1. What inspired you to become an entrepreneur? Why should the younger generation aspire to be in this role and what would be your message to people aspiring to become an entrepreneur?
I started my entrepreneurial journey in 1998, when I started OD Alternatives, a boutique consulting firm in the area of Organisational Change and Leadership Development. Looking back now, after 23 years I feel OD Alternatives over the years have created a unique space for itself having helped more than 300 clients across the globe. Years later I got interested in the intersections of social psychology and network science and started Orglens, a tech start-up that maps the informal networks in Organisations and helps organizations and communities to increase their social capital.
If someone has a wonderful idea that could solve a current problem we are facing and if there is a willingness to shape and execute that idea, then one must follow the path of entrepreneurship.
2. What is the USP/competitive advantage of Orglens?
Both communities and Organisations are build-up of social networks and relationships. Through these networks, ideas and information flows. Orglens maps these networks and generate insights that could be used to study the spread of a Pandemic to spread of an ideology. At an organisation level, Orglens provides sharp insights on collaboration, organisation culture, inclusion, the team effectiveness, the resilience capability of an Organisation etc . Because Orglens uses social psychology and network science, the insights are facts and reality based than perception based . These insights could save millions of dollars and lots of time for Organisational Leaders. While tech HR and HR analytics are gaining popularity, most tools and methodologies still rely on perception based understanding of Organisational challenges whereas Orglens provides an Ultrasound of the organisation and its working so that leaders could take fact based decisions.
3. How has technology enabled you to scale up your venture?
Orglens uses Big data analytics, Artificial Intelligence and data science. Imagine, if we were to study the social networks and relationships of a 20,000 member Organisation without the technology support, this might take years. But the Orglens platform could map and generate insights of large number of people and their relationships with each other quickly and accurately, thanks to technology and developments in network science in the recent years.
4. Tell us more about your journey so far.
I have been incubating the start up Orglens for few years now and we went live in December 2019. The clients were very curious how an ultrasound of their Organisation would be like. Remember, the Organisation structure is a like an X ray but that does not capture how work really gets done, who trusts whom and who goes to whom for expert advice. As Orglens platform could do this and visualise the hidden networks in their Organisation, clients who are willing to try novel and scientific approaches showed keen interest. I am lucky that I got a great team with deep expertise and experience in HR, Technology, Data Science and Social Psychology and some great initial clients like Nestle, PropTiger, Western Digital, Sterlite Power, Bharat Serums and Vaccines etc.
