(This feature was published in the second volume of The Leadership Review)
Rohan Shravan seems to personify the effervescent energy pushing Indian youth to explore and conquer new dimensions. He is the founder of Bangalore based Notion Ink with an employee strength of close to a hundred and an average employee age of 22 years. Notion Ink describes itself as a firm dedicated to pushing computing devices towards Singularity. {The Singularity being geek speak for the technological creation of smarter-than-human intelligence through merging the thresholds of multiple technologies. Convergence, apparently, is when humans achieve Singularity.} Notion Ink’s breakthrough product Adam Tablet which is a beguiling mix of a computer, a phone, and a camera all by itself, is deservedly making the headlines. Shravan himself is, perhaps prematurely, touted to be the Indian version of Steve Jobs.
The Shravan style
An Indian Institute of Technology alumnus with a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Shravan’s description of himself on his LinkedIn profile speaks volumes.
He describes himself as “(one who) Design(s) devices which will enable people to realize their dreams!” He does not use ‘mediocrity crutches’ like wants to, is enthusiastic about, plans to, is going to et al, which characterizes the patchiness displayed by the products of our education system. His certainty that he is an achiever comes from his conviction that he is different, and he tells us why– “First time when I earned through direct business was when I was 12 years old.” What he seems to mean is “An average twelve years old does not normally achieve what I have. I am an achiever. I have always been an achiever.”
As to his future ambitions - “Convergence excites me and I will constantly be working towards the same. Adam is my brainchild and it’s just one of the first few devices I want to realize.” It is clear that his ambition is his passion; he does not say that Convergence is the next big thing, or Convergence as a concept has enormous unrealized potential. Instead, he emphasizes that he is in the game for the sake of the game itself. He concludes that Adam is just a harbinger towards pushing computing devices towards Singularity, and in no way represents finality. This ambition of realizing more devices is powered by his passion for convergence, and seems to be an innate expression or authentic quest for growth.
This sort of confidence has been seen before, but usually in Silicon valley, not in Bengaluru, and especially not at this age, a ripe old 25. If he can pull it off it will be exhilarating, and a very good thing for all the repressed, suppressed and oppressed entrepreneurs of Young India.
Caveat
With all these game changing promises that Adam makes, it sounds too good to be true to many, more so when it comes with a relatively unknown brand name Notion Ink. Even The Adam’s coming into being has been questioned a lot, as almost one year had elapsed between its eventual availability for pre-order in December 2010, and its first presentation at Consumer Electronics Show in January 2010. Besides this their loyal followers who had avidly followed and posted on their blog written by Rohan, felt cheated when they were allegedly not given the first access to Adam. While the pre-orders are still being taken, people questioned the security of their payment processing gateway, as many Banks were denying transactions thinking they were fraudulent.
Having said this, The Adam can very well be the next technological breakthrough which we all were looking for, and Rohan may turn out to be India’s answer to Steve Jobs.
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