[quote style=”boxed”]”If I were to start all over again, it would be to gain more experience. I am a firm believer in that people can never get enough experience. It keeps you from making the same mistakes twice.”[/quote]
Sundar Moorthi is the President of AUGMENTe Tech Studio, an emerging leader in the augmented reality solutions industry. Moorthi and his team of future-focused developers consistently create a world that delves deeper into a textured holistic reality by providing innovative solutions for business owners while en route to better revenue. Augmented reality allows business owners to enhance the consumer shopping experience and shake the foundation of what is real. The augmented reality market is benefitting SMBs and SMEs all over the world and is expected to surpass $1 billion in revenue.
“I wanted to bring people’s dreams to life. Developing augmented reality applications that can allow someone to interact with something they love on a holistic level is the purpose that drives both me and our team of developers.”
What does your typical day look like and how do you make it productive?
I spend most of my day making sure my developers have what they need to create anything our clients request. I keep up with any technological advances and trends so I can continue to create applications and other products we can offer our clients to enhance their lives.
How do you bring ideas to life?
These ideas come from wanting to make the world a better place. Augmented reality solutions can be integrated into everything. If you can dream it my team of developers and I can create it. I am a dreamer by nature and I find inspiration in everything around me. That’s the beauty of augmented reality solutions; they create a much more enriched way of living for any individual. People who are interested in what new environments have to offer them can experience that through augmented reality. To really gain a deeper understanding of life you have to dream big and never let the world hold you back. I am like a yogi, standing on a mountain while breathing in the cool, crisp air and reflecting and meditating on life and all it has to offer. Reaching such an enlightened state helps to fully embrace the future and change without fear. Everything has led up to this moment and will continue to lead to a future where dreams are reality.
What’s one trend that really excites you?
Augmented reality is my passion and it’s a trend that I see gaining popularity once people are educated on what it fully encompasses. The more people are exposed to the benefits of interacting with products that allow you to fully experience life in such a holistic way. The way we at AUGMENTe use augmented reality will allow retailers the ability to deliver a much more enriched customer experience through our interactive applications. Augmented reality changes the way people get to experience things, and the benefits from that are really astounding. The future really is now. What was once a foreign concept is becoming more mainstream, and those early adopters to this trend can see major success and really impact their profitability as a company.
What is one habit of yours that makes you more productive as an entrepreneur?
My imaginative mind never stops. I draw inspiration for my products from it and have created augmented reality solutions that really enhance and engage the world. I don’t think I could have done it if I had stifled my creativity or told myself that something was impossible. With augmented reality the impossible is possible.
What was the worst job you ever had and what did you learn from it?
I have never had a bad job experience. Every job I’ve ever worked at I’ve taken the learning experiences as they come to grow as an employee and now as an entrepreneur. I have worked in different verticals from several startup companies to many Fortune 100 Companies like JP Morgan Chase, Verizon, Kaiser Permanente, All Business, Flutter, SAI System, NIC, Indus and more over the past 20 years, and the most important thing I learned from those jobs is deliberate strategy implementation. I have used these learning experiences to make sure we at AUGMENTe are committed to everything from first class service to first class business.
If you were to start again, what would you do differently?
If I were to start all over again it would be to gain more experience. I am a firm believer in that people can never get enough experience. It keeps you from making the same mistakes twice.
As an entrepreneur, what is the one thing you do over and over and recommend everyone else do?
The one thing that I do repeatedly is listening to what people want. It helps that what I envision for the future drives me to create things that people can interact with and connect with on a whole new level. Like Steve Jobs once said, “If you are working on something exciting that you really care about, you don’t have to be pushed. The vision pulls you.” My vision really allows me to trust that all the elements of the past and the present will come together to create a future that is greater than what we’ve ever imagined possible. Having a vision that incorporates innovative technologies and ideas is something I think every entrepreneur should take advantage of. Learn as much about technology as possible and use it to inspire the future. I think it is important as an entrepreneur to understand how people think and what they would benefit from. Turning those suggestions into something tangible is something every successful entrepreneur should do.
What is one strategy that has helped you grow your business?
My hiring process is a strategy that I feel is helping grow my business exponentially. From the developers I choose to my marketing and sales staff I feel that I have assembled – a team of individuals dedicated to making the same dream I have a reality. Having such a creative and engaging team is by far one of the best things for a business. Without a strong core in place the business wouldn’t be as successful.
What is one failure you had as an entrepreneur, and how did you overcome it?
There are no failures, only learning experiences. Finding the right channels to go to in order to reach the right people is something that took time to overcome. You never want to give your programs to the wrong people and diminish the uniqueness of your product. I’ve learned that you can’t sell an idea before the product is complete. It takes time to develop before getting off the ground and making sure the framework is correct. I’ve started to connect to the right people to get our apps into the right hands and have our products right where they need to be to revolutionize the jewelry industry. We are trying our augmented reality products in the jewelry industry first, but our overall vision is to bring our products to all industries.
What is one business idea that you’re willing to give away to our readers?
My advice would be to develop and implement augmented reality products that dramatically and exponentially transform the scope of your industry. Becoming an early adopter to augmented reality marketing solutions offers a richer depth and effectiveness to advertising mediums while creating synergy to result in a new paradigm of human insights, consumer and business engagement. The benefits of augmented reality are unimaginable when it comes to transforming your industry.
Tell us something about you that very few people know?
I am an avid runner. I run every day for miles at a time.
What software and web services do you use? What do you love about them?
AUGMENTe has great some pretty nice ones. Our software is designed to provide an interactive platform using augmented reality to engage consumers while delivering a fun an innovative approach to life.
What is the one book that you recommend our community should read and why?
The Art of Happiness by Dalai Lama for its philosophical view of happiness as a state of mind. I find the idea of happiness and grand dreams to be what the underlying concept of augmented reality is. The ability to turn those happy dreams into a holistic reality.
What people have influenced your thinking and might be of interest to others?
I enjoy listening to NPR and find most everyone very astute. I also like techcrunch.com and mashable.com and find them very perceptive. Their insights into technology news and trends and what they feature on augmented reality catches my attention and gives me new ideas for future products.
Connect:
AUGMENTe Tech Studio on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AugmentetechstudioLLC
AUGMENTe Tech Studio on Twitter: @AugmenteTechStu
AUGMENTe Tech Studio on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/augmente-techstudio
Mario Schulzke is the Founder of ideamensch, which he started a decade ago to learn from entrepreneurs and give them a platform for their ideas.