Think Long-Term. Build with Purpose. Stay Consistent.

Leader’s Reflection, Edition 100: A Special Conversation with Karthik Chidambaram, Founder & CEO of DCKAP

This is a special edition of my weekly Leader’s Reflection newsletter. We have reached the 100th edition!

For this milestone, I wanted to do something different. Instead of sharing only my own thoughts, I sat down with Karthik Chidambaram (KC), CEO of DCKAP, to reflect on his entrepreneurial journey, leadership lessons, and the thinking behind the many initiatives he is building.

I’ve known KC for many years, and one thing has always interested me is his ability to explore opportunities beyond the traditional boundaries of running a technology business. He builds software products for distributors, supports students through the GCT Incubator, invests in education through DCKAP Palli, creates Tamil board games, and hosts conversations through Driven by DCKAP and Chat with KC. His interests span very different areas.

So I was curious about one question: how does someone pursue so many different initiatives while staying focused on what matters?

His answers came down to three ideas: think long-term, build with purpose, and stay consistent. Here are seven reflections from our conversation.

THINK LONG-TERM

1. Think in Decades, Not Just Quarters

One of the biggest changes in KC’s thinking has been his shift from short-term to long-term. He told me that earlier he was always in a hurry, feeling he had to do something right now. With experience, he has come to believe that meaningful things can take 10, 20, even 25 years.

“I’m not just focused on what happens today. I’m focused on what is going to happen 10 years from now.”

Early in an entrepreneurial journey, it’s natural to focus on immediate results. Revenue, customers, growth and the next milestone demand attention. KC isn’t ignoring any of that. He continues to track year-on-year growth and business metrics, and he was honest that balancing those numbers with long-term bets is something the team is still working through.

The difference is that short-term results are no longer the only measure of success.

What struck me is that long-term thinking is easy to say and hard to practise. The short term gives you feedback every week. The long term gives you none, for years. As a leader, the quarter is also what my team sees and gets measured on, so a ten-year bet only survives if I protect it deliberately and keep explaining why it matters. KC didn’t claim to have solved this. He lives with the tension and said so openly, and I took that as the real lesson: holding two timelines is a discipline you keep practicing, not a decision you make once.

A good quarter matters, but a good decade matters even more. 

2. Don’t Abandon an Asset While Building the Next One

DCKAP’s journey from services into software products for distributors offered an interesting leadership lesson.

DCKAP Consulting was the core of the business. As the company moved into software products for distributors, it split its services business out, and services now run separately while DCKAP focuses on products. KC chose to make DCKAP, and its products, his main focus.

But focusing on something new didn’t mean walking away from what had already been built. Many companies entering the product business move away from services completely. KC sees value in preserving what has been built, and he didn’t want to lose a valuable business asset while pursuing the next opportunity.

So instead of treating services and products as competing businesses, his thinking is to get the most value from both and invest in the right partners. He added that DCKAP doesn’t have to do everything itself. If another company is doing something really well, it can collaborate with it or invest in it. And the structure creates new leaders, so one person doesn’t have to carry everything. If both sides grow, each becomes big in its own right.

When a business changes direction, the energy follows the new thing, and the older work quietly gets less attention, even when it is what funds the change. What I take from KC’s approach is that he made a deliberate choice instead of letting it drift. Each business has its own focus and its own leaders.

As a leader, I think the real question isn’t products versus services. It’s whether each business has someone fully accountable for it. A business gets stronger when someone owns it and weaker when it is the side job of a person busy elsewhere. Protecting an existing strength doesn’t mean holding on to it as it was. It means knowing what to preserve, what to evolve, and where to invest.

3. Build an Ecosystem, Not Just a Startup

We discussed the DCKAP Incubator at Government College of Technology (GCT). KC believes GCT has talented, deserving students, but many lack the exposure and direction needed to explore their full potential.

Interestingly, the incubator is not focused on producing startups as quickly as possible. KC was clear that a startup will not simply come out of GCT overnight. The ecosystem doesn’t exist yet, so the approach is to build it: supporting research papers, backing student teams, and creating an environment where students can interact, experiment and learn.

One example is Porikalam, an inter-college event KC started because GCT had no flagship event where all departments come together. His reasoning was simple. Computer science cannot stand by itself. It has to work with mechanical, electrical and other disciplines.

We often measure initiatives by immediate output: how many startups, how many jobs, how much revenue. But KC’s point is that talent at GCT was never the gap. Exposure was. That made me ask where talent inside my own team is waiting for exposure rather than ability. Exposure can be as valuable as opportunity itself.

