YourStory Profiling on Tech Entrepreneurs

Divyesh Kharade, Jinen Dedhia and Akash Shah founders Deltecs Infotech Pvt Ltd

The gift of knowledge, of learning is a gift greater than any other. For man, wisdom and understanding stem from the knowledge gained from all sources. Pioneering an effort to provide innovative learning and training solution, Deltecs Infotech seeks to transform the way people learn and are trained.

Founded in February 2007 by Divyesh Kharade, Jinen Dedhia and Akash Shah, Deltecs Infotech is on a mission provide innovative and practical solutions to meet the challenges of learning and training, imparted through mobile phones and desktops.

Deltecs was born out of a desire to create opportunity and employment, and with an urge to give something valuable to the world, to make a difference in people’s lives.

The trio funded the creation of Deltecs by themselves, but was fortunate to bag services-level projects as they started off. The latter ensure a cash flow that funded their operations with regard to their core products.

From initially working out of their homes, Deltecs first moved to modest, rented premises. The firm now encompasses a state-of-the-art management office, a development centre, conference room and other infrastructure, with 14 employees in a single branch.

The team at Deltecs now functions like a family; each member believes in a single vision and works dedicatedly towards realising it. This has enabled the firm to overcome the challenges faced by a start-up, which, for them, change at every step.

“Entrepreneurship is all about tacking and overcoming the challenges, from funding to the setting up of an office, choosing an initial set of people to start off with, building the core team and setting up the processes. Motivating the team and keeping everyone focused have been challenges at times, but overcoming these is fairly easy when the goals and objectives are set,” says Kharade, director of products and innovation at Deltecs.

Early work in the direction of their firm, including incubation of the idea, began in October 2005, involving key members from Wipro Technologies. In a short span of time, Deltecs became involved in business with blue-chip companies, either partnering them or providing solutions for them.

From starting off with a couple of learning applications as freeware and with revenue drawn from advertisements, Deltecs gradually moved on to paid mobile learning applications with premium content in the business-to-consumer segment.

The company is currently present across both the business-to-business (b2b) and business-to-consumer (b2c) segments. In the latter, it has more than 10,000 customers using its mobile learning applications for the Common Admission Test (CAT) organised by the Indian Institutes of Management, the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) and other competitive examinations. These are supplied under the brand name of m.a.d. and TopCAT, the latter offered in association with Tata McGraw-Hill Education.

In the b2b segment, Deltecs provides platforms for corporate firms, institutes and universities across the globe, to convert their digital content into mobile learning applications. These services are being offered to clients as diverse as Wipro, the Indian Railways and Navneet Publications.

Deltecs’s latest tool, DRONA, is a mobile learning authoring tool, which transforms learning content into mobile applications to be distributed, tracked and analysed, with minimum effort and time.

DRONA is offered in the b2b segment and has the option of used-, time- and quantum of usage-based licensing, while Deltecs offers support and maintenance packages to supplement the same. In addition, the product has different functionalities in order to cater to the different needs of the diverse clientele, such as academic institutions and corporate firms.

Deltecs plans to enhance its offerings in the corporate sector by next introducing a plug-in for the BlackBerry Enterprise Server, DRONA-BES, which will enable BlackBerry-based training for corporate clients. In the b2c segment, it will soon launch its TopUPSC products for candidates of the civil services examinations, again in association with Tata McGraw-Hill. The firm is also looking to establish a retail presence across India.

Kharade, Dedhia and Shah have received ample recognition for their efforts with Deltecs. The company was listed among the hottest start-ups in 2008 by Tata NEN. This year, it is the only firm from India among the finalists for an award for innovation in handheld learning to be presented at a ceremony in London.

Prior to these, they won the B-Plan competition at the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad in 2008 and stood fifth in the Asia Moot B-Plan Contest the same year.

Their success has also been highlights in their revenue, which was a modest Rs4 lakh in the first year of operation. This grew to more than Rs20 lakh in the second and is expected to rise significantly this year too.

Their next aim is to introduce a strong system for feedback and analysis, which will make the quality of teaching better, an endeavour for which yourstory.in wishes them the best.

