Mr. Reapan Tikoo

    Mr. Reapan Tikoo, CEO, Powai labs shared his experience of how an idea generated out of his final year project had been nurtured into a commercial viable project which earns thousands of dollars revenue. Prior to starting up Powai Labs Mr. Tikoo worked in HCL Corporation and GTL Ltd and contributed to the company’s growth over the years. 

    Mr. Tikoo shared with us his experience of interviewing nearly 50 professors from different institutes to understand and estimate the viability of the project. He pursued his passion as his career irrespective of societal pressures like compensation, amenities and so on. He expressed his gratitude to IIT Bombay and Prof. Madhav Desai for the support and facility offered for his project. He also appreciated opportunity given to him to conduct an inter departmental project. The interactions he had with respective departments for his project helped Mr. Reapan in refining the project even better. Prior to Powai labs, Mr. Tikoo had started 2 ventures in the field of media and software at institute level which didn’t thrive in the market due to different reasons. This, Mr.Tikoo refers to as one of the valuable lessons life offered him. 

    He also explained the challenges he faced while raising funds for his enterprise, Powai Labs. Texas instruments and Intel played major role in the successful launch of world’s first simulator accelerator – IMAGE. Govt. of India contributed a major chunk of the funds required. Mr. Tikoo also gave insights about the technological advancements that are taking place at a rapid pace in Powai Labs. Powai Labs has established itself by developing applications in fields of Image processing, Data mining and high-level language converters. 

    On a lighter note, Mr. Tikoo expressed his views how big corporates have been able to influence politics and policy making and how this may affect SME’s and upcoming ventures adversely. The session was followed by a few questions posed by students. It turned out to be a highly interactive session, as students were highly interested in learning from the experiences of an entrepreneur who has struggled and strived till success. The session was highly insightful to the audience and it was a food for thought for all those budding businessmen.
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