Ep 145: Volkswagen's Secret Weapon ft. Embitel Technologies
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Who is Sharad Bairathi and what is Embitel Technologies?
I think Volkswagen didn't have any uh engineering uh sort of uh arm in India. And they were also converting into a software technology provider. And uh and we were a very sweet spot for them, like a small company which can easily be integrated into them. Um and we had a product mindset. I think that's what I keep talking about, the talent. Uh I think the talent was good. The people with the product mindset who can architect a product, who can think on a product roadmap. And I think this is what uh they liked about us and they thought that we have given them the platform to build on their journey to being a technology provider. So I think uh uh we it was really a perfect synergy and culture alignment and in fact uh they still have given us the independence.
So we are not really uh sort of uh driven by them. So they are still given us the independent independence to work. And today we are uh really the uh sort of uh innovation hub for the group where we are building up the products which are going to go into eight million cars worldwide. So it's a lot of responsibil responsibility we have taken.
Today's guest is Sharad Bhairati, the founder and managing director of Mbitel Technologies, a global engineering and digital solutions company that has become a force in automotive embedded systems, IOD, IoT and digital commerce. Uh Mbital was founded in two thousand and six and employs almost one thousand people across India and abroad, and they have a presence in Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Pune. And Koimbutur. The company's automotive arm powers connected car technologies, infotainment, and safety critical systems for leading OEMs, including the Volkswagen Group, which is based in Pune and also fully acquired Mbittel in 2022 after an initial strategic investment in 2019. In this episode, we'll deep dive.
Into Sharad's journey from his early days at Tata Lexi to building one of India's most respected and undiscovered automotive tech firms. And we'll unpack what it takes to scale in deep tech, build long term global partnerships and retain an entrepreneurial DNA while also being part of one of the world's largest automotive groups. Sharad, welcome to the podcast.
Thanks everyone. Thanks Marzine. Uh I'm impressed what you guys are doing and look forward to your interaction.
Cool. Uh would love to start with the rapid fire round. Um this is how we get to know you a little outside your LinkedIn bio. Uh a founder or leader you'd blindly back?
I think from the current uh pack of leaders or founder I would definitely go for uh Masayoshisan. Uh I think we all know that he was a guy who bankrolled the Alibaba in his early days. I think I liked his I'm impressed by his uh uh bold vision gambling sort of things. I mean he backs any tech companies. Interesting I think uh for him uh entrepreneurship is uh not about perfection. Um but about risk taking abilities, uh I think he he believes that uh Uh failure is inevitable but necessary. And I think uh I read his book which is a very interesting book called Gambler and where he actually lost everything in two thousand. And he he turned back and saw this as an opportunity and that's where his journey again started in the deep tech where he invested, uh m borderless finance and I think he could see the opportunities where probably nobody has seen.
Yeah. So I will go for him.
One mental model that's shaped how you think.
I think uh very early in my career I think I read this book called The Paranoid Survive. I think its name was only The Paranoid Survive by Andy Grove. I think the book is very interesting. I think I hope the Nokia guys would have read this book, uh, because it talks about the strategic inflection points which comes in any company and uh as a leader uh you should be aware of those points and then take brave decisions. And I think uh you know at that time Intel was uh into memory business and you take a one eighty degree shift to move into the semiconductor uh processor b uh business. And I think uh this is where uh I as a leader have to make sure that when such inflection points come I should be ready.
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