Sridevi Aiyaswamy

Sridevi Aiyaswamy is a tech executive and the brains behind Sri Aiyaswamy Solutions. Through this company, she serves a global clientele offering them mobile app development services, web porting applications, and related services. The company has been a success because it leverages her vast experience in the tech industry. Sridevi has more than 20 years’ experience in both the technical and business sides of the tech industry. Some of the companies where she has exercised her skills include Ravel Software and Strataserv. She cofounded Ravel Software in 1995 and was the company’s VP of sales for 3 years up to 1998. She managed to grow the company’s sales by more than 60% in just 15 months. Sridevi achieved this through aggressive marketing and an upgrade of the services that they had on offer. She was also instrumental in growing the company’s revenue base by establishing its consulting division. The longest part of her career before forming Sri Aiyaswamy Solutions was at Strataserv. She worked there for 13 years and oversaw a massive growth in sales in different areas including emergent technologies such as mobile apps and cloud computing. Besides her corporate endeavors, Sridevi is also into charity and has been a volunteer at the Leave a Trail charity for the last 5 years.

Where did the idea for your career come from?

Sri Aiyaswamy Solutions was a natural progression of my career. After close to 2 decades in the tech industry, I felt ready to focus on mobile applications and other growth areas of the tech industry through Sri Aiyaswamy Solutions. So far the company has been a success.

What does your typical day look like and how do you make it productive?

My typical day involves meeting with my staff to catch up on client orders. To make my day productive, I start my meetings early and by afternoon, I am usually free to go out and network with people of strategic importance to the business.

How do you bring ideas to life?

I rely heavily on my experience in the industry. Anytime a good idea comes up, I have a good basis on how to make it work without putting too much at stake.

What’s one trend that excites you?

A.I. excites me a lot. I believe it will transform all sectors of the economy by the year 2050. As a tech entrepreneur, I have to take measures that position me well for the opportunities that it presents.

What is one habit of yours that makes you more productive as an entrepreneur?

I am very receptive to new ideas and that’s a huge asset in the tech industry. This is an industry that is constantly changing and unless you adapt to the changes, you will miss out

What advice would you give your younger self?

I would advise my younger self to follow her passion. When you are passionate about your work, you achieve more and can ride the rough times more easily.

Tell us something that’s true that almost nobody agrees with you on.

A.I. will replace human labor even in the tech industry and programmers could soon be redundant. While my friends think it’s a stretch, we now have A.I. doing most of the coding work in complex algorithms.

As an entrepreneur, what is the one thing you do over and over and recommend everyone else do?

I am constantly investing in myself by learning new skills. Due to the dynamic nature of the business world, I would recommend that all entrepreneurs do the same.

What is one strategy that has helped you grow your business?

I am always aiming for total customer satisfaction. I execute this strategy by selling good quality products and also offering efficient after-sale services.

What is one failure you had as an entrepreneur, and how did you overcome it?

In the course of my entrepreneurial journey, I have had many failures. I can’t pinpoint a specific one. However, I used them as a learning experience and that’s how I got to where I am today.

What is one business idea that you’re willing to give away to our readers?

I would advise someone to gain skills related to machine learning. A.I. is the future and experts in this field will only become more valuable.

What is the best $100 you recently spent? What and why?

I donated it to a charity that deals with special needs children. I have always felt the need to help vulnerable children and this donation was just a part of it.

What is one piece of software or a web service that helps you be productive?

I am a heavy Skype user. It helps me keep in touch with clients and business partners from all across the world, in real-time.

What is the one book that you recommend our community should read and why?

I would recommend The Innovator’s Dilemma by Clayton Christensen. It has lots of useful insights for tech entrepreneurs.

What is your favorite quote?

My favorite quote is, there is no shortage of remarkable ideas, what’s missing is the will to execute them by Seth Godin. It reminds me that without implementation, ideas are worthless.

Key Learnings:

• Persistence
• Learning from failure
• Risk-taking