Building a Robotics Company from India: Ritukar Vijay CEO of Ottonomy (Part 3)

Sramana Mitra: What was the use case for Cincinnati Airport?

Ritukar Vijay: To deliver goods. After the security check-in, there are gate-hugger personas. There are people who just fly off after the departure gate. We are not participating in any of the retail activities at the airport. 2020 was a time when the aviation industry was having a bad time. It was a nightmare.

They started looking at ways to engage people in more economic activities focusing on the non-aeronautical revenue. The airport came together to solve that problem. We did the first pilot in December 2020.

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Colors: Vastness, Miniature IV

I’m publishing this series on LinkedIn called Colors to explore a topic that I care deeply about: the Renaissance Mind. I am just as passionate about entrepreneurship, technology, and business, as I am about art and culture. In this series, I will typically publish a piece of art – one of my paintings – and I request you to spend a minute or two deeply meditating on it. I urge you to watch your feelings, thoughts, reactions to the piece, and write what comes to you, what thoughts it triggers, in the dialog area. Let us see what stimulation this interaction yields. For today – Vastness, Miniature IV

Vastness, Miniature IV | Sramana Mitra, 2021 | Watercolor, Pastel, Brush Pen | 8  x 8, On Paper

Building a Robotics Company from India: Ritukar Vijay CEO of Ottonomy (Part 2)

Sramana Mitra: How did you find your co-founder?

Ritukar Vijay: One of the co-founders was in my college in the Robotics club. That goes back more than 15 years. The other two guys, we met through our careers during 2010 to 2012.

Sramana Mitra: In the robotics company?

Video FAQs

Best of Bootstrapping: Bootstrapped Using Services to $15M in Venture Capital

If you haven’t already, please study our Bootstrapping Course and Investor Introductions page. 

We continue to see exciting enterprise software companies being built by entrepreneurs who have roots in the consulting business and who have taken their domain knowledge and customer insights to develop compelling products to solve specific problems. Gravitant is yet another case in point. Before Gravitant was acquired by IBM in 2015, I spoke with Gravitant CEO Mohammed Farooq about his journey.

Sramana: Mohammed, let’s start our discussion by reviewing your background. Where do you come from? What are the roots of your entrepreneurial journey?

Mohammed Farooq: I am originally from India, close to Hyderabad. I went to engineering school in India and came to the United States in 1991 to attend graduate school. I was born in 1967 and went to school locally in India. I attended Gulbarga University in India where I studied mechanical engineering. I attended graduate school in Oklahoma. In Oklahoma, I completed a dual degree in operations research and computer science. I then did an MBA in finance as well.

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Cloud Stocks: Nutanix Eyeing International Markets for Growth

The global hybrid cloud market is expected to grow at 20% CAGR to reach $262.4 billion by 2027. Enterprise cloud computing player Nutanix (Nasdaq: NTNX) is cashing in on this growth by expanding its presence in international markets through partnerships and new products.

Building a Robotics Company from India: Ritukar Vijay CEO of Ottonomy (Part 1)

This is a very interesting story of bringing really complex technology from India to the global market with a complex sales cycle.

The long term potential is huge. The short term complexity of the business is equally huge. The founding team is doing an admirable job navigating the opportunity with commitment and resolve.

Best of Bootstrapping: Bootstrapped to $20M in Charleston, South Carolina

If you haven’t already, please study our Bootstrapping Course and Investor Introductions page.

As part of our coverage of entrepreneurship far away from Silicon Valley, we bring you a conversation with Mike Carter, Founder of eGroup, in Charleston, South Carolina. Typically, these environments have bred bootstrapped companies, and bootstrapping using services continues to be a popular method. Here is our conversation from 2014.

Sramana Mitra: Mike, let’s start with the beginning of your story. Where are you from? Where were you born and raised? What kind of circumstances leads up to the entrepreneurial story?

Mike Carter: I was born in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina which is a coastal town here in the Southeast. My parents are both originally from the area but I grew up all around the country and some places abroad. My father was a career air force fighter pilot. That meant that he spent a lot of time traveling to different military installations around the world and as a by-product, I grew up in that environment. When I returned to Charlestown for college, I went to a military college called The Citadel. I ended up staying and getting a degree in Computer Science. I’ve been an enthusiast with technology. My passion is what got me into business. That’s what my classical education along with a desire to succeed coming from a military household brought.

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Thought Leaders in Big Data: Pumas.ai CEO Joga Gobburu (Part 4)

Sramana Mitra: Let’s switch to your precision medicine area. Take me through a case study.

Joga Gobburu: What we have is an advanced clinical decision support system. This system is integrated and sits within the hospital electronic health records. When a physician diagnoses a patient with a condition and is considering a treatment, let’s say for a very serious infection.