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Senapathy ‘Kris’ <keyword id="9991" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Gopalakrishnan">Gopalakrishnan</keyword> is a name that resonates with the growth of IT sector in India and the rise of <keyword id="6354512" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Infosys">Infosys</keyword>.<br /><br />‘Kris’ as he is known popularly was the second last founder-CEO of the home-grown IT giant that spearheaded entrepreneurship in the field of digital transformation through internet technology.<br /><br />While Kris quit the company’s board in 2014, he is far from retired from work. As an ex-president of CII and also the non-executive chairman of Axilor ventures, he promotes start-ups because starting his own business with six other friends in 1981 changed his life.<br /><br />Gopalakrishnan talked to Business Insider about his early life which has made him who he is today.

    

    

    

    

    

    <div type="embedgroup"> <div type="Article" hostid="261" msid="58182579" title="Exclusive: Mahesh Murthy thinks that the future of investing in India isn’t the current Venture Capital Model" rank="1.0" kind="RELATED" publishDate="Apr 14, 2017, 7:14 PM" mstype="2" mssubtype="0"></div></div> “I was brought up in a world with no internet or even computers, so my knowledge was limited to studies and I devoured books both while studying and in different libraries. I studied at the <keyword id="4469078" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="university-of-trivandrum">University of Trivandrum</keyword> and I remember cycling everywhere to get books or to attend classes. My parents encouraged my obsession and even though they wanted me to be a doctor, IIT-Madras happened, and they were encouraging,” Kris explains how he ended up at an IIT.<br /><br />Gopalakrishnan was stoked at the institute where they had the access to the best computers and the college was encouraging innovation at all levels.<br />He recalls an incident where his professor caught him reading on a cycle. ” Professor Mahabala had started this new Fortran programming course that he knew I’d be interested in, and encouraged me to join. That course ignited my love for experimentation and I never looked back at anything else,” Kris says, fondly.<br />

    

    

    

    

    

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<strong>First Entrepreneurial Stint that Worked</strong><br /><br />When it comes to work, Gopalakrishnan counts his stars and says that he was lucky to find people who supported him, no matter what. “I started working at Patni computers in Pune where I met Narayana Murthy. He wanted to start his own venture and asked me to come on board; I couldn’t refuse because I looked up to him as a senior,” Kris recollects.<br /><br />With a dream team and a great manager like Murthy on board, Gopalakrishnan was not worried about him starting up at a young age of 27. He agrees that he was scared to tell his family and when he got married the same year as the incorporation of the company, he waited till the wedding to make the announcement. Luckily, everyone was unfazed and Kris started the first sailing course on the entrepreneurship, smooth.<br />

    

    

    

    

    

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Starting up from just Rs. 10,000, Infosys is now worth billions and Gopalakrishnan thinks that it’s all because the company built its way up slowly without any external funding and just focus on the product that they believed would change people’s lives. It did fast track his life and now he’s helping people to let go of their training wheels.<br />

Exclusive: Kris Gopalakrishnan Current Ace Investor and Infosys Founder Reflects Back on his Startup Days

<br /> Former President, top scientist, <keyword id="100256" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Bharat-Ratna">Bharat Ratna</keyword>, these are just some of the titles that come before the name of Dr AJP Abdul <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=kalam">Kalam</a>, who passed away on Monday while delivering lecture at <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=iim">IIM </a>Shillong.<br />
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Born on October 15, 1931 in a family of a boat owner in Tamil Nadu’s Rameshwaram, Kalam survived all hardship to grow big in life. He distributed newspaper at one to time to support his family and education.<br />
<br /> After pursuing graduation in Physics from Madras University, AJP <keyword id="5141" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Abdul-Kalam">Abdul Kalam</keyword> decide to take up Aerospace Engineering as he then desired to become a fighter pilot. But the destiny had some bigger plans for him. Traversing through his career journey at the <keyword id="6355142" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="DRDO">DRDO</keyword>, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=isro">ISRO</a>, Chief Scientific Advisor to the <keyword id="71" type="POSITION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Prime-Minister">Prime Minister</keyword> in 1992, the <keyword id="858029" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Pokhran-nuclear-test">Pokhran nuclear test</keyword>, he was ultimately elected as India’s 11<sup>th</sup> President in 2002.<br />
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And what Kalam will always be remembered for is, a President who brought people to the Rashtrapati Bhawan and this is what made him the ‘People’s President'.<br />
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Once the 83-year-old had said, “It is very easy to defeat someone, but it is very hard to win someone.” And certainly it’s his inspiring words through which he rules over a million hearts.<br />
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Abhishek Sharma, a software developed, shared on Quora, “Once, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam rejected the suggestion to put broken glass on the wall of a building that needed protection. Why? Because broken glass would be harmful for birds! This happened when Dr Kalam was with the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=drdo">DRDO </a>and his team was discussing options to secure the perimeter of a building that needed protection. Dr Kalam reportedly said, “If we do that, birds will not be able to perch on the wall.”<br />
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The other instance is when Quora user Naman Narain drew a sketch of Dr Kalam and sent it to the President. To his surprise, the President sent him a thank you card, with a short handwritten message and personalised with his signature.<br />
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At a convocation ceremony of IIT (BHU) Varanasi, Dr Kalam was the Chief Guest. There were five chairs on the stage, the centre one being for him, the other four designated for the top university officials. Noticing his chair being bigger in size than the others, Dr Kalam refused to sit on it and offered the Vice Chancellor to sit in stead. Immediately, another chair was made available for the ‘People’s president.’<br />
<br /> Another action that displays down-to-earth demeanour of Dr Kalam is that during his first visit to <keyword id="165422" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Trivandrum">Trivandrum</keyword> as the then President, he was entitled to invite anyone as the “Presidential Guests” to Kerala’s <keyword id="138" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Raj-Bhavan">Raj Bhavan</keyword>. And as Dr Kalam had spent a significant time as a scientist in Trivandrum, he invited a road-side cobbler – who was quite close to him during his time in Kerela; and so was the owner of the small hotel where Dr Kalam would often have his meals. Can you ever imagine any other politician or a celebrity of his stature inviting a cobbler and a small business owner as his/her most prestigious guests?<br />
<br /> <keyword id="6359039" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Sourav-Ganguly">Sourav Ganguly</keyword>, who received the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=padma+shri">Padma Shri</a> from Dr Kalam in 2004, recalls instances of the Indian <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=cricket">Cricket </a>team's interactions with the former President after finishing runners-up in the 2003 <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=world+cup">World Cup</a> in South Africa. "I remember he wished the team. I remember <keyword id="6364325" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Anil-Kumble">Anil Kumble</keyword> asked him about his subject. He knew little about cricket and we tried to explain to him how 11 men move around a cricket ball. But whenever we met him we realised that his world and thinking was different. He has become the President of India but his thought process is different from the others," said Ganguly, regarding India’s missile man as a visionary.<br />
(Image: economisty.com)<br />


We at Business Insider have created this unique platform for anyone who wants to pay homage to this the beloved Former President, APJ Abdul Kalam- the great leader, teacher, scientist and amongst many other things a visionary par excellence, even as he embarks upon his last journey. <strong><a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/social/48249034.cms">Click here to pay your respects</a></strong>.

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Exclusive: Kris Gopalakrishnan Current Ace Investor and Infosys Founder Reflects Back on his Startup Days

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