Worthy of emulation

I love low-profile builders of technology-led and "psychological market share" businesses — hidden champions (Hermann Simon, HBS Press). Businesses and organisations should be designed for Deergha Ayush (long life), which connotes that business is a living entity.

- R GOPALAKRISHNAN

The metaphor of life appears in my 2017 book A Biography of Innovations — an idea gets "conceived" (foetus), the idea goes through "adaptation" (childhood), then a "prototype" (adolescence), before emerging as a "product" (young adulthood), which evolves with updates for continued success (maturity) over its life.

On a recent trip to the United States (US), I reconnected with two contemporaries from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur, both "hidden champions". Their research and innovation accomplishments count as top-class. India needs thousands like them.

Forty-four-year-old Cirrus Logic (originally Patil Systems, now publicly listed), an American fabless semiconductor supplier, specialises in integrated circuits. The idea (foetus) of a fabless chip emerged in the inventor's mind around 1980, then got adapted and prototyped (childhood and adolescence). The product was launched commercially, and the company was listed on Nasdaq in 1989 (young adulthood). The company is now headquartered in Austin, Texas. Its revenue is $1.9 billion with a market capitalisation of $5 billion. Its founder is a Jamshedpur-schooled alumnus of IIT Kharagpur, Suhas Patil. He and his charming wife, Jayashree, were my gracious hosts at Cupertino.