Sunil Wadhwani’s first company didn’t survive, but the lessons he learned from its shuttering only further empowered him to keep going. He went on to serve as the co-founder, chairman and CEO of IGate Corp., which was sold in 2015 to French IT services giant Cap Gemini for $4.5 billion. He is also the co-founder and co-chairman of Mastech Digital Inc. (NYSE: MHH). Wadhwani has immersed himself in many initiatives, including philanthropic endeavors that provide free health care services to millions of people in his native-born India. He’s also giving back locally, investing in startups he hopes will have the same success as his own.
How do you describe what you do?
I believe we’re living in a golden age of innovation, where people around the world are coming up with great ideas that are changing how we learn, how we work, how we live, how we stay healthy. I’ve tried to play my role in this innovative world that we have in three different ways. First, by starting and building my own innovation-based companies, and I’ve done that with several of them. Second, by helping other innovators who are starting companies and helping them by providing financing, other forms of support and I’ve helped over 50 such innovators scale up or build companies. And third, I’m now applying innovation and technology to try to improve the quality of life for people living in very low-income communities around the world in areas like health, education and agriculture.
Your first startup company didn’t go on to survive. What did you learn?
I’d say I learned three things. No. 1, the importance of building a really good team as early as possible in the process of building a venture. That more than anything else determines the success or failure of any venture. Second, I learned the importance of validating the idea before you actually go out to raise money and hire people and do all that stuff. The importance of talking to a large enough number of prospective customers to truly and realistically assess will they buy this product or service, how much will they pay, how much of it will they buy, etcetera, etcetera. I didn’t do enough of that. And then third, and most importantly, I think, I learned the importance of resilience. When you’re knocked down, you can’t stay down. You have to get up and do it again, which is why after this startup, a few months later I was talking to a friend of mine, and we came up with another idea and then started what became my second company. Within a few months, I was back at it again, even though the failure of that first company had been absolutely traumatic. I lost every penny of my life savings. It was really tough on me personally, mentally. To have spent five to six years of your life, 18 hours a day, seven days a week on something and then to see all of that come to naught, it was very, very painful. But all these lessons that I learned from that first failure came in really handy with the second company that we started, which was in the information technology field. We grew that company to over $1 billion in revenue and over 34,000 employees worldwide.
What advice do you have for the struggling entrepreneur in Pittsburgh? What about for the one who is succeeding?
For an entrepreneur who’s struggling, I would say don’t count yourself out. Keep at it. Pittsburgh has a great network of entrepreneurs and investors, mentors and advisors. Reach out to them. There could very well be capital available for you to buy time so that you can grow. Other entrepreneurs and advisors, by and large, are happy to help entrepreneurs, especially when they’re struggling, so don’t give up. And in the worst case, if the venture shuts down, don’t think that’s the end of the world. You’ve learned some very valuable lessons, and they will come in very handy if and when you start your next venture, and I would encourage you to go back and try it again but learn from the lessons that you went through. For the successful entrepreneur, I would say success is relative. We all start companies with certain goals like, “I’ll get to $10 million dollars in revenue” or “I’ll get to this valuation” or raise X amount of money. And when you get close to that goal post, it’s important to keep moving the goal post further out so you keep stretching yourself and you keep building the organization, you keep innovating. As an example, we’ve had so many wonderful startups in Pittsburgh over the last 10-20 years, but there are still very, very few that have scaled to over $100 million in revenue.
What do you think are Pittsburgh’s greatest assets?
I think Pittsburgh’s greatest asset is its people, no question, and everyone here is honest, hardworking, humble, getting things done without making a big fuss or talking about it everywhere. I think that’s our greatest strength and asset. In terms of natural beauty, to me, it’s our rivers and waterways. They permeate the entire region, and I think that gives a sense of peace and joy and connectedness with nature wherever you are, whether it’s in the middle of downtown, whether you’re out in the suburbs. To me, all the access to natural and now clean waterways is really a thing of beauty.
Where is one of your favorite places to be?
The overlooks on Mount Washington. I go to those frequently, and I’ve been doing it for decades. The view still blows me away because it brings out the natural beauty of Pittsburgh: the hills, the greenery, the rivers. But it also brings out the vibrancy of Pittsburgh because from there you can see downtown with all of its office buildings of people, you can see the universities, you can see the health systems that we have and all of which really are making our region so vibrant and competitive, and up on Mount Washington you get to see all of this in one fell swoop, and that view is absolutely mind-blowing.
BIOBOX
Title: Co-founder and co-chairman, Mastech Digital; president, W Health Ventures; president, Wadhwani Impact Trust; founder, Wadhwani Institute for Artificial Intelligence; founder, Wadhwani Initiative for Sustainable Healthcare
First job: Local tech company consultant
Education: Bachelor’s, technology, Indian Institute of Technology; master’s, business, Carnegie Mellon University
Current residence: Nevillewood
Family: Wife, Nita; daughter, Shalina; son, Rohan
Hobbies: Drums, golf, travel, reading
Causes: Improving the lives of people in very low-income communities
