Times Lit Fest: NR Narayana Murthy & Kunal Bahl 'exchange' notes on the changing business ecosystem

BENGALURU: One was a ‘confused Leftist’ who had transformed into a ‘compassionate capitalist’, and the other an ‘accidental entrepreneur’ Addressing a full house of about 500 people at the Times Litfest, NR Narayana Murthy, cofounder of the three-decade-old software giant Infosys, and Kunal Bahl, cofounder of the four-year-old ecommerce firm Snapdeal.com, kept the audience engrossed in their conversation about what it takes to be an entrepreneur then and now.

New-age entrepreneurs are smarter and younger because of the reduced asymmetry in the business environment, Murthy said at the Saturday session, titled ‘Changing Face of Entrepreneurship: 1980 & 2015’ and moderated by Vikas Singh, resident editor, Times of India, Delhi.

Both Murthy and Bahl agreed the pre-requisites for running a successful business had changed over time.

“Back in the ’80s, banks did not give loan easily, there was no venture capital system and we had to wait for months for getting telephone connections or opening offices. Now, we are moving towards a much better ecosystem for business,” Murthy said.

Murthy said his transformation to capitalism was such that he could demonstrate it was possible to build a top-level Indian business with the best corporate governance, one that would contribute to job-creation significantly.

“My advice to youngsters is to have higher aspirations under the aegis of a bigger vision.

Work more for the joy it gives you rather than for deferred gratification or earning profits,” he said.

Bahl agreed entrepreneurs today have greater opportunities, and all that anyone wanting to launch a business had to do was dive in and get going. “The most difficult step in launching a business is to take the first step— to start,” he said. “We changed six business models since we started in 2010, but the only thing that mattered to us was the certainty of the success of the business.” Values matter, too, they said.

Murthy, also an investor in various startups, emphasised entrepreneurs should decide early on whether or not to stick to their moral grounds and that reputation had to be developed from day 1. “Whenever we judged (the value system of an entrepreneur) correctly, we made money. Whenever we did not, we lost.”