Vinod Gupta On Expanding Markets

Vinod Gupta, current Managing General Partner of Everest Group, has amassed years of valuable experience building a business from the ground up. As previous owner and CEO of InfoGROUP, a tech database company, Vinod Gupta turned a $100 initial investment into a $680 million sale. Since the inception of Everest Group, the company has successfully provided venture capital, private equity, and consulting services to businesses within the database technology field.

What does your typical day look like?

In order for my business to run smoothly, I must have a core team that is trustworthy, loyal, and independent. With this team in place, I can focus my typical work day on long-term projects, and growing the business in a tangible way. I have found that by being able to step away from the day-to-day operations of the business, I can devote ample time to communicating with potential business clients, and ponder ways in which the business can evolve. I also make it a daily habit to read the newspaper for one hour. While it is personally gratifying to sit down with the newspaper, and carve out the time to enjoy it, I find the various publications to provide a great breadth of knowledge.

How do you decide which business risks are worth taking?

Throughout the years, I have learned to take well-educated risks, by utilizing a cost benefit analysis. If I am investing a large amount of money in a particular project, I tend to be somewhat more conservative with the risks that I take within the scope of the project, versus a scenario where the stakes were not so high. Additionally, I have learned to also listen to my gut, and heed the advice of peers, especially when there is a large sum of investment involved.

What gems of advice would you give to budding entrepreneurs?

I would tell young entrepreneurs to reach for their dreams, and certainly take the risks needed to develop the world in which they want to thrive. Within today’s society, young entrepreneurs have vast opportunities at their fingertips, and the foresight to anticipate technological needs before they even arise. At the same time, with so much investment capital being provided to entrepreneurs, they must be cautious in the manner in which they utilize their funding.

What excites you most about the future of your industry?

In the realm of database technology, the global economy has opened the doors for our products to be utilized in new, more intuitive manners. With the common use of GPS throughout many apps, the need for local databases goes much further than merely pointing out the nearest restaurants. As database utilization is so deeply embedded within the scope of an application, people utilize our product without being aware of it, and this trend will only continue to evolve. With artificial intelligence becoming increasingly intuitive, the future is very exciting for this industry.