Belgaum Young Guns - Dr. Ameet Patil - Spundhan Softwares

Dr. Ameet Patil is a server in himself storing a lot of talent on a real time basis. He was into software development from his engineering days and designed some software’s for his family and friends. A very good cricketer with various awards to his credit during his college days, also won “Gold Medal” and “State Award” in All India Painting Competition for two consecutive years, keen interest in traveling and photography add to his passion. A topper from in engineering, he was also awarded the Best boy of the year. He studied at Sandur Residential School as his father was Maintenance manager in the Sandur Manganese and Iron Ore (SMIORE) Company in Sandur. Later he studied at St. Mary's High School and did his engineering from KLE engineering college. Dr. Ameet has been awarded a PhD. in Computer Science from the University of York, UK. In his thesis, he proposed a reflection-based RTOS framework that allowed runtime adaptation of the OS resource management policies to support varying application-specific requirements. The reflective framework was implemented and evaluated in a custom built RTOS as well as in the Linux OS (2.6.16 kernel). Few researchers working along with Ameet in York's Real-Time Systems group started a company in 2006 and in 2007 appointed Dr. Ameet as a Software Engineer. Ever since his college days, Ameet always wanted to do something of his own someday. He wanted to return to his home town Belgaum. Looking at his competence, many-a-times his friends suggested that he start a company. Since then he was on the lookout for the right occasion or the right project to kick off. After a full year of working in York, he realized the best way to start a venture in Belgaum was to permanently move to Belgaum and then fight it out himself, otherwise he would never be able to do it. Early in 2008, he set himself a deadline to return to India by the end of 2008. With the help of his parents, he registered Spundhan as a company in March 2008. During the last few months of his stay at York, UK, he made a proposal to provide consultancy services to his employer from India. By leveraging over cost and quality, he convinced them and bagged the contract. He moved back to Belgaum, India on 31-Dec-2008 and started working fulltime from 01-Jan-2009. Now Ameet is busy looking for new projects, planning on the growing the company, etc. have been instrumental in shaping my career and a greater reason for my return to Belgaum. Dr. Ameet is currently promoting Spundhan as a Services company in the area of real-time embedded systems. Spundhan is a leading provider of software development, training and consultancy services. To name a few, they specialize in embedded systems, RTOS, device drivers, software timing analysis and much more. Having said that, Spundhan does not restricted itself to real-time systems alone. It can ready provide services in other areas such as web applications, enterprise application, linux-based systems, etc. Spundhan is also keen on providing training services to the young Indian market. Dr. Ameet also has various publications to his name, “Efficient Page lock/release mechanism in OS for out-of-core Embedded Applications”, in Proceedings of the 13th IEEE Real-time and Embedded Computing Systems and Applications Symposium (RTCSA), Daegu, S. Korea, Aug. 2007 , “Towards a File System Interface for Mobile Resources in Networked Embedded Systems”, “Implementing Application-Specific RTOS Policies using Reflection”, “The Styx IP-Core for Ubiquitous Network Device Interoperability”, “Operating Systems and Supporting Architectures for Embedded Real-Time Systems”, “PROTON: a customizable on-the-fly Virtual Memory Simulator” are just a few of them. Some excerpts of interview with Dr.Ameet Patil- 1. How will you explain to a lame person what do you do exactly? Ameetà Spundhan aims to touch every Indian's heart with what it does. We aim to develop and market software products in any domain: mobile, banking, PC, aircrafts, automobiles, etc. Currently, make develop specialized embedded software applicable to aircrafts, military applications, automobiles and telecommunications. 2. You worked in UK from 2004 to 2008 what was your over experience there with people from other nations? Ameetà I love to work with different kinds of people and have been very lucky in this aspect while in the UK. My colleague were from all parts of the world including US, China, Japan, Spain, Italy, France, and many more. During my PhD. I have supervised undergraduate students from different regions. It’s amazing how different people are? How you interact with a particular person depends on which part of the world he/she is from. The difference in culture, religion and language in general makes it even more exciting. I have a chance to travel to a lot of different countries to attend/present at international conferences. Some of these countries include: USA, Mexico, Spain, France, Germany, Portugal, S. Korea, etc. 3. You always wanted to come back to India but why Belgaum? Ameetà I am a Belgaum product. There’s something about Belgaum that I can't let go. Most of my relatives and friends are in Belgaum and also, the weather in Belgaum has been very good for me. Apart from my attachment to Belgaum, today's globalization allows one to work from any place in this world. The location does not matter anymore. Why go to crowded Bangalore or any other city when I have my very own Belgaum? 