Amish R. Shah

Building Ascent!

[Amish R. Shah @shahamish]

The ability to Learn, Unlearn and Re-learn every 3-5 yrs - has always been a key to success for most software engineering professionals. In other words, learn (a new and promising tech) in six months, become a pro over the next 6-12 months and maximize earnings over the next ~3 yrs. Repeat this for 3-4 times during the working age and one achieves compounding returns.

AI has disrupted this theory in ways most people, including software professionals, have failed to understand.
This is a complely new chapter in the Capital vs. Labour textbooks.

[Amish R. Shah @shahamish]

There is an acute shortage of tech sales professionals / consultants and no one is talking about it.

Most software engineers spend years before they get into sales (client-facing) roles and are responsible for PnL management. The smarter ones among the fresh graduates will compress this timeline to months, instead of years.

[Amish R. Shah @shahamish]

The more I use AI, the more I realise that great AI outputs depend less on AI itself and more on two human qualities: (1) clarity of thought and (2) the ability to articulate it well.

[Amish R. Shah @shahamish]

This is how the tech landscape has changed...

Some of the best software developers I've worked with - (1) speak average English, (2) think in their native language, (3) but have fantastic clarity in translating business requirements to code.

These developers are now competing with AI-empowered software developers who can articulate requirements and communicate effectively in English.

[Amish R. Shah @shahamish]

Software Solutions ≠ Software Services
Farq hai. Farq hai. Farq hai.

[Amish R. Shah @shahamish]

Every time I attend a technology expo in India or the UAE, I notice a pattern.

Indian stalls are predominantly software.
Chinese stalls are predominantly hardware.

And within India's software identity, core software product development still doesn't receive the recognition it deserves.

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The journey began in the early 1990s with software services. Indian engineers solving technology problems for businesses in the West.

Then came the BPO, KPO, and ITES wave. While not software development in the traditional sense, it became part of the broader IT narrative. So much so that government policies often treated IT and ITES as a single category.

The next wave was start-ups.

Many built products for global markets. Others built for India using global capital. Much of the software innovation during this period involved adapting proven models to Indian realities.

E-commerce. Aggregation platforms. Marketplaces.

Important businesses, certainly.
But did we build enough foundational technology of our own?

There are notable exceptions. Companies such as @Mastekltd, @KPIT, and @Infosys have developed industry-specific products and platforms, often drawing from decades of services experience.

Yet, for a country with our engineering talent and scale, it feels like we should have covered far more ground over the last three decades.

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The good news is that we have an opportunity to accelerate.

AI can help us clear technical debt, compress development cycles, and pursue solutions that may have previously been uneconomical to build.

At the same time, we need a stronger hardware ecosystem. Software leadership without hardware capability leaves too much value on the table.

Perhaps the next chapter of India's technology story should not be about services, outsourcing, or adaptation.

Perhaps it should be about building.

[Amish R. Shah @shahamish]

In Bengaluru this week.
Meeting founders, operators, and leadership teams building ambitious businesses.

The conversations are often about growth. The more interesting ones are about building systems, processes, and technology that can sustain that growth.

That's a conversation we've been having at #Ascent for over a decade.

@AscentCTS

[Amish R. Shah @shahamish]

Behind the Scenes: Building Ascent
𝘖𝘯 𝘴𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘮𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘢, 𝘐 𝘳𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘬 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘦𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦, 𝘐'𝘮 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯.

Last week, I took my first real vacation since joining Ascent full-time in September 2014 - nearly 12 years ago!

We travelled to a small village-town about 150 km from Mumbai. Well connected by roads and internet, yet completely detached from the speed, noise, and constant motion that define city life.

Over the years, I've taken a few workations. This was different.
For three days, I did not check a single work email or work-related message. Not once.

The experience was surprisingly refreshing. In hindsight, I probably should have done this more often - not just for myself, but also for my family.
But better late than never.

One of the least discussed aspects of building a business without external capital is that it often takes a decade or more for the dots to connect. There are years when progress feels invisible and the destination seems distant.

But when the picture finally begins to emerge, it is remarkably beautiful.

Sometimes, a few days away is all it takes to appreciate how far you've come.

[Amish R. Shah @shahamish]

Koi life me ek baar ek corporate scale basic CMS website banake 2-3 yrs maintain karle - toh bhi bata dega AI yeh sab nahi kar sakta
In development cycles- software / coding is less than 30% of the effort - even for complex projects
In support and maintenance cycles - coding is less than 20% of the effort

[Amish R. Shah @shahamish]

Virality gets attention.
Rarely, meaningful return.

[RapperPandit @RapperPandit]

🎬With Ishwar's grace, am posting Part-1 of my short Movie: 'Fibonacci Speaks'. May many children see it like Dhurandhar! to know How our Maths changed the World !

