Leaders Tech Talk: Inside the Mind of the Builder: Innovating the Future of Tech

Gokulavan Jayaraman (Infosec Leader, Mahindra Rise)

Q1. What’s one defining moment that shaped your career journey as a leader?

One defining moment that truly shaped my career journey as a technology leader came during my transition to CtrlS Datacenters. As part of armed forces, I had the opportunity to work deeply in network and security domains, managing high-stakes IT risk mitigation strategies in mission-critical environments. That period taught me the uncompromising importance of security, resilience, and operational discipline — values that became my compass. When I joined CtrlS, I realized the same principles were not just relevant, but essential, in building world-class datacenter capabilities. It wasn’t just about deploying cutting-edge infrastructure; it was about reimagining the benchmarks for uptime, sustainability, and trust in digital infrastructure across the industry. It validated my belief that technology leadership is not just about managing systems, it’s all about driving vision, enabling businesses, and building trust at scale. That experience, bridging military-grade precision with enterprise-grade innovation, defined my career and leadership journey. It set the tone for how we at CtrlS continuously push boundaries, whether through energy-efficient hyperscale facilities, zero-downtime operations, or leading the shift toward green datacenters in India.

Q2. What’s one piece of advice you’d give to someone building in today’s tech landscape?

My advice to anyone building in today’s tech landscape is: solve real problems with relentless clarity and disciplined execution. The pace of innovation has never been faster, but that also means noise and distractions are at an all-time high. It’s easy to chase trends—AI, blockchain, edge computing—but unless your solution addresses a tangible business or human need, it’s unlikely to gain traction. Anchor your vision in a clear value proposition, validate it continuously with users, and build with adaptability in mind. Equally important is building with security, scalability, and data ethics at the foundation, not as afterthoughts. Today’s users are more aware, regulators more assertive, and breaches more costly. A successful service or product in 2025 and beyond is not just innovative—it’s trusted. Cultivate cross-functional collaboration early, blend engineering with empathy, and remember: technology is the means, not the end. Stay grounded in purpose, and you’ll build not just services or products, but platforms for lasting impact.

Q3. Scaling Smart: How Digital Native Companies Are Building Tech for the Next Billion Users?

Digital native companies are uniquely positioned to serve the next billion users by designing technology that is mobile-first, cloud-native, and built for scale from day one. These organizations are not constrained by legacy infrastructure, allowing them to innovate rapidly and leverage emerging technologies such as AI, edge computing, and low-code platforms to deliver hyper- personalized, high-performance digital experiences. What sets them apart is their deep focus on user-centric design, often tailoring solutions to meet the specific needs of underrepresented and geographically dispersed markets. This includes optimizing for low-bandwidth environments,integrating local languages, and designing intuitive interfaces that require minimal digital literacy.I see digital natives strategically building ecosystems rather than standalone products.

They are embedding financial services, commerce, healthcare, and education into platform-based models that grow with user behavior and data intelligence. Their agility lies in a DevOps-driven culture, real-time experimentation, and relentless iteration, which allows them to adapt quickly to shifting market dynamics. For traditional enterprises, the lesson is clear: the path to engaging the next billion isn’t just digital—it’s about building inclusive, resilient, and adaptable technology stacks that evolve with the user.

Mahesh Khisti (CIO, Cloud4C)

Q1. What’s one defining moment that shaped your career journey as a founder/leader?

 It's the leaders that you work with who inspire you and make you a leader. It's a journey, the defining moment will automatically be seen when the entire team looks at you for a solution or when you grab the opportunity when the entire team wants to think more or stay away. More precisely when you start thinking about the objective, team and results collectively there you become a leader.

Q2. What’s one piece of advice you’d give to someone building in today’s tech landscape?

Without tech, growth becomes impossible, upskilling and continuous learning is the key to stay abreast in the market. While equipping oneself technically, it's very important to learn soft skills especially team management. Also, it's very important to impart the knowledge with the team and others who are interested, this will ensure the knowledge you gained becomes more strong and brings out the thirst towards new tech and learning.

Shailendra Singh Gothra (CIO Services, STL Digital)

Q1:Scaling Smart: How Digital Native Companies Are Building Tech for the Next Billion?

The companies are taking below approaches as per my experience

1. The Mobile first and low bandwidth mindset;
Mobile is the first choice for them to reach out Billion Users, Swiggy, Zomatoes are best examples

2. Localization and inclusivity;
The companies are creating applications which are customised as per local requirements as One-Fit-For-All doesn’t work today. They are also ensuring that low or no tech savvy people can use it, this is the biggest game changer for adaptation.

3. Rethinking Business and Monetization Model; 
They are coming out of Traditional subscription models and trying to create new business revenue models which are scalable and affordable at same time.

4. Embracing New Technologies and Partnerships; 
They are looking to adapt Voice and ai tools which are easy to operate, Data driven customization and Public - Private partnerships for better reach, scalability and adaptability.These according to me is what Digital Native companies are taking approaches.

Q2: What’s one piece of advice you’d give to someone building in Today’s tech landscape? 
While we are creating Apps which touch our lives by extensive use of Data by ai, the human touch in Customer support is the make or break point for them Customer support should be more approachable not monolog digital records, they may soon become redundant as everything they do is for Humans, by the Humans.

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