Oh, and here’s a lead …

Have a look at Vedika Software.

A little history: Vedika Software Pvt Ltd was formed in Calcutta, India, in late 1987 with an equity base of US$ 20,000. “During the period (late 1980’s), India’s software market was in its infancy. Personal computers were just beginning to become available and subject to more than 200% import duties. This meant that the average Indian buyer paid from four to five times the international market price for a computer. Software development companies generally specialised in supporting large mainframes and mini computers which still relied on tape drives and card punches. Although some personal computers were used at large multi-national companies, PCs had not “invaded” the average Indian business. In such a market, the demand for packaged software was virtually absent. Custom and tailor-made software companies were slowly evolving, but growth was difficult since many popular Western programs were pre-loaded and provided at no cost to end users. Vedika decided to enter the market in order to take advantage of the business of the future — the business of packaged software.”

Vedika focused on the same opportunity that made Billions for Intuit: Shrink-wrapped Financial Accounting Software called FACT, and became the first, and so far only real packaged software success out of the Indian market. If Rajesh Jain’s bet on low-cost PCs works out, then Vedika stands to make a fortune from it, serving the SME customer base.

The Founder & CEO of the company is Arvind Agarwal, whom I have a great deal of respect and admiration for. As far as I know, Arvind has kept the company private for close to 20 years. For VCs looking for strong product company models, my suggestion is, make a trip to Calcutta (now called Kolkata), the erstwhile capital city of British India, and meet Arvind Agarwal. And if Arvind has any desire to take the company Public, or have needs for expansion capital … ooo la la …