Dev Purkayastha: Leveraging Over Four Decades Of Experience To Offer Next-Level Accounting Solutions
Dev Purkayastha
CEO
A Chartered Accountant in India at PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS, Dev has worked in accounting for GKW for four years and in Venture Capital for 28 years before he established Indevia Accounting. Leveraging his extensive experience and unrivaled knowledge of business & finance, Dev looks forward to delivering better, cheaper, and faster accounting for many more businesses across the U.S. Let’s hear it from him.
You possess over forty-five years of experience. How has been your path to success and what is your success mantra?
I never believed in having long-range
goals. My goal was simple from the age of 15, I wanted to be financially successful. Throughout my career, whatever decisions I took for myself have been aligned with my goal. Accomplishing great things involves lifelong learning and skill-building for everyone, even the most confident people. Also, having the company of smart people is like a vast ocean, there is so much to learn from them. Hence, two things that I always focus on never stop learning, and always working with people who are smarter than me.
Could you tell us about the unique experiences Harvard University offers and what did you learn from the campus beyond academics?
Harvard Business School (HBS) does not teach any particular methodology. They challenge you to think about the problems businesses face and offer solutions. With a class of eighty students, you hear solutions from the sublime to the bizarre. There is no correct answer; you are taught to think creatively. HBS gave us the opportunity to connect with many business leaders and know their perspectives. At the same time, we were also allowed to visit business organizations to understand different aspects of business. This broadened and sharpened my leadership skills and knowledge about different industries.
How would you define Indevia as an organization and its current position in the market?
Indevia is a bookkeeping company with a specialization in fast food restaurants. We are one of many small players in the market and working towards growing & expanding our operations. To scale up, we are focusing on streamlining our work processes and automating manual work. As our accountants are freed from routine accounting, they can focus on adding value to the clients. From the very beginning, we are focused on improving our
From the very beginning, we are focused on improving our quality & automating as much as possible we aspire to be the Infosys of accounting
Could you tell us about the unique experiences Harvard University offers and what did you learn from the campus beyond academics?
Harvard Business School (HBS) does not teach any particular methodology. They challenge you to think about the problems businesses face and offer solutions. With a class of eighty students, you hear solutions from the sublime to the bizarre. There is no correct answer; you are taught to think creatively. HBS gave us the opportunity to connect with many business leaders and know their perspectives. At the same time, we were also allowed to visit business organizations to understand different aspects of business. This broadened and sharpened my leadership skills and knowledge about different industries.
How would you define Indevia as an organization and its current position in the market?
Indevia is a bookkeeping company with a specialization in fast food restaurants. We are one of many small players in the market and working towards growing & expanding our operations. To scale up, we are focusing on streamlining our work processes and automating manual work. As our accountants are freed from routine accounting, they can focus on adding value to the clients. From the very beginning, we are focused on improving our
quality and automating as much as possible we aspire to be the Infosys of accounting.
Tell us about your leadership approach. What are the methodologies you follow to lead your team?
My style of leadership is more participative and collaborative as I believe that together, as a team, we are more intelligent than any one of us. We do extensive brainstorming sessions once a year and encourage team members to fully participate by inviting their input and suggestions on how to do things better. We believe in keeping it transparent. We share our financials with our staff. We also have quarterly town hall meetings. Moreover, we endeavor to make each new hire an opportunity to upgrade our management.
In light of your strong experience within the industry, what advice would you give to budding industry leaders?
With leadership comes great responsibilities to be a good role model and decision-maker, be fair and reliable, and have integrity. One of the most important qualities, though, is to have commitment. If you expect your team to work hard and attain success, you will have to focus on hiring people that complement your skills. Find a niche and specialize in it.
Be resilient the path to success is beset with setbacks. Resilience equips us with tools and strategies to deal with set backs.
Purkayastha, CEO, Indevia
Dev is a Chartered Accountant trained at PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS, a successful venture capital investor, and a former member of a retail store franchisors Board of Directors. He also has an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Hobbies:Reading Popular Science books, watching scientific television programs, reading contemporary books on management
Favorite Cuisine:
Chinese and Bengali
Favorite Book:
Winston Churchill, History of World WarII
Favorite Travel Destination:
New York City
Awards & Recognition:
Baker Scholar
Tell us about your leadership approach. What are the methodologies you follow to lead your team?
My style of leadership is more participative and collaborative as I believe that together, as a team, we are more intelligent than any one of us. We do extensive brainstorming sessions once a year and encourage team members to fully participate by inviting their input and suggestions on how to do things better. We believe in keeping it transparent. We share our financials with our staff. We also have quarterly town hall meetings. Moreover, we endeavor to make each new hire an opportunity to upgrade our management.
In light of your strong experience within the industry, what advice would you give to budding industry leaders?
With leadership comes great responsibilities to be a good role model and decision-maker, be fair and reliable, and have integrity. One of the most important qualities, though, is to have commitment. If you expect your team to work hard and attain success, you will have to focus on hiring people that complement your skills. Find a niche and specialize in it.
Be resilient the path to success is beset with setbacks. Resilience equips us with tools and strategies to deal with set backs.
Purkayastha, CEO, Indevia
Dev is a Chartered Accountant trained at PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS, a successful venture capital investor, and a former member of a retail store franchisors Board of Directors. He also has an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Hobbies:Reading Popular Science books, watching scientific television programs, reading contemporary books on management
Favorite Cuisine:
Chinese and Bengali
Favorite Book:
Winston Churchill, History of World WarII
Favorite Travel Destination:
New York City
Awards & Recognition:
Baker Scholar