RK Patil, Co-founder, and CEO of Vayavya Labs Belagavi addressed the twelfth episode of the Distinguished Lecture Series at Bharatesh Education Trust on the occasion of its Diamond Jubilee Celebrations on Thursday 24th Nov.
RK Patil is known across the country for his contribution to making Vayavya Labs one of the pioneers in semiconductor-based software, especially for the automotive industry. The company has 11 patents to its credit and runs with two offices with the HQ being in Belagavi and another large office in Bengaluru.
He reminisced about his education at Chintamanrao High School and BK Model High School before moving to Sainik School Bijapur for 7 years. When he couldn’t crack NDA, he went on to do his Engineering from GIT in Computer Science and then joined the Indian Air Force in the technical cadre. Not one to rest after basking in the glory of the success of Vayavya Labs, RK Patil has also been striving towards promoting Belagavi as the next destination for start-ups and businesses, through the Beyond Bengaluru initiative of the govt. of Karnataka.
RK Patil urged students to take risks early in life. Have an idea, but don’t expect that you’re the first one to have thought about it, he said, adding that there will always be a few more people who have already had that and done something about it. The idea phase must quickly rise to implementation. Given a choice, always choose to work for companies where the decision-making happens. Most foreign companies in India have their back offices where the work happens while decisions are taken elsewhere, he said.
Never blame your parent’s economic status, background, or upbringing for your life’s limitations, he said. What you do with your life is totally your responsibility, because many of us take shelter in blaming our surroundings for justifying staying mediocre. Quoting his own experience of starting Vayavya Labs along with the co-founders, he advised students that in business, there will always be crests and troughs, but the secret is to persist. He gave an example of the Bumblebee, whose body is the worst aerodynamic shape for flying. But just because it does not know it cannot fly, it actually does fly.
Speaking about the fascination for coding, RK Patil said knowing coding is akin to knowing a particular language like English, Kannada, or Spanish which anyone can learn with some effort. What you create with your knowledge of that language, what problem you have solved using it, and how you can apply that knowledge is what distinguishes you, he said.
Don’t wait for someone to motivate you, there will be a limit to that, motivate yourself, which lasts the longest. If you feel stuck, take a pause, but equip yourself in that time and make a comeback.
RK Patil shared profound thoughts derived from his long and accomplished career.
Rightly said about coding , RK.
Living in Belagavi and not knowing Kannada /Marathi is similar to having a Desktop /Laptop and being unable to talk to the Computer in its native language (including something as simple as Python).
“Don’t wait for someone to motivate you, there will be a limit to that, motivate yourself, which lasts the longest” – Well said.