Interview With Dr. Suhas Patil

By Meena Yeggina
with
Aangana Shah

Can you smile? I asked him seeking a less serious pose. Dr. Suhas Patil founder and chairman Emeritus of Cirrus Logic Inc., founder and first elected president of TiE, shook his head doubtfully. I'm not very good at that, he said. I pursued. Finally he gave in and suddenly his smile made all the difference. His face lighted up, his eyes warm and soft. Then I knew why Dr. patil is so successful. His personality. He looks and acts exactly like a professor both understanding and expalining. He also has a vision.

Background

Dr.Suhas Patil is founder and Chairman Emeritus of Cirrus Logic Inc., a leading semiconductor company, with revenues close to a billion dollars.

Before becoming an entrepreneur Dr.Patil spent ten years in the academic field.In 1970 Dr.Patil was appointed Assistant Proffesor of Electrical Engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.While at MIT he also served as Assistant Director of Project MAC (Multi-Access Computer), the largest computer science laboratory in the US, where the timesharing computer system was developed.At MIT Dr.Patil worked in the area of Computer Architecture and related topics.

From 1975 to 1980 Dr.Patil was an Associate Professor of Computer Science at the University of Utah where he started the VLSI (very large scale integrated circuits) group and worked on design methodology for complex integrated circuits.

Over a period of time Dr.Patil has worked in the fields of Computer Architecture, Parallel Processing Computer, Mathematics for computer Science, Design Methodology for Very Large Integrated Circuits and IC Design Automation Software.Dr.Patil has over 40 scientific papers covering these areas of research and he is also the recipient of several patents in the field of integrated Circuits.

In 1981 Dr.Patil started Patil Systems Inc. in Salt Lake City, Utah based on his academic research.In 1984 he moved Patil System to Silicon Valley in California where the company was renamed Cirrus Logic Inc.Cirrus Logic has grown to be a major semiconductor company developing , manufacturing and marketing integrated circuits for personal computers, communications and consumer electronics.

In 1992 Dr.Patil together with other successful entrepreneurs and businessmen of Indian origin in the Silicon Valley formed a non-profit organization calle TiE, The Indus Entrepreneurs, to nurture and assist upcoming entrepreneurs in their endeavour to start and grow successful companies.Dr.Patil was elected its first president and under his leadership TiE became an effecive and respected organization nurturing and mentoring entrepreneurs and young companies. CyberMedia, first of such companies to be helped by TiE has become very successful with their software for automatically fixing personal computers.Dr.Patil has personally been a mentor to CyberMedia and is a member of its Board of Directors.

Dr.Patil was born in Jamshedpur, India in 1944. He received his B.Tech(Honors) in Electronics and Electrical communications from Indian Institute of Technology in 1965.He earned his Masters of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from MIT in1967 and received his Doctor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from MIT in 1970.In 1995 his alma mater, the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, conferred an Honorary Doctor of Science degree on him for his work in science and industry. Dr.Patil is recipient of many awards of recognition from community organizations for his contributions to the community.He serves on the board of The Indus Entreprenuers, the Association of Indians in America and is a member of the Board of Overseers of the Computer Museum

Excerpts From The Interview:

IZ: Who and what inspired you to become involved in science and technology ?

SP: Interest in science and technology came from a very young age.It came from watching my father work on radios.It came from playing with electric toys.It came from teaching of science in school.

IZ: What schools did you go to?

SP: The schools I went to were in Jamshedpur, run by Tata Iron and steel inc. They had a very strong science program.

IZ: So can we say that you were also inspired by the Tatas ?

SP: Yes, indeed.

IZ: Did you always dream of coming to the U.S. and settling down here?

A: No.

IZ: Was money part of your dream as a child?

SP: No. My dream as a child, growing up, was to be an inventor. I was fascinated by stories of scientists who had invented all kinds of things, all the way from locomotive to telephones. Those were my role models. Tata's work was in front of me, though he had passed on long before I was born, that inspired me. My dream at that young age was to be a scientist and an inventor. But as a teenager it occurred to me or I figured out that as a scientist you cannot make much money. I had seen many scientists become teachers, and you cannot make much money as a teacher either. So I had a mini-crisis. And I resolved it by saying It was okay to make okay money . So as you know, I did become a teacher. I taught for 10 years.

IZ: Did you have a role model or a mentor who helped you out or were you all by yourself all the way when you started Cirrus Logic?

SP: That was much later in life and so at that point I had many many outstanding examples in front of me. My experiences while growing up in Jamshedpur:
Prof. Amar Bose had started Bose Systems when I was a teaching assistant to him; I had seen that happen right in front of my eyes, Prof. Sutherland had also started Sutherland Inc. Many professors of engineering discipline had started many successful companies. So I was very confident that if there was an opportunity that I undertook to develop I would be successful.

IZ: What do you look for in companies/teams who come to you for advice and funding?

