Kantanu Kundu is one of the few Indian tech entrepreneurs who about seven years back predicted the potential of cloud computing technology and invested in building his own cloud computing company called A2Zapps. Kantanu talks about the qualities that a tech leader must possess to succeed in the competitive tech landscape.
Kantanu Kundu is a cloud computing industry veteran with more than 14 years of experience in the internet and enterprise software industry. He was the first global integration consultant for the cloud computing major, Salesforce.com which specialises in providing CRM on a cloud model.
His rich experience as a technology leader coupled with his deep understanding of the potential cloud computing held in the Indian market, led him to start his own cloud computing business, A2Z apps.
On asked about the traits which are essential for a successful tech leader, he emphasised on 6 characteristics:
1) Undying passion for technology driven innovations
A tech leader should be able to generate new ideas through adoption of the right technology and innovation. Given the rapid changes the information technology is going through these days, it’s very important to skip some and leverage some that may lead to a behavior change and cost reduction in your target customer space. It helps one to create a high entry level barrier for the business.
2) Don’t be a follower, be the leader
Don’t follow other technology leaders for everything they do, but learn from the mistakes that they make. If you’re looking for organic growth in the first 5-7 years, start doing things differently. It doesn’t matter even if it takes longer to take an important feature or product to the market. It helps you in your long run strategy
3) Ability to predict to be an early adopter
A tech leader must be aware of pros and cons of new technologies before adopting some of those. Don’t get carried away by the technology hype. Though it’s not an easy task, but one should be able to predict the direction that new technologies may take all of us to and the level of impact it may create for the end users. This helps one to define a solid product roadmap for at least the next 12-18 months.
4) Lead from the front
Be in the driver’s seat if you are a technologist and running a technology company. With so much innovation happening in the technology space for end users, it will be difficult for you to give a certain direction to your company without being in the hot seat
5) Be hands-on
Even if you are a tech leader at the helm of the entire business, you must be able to find some time to code yourself few days in a month or few weeks in a quarter. It helps you to understand the technologies being adopted by your team and align your product with the must-to-have and good-to-have features demanded by your end users.
6) Focus on users of your product
A tech leader needs to spend more time with the target customers even if they reject your product(s) or solutions. Knowing the reasons for those rejections help you to get better than your competitors.
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