| Title | : | The Art of Software: Lessons from a software company in India |
| Speaker | : | Sridhar Vembu (Zoho Corporation) |
| Details | : | Mon, 25 Apr, 2016 2:00 PM @ CS25 |
| Abstract: | : | Zoho Corp employs almost 3000 software engineers. The vast majority,
well over 90% of them, have no Computer Science degree. About 15% of
our engineers do not have any degree at all, having come from our
in-house Zoho University program. Yet, Zoho is holding its own in
global competition, against the likes of Salesforce and Microsoft. In
the highly contested global cloud market, Zoho has emerged as a strong
player, yet we have raised zero venture capital. Zoho challenges
conventional wisdom in many ways, and in my presentation I would
highlight some specific insights that I have learned over the past 20
years, insights which form the foundation of this company. A couple of
examples would suffice, for those with a Computer Science bent: a)
software project schedules are not computable b) most decisions you
face in business (and in life) are formally not decidable c) the most
important aspects that define a company are not measurable.
I would elaborate on these and other insights in my presentation.
Biography: Sridhar Vembu is the founder and CEO of ZOHO Corporation (formerly AdventNet Inc). Zoho Corporation are the makers of the online Zoho Office Suite as well as several business applications. Vembu holds a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Princeton University and a B.Tech. in Electrical Engineering from IIT Madras. He is a recepient of the IITM Distinguished Alumnus Award 2016. |
