Star two: Direction.

Seven Years. Seven Stars. Chapter two of seven.

Last Friday, we said our second year belonged to a time when the world had every reason to wait, and we didn't. This is that story.

Our plan had been simple: help entrepreneurs build technology the practical way, and build personalised learning that closes the gap between colleges and industry. In our second year, from November 2020, that plan held. The route to it didn't.

Changing the route With uncertainty everywhere and no outside funding, we made a deliberate choice. We took on technology projects that paid their way and kept the company going.

We became the technology partner for companies in IT services, pharma and healthcare.

And for a healthcare product company, we built something that has only recently got a name in India: a nano-GCC.

A small idea with a big name A GCC, or global capability centre, is a dedicated team that a company builds in India to run its own technology and operations. India now hosts more than 1,900 of them.

For years, GCCs belonged to large multinationals. A nano-GCC is the same idea at a much smaller scale. A traditional GCC versus a nano-GCC:

Size: hundreds or thousands of people, versus a handful of specialists Setup time: a year or more, versus a few weeks Built for: global giants, versus startups and growing companies

In 2021, we didn't call it a nano-GCC. It was simply the right way to help one client keep building through uncertain times: a small, dedicated Pragmatiq team working only for them, as if it were their own. It started with 5 engineers and was running within 4 weeks.

Today, we run nano-GCCs for companies as far away as Australia.

What a nano-GCC really runs on A nano-GCC asks a lot of a client. They hand over their product, their code and their roadmap, and treat someone else's people as their own team.

That kind of trust doesn't come from a sales pitch. In 2020, it came from people who already knew our work.

Tomorrow, I will share how I built that network, and the two leaders who taught me how.

Holding the direction The learning mission didn't pause. The platform we built in our first year went to work in new settings: a language learning platform, and training for a pharmaceutical company. COVID had moved learning online, and our platform was ready for it.

What the year taught us Direction is a decision, not a forecast. We didn't know how long the uncertainty would last. We knew where we wanted to go. A detour can become the road. The technology work we took on to get through that year became one of Pragmatiq's core strengths. Trust comes before the contract. No client opens a dedicated team with a company they don't already trust.

The Pragmatiq Way, principle 2 Earn every rupee. In a year when many companies waited, for funding or for the crisis to pass, we chose work that paid its way. That revenue kept the company going and the learning mission alive. It is still the most honest investor we know.

The star: Pulaha Pulaha is the second pointer star of the Saptarishi. Together with Kratu, it leads the eye to the Pole Star, the one point in the night sky that doesn't move. For centuries, travellers have used these two stars to find north, whatever the season.

That is why our second year belongs to Pulaha: the route kept changing, but the direction held.

What's next On Thursday, Faces of Pragmatiq begins: the client behind our first nano-GCC, and the team member who built it with them.

Next Monday, star three lights up: Pulastya, the sage remembered for passing knowledge on.