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Join NABR in partnership with Corp! Magazine for our CEO & Executive Thought Leadership Series, where Jennifer Kluge sits down with C-Suite Leaders to get their insight and expertise.
NABR is a service organization igniting greatness in companies and their people.
00:00:00:00 - 00:00:19:13
Jennifer
Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of Executive Thought Leadership. I am your host, Jennifer Kluge, and today we have a very, very special guest, Bhushan Kulkarni. He is the CEO and founder of Info Ready Corporation. Welcome. Welcome to the program.
00:00:19:15 - 00:00:21:06
Bhushan
No. Thank you for having me here.
00:00:21:09 - 00:00:56:05
Jennifer
Well, let me tell everyone about you. Bouchon is a distinguished technology entrepreneur. What we like to say Mega entrepreneur. And you are recognized for founding multiple successful ventures, including GDI Infotech, Info Ready Corporation, and most recently, the co-founder of sensei. And as a mega entrepreneur. You are extremely successful in all of these projects that you touch, and we're going to explore your success.
00:00:56:07 - 00:01:04:04
Jennifer
Your thoughts on cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, and your advice for others. So welcome to the program.
00:01:04:06 - 00:01:13:10
Bhushan
No. Thank you again for and really a big kudos to you for all the great you and your team. You know those at the national level.
00:01:13:12 - 00:01:34:18
Jennifer
Thank you, thank you, thank you. Now let me tell everyone about info ready and correct me if I'm wrong. It's a software platform for process and automation. You basically take a lot of data and you work with universities mostly, and you take all of that data in, and you're is so a human can make a quick decision from the data.
00:01:34:18 - 00:01:36:11
Jennifer
Is that correct?
00:01:36:13 - 00:02:27:08
Bhushan
Yeah. Yeah, in a way, it's a, you know, it's a enterprise level decision platform that's used by most major universities. And what began as an experiment in Ann Arbor, collaborating with the great University of Michigan right here in our backyard, has really captured the imagination of the market, to a point where we have over 65% market share at the national level of colleges and universities, most major universities, using for ready platform for making competitive decisions of all kinds to know, you know whom to give grant dollars to whom to give fellowship or scholarship.
00:02:27:10 - 00:02:45:22
Bhushan
Deciding on awards, promotions, tenure. There are hundreds of different use cases how they how they use the platform. And, and we've been really enjoying our collaboration with colleges and universities throughout the nation.
00:02:45:24 - 00:03:07:03
Jennifer
That's exciting. Congratulations. Let's talk about artificial intelligence, because I would imagine that's going to play a big role in what you do. Are you making changes with artificial intelligence to your company? And, and let's talk through that. And what kind of significant changes you can expect related to AI?
00:03:07:05 - 00:03:39:00
Bhushan
Yeah, I mean, AI is not just a big gobby word that, you know, for, but it's, it's really here. And you know, we are just touching the tip of the iceberg when it comes to AI. And AI is going to change our lives dramatically, even more than how internet did it for us. So there is still a lot of skepticism about AI, and rightfully so, because it's still evolving and know and so on.
00:03:39:02 - 00:04:12:14
Bhushan
You know, for info, it is taking, you know, very proactive approach, in terms of, you know, how AI can be used both internally to grow organization as well as what is in it for our customers and taking proactive steps. Since we focus in the higher ed ecosystem, higher ed, you know, you know, which is basically, a land of, you know, for intellectuals, the last thing they want to think about is artificial intelligence.
00:04:12:16 - 00:04:52:06
Bhushan
But even higher ed is adopting quite quickly, you know, you know, for in NLP, you know, using AI, I mean, just to give you an examples like, you know, some of the things we have been proactively thinking about, things as simple as, if you are an user and applied for fellowship or a scholarship, there is no reason why, you know, infertility can, you know, for recommend you that there are maybe ten other fellowships or ten other scholarships that you may be interested in, or you applied for a certain type of internal grant.
00:04:52:08 - 00:05:19:04
Bhushan
There's no reason why, you know, I can help you. And, so on my recommendation to both our internal team as well as our users is always, you know, use AI with a grain of salt because, you know, for, you know, the real intelligence really can be fully replaced with AI. So look at, you know, what are the outcomes AI is giving you?
