Vishal Salvi is an Indian entrepreneur who is the founder and CEO of VSS Tech, a leading IT company based in Pune, India. He has over 15 years of experience in the technology industry and is considered one of the most successful tech entrepreneurs from India.
Early Life and Background
Vishal Salvi was born on March 5, 1980 in a middle-class family in Pune, Maharashtra. From a young age, he had an innate interest in technology and computing. He completed his schooling from a local school in Pune. An excellent student, Vishal was always fascinated by math, science and computers.
After finishing 12th grade, Vishal enrolled in College of Engineering Pune (COEP) to pursue a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering. He was an outstanding student and graduated among the top 5 students of his batch in 2002. During his college days, he actively participated in various coding competitions and hackathons. This helped him hone his technical skills in coding and problem solving.
Early Professional Career
Soon after completing his engineering degree, Vishal started his career as a software developer at Infosys in 2002. He worked on various enterprise projects and gained valuable experience in software design, development and testing. After working at Infosys for 2 years, he moved to Oracle in 2004 as a senior software engineer.
At Oracle, Vishal worked in the product development division and led engineering teams building business intelligence and analytics products. This experience enabled him to understand the nuances of building enterprise-grade software products.
In 2006, after spending 4 years in the software services industry, Vishal realized his true calling was entrepreneurship. The urge to build products that can impact millions of lives convinced him to start his own venture.
Starting VSS Tech
In 2007, at the age of 27, Vishal started VSS Tech along with two of his engineer friends in Pune. They started building custom software products for startups and small businesses across India.
Some of their early products included:
- CRM system for e-commerce companies
- Supply chain management system for manufacturing units
- HR payroll system tailored for Indian companies
Within two years, VSS Tech had built a reputation for delivering innovative products ahead of schedule. Their clientele grew rapidly by word-of-mouth.
Scaling up Operations
By 2010, VSS Tech had grown to 50 employees and was getting clients from South East Asia. Vishal decided to expand and opened a new development center in Bangalore. The larger talent pool in Bangalore helped the company accelerate product development.
The company also focused on digital payments and built India’s first mobile wallet and payment gateway. By 2013, VSS Tech payment products were used by over 5 million users in India.
Expanding into South East Asia
As VSS Tech grew bigger in the Indian market, Vishal realized the huge potential in South East Asia. He decided to establish VSS Tech’s presence in the ASEAN region.
In 2015, the company opened offices in Singapore and Malaysia to serve clients in ASEAN. Several e-commerce, fintech and logistics startups in Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines became customers of VSS Tech during this period.
VSS Tech Today
Today, 16 years after its inception, VSS Tech has transformed into a global product engineering company with over 1200 employees. The company has delivery centers in India, Singapore, Malaysia, Dubai.
Some key facts about VSS Tech:
- 1200+ employees globally
- 5 R&D centers in India & Singapore
- 500+ clients across 25 countries
- 2000+ software products delivered
VSS Tech has gained expertise across several domains such as:
- Fintech and digital payments
- E-commerce and logistics
- Business & workflow automation
- Data analytics and machine learning
The company has built cutting-edge products across blockchain, IoT, artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies.
Today, Vishal Salvi oversees global operations of VSS Tech across all geographies and guides the product & technology roadmap. Under his leadership, VSS Tech has emerged as a leading product engineering services company from Asia for startups across the globe.
Awards and Recognition
Vishal’s entrepreneurial accomplishments have earned him many prestigious awards and recognitions over the years:
- Forbes 30 under 30 Asian Enterpreneurs – 2012
- EY Startup Entrepreneur of the Year – 2016
- AsiaOne Most Promising Entrepreneurs – 2017
- Times NextGen Leaders Award – 2018
- ET Top 50 Tech Leaders – 2020
He is frequently invited as a speaker at various technology and entrepreneurship summits across Asia. He has been featured in Forbes India, BusinessWorld, ET Now and other leading publications for his entrepreneurial journey.
Leadership Style and Philosophy
Despite his phenomenal success, Vishal is extremely humble and down-to-earth. His leadership style can be summarized as:
- Lead by example – He believes in setting an example for others through his own hard work, dedication and honesty.
- Team motivator – He keeps his teams inspired and motivated through open communication and displaying trust.
- Customer obsessed – He ingrains customer obsession within the organization where customer needs are kept above everything else.
- Innovation focused – He fosters a culture of innovation by encouraging teams to experiment and rewarding breakthrough innovations.
Vishal credits his success to his team and customers. He believes the right team with boundless energy and passion can achieve the impossible.
Some of his popular quotes are:
- “Customer obsession is the only business strategy.”
- “Think big, start small, scale fast.”
- “Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.”
Venture Investing
Apart from leading VSS Tech, Vishal is also an active angel investor in the Indian and SE Asian startup ecosystem. He has invested in over 25 high-growth startups mainly in the SaaS, consumer internet and AI space.
Some of his key investments include:
- Zenoti – SaaS for spa and salon management
- RawPressery – Cold pressed juice brand
- Furlenco – Furniture rental startup
- EasyShip – Last mile logistics startup
- Practo – Healthcare platform
Vishal is now looking to establish a larger fund of $100M to invest in early stage startups globally. His main thesis will be to invest in startups leveraging AI to disrupt large industries.
Startup Advice
Through his own entrepreneurial journey and investing stint, Vishal has gained great insights on building successful startups. Some of his top tips for budding entrepreneurs are:
- Obsess about solving customer’s pain point – Build for your users, not for your ego.
- Start small, act fast – Ship your MVP fast and keep improving.
- Focus on long-term goals – Do not get distracted by short term gains or losses.
- Hire the best talent – It’s all about the team, get the smartest people.
- Raise enough capital – Many startups die due to lack of funds.
Personal Life
Despite his busy schedule, Vishal is a family man at heart. He got married in 2007 to his college sweetheart Namita. They have two children – a daughter aged 10 and a son aged 7.
Vishal likes to spend his weekends with family and close friends. His hobbies include reading, listening to podcasts and playing chess. He is an avid runner and participates in marathons across the world.
Vishal leads a simple lifestyle and believes in giving back to society. He has set up the VSS Foundation which focuses on three causes:
- Promoting education among children in urban slums
- Supporting NGOs working for mental health and care for elderly
- Environmental conservation by planting trees
The Road Ahead
As VSS Tech heads towards $100M in annual revenue in the next 2 years, Vishal aims to rapidly expand the company’s global footprint. His vision is to firmly establish VSS Tech among the top product engineering companies from Asia that will deliver innovative solutions to enterprises worldwide. The roadmap ahead involves:
- Expanding into Europe and USA by acquiring companies and setting up new offices
- Launching more products and IP in futuristic areas like AI, VR, blockchain etc.
- Hiring the best talent across all geographies
- Establishing a strong portfolio of over 100 startups under his venture investment fund
- Taking VSS Foundation initiatives to a larger scale
With his visionary leadership and gifted skills, Vishal is destined to scale VSS Tech to greater heights in the global arena. The coming decade will see Vishal expanding his impact as a top tech leader and investor from Asia.
Conclusion
Vishal Salvi’s journey from a middle-class student in Pune to pioneering one of Asia’s most admired tech companies has been extraordinary. His genius skills in technology coupled with fearless entrepreneurship puts him in a league of iconic startup founders from India.
But despite all his accomplishments, he remains incredibly humble and always gives credit to his team. His leadership style built on transparency, collaboration and meritocracy sets him apart.
At just 42, his best years are still ahead of him. The world eagerly awaits to see his next big milestone that will inspire millions more across the globe. Vishal Salvi certainly has a long way to go and his star will continue to rise higher for years to come.