My Jargon Buster — the Original Tech 101 Guy — Kishore Mandyam #JeenaIsiKaNaamHain

Avinash Raghava
#JeenaIsiKaNaamHain

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I stumbled upon his name sometime in 2007.

Kishore Mandyam who built ImpelCRM is also a powerful writer. It was his writing which drew me towards him, back then. He would write with fluency and precision with no words wasted. Gradually, I got hooked as one does when one comes across great writing.

Today acronyms like SaaS, PaaS, IaaS and everything digital (disruption?) have become very common and run-of-the-mill but that wasn’t the case 20 years ago. It took us a while to understand Cloud Computing in depth and by the time I could wrap my head around it, these other jargons started streaming which added to the confusion. At times it seemed like playing Scrabble, quite frankly.

As is the case with jargon, no one quite understands but soon they must develop a scratchy understanding, to slip them knowledgeably (and frequently) between sentences. Well, Kishore’s blogs came to my rescue. He had the great ability to strike a balance and explain ideas with the right amount of depth. There was something for everyone — business leaders and techies alike.

As you can imagine these ideas had just germinated so there was a flurry of writers wanting to communicate the right message, but Kishore stood out.

Eventually, I got to meet him and expressed my great appreciation. Gradually we became friends, and we got to know each other — his vision for the tech world and mine, building a strong community which one day — though I didn’t know at that time — would evolve and embrace the pay-it-forward philosophy. I was leading the EMERGE Community for NASSCOM and we had great conversations about its future and what kind of support companies wanted.

Kishore had worked in Infosys and left it to start a product company — Impel CRM. Indian Software Products were still coming of age and Kishore was one of the early starters. He had done substantive research on CRM products and knew the market like the back of his hand. He was hawk-eyed about the market leaders, as well; Salesforce figures, for instance, were always an easy recall.

I was in awe.

He had great clarity and if he spoke for 5 minutes, he would structure the delivery for easy understanding. He was a great thinker with an extraordinary power of articulation. So, you can well imagine the kind of impact he had.

In the later year, coffee with Kishore in Bangalore almost became a regular feature, and our friendship blossomed. He drove a Reva car and I can recollect those drives and interesting conversations. Kishore also has a great sense of humour, and he gets the timing spot-on which can leave you chuckling.

He also contributed immensely to the EMERGE community and was extremely vocal about what he thought would be the optimal response while addressing issues. Remember, EMERGE was in its early days and like any startup, we too faced teething challenges. Kishore stood like a rock and sought solutions to keep us moving forward.

In the later years, Kishore played a pivotal role in starting a group health insurance cover for employees of NASSCOM member companies. He put in a lot of hard work to get this program up and running. He met leaders and got an understanding of where the gaps were and how best they could be bridged.

Around 5 or 6 years back when I met him again, he had a new avatar. He was contributing to a Not-for-Profit venture which was into skill-based training for NCC students. He had already trained thousands of students and was making waves.

Kishore continues to weave magic, and it was evident in a recent social media post where Black Shirts were vocal. Once again, Kishore came up with strong and well-articulated arguments.

Kishore, having you as a friend is a privilege. Your contribution to the EMERGE Community has been greatly impactful and added immense value.

Here’s wishing you good health and a very happy 2025.

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#JeenaIsiKaNaamHain
#JeenaIsiKaNaamHain

Published in #JeenaIsiKaNaamHain

#JeenaIsiKaNaamHain is my sincere attempt to shed light upon few friends & individuals who have contributed to the Indian Startup Ecosystem.

Avinash Raghava
Avinash Raghava

Written by Avinash Raghava

Building Community at @SaaSBoomi | Past: Community @ScaleTogether @Accel_India. Co-Founded@iSPIRT(@Product_Nation), @NASSCOM

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