00:05:19:06 - 00:05:25:12
Bhushan
And, and just make sure that you are in agreement with that before challenging a little bit.
00:05:25:12 - 00:05:27:19
Jennifer
Right. You know, learning.
00:05:27:21 - 00:05:28:11
Bhushan
Yeah.
00:05:28:13 - 00:05:53:20
Jennifer
Yeah. So, so everybody in that I've been talking to related to this topic, we can't help but think that we're in the next revolution. You know how there was the Industrial revolution. You mentioned that this is going to be bigger than the internet. So there's artificial intelligence. There's all these social platforms now. There's all the scraping of data from here and there, selling of data.
00:05:54:00 - 00:06:11:10
Jennifer
There's even quantum computing, which wow, that can that can just be a mind blow, right? And give us a feel for the average business person. And what we can expect in the next five years ahead of what technology is going to be capable of doing.
00:06:11:10 - 00:06:55:09
Bhushan
The whole lot. And it's already, you know, for like if you go to chat, GPT and and just, you know, us very simple question that, hey, give me a battle card for all in for any competitors out there. And it nicely organizes pages and pages of information in a tabular format and gives you that information in a matter of seconds, which would have taken me or, you know, someone on my team, hours and hours and days of day, days to compile that information and so on.
00:06:55:09 - 00:07:18:13
Bhushan
So that is, again, like I said, you know, it's just tip of the iceberg when you look at auto industry, since we are in a here in Michigan, literally, you know, for early to mid 80s, robots started arriving on the assembly line. And today if you go on the assembly line, all the work is done by robots, and so on.
00:07:18:13 - 00:08:00:05
Bhushan
AI is just, you know, well, you can now look at AI replacing some of those jobs, some of the functions that we do, you know, how we get to the finish line is going to change quite a bit because of AI, you know, and we, we are going to be living in continuous information overload. How do you, you know, will get the information that's available both externally and internally to synthesize that information for making decisions and all that, all that is going to change dramatically.
00:08:00:07 - 00:08:26:15
Bhushan
Yeah. It's already here. And, you know, next it's going to move at a pace that is going to be mind boggling in next two, three, five years, we are going to be living in a very different world because we will get used to, you know, I remember my dad telling me when I was younger not to use the calculator because, you know, my brain will get rusty for.
00:08:26:15 - 00:08:27:24
Jennifer
That two.
00:08:28:01 - 00:08:50:17
Bhushan
Year kind of in that in a phase right now with AI. Yeah. You know, and and so on. So but fast forward five years from now, I think it will be part of everything we do, you know, will it make us, you know rusty for. Well, no not really. I think, you know, for everything will evolve for the good of mankind.
00:08:50:19 - 00:09:17:23
Jennifer
So I think the lesson there is prepare for constant change in our businesses. And staying on top of that technology is is going to be a challenge, but it's also going to be fun. As a mega entrepreneur, we have to ask why so many businesses? Why, why, why dabble in multiple businesses as you have you you've started a couple walk us through the thought process on that.
00:09:18:00 - 00:09:43:17
Bhushan
I, I like your terminology of mega entrepreneur because a lot of times when people call me serial entrepreneur, you know, I, you know, I kind of, you know, come to the definition of that, you know, that means I'm still trying to figure out, right, right, who I want to be when I grow up. So I stopped asking question to my kids, who do they want to be, you know, when they grow up.
00:09:43:17 - 00:10:09:11
Bhushan
But, you know, but the jokes are part really. If, you know, I'm not really always looking for starting a new business, but it's so happens that, the idea gets presented to you and the ideas entrepreneur in me always looks for, you know, how to fill those gaps. You know, better, efficient, faster, in a cheaper way and so on.
00:10:09:15 - 00:10:34:17
Bhushan
And in for it is a good example. It started just as a project with University of Michigan trying to make competitive decisions by using tools cobbled together from email, Excel, Google Docs, Dropbox and all that. And, you know, the first use case they had in, you know, deciding whom to give, you know, a certain type of limited submission grants.
00:10:34:21 - 00:11:12:02
Bhushan
It was very interesting that, the large public university using technology for and solving the problem with tools cobbled together what, you know, it just, you know, light bulb went off and I started asking other universities and they were all doing the same thing, using tools cobbled together. And that helped create infertility because, you know, we were able to create a replicable solution that was then applicable at other colleges and universities.
