‘Think Through, Work Hard, Embrace Success’

Altizon Systems — Yogesh Kulkarni, Vinay Nathan & Ranjit Nair

Until 2012, for the three college batchmates — Yogesh Kulkarni, Vinay Nathan, and Ranjit Nair, life was what would be called ‘normal’. About 15 years into their corporate careers, the trio was doing pretty well, but that burning desire to create something of their own remained, and they aspired to build world-class products in India. With a rich exposure into building and selling enterprise products, Yogesh, Vinay, and Ranjit aimed at tackling a tough, multi-disciplinary problem with immense potential; and Internet of Things (IoT) seemed like the perfect space to be in. Rising above the demands of a corporate lifestyle, the trio quit their respective jobs that were restricting their entrepreneurial foray. There began the story of Altizon Systems.

Some would see pursuing entrepreneurship at their age as a huge risk involving letting go off of a steady salary and job security. With families to take care of and young children to raise, most others in their shoes would have chosen to play it safe, but not these three. Their corporate stints had helped them build enough financial cushion for their families. With the IoT wave rising, the time was just right for the trio to pursue their entrepreneurial dreams.

They were off to a smooth start, transitioning easily from a well-defined corporate setting to an informal one of a startup. At times, this informal set-up brought a whiff of nostalgia, transporting them back to their college days. This harmonious setting helped them quickly get the proof of concept as they built and deployed the first version of their product and got market feedback within the first few months. However, tides turned quickly and they had to face more than their fair share of hard- ships. There were times when they had to issue IOUs to their partners and had to hold back on employee bonuses while they waited for the investment to come in.

“We have the vision, the product, and the team to dominate this space.”

Entrepreneurship is a fascinating and rewarding journey as long as it is done for the right reasons. Building an enterprise product business needs a clear plan, razor-sharp focus on key customers, the financial ability to stay the course for several years, and a passionate and motivated team. Altizon is a result of all of these factors coming together. Their diverse backgrounds too have been of immense help. Vinay handles sales and marketing, Yogesh focuses on customers and operations, while Ranjit manages everything tech. Together, they have scaled heights and established Altizon as a leading player in IoT with a customer base that spans the US, EU, India, East Asia, and Australia.

This courageous decision has paid off, earning them several accolades and a steadily growing business poised to take on the global industrial IoT market. Altizon Systems is a result of several well-deliberated decisions of Yogesh, Vinay, and Ranjit. That’s how some of the best decisions are made!

About the Startup:

Altizon, an industrial IoT company that empowers Industrial Digital Revolutions globally by helping enterprises use machine data to drive business decisions. Altizon enables digital transformation in enterprises by accelerating Smart Manufacturing initiatives, modernizing Asset Performance Management and pioneering new Business Models for service delivery.

CIIE Initiatives has recently completed 10 years of its incorporation. We are proud to present the book “CIIE — Celebrating 10 years of Experiments and Entrepreneurs” which chronicles the last decade of CIIE Initiatives and celebrates the stories of heroes aka its entrepreneurs.