Russi Chatterjee: A Technocrat With A Proven Track Record Of 12 Years Taking Early-Stage Startups To Greater Heights
Russi Chatterjee
Director
Russi Chatterjee is a technology professional for 12 years who has held various prominent roles in several industrial verticals, with the majority of his engagements being with early stage startups. Building and designing teams and collaborative structures churning out high quality products, Russi Chatterjee has domain experiences in AI/ML, fintech, adtech, healthcare, social networks, IoT, and technical experiences in data science, deep learning, data engineering, backend, frontend, DevOps, embedded systems. Russi Chatterjee, who was up in Mumbai, was exposed to computing at a young age and has been fascinated by technology since middle school. Currently, Russi Chatterjee is the steward of governance as the Director at Jodo, the first 'vertical' payments company of its sort.
In an exclusive interview with CEOInsights Russi Chatterjee enlightens us more about his professional journey and Jodo.
Could you give a brief account of your professional background and experiences? What is the motivation that fuels your daily routines?
I've been a technology professional for 12 years, having held various roles during this period including management, engineering, data engineering, data science, and machine learning, in various domains including fintech, adtech, language tech, healthcare informatics, social media, and IoT. Most of my engagements have been with early stage startups. Growing a business from scratch, wearing multiple hats at the same time, and being a part of high growth rocketships are what keep me motivated.
Could you describe the distinctive experiences NIT Rourkela offers and what you gained from the campus beyond academics?
The campus was all about knowing and growing with people. Having grown up in a protective home, NIT Rourkela gave me the freedom to explore, meet people from all parts of the country, build lasting friendships and learn to live in a society as a whole.
How would you define Jodo as an organization and its position in the market? What is the unique proposition that your organization offers to clients?
Jodo occupies a distinct market position, the first 'vertical' payments company of its sort. Usually, payment is a process that is tied to multiple processes in any business. The usual payment companies tend to be very thin in their offerings as in they tend to build and provide generic payment solutions without delving deeper into corporate operations. Jodo, on the other hand, caters to educational institutes and seeks to address challenges specific to the education sector. This enables us to offer consumers tailored products that meet the needs of that industry.
I've been a technology professional for 12 years, having held various roles during this period including management, engineering, data engineering, data science, and machine learning, in various domains including fintech, adtech, language tech, healthcare informatics, social media, and IoT. Most of my engagements have been with early stage startups. Growing a business from scratch, wearing multiple hats at the same time, and being a part of high growth rocketships are what keep me motivated.
Growing a business from scratch, wearing multiple hats at the same time, and being a part of highgrowth rocketships are what keep me motivated
Could you describe the distinctive experiences NIT Rourkela offers and what you gained from the campus beyond academics?
The campus was all about knowing and growing with people. Having grown up in a protective home, NIT Rourkela gave me the freedom to explore, meet people from all parts of the country, build lasting friendships and learn to live in a society as a whole.
How would you define Jodo as an organization and its position in the market? What is the unique proposition that your organization offers to clients?
Jodo occupies a distinct market position, the first 'vertical' payments company of its sort. Usually, payment is a process that is tied to multiple processes in any business. The usual payment companies tend to be very thin in their offerings as in they tend to build and provide generic payment solutions without delving deeper into corporate operations. Jodo, on the other hand, caters to educational institutes and seeks to address challenges specific to the education sector. This enables us to offer consumers tailored products that meet the needs of that industry.
Going forward, what are the changes in market behavior that you anticipate, and what are the opportunities that you foresee?
I tend to employ the tools of complex systems to predict and reason my predictions. In the abstract, I see degree distributions of both social and business networks becoming flatter. This implies that the previous generations saw large, centralized businesses, whereas I now see a shift toward increased decentralization, such as individuals or small teams tackling niche use cases. I have a hunch that enterprises of the future won't be huge oligopolies trying to do everything, but rather small businesses doing a few things extremely well. Similarly, the preceding generation was all about centralized platforms in the social arena. Now, it's all about individual creators.
In light of your strong experience within the industry, what advice would you give to budding industry leaders?
Building a brand and a network is more vital than ever. This is especially true for engineers who are often an introverted lot. Leadership is a skill that cannot be taught rather, it must be learned by being in the company of great leaders. Developing observational skills becomes the key to learning to become a leader.
Russi Chatterjee, Director- Engineering, Jodo
Russi, who was brought in Mumbai, was exposed to computing at a young age and has been fascinated by technology since middle school. He is an open-source enthusiast who has been using Linux for over 20 years and contributing to various OSS software projects. Russi is intrigued by several fields of research and actively reads journals to stay updated. He is also a casual gamer, manga and anime follower, audiophile, and board game geek.
Hobbies:-Reading text books(complex systems, pure math, social sciences, tech) Computers, software and hardware, Gaming, Manga and Anime
.Favorite Cuisine:-Indian
Favorite Book:-The geometry of biological Time by Arthur Winfree.
Favorite Travel Destination:
-Himalayas
I tend to employ the tools of complex systems to predict and reason my predictions. In the abstract, I see degree distributions of both social and business networks becoming flatter. This implies that the previous generations saw large, centralized businesses, whereas I now see a shift toward increased decentralization, such as individuals or small teams tackling niche use cases. I have a hunch that enterprises of the future won't be huge oligopolies trying to do everything, but rather small businesses doing a few things extremely well. Similarly, the preceding generation was all about centralized platforms in the social arena. Now, it's all about individual creators.
In light of your strong experience within the industry, what advice would you give to budding industry leaders?
Building a brand and a network is more vital than ever. This is especially true for engineers who are often an introverted lot. Leadership is a skill that cannot be taught rather, it must be learned by being in the company of great leaders. Developing observational skills becomes the key to learning to become a leader.
Russi Chatterjee, Director- Engineering, Jodo
Russi, who was brought in Mumbai, was exposed to computing at a young age and has been fascinated by technology since middle school. He is an open-source enthusiast who has been using Linux for over 20 years and contributing to various OSS software projects. Russi is intrigued by several fields of research and actively reads journals to stay updated. He is also a casual gamer, manga and anime follower, audiophile, and board game geek.
Hobbies:-Reading text books(complex systems, pure math, social sciences, tech) Computers, software and hardware, Gaming, Manga and Anime
.Favorite Cuisine:-Indian
Favorite Book:-The geometry of biological Time by Arthur Winfree.
Favorite Travel Destination:
-Himalayas