00:11:12:02 - 00:11:24:16
Bhushan
So it just one thing leads to another, you know, to not to start a new company. And I've been doing that for most of my adult life, almost 35 years now.
00:11:24:18 - 00:11:32:00
Jennifer
That's great. So there's a need and you it's like a puzzle. You want to go solve it and next thing you know, it's a business. Congrats.
00:11:32:02 - 00:12:14:23
Bhushan
Yeah. No. Thank you. Just very recently, my wife and I launched, other company called Laser Link, along with the partner here in Ann Arbor, which is not a sexy business where it's basically doing all the back office outsourcing for high growth, businesses where, the founders and their leadership teams can focus on building the company, you know, for building the product or building the market where, you know, they know don't need to worry about, you know, what the back office, you know, looks like you're just, you know, kind of the idea got presented.
00:12:15:00 - 00:12:20:09
Bhushan
And now we know that company is signing almost, you know, 1 to 2 customers every week.
00:12:20:13 - 00:12:49:14
Jennifer
So just keep us rised. Why am I not surprised you added another company to the to the growing family of businesses. You know, in in your role, you see things a little differently than some of the other leaders. You have multiple businesses. These are fast paced. The world is changing very quickly and they're fast growing. So what leadership qualities were your success?
00:12:49:14 - 00:12:58:12
Jennifer
Where did your success come from, and what leadership qualities and leadership traits did you use in a fast growing, fast paced environment?
00:12:58:14 - 00:13:27:16
Bhushan
I think, it's not a rocket science, but to me, I think, the mission has to be very clear in, in your head so that you can articulate it to, your shareholders, your, team and your entire ecosystem, you know, in terms of who we are, for the leader needs to also define who we are not.
00:13:27:18 - 00:13:58:12
Bhushan
And, and help the team create laser focus, execution steps and so on that, and it's very important for most of the startups because what happens, you know, the startup founders start with an idea and then take it to the market. And, if you are just in love with your idea because you think that's the best thing, you know, that you have come up with, you know, everything can go wrong.
00:13:58:12 - 00:14:26:15
Bhushan
I mean, really been up for listening to the market and what they're telling you to formulate. Your product market fit is the most crucial part of scaling up. Well, the scaling up, to me is much, much easier if you spend enough time in your product finding product market fit. And that requires an a clear mission and clear execution steps.
00:14:26:17 - 00:14:59:08
Bhushan
And being open to, hearing everyone out and see how you need to refine your plan. And to some extent, that new, real mindset and that approach should never change. Doesn't matter how fast you're growing or you know, or at what scale you are growing, because in a constant refinement and a constant reinvention is very critical in terms of that fast growth.
00:14:59:14 - 00:15:40:02
Bhushan
So that's one aspect of it. And yeah, and yeah, and the other aspect of it is really, you know, for, you know, for each functional area, what are the key metrics, how, you know, how do you define success. What does success in them, mean for every function. And how do you, you know, track that success that really creates, you know, the road, I call it, how do you succeed by design requires no more thinking about really being on the same page about key metrics and keeping them going.
00:15:40:05 - 00:15:41:08
Jennifer
Wonderful.
00:15:41:10 - 00:15:50:21
Bhushan
You know, that has really helped me build. Now, this is the third, in 500 company models. So, you know.
00:15:50:23 - 00:15:53:08
Jennifer
Really listening to the market.
00:15:53:10 - 00:15:53:18
Bhushan
You know.
00:15:53:24 - 00:16:16:06
Jennifer
And, and defining success and, and being very practical about the action items that happen and what needs to happen to get there. Thank you for sharing that. I feel a lot of folks listening could really use that. There's so many companies out there to your point that lost their entrepreneurial spirit. And when you say you need something, they say no.
00:16:16:08 - 00:16:42:11
Jennifer
So very good advice on listening and adapting because you know, that's how you won. Oh you you got there. So so thank you. Were there any monumental moments in your career usually we remember the bad ones, but there's also good ones out there too. Can you share a monumental moment where you had something really big happen and walk us through that scenario?
