"The Silicon Valley is the breeding ground of ideas and Indian software engineers are among the best in the world," says Ajay K Bose, president and chief executive officer of Interra, Inc, a San Jose (California) based software company.

For Indian techies, moving from labs and development centres to wearing the hat of an entrepreneur is a case of natural progression, says Bose. "It is a spinoff of their confidence in their abilities." However, it took several years for these professionals to build up their brandequity tag of "reliable, high-quality professionals" who are as deft in leading edge technologies as in run-of-the-mill less-sophisticated functions.

"Ten years back India waslooked upon as a source of manpower for less sophisticated jobs. But that impression is changing fast," says Dalip Kumar, managing director of FCS Software Solutions, a California-based software solutions provider, with offices in several US and Indian cities.

Kumar, an NRI, started in 1991, mainly to recruit infotech professionals from India. Today, his company with a turnover of $20 million in 1997-98, has moved on to providing solutions and products in client-server technologies, ERP and Web-based applications.

FCS, which plans to go public next year, has invested over Rs 20 crore in developing research centres in Noida and Gurgaon. A strong India development base helps to assure clients on quality, cost and timely-delivery, says Kumar.

For Bose, too, the mainstay of $15-million Interra is its development centre in India at the Noida Export Processing Zone which houses over 150 software professionals. Interra came into being in 1995 to cater to hi-tech needs of clients in multi-tiered client/servertechnologies, electronic design automation, digital video technologies and IC design.

Bose, a technocrat with a doctorate in electrical engineering and computer science, feels that this India-US model where there is high reliance on Indian engineering expertise coupled with the market understanding of US-based entrepreneurs will propel many India-centric start-ups in the time to come. "Lot many young professionals in Silicon Valley are coming forward than ever before to give up cushioned jobs to start their own thing."

However, like most of their peers, these Indian professionals are learning the ropes of managing their businesses the hard way. "Not many realise early on that to build up a business technology plays a small role," says Purna Pareek of Progress Software.

"A info-tech start-up is a high risk venture. More than 90 per cent of small technology companies in the US fail in the first year." Pareek himself confesses to have struck it big with Progress Software only after two not-too-successfulefforts.

Both Kumar and Pareek feel that understanding people issues takes a longer time than most first-time entrepreneurs realise. Marketing is other challenge that most info-tech start-ups face. Recalls Raghu Bathina: "Market development was difficult when we started in 1993 considering that our target market is the small business segment which is difficult to reach."Bathina is one of the co-founders of Ramp Networks, Inc, a company promoted by five Indian computer engineers with communication and networking background to offer internet access devices for small businesses.

Pareek's advice to young entrepreneurs is to build strong marketing relationships with US firms, work closely with customers and not feel shy of diluting their stake to fund expansions.

Sandeep Divekar, co-founder of 3Name3D, a Santa Monica-based multimedia design firm with expertise in virtual architecture and high-tech design, realised early that selling off stake could be one way to venture into newer markets and boost thecompany's growth plans. So when software major Computer Associates Inc bought a majority stake in the company in April last year, he saw it as opening door to new opportunities.

Divekar and his two associates, all architects by profession, were early to see that CAD and 3-D computer modelling were destined to take off just as desktop publishing. The company made a mark making real-life like animations for the entertainment industry.

Divekar foresees a bright future for Indian software entrepreneurs in the Silicon Valley.

Hiring good talent, both technical and managerial, is a big challenge for a small and not well known company, feel many entrepreneurs. "Convincing the candidates that we were focused and had a mission as a company was difficult," says Bathina. Kumar of FCS, too, feels that attracting good management personnel is a big challenge for smaller software companies. "Giving employees a stake in the growth of the company and more say in its future is a way out."

Some, like Progress Softwareand Ramp Networks, Inc, have started looking at India as something more than development centres--a market for their products and services. "We have sold our products successfully worldwide and now with India allowing private ISPs, we see a strong market here," says Bathina.

Most entrepreneurs feel that being familiar with the Indian environment, it is easier for them to set up development facilities in the country. "We can deal better with the infrastructure or bureaucratic challenges that one might face here," says Bathina. His company is in the process of strengthening its R&D facility at Hyderabad which it had set up in 1994.

With opportunities opening up this is just the dawn of Indian success as hi-tech entrepreneurs. Says Bose: "Many of us started late as entrepreneurs. But the new generation is raring to go and make a early mark."