[Amish R. Shah @shahamish]

Marketing drives the first sale. Experience drives the next.

[Amish R. Shah @shahamish]

No tool - machine or software - can fix a broken process.

[Amish R. Shah @shahamish]

Add “ethical” or “responsible” to AI,
and suddenly the hype feels less investable.

[Amish R. Shah @shahamish]

We’ve been solving the wrong problem.

Transactional systems remove redundancy - for efficiency.
Data warehouses add it back - for insight.

Two systems. Two truths.
Neither complete.

AI doesn’t bridge this gap.
It exposes it.

If data can’t move from transaction to insight to action,
it’s not a data problem.

It’s an architecture problem.

[Amish R. Shah @shahamish]

📝 Crossroads: Consultant × Founder⁣⁣⁣⁣
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Every weekend, I share stories and insights from a strange but powerful intersection - building a consulting, technology and solutions enterprise, while simultaneously fixing the internal processes, systems and operational bottlenecks at Ascent.⁣⁣⁣⁣
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It’s the place where client problems mirror our own, where strategy meets reality, and where every win (or mistake) teaches twice.⁣⁣⁣⁣
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This series is my attempt to document that journey - the lessons, the conflicts, the unexpected clarity - from standing on both sides of the business.

[Amish R. Shah @shahamish]

As businesses grow,
decision-making often slows down.

Not because leaders aren’t decisive -
but because too much depends on them.

Approvals stack up.
Teams wait.
Momentum drops.

This is how growth gets constrained.

Not by market demand -
but by decision bandwidth.

Most of this is avoidable.

- Define what can be auto-approved
- Set clear thresholds
- Route only exceptions upward

Now decisions don’t stop.
Only exceptions do.

This changes everything:

- Teams move faster
- Leaders focus on critical calls
- Operations don’t pause for approvals

Speed is not about working faster.
It’s about removing what slows decisions down.

If your team is waiting on you too often,
it’s not a people problem.

It’s a system gap.

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If this resonated, pass it on ♻️

[Amish R. Shah @shahamish]

Across many mid-sized and family-managed businesses in India, systems have evolved over time. An accounting platform here. Excel trackers there. A CRM added later. A layer of WhatsApp to keep things moving.

Each decision made sense in isolation.
Together, they create operational friction that’s hard to see - but easy to feel.

A production update comes at the end of the day, not in the moment.
Receivables require manual consolidation before decisions can be made.
Promoters depend on multiple people to get a single, reliable view of performance.

Nothing is technically wrong.
But nothing is truly real-time either.

This gap between activity and visibility is becoming critical.

India’s digital economy is expected to contribute ~20% of GDP by 2030. At the same time, manufacturing is rapidly moving toward connected systems - where machines, processes, and data are continuously linked.

In that environment, delayed visibility is not just inefficient.
It is a competitive disadvantage.

What leading businesses are doing differently is not just “using more software.”
They are redesigning how their business operates.

Moving from effort-driven processes to system-driven environments.
From fragmented tools to connected workflows.
From hindsight to real-time decision-making.

This is not about ERP vs CRM vs custom solutions.
It is about operating with clarity.

Over the next few posts, I’ll break this down further - where standard systems fall short, where bespoke solutions create leverage, and how this extends into Industry 4.0.

For now, a simple question:

If you needed a clear, accurate view of yesterday’s business performance - how many people would you have to call?

That answer usually reveals more than any report.

[Amish R. Shah @shahamish]

Many businesses invest in dashboards
hoping for visibility.

Charts improve.
Reports look better.
But decisions don’t get easier.

Because the problem isn’t reporting.
It’s how data is generated.

If data is:

- Entered late
- Updated manually
- Pulled from multiple places

Then dashboards only show
a delayed version of reality.

The right technology fixes this upstream.

- Data is captured at source
- Movement is system-driven
- Updates happen in real time

Now dashboards don’t “explain” things.
They reflect them.

Visibility is not about better visuals.
It’s about better systems.

If your reports need effort to prepare,
your systems need redesign.

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If this resonated, pass it on ♻️

[Amish R. Shah @shahamish]

टेक्नोलॉजी जोड़ना आसान है - आज हर समस्या के लिए एक टूल मिल जाता है।
लेकिन सिर्फ़ टूल्स लाने से बिज़नेस नहीं बदलता।

कई बार कंपनियाँ नए सिस्टम्स तो लगा देती हैं,
पर काम करने का तरीका वही पुराना रहता है।
और यहीं से गैप शुरू होता है।

जब टेक्नोलॉजी और काम करने का तरीका साथ बदलते हैं,
तभी सिस्टम्स असर दिखाते हैं -
और तभी ग्रोथ गति पकड़ती है।