00:16:42:15 - 00:17:20:02
Bhushan
I think it, it was kind of a realization over, over a period of time that really helped me, quite a bit, because when I started building GDI Infotech, it is a services and solutions consulting company. So the kind of work GDI does, whether it's in, digital transformation initiatives, cloud migration initiatives or cybersecurity initiatives, it they are mainly, you know, work for a higher kind of initiatives, and info ready for example.
00:17:20:02 - 00:17:55:06
Bhushan
That's a good example because in 48, it began as one of the projects which, you know, for. But until you know, it got to a point, evolve with a platform thinking, you know, to kind of change the mindset from services, solutions, business to a platform business, you know, was a major, you know, mind shift for me, because now if you look at in for it is revenue, it's 100% recurring, you know, licensing revenue.
00:17:55:07 - 00:18:24:01
Bhushan
There's no customization involved. There is no there are no professional services in walls of building the platform that can be applicable to dozens and dozens of different scenarios and giving power to the user to configure it in whatever fashion, and making it easier for them to do it without any help from IT experts and other experts and so on.
00:18:24:01 - 00:18:52:18
Bhushan
That mindset shift in terms of how do we create the platform that can be used by pretty much anyone and they can be just, you know, no technical background to high technical background. And somewhere in between how, you know, how do we make it easier? That was a major shift in terms of for building the new businesses or the new businesses they launched after that mind shift.
00:18:52:20 - 00:19:07:02
Bhushan
You know, you know, people have been really phenomenal in terms of the rate of the growth, you know, you know, for as well as as well as, you know, the valuation scenarios are very different. I mean.
00:19:07:04 - 00:19:45:13
Jennifer
That was a completely different business model. So you started that business model A and in the middle you went to Business Model B, which I, I would imagine that that would keep you up at night a little saying, okay, we already invested. You know, this is this is risky. So so congratulations on that. If you based on your knowledge, technology, what advice would you give to other business leaders and executives, other CEOs out there related to what they should be focusing on in technology and what risks they're having currently?
00:19:45:13 - 00:19:52:02
Jennifer
What are some of the common mistakes that you're seeing that other leaders are doing and and what are they missing?
00:19:52:04 - 00:20:16:23
Bhushan
I think there are a lot of mistakes I made. So there is there's a lot to learn from those mistakes. And and one of the chief, you know, recommendation that I have, which I, you know, learn learned hard way is always invest in technology. And even if it sounds it may sound like overkill, you know, invest in technology proactively.
00:20:17:00 - 00:20:58:02
Bhushan
And well before you think you need it, because that will make your life, you know, much, much easier. Like, especially for startup entrepreneurs, you know, form, many of my fellow entrepreneurs, including me at my, you know, early stages would look for, you know, free versions of CRM, free versions of marketing automation, low cost versions of technology. To get the word out there from marketing, marketing, communication, lead generation, CRM stuff and, and all that, even if for maybe not.
00:20:58:02 - 00:21:42:02
Bhushan
For example, it would be even if you can't afford tools like HubSpot or you think it's not the right time to do that, do it now. That will make your life much easier. Because you know, when the, you know, scale happens, you want to have a foundation for scaling that, scaling that up. So the new companies that I launch, I always looked at how to do more with less in terms of how do we use high tech in running the operation so it becomes easier for, you know, for your team to perform at a different level as the things get going?
00:21:42:04 - 00:22:07:10
Jennifer
Yeah, that's really, really good advice. And there's many businesses out there that look at budget before technology as an expense item. Right. And in order to grow or to scale, you need to have the technology or the processes in place. That's excellent. Excellent advice. You know, there's so many tech threats out there right now. There's so many is so hard to keep.
00:22:07:13 - 00:22:46:15
Jennifer
Keep going. Password leaks and ransomware and access to bank accounts. Oh my gosh, malware. You know, some of our family members have been either coerced into sending money or or whatever it may be. It's scary. It's scary for a lot of people. And there's even countries fighting each other. It's almost like a a war out there with all this technology and hacking and, and trying to steal our stuff, and they're trying to steal their stuff, give us a feel for what we as leaders need to be concerned about as it relates to these threats.
00:22:46:17 - 00:22:57:09
Jennifer
Because there's so much coming at us, either be the voice of reason here or tell us to keep worrying. I don't know, but we shouldn't tell us. Tell us what you think about what's happening in the world right now.
