The IT industry has been closely following the growth story of Ashok Soota’s Happiest Minds Technologies Pvt Ltd. After leading Wipro’s IT business from 1984 to 1999, Soota had left the Azim Premji company to set up MindTree Ltd with Subroto Bagchi and others. The next 12 years saw him building MindTree into a strong mid-tier IT services company as its chairman and MD. He sprang a surprise again in 2011 by walking out of the company he had co-founded and starting anew. At 73, as executive chairman of Happiest Minds, Soota could probably be the oldest IT veteran still in the saddle. Backed by Intel Capital and JP Morgan, the 1800-people-strong Happiest Minds focuses on specialised IT services. Right at the time of setting up Happiest Minds, Soota had declared his intention of taking it public in seven years’ time. In an interview with VCCircle, Soota speaks about the performance of the company, the blueprint for growth and his intention to stick to the pre-determined timelines.
