Brother Sathya Pramod is the CEO & Founder of Keyess Square consulting which helps early stage & mid sized companies in strategy, finance & compliance. He is also co-founder of Inflection Point Ventures which is a prominent angel investment platform.
Sathya Pramod joined SSSHSS for his XI grade in the Commerce Stream in the year 1990. He went on to complete his Bachelors in Commerce in Puttaparthi and Brindavan in 1995 before moving back to Bangalore to do his Chartered Accountancy course in Bangalore.
He did his apprenticeship with Deloitte and cleared his CA. He then moved to Ernst & Young to the corporate finance stream. After an impressive stint with the Big 4s, he moved to an American MNC called America Online(Aol) where he rose up to become the CFO for Aol International. He handled 32 countries during that time.
Brother Sathya then went on to do a startup called Qyuki along with two big media personalities Shekhar Kapur and A R Rahman which was funded by Cisco.
He came back to industry to become the CFO of Tally Solutions (An Indian ERP brand), by far the country’s leading accounting system. He was a big part of the GST implementation with the government and other industry associations. A few years ago, he decided to start off on his own and started Kayess Square Consulting which is into Deal Advisory, Business Consulting & CFO services. He also co founded Inflection Point Ventures (IPV).
Professional journey, challenges and leadership lessons
Sathya is a firm believer in Swami’s saying “Tell me your company and I will tell you who you are”. He faced multiple challenges as a fresher in Deloitte. It was very new for Sathya since he was very raw. But the faith in Swami and the confidence he had on what he had learnt in B.Com held him in good stead.
Finance and accounting can be very complex especially at senior levels because a lot of interpretation is needed. A small interpretation can lead you to alter the course of companies. Since Sathya was also handling international accounting for a large listed company in the USA, it meant taking decisions was important and he made sure he followed the dictum of Swami of having the right people and interpreted things conservatively.
Rarely do people get chances to do a startup with great minds like Shekhar Kapur and AR Rahman. Sathya feels he was blessed by Swami to be there and learn from them. However, things were not easy when it came to operations. The creative minds don’t get into operations and Sathya had to do the heavy lifting functions like managing the investors and the team.
In Tally as well, being the CFO and head of legal and taxation, he had to don multiple hats and traverse the company through difficult times. Working with the Government and being a part of the game changing law the country has ever seen gave Sathya an experience of a lifetime. Bringing the entire SME community together and lobbying with the government was not easy.
However, Swami’s lessons on perseverance did help. According to Sathya, patience is a virtue-especially in the world we are in where everything needs to happen in a minute.
He says the joy he got waiting for Swami to guide him – not having a clear schedule helped him sharpen the mind and keep calm in uncertain situations. Patience has also helped him in his current setup. Starting up something may sound like a lot of fun, but can be very stressful. Building a team of 35 people, nurturing them, delivering to clients and startups with access to limited resources is not easy. Only the mental strength and patience acquired from Parthi has helped him.
Brother Sathya depends on Swami’s teachings while advising his clients & startups. He says a startup founder’s journey is very lonely and it is important he has company. So, the saying “God is your only true friend” does resonate on a daily basis which he shares with his clients. Another one he says which makes a big impact is “Start Early, Drive Slowly and Reach Safely”. He says though no one can guarantee success in a startup, a lot of risk can be mitigated by meticulous planning, which he strongly advises to his founders.
Sathya makes it a point to address the students from SSSIHL and take them through a startup’s journey or an angel investor journey giving them insights on current happenings in the field of finance and entrepreneurship. He regularly addresses students at both Brindavan and Prashanti Nilayam. He is also a part of an NGO called ILove2Care where he is involved in activities for the underprivileged.
Like any student he agrees that hostel days were the best days of their life. He says the only things that mattered in those 5 years were Swami and education. He says it was wonderful to stay focussed on Bhagawan’s education which helps develop a different perspective to life. He recollects that during the XII board exams, all exams were done before March 31st and the last exam Sanskrit was 10 days away. The way the entire class enjoyed the time without pressure and having the whole hostel to themselves was unbelievable. Memories of those days he cherishes include Venkatachalam Sir getting amazing food cooked specially for his class. He also recollects Swami walking into the hostel room suddenly and only a few boys being there at the hostel. The joy in the boys’ faces and the naughtiness in Swami’s eyes seeing clothes drying on the terrace are memories etched in his heart.
Word of advice for the young alumni
The professional world is complex, he says. We were shielded well during our times at our campus. But we need to have the strength to face the world. The only thing that can stand us in good stead is our self confidence and wanting to do the right things the right way. It is always easy to do the wrong thing but there will be consequences later. Don’t take the easy way. Take the right way is his suggestion.
One of the toughest things to do is to keep things simple. Don’t complicate your lives, studies or your jobs. Please keep it simple. Simplicity, according to him, is the greatest virtue. Breakup the problem into small bits and you will never fail. He feels he has tasted success only due to this.
Always be a good listener. There are many speakers we know of but listening is the greatest skill and will take you a long way in your professional journey
Team Vidyullekha thanks brother Sathya for sharing his thoughts & wishes him all the best in his future endeavors.