DRONA’s opening sequence video @ HHL Innovation Awards 2009

my interview with nikhil peter from startups.in

Deltecs helps students and employees better utilize their time by providing mobile learning applications. The founders of this award winning start-up share their views in an interview with Nikhil Peter of Startups.in

1. What exactly is Deltecs.com? Why the name Deltecs?

Deltecs InfoTech is pioneer in providing innovative learning and training solutions on mobile phones and desktops. Idea incubation and early work started in October 2005 and finally incorporated in Feb, 2007 with key members from Wipro Technologies. In short span on existence, we have been involved in business with blue chip companies, either partnering with them or providing solutions to them.

It was formerly, Delta Technologies and hence Deltecs InfoTech Pvt. Ltd. seemed like the closest possible name not to lose our already created identity.

2. How did the idea of this start-up originate?

We used to work with Wipro Technologies for a couple of years before we started on our own. So while commuting to work, we used to see a lot of MBA aspirants preparing for their CAT by utilizing their travel time. That’s when it struck us as to why not come out with mobile learning applications which will help students utilize their time in a better way. That’s where it all originated from.

3. Are there any other players offering similar services?

When we started off, I don’t think there was any competition. But recently there have been a few companies sprung up in the same domain if not offering the same services. Unfortunately, we see Deltecs as the only Indian entry in the hand-held learning annual awards this year.

4. How does Drona prove to be helpful to students and employees.

Drona basically helps an institute/corporate/university to author, distribute and analyze tests and their results within no time and for far lesser costs. Also, for the employees and students it’s just in time learning and testing which they can refer to anytime. Drona-BES is a blackberry based plug-in for corporates where the senior management in any corporates can access their training modules and finish their allocated training time even with their hectic schedules without spending dedicated time on their desktops.

5. How is Deltecs.com doing do so far? How well was it received by the community?

Deltecs has been well received by the student community as well as the teaching fraternity since it has products catering to both the markets, viz. B2B as well as B2C. In fact, Deltecs has 10,000+ individual users as well as fortune 500 companies as their esteemed clients and partners.

6. Could you tell us more about yourself, your position & other key players, if any?

I am one of the 3 Co-Founders in the company and have been playing varied roles since the inception of Deltecs. I am presently handling the Product and Innovation portfolio in Deltecs.

7. How large is the team behind your start-up? Are you all based in India?

We are 3 Co-Founders in Deltecs. I, Jinen Dedhia and Akash Shah and we are a team of 14 people now. We are based in India, more specifically Mumbai.

8. How is your startup being funded so far? Do you plan to receive any external funding?

Deltecs presently is self funded and yes, we do plan to seek funds in the near future.

9. Throw some light upon the initial hurdles you came across while setting up your start-up?

For a startup at different stages the hurdles keep on changing at every step but Entrepreneurship is all about tackling and overcoming them. Be it funding, setting up an office, choosing the initial set of people to build a core team to setting up the processes, motivating and keeping the whole team focused and man management have all been challenges at their times, but overcoming them becomes fairly easy if you have your goals and objectives set and everyone involved aligned with your vision and the hunger to go that extra bit to achieve it.

10. What are key technologies your service is built upon and why did you opt for them?

Well, we basically work with Java as well as Microsoft technologies depending on the kind of market feasibility. For e.g. in the Indian markets j2me works best since the market has majority of java based phones and it makes business sense to opt for java rather than Microsoft technologies since Windows OS phones have very little market share. But we do opt for Microsoft Technologies when it comes to web based development since we are a member of Microsoft bizspark program where we get access to a lot of Microsoft tools and services. On the other hand, for internal purposes we do work on more technologies. But it is only for internal Deltecs purpose and not offered as a service or a product.

11. In your experience, what has been the most effective way to market a business?

Well, since Deltecs offers Software Products and Services and not physical ones, we find online marketing as one of the most effective ways of marketing and promoting our products and services but it has to be appropriately supported by traditional media like offline PR strategies, BTL activities at strategic places, event participation, sponsorships and good media relations.

12. What is the best advice you’ve ever received.

I think the best advice that I must have received would be… “Believe in yourself and every problem will have a solution, stay down to earth and people will respect you”

13. On a personal front, who is your role model? Also, do you follow any other websites religiously?

Personally I think Narayan murthy, Dhirubhai Ambani and a lot of 1^st Gen Entrepreneurs who made it big have given me some learning or the other. I do follow a lot of start up websites and forums regularly.

