Rely on tech, not govt: Gopi Kallayil

Mr Kallayil, who is Kochi for the TiECon 2015 meet beginning on Friday said there are several successful Keralite entrepreneurs across the world, including in Silicon Valley. “This is because they have in them the essential ingredient for a successful entrepreneur: the will to take risk,” he said.

An appropriate business environment plays a big role in nurturing enterprises, but its absence need not intimidate entrepreneurs as technology can help them overcome it. “Technology and market are global today, and are accessible to one and all,” he said.

“They are location-neutral, too. All it calls for is the mindset of an entrepreneur.” It’s the collection of intelligent individuals that changed the tech world, and the government’s role was next to zero, he said.

Referring to the efforts the government is making in Kerala to promote entrepreneurship, he said entrepreneurs need not wait for that auspicious environment. “Most global companies of our times did not wait for big infrastructure,” he said. “If the government can help it, it’s good. But do not wait for it.”

Mr Kallayil, who had his education in NIT Trichi, IIM Kolkata and Wharton School said institutions do a play role in building businesses and doubted whether Indian educational institutions help build enterprises.

Mr Kallayil has been with Google for the past nine years and belongs to the band of five per cent people with the longest stint with the tech giant.

“For every successful product from Google, you have several hundred failures,” he said. “We fail more than we succeed. Entrepreneurs need not fear failures. At least this is what I tell the young ones.”