Star six: Companionship. Not one company. A constellation.
Seven Years. Seven Stars. Chapter six of seven. For five chapters, I've told you where we came from. This one is about where we're going.People often ask me what Pragmatiq is. A technology company? An edtech company? Something to do with land? The honest answer: one engineering core, and a few bets placed on it.
##One bet is rarely enough##
Most startups bet everything on one idea. If that idea doesn't find its market in time, there's nothing to fall back on.
We chose differently. Seven years of building technology for other companies gave us an engineering core: a team, a way of working, and a habit of understanding the domain before the technology. That work also paid our way, so every new idea could take the time it needed.
On that one core, we've placed three bets. Each grew out of our own work, and each is built for one person at a time.
##Three bets, one core##
• Learning that fits each student. RiteBook™ and PurpleGene® grew out of 100+ college programmes and 50,000+ students. Coming 13 November.
• Land you can look after from anywhere. This one grew out of my own piece of land, 60 km from Hyderabad, which is a mango orchard today. Coming 16 November.
• People you thought you'd lost. This one starts with my own college batch. Coming 18 November.
Three different worlds. The same core underneath: the same engineers, the same domain-first habit, and the same rule that nothing personal happens without consent.
##Why connected bets last##
• They share what's expensive. Engineering, talent, and the lessons from every client project are built once and used everywhere.
• They feed each other. Alumni we help people find again can mentor the students RiteBook™ serves. What we learn building for clients makes our own products better.
• No single bet decides our future. If one grows slowly, the others carry it.
The Pragmatiq Way, principle 6
Build relationships, not transactions.
It holds inside the group too. Our bets aren't separate businesses competing for attention. They're companions, each one stronger because of the others.
##The star: Vasishtha##
Vasishtha is the star the West calls Mizar, in the middle of the Big Dipper's handle. Look closely and you'll see a fainter star beside it: Arundhati, his companion. At many Indian weddings, couples are shown Arundhati as a sign of a bond that lasts.
That's our sixth chapter: not one star on its own, but companions that hold their shape together.
What's next
This week, the stories behind these three bets.
On Friday 13 November, the first of three launches.
Next Sunday, star seven lights up: Marichi, the light ahead.