be the only one to have Rs 1,000 while hanging out with friends, I used to take my father’s hard-earned money to be one among them,” he says.
Humble beginnings
Globals Inc began with only four members. Since Indian law stipulates that you should have completed 18 years to own a company, all of them worked from home or cyber cafes.
Now, with over 100 employees, his company operates out of 11 countries like USA, Spain, Canada, India, Italy, Germany and Australia. He recalls an incident in college when, due to shortage of attendance, he was summoned by a lecturer. “He told me that he would like to quit his job and join my company. That was a proud moment,” he says.
Adding to his already colourful resume is the diploma he acquired from Harvard University. “Since I’m a member of the World Economic forum, and on the World Bank board, I wanted to gain more knowledge about the public sector, as our company was branching into one. So I did a course on global leadership and public policy from the Harvard Kennedy School in 2009.”
The ‘bean-bag’ culture
Globals Inc, India, (operating from Bangalore and Mumbai) offers web
solutions, green IT solutions, web development, e-commerce, mobile 2.0 solutions, applications for the iPhone and Blackberry and educationERP.net that enables institutions to drastically reduce their IT costs. This is being used and implemented in Bangalore and Maharashtra schools. Suhas wants to expand the company into developing education and health care applications.
If you’re between the 17-22 age group, you can apply for a job at his company. “We follow the ‘bean bag’ culture at work. You’ll find employees sitting on bean bags in the offices. It is that informal. There is no hierarchy. Everyone is treated at par, and work should be delivered at the end of the day.”
Lonely at the top
Suhas is extremely nostalgic about his fun days in school and college and says his friends have been very supportive. “They keep joking that I would be the only billionaire to retire at a young age. I don’t regret that I had to make sacrifices in my teenage years, as
every moment since the inception of my company has been enjoyable,” he says. It does get lonely at times, though. “I don’t know whom to discuss work or even the issues I face at office. At times, I talk to my parents but how much can I share with them,” he rues.
“Suhas has always been a practical man since his childhood. I was concerned about his academics as he was an average student. I thought he would become a veterinary doctor, because he loves animals,” says Gopinath, his father. “Today, I’m a proud father of a CEO. I wish him fast growth and that he takes his company to greater heights.”
His parents want him to get married but Suhas wants to wait another three years. “I don’t want anyone from the IT field. I want someone whose work is different from mine” he says. To unwind, Suhas goes on long drives or listens to Mozart, Beethoven, Vivaldi and sometimes to fusion music.
Suhas’s sense of humour has endeared him as a friend to Amruta. She has known him from their engineering days and is currently working in his company. “He is a great person to work with, is knowledgeable and is curious to learn more.”
A jolly good fellow
Weekends are dedicated to friends and family. “I generally watch a movie or visit the food street at VV Puram with family. I go out with my friends to coffee shops,” he says. “I reconnected with my friends from school and college through the social networking sites but they have become a forum to sell brands and business forums. They’re being abused.”
“Suhas has been my friend for six years. He has been my inspiration since our college days,” says Vinit
Kumar, friend and also the VP of Globals Inc. “In his profession, Suhas is serious, calculative and observant. But as a friend, he has always been there for me, is jolly and full of life.”
Suhas’ favourite actors are Amitabh Bachchan and he considers Aishwarya Rai “very sizzling. Sarkar, Veer Zara, and George Clooney’s Up in the Air are in my list of must-watch films. My favourite books are Bill Gates’ Business at the speed of thought and Jeff Jarvis’ What would google do ”.
— tasneem@expressbuzz.com