When in early 2011, Vinay Simha decided to call it quits to the hustle
and bustle of the corporate world and set up his own venture, he had his
father as a role model to look up to. Post retirement from the Indian
Railways, his father went on to set up a firm in Mysuru that would
design, manufacture and supply precision components for the Railways.
Bidding adieu to a steady job would not be a difficult process, or so he thought. An MBA graduate in export-import management, Simha had worked at a slew of multinationals that included Spice Telecom, GE, HP and IBM. This experience he thought would serve him well in the startup.
No sooner did he make his plans public though, his family threw a fit and tried to convince him it was a mistake. The idea of forsaking a steady monthly salary seemed unacceptable. This was despite the fact that his father's firm, which was being run by other family members, had taken strong roots.
The situation, however, wasn't alien to Simha. His father had nursed similar ambitions and wanted to quit his job and start a venture. However, the pressures of living in a joint-family setup — the need to earn and save up for the family — meant that such plans had to be put on the backburner.
"I am sure that my father — who had passed away by then — would have thought differently about my plans," Simha says. Simha dug in his heels and decided he would do everything to convince the family. There would be no bowing down to the "DNA of the Indian middle-class" — that of shying away from risk. "It is only of late that people even in urban areas are thinking out of the box when it comes to career opportunities," he says.
He eventually won over his kin. Simha named his venture, appropriately, DfyGraviti Solutions.
Among the venture's earliest projects was working with the Election Commission of India during the 2015 by-election in Srirangam, Tamil Nadu. Simha's firm was tasked with providing an internet camera feed from the polling booths to various households in the constituency via the local cable network.
The feed was interspersed with announcements and notifications from the EC — in order to create awareness and let people know of the queues outside booths, so that they could vote conveniently.
Simha then also realized that the mobile networks were nowhere near reliable - even with the best of smartphones. This meant that streaming video content was a difficult task.
This provided food for thought for DfyGraviti's next offering, Amiya TV, which provides video streaming services to institutions under the 'micro-feed as a service' model. Institutions or end-users can determine the content that they want to store on the cache servers maintained by DfyGravity, and access them via a highspeed network. "Think of it as the YouTube offline service on a smaller scale," explains Simha, adding that they are looking at extending the service to three Bengaluru schools.
"Don't look at startups just because they are a buzzword," advises Simha. "A startup is a life-long affair. Be prepared to sacrifice your lifestyle if you are venturing out on your own." He adds as an afterthought, "Get your family onboard first, and do not have any debt."
Bidding adieu to a steady job would not be a difficult process, or so he thought. An MBA graduate in export-import management, Simha had worked at a slew of multinationals that included Spice Telecom, GE, HP and IBM. This experience he thought would serve him well in the startup.
No sooner did he make his plans public though, his family threw a fit and tried to convince him it was a mistake. The idea of forsaking a steady monthly salary seemed unacceptable. This was despite the fact that his father's firm, which was being run by other family members, had taken strong roots.
The situation, however, wasn't alien to Simha. His father had nursed similar ambitions and wanted to quit his job and start a venture. However, the pressures of living in a joint-family setup — the need to earn and save up for the family — meant that such plans had to be put on the backburner.
"I am sure that my father — who had passed away by then — would have thought differently about my plans," Simha says. Simha dug in his heels and decided he would do everything to convince the family. There would be no bowing down to the "DNA of the Indian middle-class" — that of shying away from risk. "It is only of late that people even in urban areas are thinking out of the box when it comes to career opportunities," he says.
He eventually won over his kin. Simha named his venture, appropriately, DfyGraviti Solutions.
Among the venture's earliest projects was working with the Election Commission of India during the 2015 by-election in Srirangam, Tamil Nadu. Simha's firm was tasked with providing an internet camera feed from the polling booths to various households in the constituency via the local cable network.
The feed was interspersed with announcements and notifications from the EC — in order to create awareness and let people know of the queues outside booths, so that they could vote conveniently.
Simha then also realized that the mobile networks were nowhere near reliable - even with the best of smartphones. This meant that streaming video content was a difficult task.
This provided food for thought for DfyGraviti's next offering, Amiya TV, which provides video streaming services to institutions under the 'micro-feed as a service' model. Institutions or end-users can determine the content that they want to store on the cache servers maintained by DfyGravity, and access them via a highspeed network. "Think of it as the YouTube offline service on a smaller scale," explains Simha, adding that they are looking at extending the service to three Bengaluru schools.
"Don't look at startups just because they are a buzzword," advises Simha. "A startup is a life-long affair. Be prepared to sacrifice your lifestyle if you are venturing out on your own." He adds as an afterthought, "Get your family onboard first, and do not have any debt."
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