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Rediff.com  » Business » Silicon Valley star readies her latest innovation: software, at the flick of a switch

Silicon Valley star readies her latest innovation: software, at the flick of a switch

By Suman Guha Mozumder in New York
Last updated on: October 14, 2005 19:38 IST
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Anu Shukla. Photo: RubiconUnlike many Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, Anu Shukla did not study engineering or computer science. At Delhi's wellknown St Stephens college, she opted for a Bachelor's degree in history.

The 46-year-old serial entrepreneur, who sold her software company in 2000 for $366 million, says her liberal arts background has proved to be more of a help than a hindrance as far as her career is concerned.

"History is very interesting because those who do not know history are destined to repeat it, and liberal arts produces good thinkers," says Shukla, founder and CEO of RubiconSoft Inc. "I think it gave me a good background, which is very important for an entrepreneur.

Last fortnight, she was named one of two recipients of the Entrepreneurial Achievement Award given by the Washington-based Dialogue on Diversity.

In naming her for the prestigious award ahead of the October 5 gala dinner in Washington, DC where the awards were bestowed, Dialogue on Diversity noted how Shukla, who came to the US with an undergraduate degree, moved swiftly to assume direction of a series of firms in the IT industry and became a successful presence in the Silicon Valley tech corridor.

Shukla, who has a master's degree in Business Administration with specialisation in marketing from Youngstown State University, Ohio, says her liberal arts background combined with her MBA degree and more than 15 years of work experience in high-tech software companies have helped hone her entrepreneurial skills.

"The first company I founded was Rubrix, which was marketing software for the business to business market here. The software and Internet service I am creating now has really a service which will be made available to businesses that are retail companies," Shukla says.

"It really is quite a consistent theme of leveraging my background in application of technology and understanding what motivates people, which is what my liberal arts background tells me, plus the ability to create products through my experience in high-tech industries and marketing. So, I would say that the founding of RubiconSoft in 2001 is a very consistent and logical fruition of what I have learnt."

Shukla founded Rubrix, a pioneer of Enterprise Marketing Automation, in 1997 with $14 million in venture capital funding. She sold off the company in 2000 for $366 million. She then took a break for about a year, and did a lot of leisure travel while trying to figure out what she wanted to do next.

In between her travels and some mentorship and other non-profit activities, she hit upon the idea of creating an on-demand service for multi-channel retailers and online service providers.

"Whenever we have a kind of platform shift in the industry, it creates a lot of opportunity and I said to myself that I had enough interest, energy, vigour and passion, and I did not want to sit back and let go the opportunities," Shukla said.

She also began work on another idea, and founded RubiconSoft with another $8.5 million of venture capital funding.

Shukla says the company is poised to launch a whole range of Internet-based consumer services, but did not want to divulge details as the company is in stealth mode.

"What I can say at this stage is that we will be offering software as a service, much like a utility like electricity (and), which means nobody has to install software," she explained. "You just switch it on and use as much of our service as you need."

What she is creating, she says, hopefully will be of big help to the business to consumer marketeers. "It will revolutionise the way people interact with different brand and online sellers," she said.

Before turning entrepreneur, Shukla worked in Silicon Valley in several small and medium sized entrepreneurial companies, in positions ranging from vice-president to chief operating officer. Most of these companies ultimately became big successes.

"One day I decided to become an entrepreneur herself," she said. "Having worked with entrepreneurs, I said I will do it myself when I have an idea that could really become big one day, and that came in 1997 when I founded the first company."

She says starting something from scratch, turning it into something that will sell for over $300 million, then starting another that has potential to bring in even more money, is no big deal when you think about it.

Once you have done it the first time, once you realise you have the ability to visualize a small idea and turn it into a very big thing, one is compelled to follow one's vision and ensure its fruition.

"I think that kind of drives you and you enjoy the journey more than the result. I really enjoyed the journey very much, and I felt that I had to do it again – that is what motivated me," she says of her latest foray.

Shukla is no stranger to awards; she has authored articles on e-marketing, software development and CRM issues, and is a frequent speaker in industry meetings – all this, while juggling family responsibilities.

"I have seven-month-old twins -- a boy and a girl -- and I was playing with them just before I had to come to the phone to talk to you," she said.

"My husband has just given up his job so he can be with the babies full-time till they grow up a bit. Somebody has to make an adjustment, (because) it is a very critical stage of my company."

The trick, she says, is to put a good management team in place and create manageable work hours for herself. Business and family do not, she says, conflict.

"It depends on who gets priority attention -- my children or my work -- on the criticality of the situation," she says. "If my work really needs me, it gets priority and if the kids need me, they get priority. When I come home, I do not bring work with me, so I can be with the kids, but when I travel and work then I am focused on my work alone.

"Right now, I am taking it one day at a time. When it becomes too much to manager, I will give up my work – after all, I cannot give up my children."

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