Living the silicon dream

Malaysian Business, Feb 16, 2003 by Pratabhan V

LIFE as a technopreneur can be really tough. But two gritty engineers have

shown that perseverance and commitment can do wonders. `At one time, we

had less than RM150 in our kitty. We were not sure how we were going to

pay for the rental and our bills. But somehow at the eleventh hour, it all

worked out fine. We all pitched in, pooled our resources and survived,'

says Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) graduate Vyasa Kandasamy, who teamed

up with Saravana Kumar to set up Sires Labs Sdn Bhd.

Since April 2000, they and a motley crew of three friends have been

sweating it out to strike it on their own, designing analogue and mixed

signal-based microchips. They formed Sires Labs with their meagre savings,

putting their reputation and hopes on the line. The company focuses on

designing fibre optic analogue chips and chipset transceivers.

Holding on tenaciously to their goal of building a world-class chip

design centre, they are on their way to reaping the fruit of their labour.

Their endeavours now bear all the marks of an emerging local success

story.

By the end of this February they expect to increase their staff strength

to 15. By June, their workforce should be 25-member strong. That's a rapid

growth, with a high commitment on salaries and benefits. But Vyasa and

Saravana are unperturbed by the challenge ahead as they are already

getting projects and lots of enquiries internationally.

Paying the recruits would not be a problem either. Last year, they

received a RM2.2 million grant from the Multimedia Development Corporation

(MDC). More recently, they received an additional RM3.5 million from a

private angel investor in Penang.

Vyasa, the chief executive of Sires Labs, rationalises that an increase

in staff strength is necessary as they are unable to cope with the current

workload. With the company maturing relatively fast, he contends that

outsourcing the jobs is not an option they have considered to reduce their

overheads. `We are doing cutting-edge microchip design. There are not many

who can do what we require. Besides, it is very difficult to find

experienced professionals in the field of analogue chip design,' explains

Vyasa

Saravana agrees. He says one needs at least three years of constant

analogue design training and work to be able to work independently. Before

assuming the position of chief technology officer of Sires Labs, Saravana

had clocked in six years of analogue chip design work with USM's analogue

design research group. The research group comprised highly trained

engineers doing part-time projects for business clients.

With a full coffer now, life is a little easier for the duo. But the

road to success was filled with many ups and downs. `It was a bumpy road

for us, yet we find it all satisfying and fun,' says Saravana.

Humble beginnings

Vyasa and Saravana first met as students at USM's engineering school in

Tronoh, Perak. Both Vyasa and Saravana hold a masters degree in

engineering.

After graduation, Vyasa joined Intel for a one-year stint at its

manufacturing plant in Penang. Saravana, however, continued work with

USM's engineering research group.

But the entrepreneurial spirit in them brought them together again in

1999. They soon began discussing how to strike out on their own to carve a

name for themselves. They could easily have chosen to go the same path as

their peers who joined multinational companies and earned good

remuneration. But Vyasa and Saravana decided to try something different.

They wanted to do `something fun'.

In April 2000, they registered Sires Labs. The name was coined from the

words SIlicon and RESearch. Initially, they roped in N.Balamurugan, an

economics graduate, and Remakanthan Nair, who holds a bachelors degree in

Business Administration. Balan assumed the post of sales director, while

Remakanthan became its chief operating officer. Saravana then invited

another two USM-trained engineers, Nasir Abdul Quadir and Farrah Azlin

Alias, to come on board.

Together, they found a little shoplot above a roti canai outlet in

Puchong, Selangor. The shoplot belonged to Saravana's uncle, who decided

to rent it out to them for a mere RM500. But even RM500 was a heavy

commitment for them, as they had to start practically with nothing.

Fortunately, another relative of Saravana also chipped in. He raised a

RM5,000 loan from his aunt to boost their initial working capital. With

the money, they bought a used Toshiba Celeron 800MHz notebook computer for

RM2,600 for their design work. The rest of the money was used to print

product/service brochures and to buy simple furniture. The brochures

proved handy as they were distributed to business contacts in Singapore.

They mostly travelled modestly by bus, in order to keep overheads low.

As office furniture was a `luxury item' to the fledgling technopreneurs,

they conducted weekly meetings by sitting in a circle on the floor. Till

today they continue the tradition of sitting on the floor every Friday

evening, as a reminder of how they started it all.

Living the dream

Making sacrifices was the norm for the team. `As we did not have