14. How did being an entrepreneur affect your lifestyle? Do you get enough time for yourself/family?

Well yes, to be honest I have become more patient and focused and also value money more than I ever did before. Also I think one should balance their personal as well as professional life since it helps you connect with one self as well as rejuvenate and recharge timely which eventually has a huge positive impact on the professional side.

15. Tell us One thing that you love the most?

Well, I love my team the most, coz honestly they have been with Deltecs in its toughest phase as well and believed in the vision unanimously. I would never want to lose them.

16. Have you, or your organization, been recognized in any way for your great work?

• We won the ISB B-Plan competition in the year ’08 and came 5^th in the Asia moot B-Plan Contest ’08.
• We were also nominated for TATA NEN hottest start-ups in ’08.
• This year we have been the only company from India amongst the finalists for award of innovation from hand held learning being held in London. Do not forget to vote!

“Entrepreneurship is all about tackling and overcoming hurdles — Divyesh Kharade, Director of Products, Deltecs“
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One more news, Deltecs is the only Indian company to be among the 4 finalists for the Innovation awards to be held in London on Oct 5th 2009. (Handheld Learning)
The Other 3 companies being from Aus, Ireland and Israel
The winners will be decided on sms voting, send sms DRONA to 00447786205637…..

Virus Attack – Remedy

I want to tell you a story, a week back i got affected by this virus very badly as it eat up all my empty hard disk space also i formatted my machine twice but it still managed to spread all over again.

I was surprised that my most reliable friend Avast, for the first time failed me in this war against viruses but then again avg and norton also failed against it. This virus is know popularly as regsvr.exe virus, or as new folder.exe virus and most people identify this one by seeing autorun.inf file on their pen drives, But trend micro identified it as WORM_DELF.FKZ. It is spreading mostly using pen drives as the medium.

Symptoms:
1. There are new folder.exe and numerous other .exe files created with the same name as the folder it resides in and the same icon as the folder icon, fooling normal users by giving them an impression that these are folders and not .exe files. If you find a folder on which nothing happens after double cliking you need to read the content below.
2. Your regedit (in RUN) and taskbar (CTRL+ALT+DEL) is disabled and gives you an error message or closes them automatically.

Well, so here is the story of how i was able to kill the monster and reclaim my machine.

Manual Process of removal:
I prefer manual process simply because it gives me option to learn new things in the process.

So let’s start the process off reclaiming the turf that virus took over from us.

1. Cut The Supply Line
   1. Search for autorun.inf file. It is a read only file so you will have to change it to normal by right clicking the file , selecting the properties and un-check the read only option
   2. Open the file in notepad and delete everything and save the file.
   3. Now change the file status back to read only mode so that the virus could not get access again.
   4. 
   5. Click start->run and type msconfig and click ok
   6. Go to startup tab look for regsvr and uncheck the option click OK.
   7. Click on Exit without Restart, cause there are still few things we need to do before we can restart the PC.
   8. Now go to control panel -> scheduled tasks, and delete the At1 task listed their.
2. Open The Gates Of Castle
   1. Click on start -> run and type gpedit.msc and click Ok.
   2. 
   3. If you are Windows XP Home Edition user you might not have gpedit.msc in that case download and install it from Windows XP Home Edition: gpedit.msc and then follow these steps.
      
   4. Go to users configuration->Administrative templates->system
   5. Find “prevent access to registry editing tools” and change the option to disable.
   6. 
   7. Once you do this you have registry access back.
3. Launch The Attack At Heart Of Castle
   1. Click on start->run and type regedit and click ok
   2. Go to edit->find and start the search for regsvr.exe,
   3. 
   4. Delete all the occurrence of regsvr.exe; remember to take a backup before deleting. KEEP IN MIND regsvr32.exe is not to be deleted. Delete regsvr.exe occurrences only.
   5. At one ore two places you will find it after explorer.exe in theses cases only delete the regsvr.exe part and not the whole part. E.g. Shell = “Explorer.exe regsvr.exe” the just delete the regsvr.exe and leave the explorer.exe
4. Seek And Destroy the enemy soldiers, no one should be left behind
   1. Click on start->search->for files and folders.
   2. Their click all files and folders
   3. Type “*.exe” as filename to search for
   4. Click on ‘when was it modified ‘ option and select the specify date option
   5. Type from date as 1/31/2008 and also type To date as 1/31/2008
   6. 
   7. Now hit search and wait for all the exe’s to show up.
   8. Once search is over select all the exe files and shift+delete the files, caution must be taken so that you don’t delete the legitimate exe file that you have installed on 31^st January.
   9. Also selecting lot of files together might make your computer unresponsive so delete them in small bunches.
   10. Also find and delete regsvr.exe, svchost .exe( notice an extra space between the svchost and .exe)
5. Time For Celebrations
   1. Now do a cold reboot (ie press the reboot button instead) and you are done.

