Startup, stay focused with Maha Mahadevan

In this episode, Shiv is in conversation with Maha Mahadevan, CEO of BOSS Solutions - a company providing technology solutions for ITSM, Help desk and 811 ticket management for the damage prevention industry. Maha sharesHis origin story of getting into IT after graduating in electrical engineeringGetting a call from a friend asking if he would like to start a businessWanting to create IT solutionsHow he approached a selling role, that was needed for the startupProviding staff augmentation services to start and developing a solution to help with Windows NT migrationExtending the solutions with additional products, some based on suggestions or requests from customersHow a ticket management solution could be enhanced to manage a solution for utilities and serving many customers for over seven yearsIn hindsight, learning that drastic steps and dropping the old could be very risky - and happy that his bets have proven successful in the longer runThe context when he chose to become an entrepreneur, and the risks he faced at that timeHis advice: do it as if there is no other option, network and tap into your networkHow to retain confidence, when things may not appear to go the way one would like toBeing ready to adapt and change, when in uncertain situationsHis personal practices to stay calm under all circumstancesHow to communicate the value of IT solutions - in terms of benefits and not featuresWhom to engage in a customer organization, not just what to communicateHow he built and kept the team together and stay motivatedMaha Mahadevan is the founder CEO of BOSS Solutions, an Atlanta GA based company providing SaaS solutions BOSSDesk for service management and BOSS811 for Onecall ticket management for the damage prevention industry. The company started off as an IT staff augmentation business and transformed into developing innovative solutions providing SaaS solutions to a sizable customer base across the US. Maha has a bachelors in engineering from the Indian Institute of Science Bangalore and Masters from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay. He is a regular tennis player and practices yoga. He enjoys traveling and spending time with family and friends.