SP: Firstly, they should be working towards a large enough opportunity. Secondly, the opportunity should be in context of some major changes occurring in the market place. Thirdly, the calibre of the team that comes to me for assistance. Fourth, their intellect, their character, tenacity, desire to succeed backed up by ability to succeed. They should be smart enough to work on the right problem. That decides at the end of the day whether they have a company or no. I am not here in the business of investing. I do give entrepreneurs time and become their mentor; the investment occurs sporadically. People should come to me for advice and not funding, because investment follows advice and not vice verse.

IZ:Navin.com is taking your help at the moment. Do you help them on day to day basis?

Sp: No. I am not here everyday. I am the investor chairman and the founding chairman. I helped the company before it was actually formulated. The technology was developed by Vishwas Godbole. He had carried it out all the way to demonstration. And the question was how it would become a business opportunity. We both agreed that the market needed a voicemail which only requires a telephone to access. Having said that it was a question of how does one go about putting this together, how aggressive one needs to be to succeed, what kind of level should the things be done at, we did some strategic thinking and over a few months we developed the product and the company. Two things were obvious to me right away one was that things needed to be done at a much larger scale and second that this was going to be a good investment so I did to invest in the project. So here I am to be an investor, to be on the board and to be in constant touch with the company. I do spend here at least a day if not more.

IZ: We know that you have also funded Rightworks, are there any other companies that you have funded?

SP: the first company I invested in as a venture capitalist was Cybermedia. That was in 1992. That was the first time i learned how to guide a start up company. Other companies I provided backing to were Exodus communications, Mediaway, Crater Technology. So when you look at it, it's not a very large list.

IZ: What do you tell people who come to you for funding?

SP: What I tell people is that they should come to me for advice and not for funding because I am not a venture capitalist. So the question of refusing doesn't come. In my case investment follows advice and not the other way round.

IZ: Would you know the potential of a specific idea right away?

SP: Even if it is a terrific idea, it doesn't mean that I have the kind of capacity to invest. I may suggest to the team to go to a few people though.

IZ: What do you do on day to day basis now that you have more time?

SP: I have more flexible time but I am very busy just the same. Time is controlled by me now.

IZ: How did you perform as a student? Were you a A grade student all through out?

SP: All through high school I was a first class student, good enough to get into St. Xavier's college, good enough to get into IIT. I was always a good student but not the top student. Not until I graduated from IIT right at the top.

IZ: Why did you decide to quit your 10 years career as a teacher? You look like a professor to me even today.

SP: Yes, with my beard and suit I do look like a professor. I guess once a professor, always a professor. I had started a company at that time, fundamentally to take my research ideas to the act of completion. Of course I did have an interest at some point in starting a company. This is not uncommon to how professors think. I had the backing of established companies to do that.

IZ: So did they give you funding to start?

Sp: Oh yes, they gave me money. My first money came from General Instrument Corp, who wanted access to my technology and help develop it in a industrial setting as opposed to university level.

IZ: Can we say that education helped you become successful?

Sp: Education? Absolutely did. There is a false notion that to be successful, you don't need education. There are exceptions, like Bill Gates. So if a person wants to succeed by following the example of that exception then he is courting disaster. Not that it could not happen but that is a situation of being at the right place at the right time. Being well educated reduces your risk of failure.

IZ: Can you tell us if you ever felt like giving up on things?

Sp: I never had any doubts about whether it's working or no. Being saddled with difficulties is a constant thing for an entrepreneur. Success is not guaranteed. I faced those moments at that time.

IZ: What kind of friends did you have as a young entrepreneur?

SP: My friends were my colleagues. I had mentors. The relationships developed over time.

IZ: What are your hobbies?

SP: I love photography. My father was a photographer, he was a engineer and I also learned how to repair radios also from my father. My father was my first hero. Today he is busy tinkering with his computer just like a young entrepreneur.

IZ: What according to you could be the down fall of internet?

SP: Technology is in the hands of the people. If you use it for the betterment of people it is good. So it is collective responsibility of the people to make sure that they good use of internet.

IZ: Did your hectic life style affect your family life? What advice would you give to people who have to choose between work and family?

SP: I started my first company when my children were small, they were just four and six. So one has to learn to organize time for family otherwise work will take up all the time you have. That is the only way. When my boys were growing they were boy scouts, there were activities. We'd go camping, there were was a time when we had a 200 miles bike ride for which we had to prepare the entire year, so we'd go bike riding. I would participate in the things that the kids did. We'd take many short vacations rather than planning one big one, that way we got to get away often and didn't face the risk of one big vacation getting cancelled. There are other techniques I used to stay in touch with my family for instance I got a pager even when pagers were not common. I encouraged my children to page me after O' clock. I've had all kinds of situations from nose broke in school, meet me in emergency room to you name it. Today of course the children have grown. Setting a systematic way for the family to reach you is a must even though it is a challenge.

IZ: So are your children settled now?

SP: Kids are okay. One is in High School, one is in Graduate School, one is in Medical School and one just finished Under Graduate School.

IZ: Are you interested in politics?

Sp: Politics? No. But I think that Indo-Americans should get involved in politics because if we don't then somebody else will decide for us what our future is.