4. You started this startup in 2008, what made you start this? What was the motivation behind it? Ameetà I am sure all will agree: “Every one of us at one point dreamt in our lives to do something of our own.” I was no different. The only difference probably is that I took it too seriously and followed my dreams. Developing computer software comes natural to me. I get excited to work on new things, learn new languages, new technologies. What best way to do this other than starting a company of your own? That way it is you who decides what you want to do... I love that freedom! 5. Weren’t you afraid, what if the company fails? Ameetà It is too early for me to say that the company is a success. Never-the-less I am not afraid even if it fails. One thing I definitely will take back from it is that: “I at least followed my dreams. I tried”. I have no regrets. I thank God for giving me this chance. 6. How did you fund it? All with internal accruals or personal savings? Ameetà All my personal savings. 7. How and what was the reaction of your parents and friends when you told them about this startup? Ameetà Most Indians think going abroad means a big achievement and there is a much better life there than in India. Some even hate being in India for its bureaucratic systems and the lethargy involved. So, the initial panic was quite justified. They were dead against me leaving a well paying job in England. The idea of returning to India, moreover to Belgaum, poked them in the eye. They were baffled and shocked by my move. Not any more though. They now believe I made the right decision. 8. Why this name Spundhan? Ameetà Spundhan is a sanskrit word, it means rhythmic heart beat. Something that never stops, keeps on going... It was actually coined by one of my school friends: Raghavendra Kulkarni, who once wanted to join hands with me. 9. How much turnover do you expect to achieve in this current year and what are your estimates for the next two years, any targets? (Approx) Ameetà It’s a speculation really. Given the hard work I put in, I am expecting a turnover of 10 to 12 lakhs this year and hopefully double it every year. 10. Does foreign exchange have any impact on your business? Ameetà Currently, yes. Our client is based in the UK and they pay in UK pounds. The fluctuations in the rupee value definitely affect but do not make a huge dent in revenues. 11. Globally who are your clients Indian or Global? Ameetà Both actually. 12. In this time of global recession is there any slowdown in your business, or do you see it coming a bit later? Ameetà Spundhan offers very niche services. So far we are not affected by recession. However, we cannot rule it out and are careful in planning for the future. 13. Your thoughts on collective development of IT & ITEs in bgm. Ameetà Unlike Bangalore where there is cut-throat competition, Belgaum is still in a budding stage. We need to plot Belgaum on the global IT map. It needs help. One person or one company is not good enough, we need to collaborate and collectively develop Belgaum IT. Let’s share our knowledge and grow together. 14. What is that you like the Most of Belgaum? Ameetà For me Belgaum weather comes as first. For business, it’s the location advantage which makes it closer to all major IT hubs in India (Mumbai, Bangalore, Pune, Hyderabad). 15. What do you like the most to do when you are not working? Ameetà Play with my Dog: Bruno, socialize with friends and family, travel to new places or read books. 16. Tell us something about your family? Ameetà I live with my parents and my wife Sushma who happens to be my childhood friend as well. 17. Your favorite quote, if any? Ameetà I am a firm believer of this: “Where there’s a will, there’s a way” 18. Your thoughts on people thinking of coming back to Belgaum and starting up a new venture. Ameetà This is the best time to do it Do it now or you will never do it. Belgaum and India in general has great potential. There are so many things one can do here. Come back and you will never regret it. 19. Lastly what do you think about this blog? Ameetà Amazing work. Belgaum and all Belgaumites salute you. Keep up the great work. Address: Spundhan Softwares H.No. 666, II stage, RC Nagar, Belgaum- 590006 Phone: +91-831-2442200 Website: http://www.spundhan.com/index.php