Benchmark

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B-Tech’s in Business (the ones I know) – I had promised to write some of these in the blog dated November 10, 2011 No. 86. These are not social entrepreneurs but B-Techs who took the risk and became entrepreneurs when it was unconventional.

Raghu Rajagopal was my senior by 2 years and around 1983-1984 he gave me work after office hours writing software. This was on a machine made in Taiwan called Microprofessor II.( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microprofessor_II). I was in trainee mode but working with a chartered accountant who wanted a low cost electronic, double entry, book keeping system. My software programme became unusually large (written In BASIC) and would often crash the Microprofessor II.

Raghu and his classmate Senthil incorporated a company called Benchmark Systems in 1988. I believe they might be the first company to be created and incubated from IIT Madras. Under the guidance of Prof. Ashok Jhunjhunwala and with technical inputs from the Electrical Engineering Department, Benchmark built and sold electronic kits. The kits were to be used in engineering colleges to teach the basics of micro processors. Each time a new processor was released a new kit would be made. This was a good business model as repeat sales were possible to the same customer as each new processor appeared. Benchmark and its current business can be seen at http://www.benchmarkgroup.com/

Raghu and Senthil were amongst the first B-Techs I encountered in Chennai who took the leap to become entrepreneurs at a time when entrepreneurship was unpopular and unfashionable.