As a Managing Director and Co-Founder of Revel, Vikas Kamran oversees the definition and implementation of the firm’s strategic goals and objectives. He provides leadership and direction towards broadening the firm’s solution offerings, business development, quality assurance and risk management initiatives. Vikas also drives an industry leading employee recruitment and development program, sustains high performance standards, develops and oversees corporate policies as well as the firm’s financial control mechanisms.
He is a senior business and IT executive with a track record of innovation and success with multi-million dollar projects. Prior to co-founding Revel Consulting, he was a manager in Accenture’s New York office. At Accenture, he was responsible for partnering with Fortune 500 leaders to deliver strategic roadmaps and execution plans for key transformation initiatives. Vikas began his career in Accenture’s Seattle office where he was responsible for major projects at Microsoft, AT&T, Charles Schwab, and Bellsouth.
What are you working on right now?
I’m spending my time focused on three key areas at Revel:
- Leading our efforts to expand geographically into the huge and diverse markets of California (including San Francisco and Los Angeles), as well as provide new services areas including financial services, retail, and healthcare.
- In order for this geographic and service growth to succeed, Revel will continue to need the best of the best, so my other current priority is to lead the firm’s recruitment efforts, attracting, training and retaining the best talent through relationship building and internship creation with top business schools.
- Lastly, and just as important to me as the business side of Revel, I’m helping to build the firm’s Sustainable Giving program. Through Sustainable Giving we not only make financial contributions to local non-profit partners, but also pro bono consulting support to help them utilize best practices often found in the private sector, allowing them to sustain their cause and broaden their impact.
3 trends that excite you?
1. The non-cliché Cloud: It may sound cliché because everyone’s talking about it – but I’m really excited about advances in cloud computing. I’m fascinated by the rapid development of cloud technologies that are helping businesses and everyday consumers move from internal infrastructure to hosting data, services (and who knows what is next) in the cloud. Amazing amounts of capital and time efficiencies continue to come from this trend with deep impacts on businesses and bottom lines.
2. Smart, savvy non-profits: Often through technology, it’s exciting to see the non-profit sector apply “private sector” business practices to solve challenges, streamlining operations and making the most of their typically razor-thin resources.
3. The Social Network (not the movie): Social networks are connecting businesses and individuals like never before, enabling innovative product development – and I believe we’re only a fraction of the way into where these networks will take us. I’m excited to see where growing networks take us personally and professionally.
How do you bring ideas to life?
For me, it begins with a personal passion for the idea – I have to have the passion to drive the idea. Then it’s about building a talented, motivated team to execute the idea without micromanaging them. Finally, I aim to back up my passion with personal follow-through, staying involved to see the idea come to life.
What inspires you?
Growth and Change. The end result of coaching, mentoring, and/or helping an executive or consultant solve a complex challenge and grow their business idea is the greatest feeling in the world. It’s that feeling of fulfillment that inspires and drives me each day.
What is one mistake you’ve made, and what did you learn from it?
I now recognize that my deep passion for new ideas can sometimes blur my view of results. In the past I’ve made decisions to continue investing in ideas that weren’t yielding expected returns when I should have stopped, assessed, and then made an educated decision rather than letting my emotions dictate the next steps. Lesson learned: embrace my passion to drive great new ideas, but have a handle on the brake too!
What is one business idea that you’re willing to give away to our readers?
It’s one simple idea, but it’s the one we’ve built our entire company business model around: PURE Consulting – removing the barriers between great minds and great opportunities. In today’s business world, things can get so cluttered and overdone. Whatever your business is, get back to basics, remove unneeded steps or bureaucracy and connect your people directly with great ideas.
What is one book and one tool that helps you bring ideas to life?
Book: Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, by Malcolm Gladwell. I’ve found that Gladwell’s notion of “first impression being correct” is very applicable to new business ideas that we have at Revel. Often times in business there is a tendency to do copious amounts of market research, surveys, etc. to decide what direction to go, when sometimes the most obvious direction is your first instinct. Know and trust your first instinct on ideas, and go with it.
Tool: I’m going old skool here – Listenting. I know, sounds so simple, but I’ve found that turning everything else off and truly listening to our clients and our associates helps me understand current business trends, sparks news ideas, and develop ways to make ideas come to life. With the clutter of everything else around us in life today, simply listening is a powerful tool.
Who would you love to see interviewed on IdeaMensch?
I would love to hear more from Mark Zuckerberg. Like nothing seen before, Facebook has accelerated democracy by developing an organic platform, free from any governance or bias. It has enabled us to achieve a unified voice of the united, global world. Through Facebook, daily contact with a broad network of friends provides the intimacy required to band together for a common cause. Not to mention the various monetization models that can be infused into this population of 500+ million (hey, I’m an entrepreneur at heart!).
What do you feel is the next evolution in technology?
With television advertisements, online buzz, and signage up and down Highway 101 in Silicon Valley, it’s easy to recognize ‘the Cloud’ is one evolution that’s already here. We now have the global infrastructure to support extensive downloads, multiple mobile devices requiring anytime, anywhere availability of stored information. With Cloud ubiquity upon us, we’ll now see trends for embracing green technologies to support this highly transactional environment.
How do you manage to find time for the simple pleasures in life?
Honestly, this continues to be a challenge considering the pace at which technology, processes, and people are expected to change – a pace our business must be one step ahead of to succeed. However, recently I joined a yoga studio to help me clear and “turn off” my business mind (although I’m still coming up with some of my best business ideas in the quiet yoga studio!). More than anything I set aside time to spend with my wife and family, who are my biggest supporters and bring me the most fundamental pleasures in life.
Connect:
Email – [email protected]
Vikas Kamran on LinkedIn –
Web –
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.