I have come across similar such non budging viruses which somehow beats all anti viruses, and the best method is to manually eradicate the same. Do let me know if you face any such problems!!

P.S: Hats off to the guys who made these viruses in the first place, am sure they are already on their version 2, and so am i in eradicating those. As we say “To catch a thief, Think like one”
www . amiworks . co . in

Resignations Galore

my worst fears came alive when the media people themselves who were talking all the things about not forgetting this incident and pledging not to fall to the political stunts. Not more than 12 hours post the mumbai attacks the media is all but covering resignations and cabinet shuffles and party spoke persons and political comments. The phase of militants, martyrs, hostages, NSG and all the abuses hurled at all the politicians and bureaucrats by the same reporters, same correspondents, same cameramen and same editors is over and the same idiot box is ruled by the politicians.

PM Manmohan Singh: I have never before seen an uninspiring leader like him who himself seemed so uninterested. I would read a newspaper more animatedly than the national address he gave to the nation. I feel more patriotic listening to the press conferences given by the presidents of other nations.

Shivraj Patil: He should find himself accountable for the whole incident no doubt but it has to be noted that he is not following his personal agenda and only doing what has been asked by the PM and Sonia in turn. His resignation (or sacking; as if anyone cares) is nothing but a farce, a farce to save the face of Congress Govt by making him a scapegoat to prove the heroics of the Congress Govt in the wake of Rajasthan elections to come!

CM Vilasrao Deshmukh: Its sad to see him being pressurized to resign, just like any other corporate (e.g. Merill lynch whose CEO quit after taking responsibility of the whole crash) he should have held his head high, taken responsibility of the whole incident and gracefully resigned. I wonder what the hell was he doing inside the TAJ along with Rietesh Deshmukh and Ram Gopal Verma as if it was another film premiere taking place. I would call this a security lapse!! At a place where the Govt officials were not allowed, the NSG commandos after the operation were not allowed, the relatives of the kin who died were not allowed, what were Ram Gopal Verma and Rietesh Deshmukh doing there?? Was it a filmi picnic?? The CM doesn’t have the brains to think where should he be taking whom!!! They didn’t have the freaking courtesy to visit any of the crematoriums for the martyrs and the dead but had the guts to visit the TAJ???

Gujrat CM Narendra Modi: This guy (Leader of Hindu Terror) just doesn’t know what to do when and what to say when. Just a day before this incident he was so very vocal in criticizing ATS chief Hemant Karkare in carrying out the investigations in the malegaon blast which resulted in Dec 1 being a bandh and the ATS chief taking an appointment with the PM to stop the political interference in the investigations. He left no opportunity in criticizing the Congress Govt, be it lapse of the Intelligence or announcing a package for the martyrs, which ATS chief hemant karkare’s wife so rightfully refused (also refused to let him in the house). He simply was unaware of the Terrorists first landing at Porbander (In Gujrat; for people who don’t know) and his intelligence failing first before playing the blame game. Not to mention one of the terrorists clearly holding the train and godhra incident for this massacre. I really damn this fella for giving terrorism a religion.

As much as i think this is really not the time to resign and shuffle the cabinet since the nation is really into crisis and this would really put the nation into deeper crisis, not that the one replacing the present would be better than the present! After all who would want a new batsman to come to the crease and waste valuable time with the team already in a bad position? God forbid if there is one more similar incident immediately after the new people are sworn in, they would clearly be clueless and ridiculously inept to take care of the situation!!

Last but not the least some stories and incidents as a salute to some of our martyrs who laid down their lives, making a huge void in the system as well as our hearts.

ATS Chief Hemant Karkare: The only IPS officer to hold an IAS post in India till now, clearly a person bringing ATS to a position that it is now ending most of the woes of the common man in flushing out the underworld grip over mumbai. This nation SALUTES you.

