The founder of SciGenom Labs talks about his latest book and draws upon 35 years of experience in technology and genomics to offer valuable insights for young entrepreneurs
Sam Santhosh is a self-made entrepreneur who has spent 20 years in the software industry followed by 15 years in biotech. He started his entrepreneurial career with US California Software Company Limited and took it public in India. He then wanted to go deep into genetics and through his incubator SciGenom Labs in Kochi and San Francisco, he has incubated and launched several companies leveraging next generation sequencing and bioinformatics. He has also incubated MedGenome, a genomic diagnostics and research organisation in India, that has helped many pharma and biotech companies with targeted therapies and innovation. His latest book, Sam's 12 Commandments for the Indian Entrepreneur, draws upon his extensive experience in business to offer timeless lessons to young and first-time entrepreneurs. Edited excerpts from an interview for From the Bookshelves podcast:
Q. You speak about how the Indian psyche of doing business is very different from say, entrepreneurs in the US or in other countries. How have you understood that to write this book, which caters specifically to entrepreneurs in India?
I'm a hardcore Indian, though I have been living in the US for the last 30-odd years. But my entrepreneurial journey started in 1987 when this was not a big fad as it is now… I spent the first 20 years in the software industry and the last 15 years in the biotech industry, and obviously there have been a lot of learnings.