00:22:57:10 - 00:23:37:15
Bhushan
The number one threat, believe it or not, you know, for looking at everything going in the world, everywhere. Is cyber security and and part of, you know, for the challenge is individuals and small and medium sized companies that don't have a right cyber posture are the ones that are getting attacked at the monumental level. Just this past year alone, the cyber attacks on small and medium sized businesses went up by over 400 and 400%.
00:23:37:17 - 00:24:14:23
Bhushan
And, you know, and they're coming at us from, variety of different ways. Majority of the times, you know, people think about when they think about cyber security, they think that I need some unique technology to solve the problem. Most of the times it's not so much technology. But it's not the lack of awareness and lack of understanding on some of the basic things that each human being or each company should be, should be doing well and all that.
00:24:15:00 - 00:24:44:14
Bhushan
I have seen more, you know, CPAs opening very confidential information on public Wi-Fi all the way to, you know, legal forms, opening some of the confidential data without using, you know, multifactor authentication or using virtual private network and so on. So the more training and awareness of people, for people, what they should be doing is very crucial.
00:24:44:16 - 00:25:21:01
Bhushan
So if you are the leader of a small, medium size, small company or even a large company because large companies have, you know, affordability to buy all kinds of technologies out there. But if you don't have a culture of proactive cyber, you know, full, you know, security level, and if you don't have the awareness and training for most of those challenges or problems happen because someone clicks on something or, you know, it's because of human error.
00:25:21:03 - 00:25:49:07
Bhushan
So providing the the training and awareness and making people aware of what they should be doing and what they should not be doing is, is very, very critical. Whether you're a small, medium size organization or even large organization. I've seen large organizations getting hacked, you know, just because, you know, for the the cyber security is managed by IT departments.
00:25:49:09 - 00:26:01:13
Bhushan
The rest of us don't need to worry about anything. We are all secured. But no, it's, it's top down, bottom up. Everyone that should be there. What they should be. Yeah.
00:26:01:15 - 00:26:10:23
Jennifer
And they're smarter and smarter. And that's where I comes in, too. I. I might make it even easier for the bad guys to get it. So.
00:26:11:00 - 00:26:11:03
Bhushan
Yeah.
00:26:11:05 - 00:26:39:05
Jennifer
Yeah. To your point, it's the human and it's all it's it's a human resource issue. Cyber security is not necessarily a technology issue. So that's a really, really good point for leaders as well. You know I'm on this program. We'd like to demystify the seat of a CEO and and a leader. And so, so many times were looked at for the title rather than the human right.
00:26:39:07 - 00:26:49:10
Jennifer
So let's let's talk about you as a human and get to know you a little bit better. Are you involved in any community projects or charity work?
00:26:49:12 - 00:27:33:02
Bhushan
Yeah, yeah, I've been involved quite a bit on a variety of, you know, community projects. Currently pretty active in a couple of them that are near and dear to me, particularly, you know, Michigan Founders Fund, which started as an Arbor's Entrepreneurs fund, Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation, when I was chairing the community Foundation here, you know, and one thing led to another to, to form a state wide file when C3 called Michigan Founders Fund, which is basically a network of founders for founders.
00:27:33:04 - 00:28:27:15
Bhushan
What we what we are doing is a Michigan Founders Fund is helping each other get there faster by creating the network. You know, we don't to foster entrepreneurship and helping them out, get on the faster track. And, you know, and so on. So, you know, that's that's the one I'm, really involved in now, co-chair that the, that board, the other one that I have been involved with is Washtenaw Community College Foundation, where, you know, I've been involved with virtual community college to realize that average age of student debt is 29, and most of the students just don't have an opportunity to get launched at the right time in their career.
00:28:27:17 - 00:29:05:09
Bhushan
So they're trying to find a way to get ahead in life by, you know, getting their education and launching their lives, you know, at a different scale while working on sometimes 1 to 3 jobs way to going to school and supporting the family and all that. So I've been involved with the foundation there to create the launchpad in terms of providing, you know, emergency support grants, to scholarships and other funding to help them, you know, get there faster.
00:29:05:11 - 00:29:10:07
Bhushan
So those are the two that's near and dear to me, at least, you know, currently out.