Senior Inspector Vijay Salaskar: Clearly one of the encounter specialist who has the most quality encounters in the police force and rightfully the right hand of the ATS chief Hemant Karkare. Just hearing the news of him going for an encounter made the whole underworld shake with fear. There was an incident where Arun Gawli refused to go to a voting booth to vote simply coz Vijay Salaskar was on duty at the same booth, this incident alone speaks loud volumes of his grip over the underworld. This nation SALUTES you.

ACP Ashok Kamte: He was one of the most hands-on guy the mumbai police force has ever seen. You could see him firing tear gas himself, leading a team for an encounter himself, clearly a sign of high motivation of a 3rd generation Police officer in the Kamte family. Has previosly been a DCP Zone 1 and the commissioner of solapur. One incident to be remembered when he was posted at solapur with a high nuisance value politician who used to blare his loud speaker even after 10, Kamte went to his residence and as soon as the politician opened the door, Kamte slapped him hard and said “The sound of my slap is louder than your loudspeaker, so please switch it off lest you want to hear it again”. This nation SALUTES you.

Not to forget major Sandeep and others everyone of whom had 3 qualities none of us possess, save lives (innocents), take lives (terrorists) and lay down lives (themselves). This nation SALUTES you.

- Divyesh.

The longest movie ever…

movie: The Terror Returns

Directed By: militants

Produced By: LeT/Al Qaida/ISI

Cast: NSG, mumbai Police, marine commandos, Indian Army, Terrorists and Civilians

media Partners: Times Now, India TV, Star News, Aaj Tak and NDTV Live

We have just witnessed the making of the longest movie ever in the history of terror industry (40 hours and still going strong) and can be safely labeled as the biggest blockbuster of 2008 and having the potential of sweeping all the awards possible hands down. Looking back at the incidents which unfolded every minute since Wednesday night in typical bollywood ishtyle it definitely has the makings of a potboiler movie making each and every film-maker sit up and take notice.

I see this as a typical intelligence failure on the part of the Indian Govt taking no credit away from our valiant cops and jawans. motivation and preparedness are the only tools an ideal defense system should possess and with due credit to the mumbai police for possessing the former, unfortunately no one could see the preparedness at handling terror situations with them, and serious note of it should be taken by the government. We could see Hemant karkare (the only IPS in the country who has formerly held an IAS post) donning a sleeveless bullet proof jacket among other lathi wielding  policemen, while the NSG commandos were in full gear, both being in front of AK-47 bullets. There was visibly no telecommunication technology available with the mumbai police while the terrorists had satellite phone with them. Its high time the police is stopped being made the flogging horse in this encounter, none of us obviously expects them to fight out weapons of mass destruction like AK-47s and rocket launchers while they are being paid peanuts. As former IPS officer A A Khan (of lokhandwala shoot out fame) quoted “I have lost two of my most valuable men Karkare and Kamte, I wish I was there with these two in front of a couple of terrorists” it just shows the spirit with which these guys work, I sincerely wish the pay commission does something to respect our present and future heroes and not forget them at the crack of dawn, after all how should we expect outsiders to respect them if we ourselves can’t.

moving on to the media persons doing a commendable job, covering the same day and night and giving hope to the near and dear ones of the ones affected who have been following the same from all parts of the world. I would still request them not to cross the line between information and sensitive information which would not only alert the militants inside but also flush in vain the valiant efforts being put in by the jawans. It was not surprising to see some news channels being pulled down for disclosing vital information which obviously was accessible to the militants inside. I would also request some news channels not to be a mouth-piece of any terrorist organization showing e-mails and phone conversations with them and give them national coverage and public exposure which they obviously are scouting for. Please do not forget the bloody mayhem they have caused among civilians and bow down to them merely for the sake of TRPs.

Also post this incident am sure the politicians would gain the public sympathy in the curtains of ‘mumbai spirit’ which I definitely do not endorse, its high time we gauge the seriousness of the situation, it surely is a emergency situation in mumbai and am still confused why have they not yet declared emergency in mumbai.

Ending this I would say the terrorists have not only held the hotel inmates as hostages but they have managed to hold the whole city as a hostage, where each individual from today before getting into a train, a bus, a hotel or any other place would think twice and also find himself lucky to have reached home at the end of the day. Signing off i would put the whole episode in a single song “mein zindagi ka saath nibhata chala gaya, barbadiyon ka jashn manata chala gaya, har fikr ko dhuen mein udata chala gaya”

-Divyesh.