BUILD WITH PURPOSE

4. Education Should Create Possibilities, Not Just Employment

Our conversation about DCKAP Palli brought another interesting perspective. The initiative has supported students for three or four years, but KC recognises a practical challenge: DCKAP cannot hire everyone who goes through the program. With AI also changing education, he is now rethinking how Palli should evolve.

We also talked about language in education. KC asked himself a personal question: what if he had studied in Tamil until fifth or eighth grade, instead of in an English-medium school? He questioned the assumption that English-medium private education is the only route to success, and referred to accomplished people such as Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, who studied in Tamil medium in his early years. He called it a sensitive topic and said plainly that he doesn’t have the answers yet.

As a leader, what I took from this is the courage to test an assumption most of us inherit without questioning. KC is doing it with Palli, and he is doing it with language, without pretending to have the answer. Education should build confidence, capability and independent thinking, and the success of an educational initiative should not depend only on whether the organisation running it can employ its students.

5. Business Can Also Preserve Culture

Tamil board games may seem completely unrelated to building software products for distributors. But they come from the same line of thought as the education question. KC described it as alternative thinking: what if we put more substance into Tamil and gave people more ways to engage with it?

This was a reminder that not every initiative needs to have the same purpose.

Some create commercial value. Others create educational, cultural, or social value.

As entrepreneurs and leaders, we often evaluate everything through the lens of revenue and growth.

But meaningful work can take many forms.

Preserving a language, creating learning opportunities, or connecting younger generations with their culture can be equally important motivations

6. Focus Starts with Knowing Why

This was one of my favourite parts of the conversation. With so many initiatives, I wanted to understand how KC manages his time and attention. His answer came back to two principles.

First, DCKAP remains the priority.

Second, every initiative needs a clear reason to exist.

For example, Chat with KC serves a purpose in building an audience and creating meaningful conversations.

The different initiatives may operate independently today, but KC hopes they can become more connected over the long term.

Leadership isn’t about having fewer interests. It’s about having clarity on what matters most.

When we understand the why behind our priorities, we make better decisions about where to invest our time and energy.

Not every interesting opportunity deserves our immediate attention. The real skill lies in knowing what to pursue, what to defer, and what to let go of.

STAY CONSISTENT

7. Hire Great People. Start. Stay Consistent.

When I asked KC about a leadership mistake he would want other entrepreneurs to avoid, his answer was straightforward: working with people who were merely “okay” instead of holding out for top-notch talent. Everyone you work with has to be top-notch, or it becomes a pain.

The quality of people we bring in influences how far an organisation can grow. It also connects to running multiple initiatives. A leader cannot personally manage every detail forever, so building strong teams becomes essential.

His advice to aspiring founders was equally simple: start, and be consistent.

Many people spend years thinking about starting something. They wait for the perfect opportunity, the perfect team or the perfect business model. KC said even the GCT work began as just a thought. Only after starting did they learn what to do next. Progress begins with action, and consistency turns it into learning and momentum.

Hiring is where I feel this most as a leader. When there is pressure to fill a role, settling for someone who is merely okay feels practical. The cost doesn’t show up that week. It shows up months later, in the time other people spend compensating. Hiring top talent is slower and harder, but it is what lets a leader step back from the details.

On starting and consistency, I can speak from this newsletter. None of the 100 editions felt like a big decision. It was showing up every week and learning as I went. We often overcomplicate entrepreneurship and leadership. Start with a clear purpose, surround yourself with capable people, keep improving, and stay consistent. Simple principles, but not always easy to practise.

A Personal Reflection on My 100th Edition

Reaching 100 editions of Leader’s Reflection is meaningful to me. When I started writing, the intention was simple: to reflect on what I was learning through leadership, business, people and everyday experiences. Over time, writing has helped me think more clearly, question my assumptions and become more intentional about my decisions.

This conversation with KC also gave me something new to think about. We discussed writing in Tamil, and he encouraged me to explore a separate Tamil newsletter. It’s an idea I’m now seriously considering. Perhaps that’s another lesson: growth doesn’t always mean doing more of the same. Sometimes it means finding a new way to express what matters to us.

As I look toward the next 100 editions, I want to continue learning, questioning and sharing experiences that help others think differently about leadership.

My thanks to Karthik, for taking the time to share his perspectives and experiences, and thank you to everyone who has been reading, engaging and sharing feedback on these reflections.