00:29:10:07 - 00:29:27:19
Jennifer
There about helping others succeed. Yeah. Also a trait of a mega entrepreneur, also a trait. So so thank you for doing that in the community. Do you do what do you do for fun? Do you have any hobbies or interests? What you do for fun?
00:29:27:21 - 00:29:55:03
Bhushan
Every for time I get some time, I will pull out my harmonica and start to start. Music is the is the number one stress buster. But more than more than that. You know, I'm kind of I'm a frustrated music musician because when you think of entrepreneurship and being a musician, you can never get good at both of those things.
00:29:55:06 - 00:29:58:22
Bhushan
You just don't keep practicing.
00:29:58:24 - 00:30:07:21
Jennifer
The stress reliever. You don't need to go to Carnegie Hall. You know, it's so it's the harmonica. What else is that? Any other instruments?
00:30:07:23 - 00:30:21:04
Bhushan
Yeah, I played for keyboard and with the bongos and those type of things. I love music, I'm not good at anything. I'm just, you know. Well, like, do you like to play music? Yeah.
00:30:21:06 - 00:30:33:12
Jennifer
Oh that's great, that's fun, that's fun. Have you had in your life, in your personal life, have you had any game changer decisions that helped you as a human?
00:30:33:15 - 00:31:05:10
Bhushan
I think one of the major thing that I learned from from a leadership perspective that has been game changer for me the last two decades, is I got involved in nonprofit sector as a volunteer, met a lot of successful, interesting people and got a chance to work with them. And then I started asking myself, why are these people so passionate about doing this?
00:31:05:12 - 00:31:34:09
Bhushan
And, you know, and so on. So it kind of gave me a trigger point where I started thinking, what if I start treating my leadership team and employees as volunteers in my companies? Okay. And, you know, because these volunteers that are, that have been involved with me in nonprofit, first of all, they're passionate. Nobody's asking them to do anything.
00:31:34:11 - 00:32:12:23
Bhushan
Nobody's paying them to do anything. On the contrary, they're paying and spending their time. But what if I, you know, treat my fellow colleagues that way? And that has been transformational. That mind shift has been transformational to a point where, people then don't have a fear of failure. They can say whatever they want to say. We know their performance reviews and compensation and all that is here, and you just change the that one mindset, change the, help me change the culture.
00:32:13:00 - 00:32:42:15
Bhushan
You know, of everything I did. And I've been practicing that for almost ten years. And that has been phenomenal, you know, for because, you know, then you see which person sits on what seat because they are very passionate about that seat. And then you just let them do their stuff and then the magic happens, you know, instead of asking them what they're doing, they're telling you, you know, well, you know, what I should be doing.
00:32:42:15 - 00:33:14:02
Bhushan
And that's will that really resonates with me, with my servant leadership style that has been truly transformational love, because I think now I can write chapters and chapters on this topic because you know, that simple thought process has helped quite a bit in, you know, maintaining very high employee retention ratio as well as building, you know, the culture in a very different light all together.
00:33:14:04 - 00:33:37:14
Jennifer
Well, we're always learning. We're always learning. And, and in, in your case, you practice what you were learning. And it turned out to be a wonderful addition to your life. Let's let's end with this question. I everybody has a different definition of happiness in your view, what is happiness.
00:33:37:16 - 00:34:25:04
Bhushan
Whether it's a family or a business? I so generate happiness by seeing other people succeed. And just to being part of it. You know, a lot of times, you know, God has given like like God has given us two years and one mouth because we can listen more and talk less. But, you know, for, you know, really having an empathetic approach, towards your relationships, whether their personal or business, you know, just, just gives them a lot of help or happiness and peace of mind when I see other people succeed and being part of their journey.
00:34:25:06 - 00:34:45:02
Jennifer
Yeah, well, Bhushan, that that's wonderful advice. And I've been wondering, wonderful learning about you as a human, but also learning more about your success on your many successful businesses. Congratulations to you and keep shining bright.
00:34:45:04 - 00:34:53:23
Bhushan
Well, thank you again for having me. And again, kudos to you and your team for the great work that you do at the national level.
00:34:54:00 - 00:35:03:12
Jennifer
Thank you so much. Thank you so much. It was wonderful having Bhushan on the on the call today. Have a great day everyone. We'll see you next time. Bye bye everybody.