A real entrepreneur always thinks decades ahead of others and never looks for short cut to success. Instead, he takes a long, hard route so that he could sustain himself and his business, which finally defines success. To top it all, he relies more on his talent and on pennies in his pocket than on public money. And if you want to know what Rahul Roy, CEO, Mirrorplus Technologies thinks about it, here is a comment straight from the horse's mouth: "We were not like some of the Indian entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley who took their companies public in the late 1990s to make a quick buck. We are not looking for a quick exit route and strongly believe in our company which is strongly grounded on our own technology Planwell."

This is Rahul Roy, chief technology officer of American Reprographics Corporation (ARC) in Silicon Valley and chief executive officer of MirrorPlus Technologies, the software development arm of ARC. Born and brought up in West Bengal, Roy had been to IIT where he studied accounting and computer science before following his brothers to Silicon Valley. Once in the US, Roy got himself involved in solving difficult problems of accounting programs on new computers. After becoming an independent computer consultant, Roy made his first fortune by creating a computer program that improved efficiency at printing companies. Several more successes followed during his first decade in Silicon Valley. Roy also started MirrorPlus Technologies in 1998 with a Construction-ERP package emphasizing on construction documentation management with a popular brand called Plan Well.

And it was much later in 2005 when ARC took the IPO route in the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). Roy feels that it was risk worth taking. The company, which has a market cap of $750 million, declared net income for the first quarter of 2005 at $35.6 million, or $0.85 per diluted share. In 2005, ARC opened its India operations with Kolkata as the base. While IPOs may not be something that other hi-tech companies in the Valley are doing at the moment, the decision to set up operations in India was one in which ARC is not alone.

"Our Kolkata office, which we recently opened, is developing our new services offering called Sub-Hub, which is targeted at the sub-contractors in the US construction sector. We plan to invest $5 million in our India operations over the next 12-15 months and scale up to 100 employees up the end of this year," says Roy who chose Salt Lake in Kolkata as the ARP location after he received a personal request from the government of West Bengal. His high-profile work apart, Roy is a vocal proponent of political activism and charity in the adopted country of successful first-generation Indian entrepreneurs. He coordinates political fundraisers, mentors young immigrants, and funds educational charities for disadvantaged youth. For this Kolkata man, who has grown by dint of his own strength, social responsibilities came to him as naturally as his professional expertise.