“What Agile talks about is very simple. Agile basically says that do not create an ecosystem where somebody will tell you what I need. Agile simply says become what you need to develop in small pieces. If you are the Product Owner, you tell me what you need. Agile allows you to get your minimal viable product faster and more in line with your idea than before.” says Anand Sahay, CEO, Xebia IT Architects in an exclusive interview with Startup Terminal on the sidelines of AgileNCR 2016.
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| Anand Sahay, CEO, Xebia IT Architects |
Startup Terminal’s Dinesh Gupta caught up with Anand Sahay and understood Xebia’s thought about Startup Ecosystem in the country and how Agile Technology could benefit the Startups in the long-run.
Excerpts:
ST
Bureau: How important is AgileNCR 2016 from Xebia’s perspective?
Bureau: How important is AgileNCR 2016 from Xebia’s perspective?
Anand
Sahay: AgileNCR
2016 is a very important event for us with respect to taking Agile as well as
the Agile community to the next level. It’s a Software Development Conference
that our company, Xebia and Agile enthusiasts of the NCR region organize
annually in order to provide a platform for Agile community to come together
and address the future of Agile technology.
Sahay: AgileNCR
2016 is a very important event for us with respect to taking Agile as well as
the Agile community to the next level. It’s a Software Development Conference
that our company, Xebia and Agile enthusiasts of the NCR region organize
annually in order to provide a platform for Agile community to come together
and address the future of Agile technology.
Agile is not just about software
development. It’s more about how we address the changing needs of business
environment where technology plays a prominent role in raising the industry
standards globally. Agile is simply the need of the hour for startups and
well-established businesses to leverage the potential of continually evolving
technology.
development. It’s more about how we address the changing needs of business
environment where technology plays a prominent role in raising the industry
standards globally. Agile is simply the need of the hour for startups and
well-established businesses to leverage the potential of continually evolving
technology.
ST
Bureau: How can startups leverage the potential of Agile Technology in their
growth trajectory?
Bureau: How can startups leverage the potential of Agile Technology in their
growth trajectory?
Anand
Sahay: What
Agile talks about is very simple. Agile basically says that do not create an
ecosystem where somebody will tell you what I need. Agile simply says become
what you need to develop in small pieces. If you are the Product Owner, you
tell me what you need. Agile allows you to get your minimal viable product
faster and more in line with your idea than before. Imagine for startups, if
everybody would be creating large applications, the owner would have said, “I
hate it, I can’t use it” and all that money and time that has been invested are
gone. So, that’s what Agile talks; it’s very intuitive in nature. It gives you
a prescription of what you should think.
Sahay: What
Agile talks about is very simple. Agile basically says that do not create an
ecosystem where somebody will tell you what I need. Agile simply says become
what you need to develop in small pieces. If you are the Product Owner, you
tell me what you need. Agile allows you to get your minimal viable product
faster and more in line with your idea than before. Imagine for startups, if
everybody would be creating large applications, the owner would have said, “I
hate it, I can’t use it” and all that money and time that has been invested are
gone. So, that’s what Agile talks; it’s very intuitive in nature. It gives you
a prescription of what you should think.
ST
Bureau: Do you believe that technology deployment strategy also matters a lot
in attracting the attention of investors’ community?
Bureau: Do you believe that technology deployment strategy also matters a lot
in attracting the attention of investors’ community?
Anand
Sahay: Technology
plays a prominent role as there are some people who are very smart in capturing
the idea but they don’t need to understand the technology at all. This is where
the problem arises. In that case, a venture capitalist (VC) says, “this guy has
a great idea but would not be able to implement that properly as he doesn’t
know the technology at all”. So, now whenever we are sitting with VC, we have a
tech-guy with us, and then we ask, “How will you implement the idea?” If the
idea is great, and startups are lacking on the technology side, we further ask
them if we could help them in getting the right technology. So, now VCs are
becoming involved and if the technology is there along with a great idea, they
are ready to invest the money.
Sahay: Technology
plays a prominent role as there are some people who are very smart in capturing
the idea but they don’t need to understand the technology at all. This is where
the problem arises. In that case, a venture capitalist (VC) says, “this guy has
a great idea but would not be able to implement that properly as he doesn’t
know the technology at all”. So, now whenever we are sitting with VC, we have a
tech-guy with us, and then we ask, “How will you implement the idea?” If the
idea is great, and startups are lacking on the technology side, we further ask
them if we could help them in getting the right technology. So, now VCs are
becoming involved and if the technology is there along with a great idea, they
are ready to invest the money.
ST
Bureau: How digitization is going to bring new growth opportunities for
e-commerce startups?
Bureau: How digitization is going to bring new growth opportunities for
e-commerce startups?
Anand
Sahay: In
my opinion, digitization is picking up in India and will play a major role in
increasing the customer base of e-commerce market players. Today, I won’t be
surprised if my father or mother would be shopping online or using digital
wallets. Now, we are also making changes in mobile applications, based on the
user-persona with respect to what they will see on smart phone screens. Even
demonetization drive has paved new ways for digital startups to retain their
existing customer base while adding new customers belonging to different age
groups simultaneously. So, I treat it as an opportunity in all aspects for
different players among online marketplace.
Sahay: In
my opinion, digitization is picking up in India and will play a major role in
increasing the customer base of e-commerce market players. Today, I won’t be
surprised if my father or mother would be shopping online or using digital
wallets. Now, we are also making changes in mobile applications, based on the
user-persona with respect to what they will see on smart phone screens. Even
demonetization drive has paved new ways for digital startups to retain their
existing customer base while adding new customers belonging to different age
groups simultaneously. So, I treat it as an opportunity in all aspects for
different players among online marketplace.
ST
Bureau: What are the prerequisites for technology startups to succeed?
Bureau: What are the prerequisites for technology startups to succeed?
Anand
Sahay: For
a startup to succeed there has to be a great idea. If the idea is good, you further
need to have a good dedicated team and the right technology selection, so you
must know how to go about with technology. Indian startups should have pretty
good programmers who can use the technology to implement what you really
require, and eventually to scale your business.
Sahay: For
a startup to succeed there has to be a great idea. If the idea is good, you further
need to have a good dedicated team and the right technology selection, so you
must know how to go about with technology. Indian startups should have pretty
good programmers who can use the technology to implement what you really
require, and eventually to scale your business.
Start ups can embrace
technology and different things that come into picture are great Idea and
implementation of idea which requires lean thinking. Founders and CEOs should
contribute a major portion of their time in hiring. Keeping it short, focus on the implementation
of idea with the right kind of technology is the key to success.
technology and different things that come into picture are great Idea and
implementation of idea which requires lean thinking. Founders and CEOs should
contribute a major portion of their time in hiring. Keeping it short, focus on the implementation
of idea with the right kind of technology is the key to success.
