'I wanted to generate value for the society and self'

Milind Borate was driven by an urge to do something that could generate value for the society and self. "Solving real life problems creates value for the customer. The process of building such a solution creates jobs and thus generates value for the society," he explains. "Add to it the urge to push my own personal boundaries to handle stress, excitement, failure and success."

Having worked in Veritas for almost a decade, Borate had got a good insight into product development and storage technology. In 2008 he got together with Jaspreet Singh and Ramani Kothandaraman to start Druva Software. The key functions of marketing, finance and technology were distributed among the three of them.

Being a techie at heart, Borate took charge as CTO, Kothandaraman took up finance, while Jaspreet Singh focused on sales & marketing. The ecosystem in late 2000s looked mature enough to build a product start-up from India, says Borate. He agrees that IT is very conducive to start-ups because it is possible to build a prototype with comparatively lesser funds. "We're seeing start-ups even in other sectors like food, travel, and retail.

Though in most cases, IT is the enabler or game changer," he says. An entrepreneur's journey is full of challenges, says Borate. "At a personal level, the first challenge is to handle the perceived lack of professional stability. And then you have to overcome the reluctance to give up a fat salary." As an advice to other entrepreneurs Borate says, "Do it only if you believe that solving the problem in question would generate a real value."