About Me

Sahil Parikh ><

I’ve spent more than 25 years building software, products and businesses, from the early web through SaaS, cloud and mobile applications, and now AI.

I founded Synage Software and built two SaaS products — DeskAway, launched in 2007 for small businesses globally and one of India's first home-grown SaaS products, and Brightpod, launched in 2014 for marketing teams around the world.

Today, I help shape technology and digital product strategy at PPFAS Mutual Fund, building scalable, institutional-grade financial applications across web and mobile.

I’m also a hands-on full-stack developer and enjoy understanding how systems fit together — from product and user experience through application architecture, APIs, infrastructure and the underlying code. More recently, that has extended to exploring how AI changes the way we build software and products.

I wrote The SaaS Edge: How Companies Can Leverage Software as a Service for Competitive Advantage, published by Tata McGraw-Hill in 2011.

Over the years, my work has been featured in India Today Aspire, CNBC’s ‘Young Turk Innovators’, The Times of India, The Economic Times, Mint, The New York Times and VentureBeat.

I hold a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematical Sciences (Computer Science) from UNC Chapel Hill.

When not in front of the computer, I spend time reading, writing, playing golf, tennis, practicing yoga and traveling with my wife and daughter.

This blog has no particular schedule. I write when I want to and when I have a strong opinion about a topic, article or a broader theme. My posts range in length from a quick link to a few paragraphs, mostly about technology, business, productivity, life and random ideas.

You can follow me on X, LinkedIn or email me.

My Book - The SaaS Edge #

How Companies Can Leverage SaaS For Competitive Advantage
Published by Tata Mcgraw-Hill India. Hardcover, 176 Pages.

Sahil Parikh Book Launch ><

It took me almost a year and a half to write this book while also managing my startup DeskAway. This book is very easy to read and very non-technical. The main theme of the book revolves around how businesses can harness the power of Software As A Service, Web 2.0 and on-demand computing to lower cost, increase efficiency and productivity. Everything is moving to the Web and so should your business!

Book Review: The SAAS Edge
Ashish Sinha, Next Big What (originally Pluggd.in)

The SaaS Edge by Sahil Parikh — Book Review
Basant Narayan Singh, Techno-Pulse

Book Review — The Human Factor Magazine

SaaS Is Recession-Friendly
Business Insider

Exorcising eight SaaS myths
D. Murali, The Hindu

Featured #

Sahil Parikh in Inc. India Magazine ><

Launch Page — Be The Boss
Inc. India

The Young Guns (PDF Cover Story)
India Today

My Morning Routine
My Morning Routine

Sahil Parikh’s Mac, iPhone, and Watch setup
The Sweet Setup

How Brightpod Doubled It’s Signup Conversions In 9 Months
TheDailySEOBlog

On Digital Marketing With Brightpod’s Sahil Parikh
PerfectForms

How simplicity makes collaboration easier with Brightpod
ZDNet

How to be a Productive Project Manager
ProProfs

Growing A Marketing Collaboration Startup From Mumbai
FoundersGrid

Synage bets features will give first-mover edge to DeskAway
Livemint

DeskAway — darling of global workforces; bosses love it too!
Moneycontrol SME Mentor

India sees a rise in emergence of cloud-based startups
InformationWeek

Young turks aim high growth in hard times
Financial Chronicle

Start-up firms are building a business catering to start-ups
Economic Times

Interview on YourStory.in before the Nasscom Emerge Conclave
YourStory

Spirit of Entrepreneurship: E-managing Projects
Times of India

The Start-up Story of Sahil and DeskAway
Penn Olson

Hand in Hand, A Walk in the Cloud
BusinessToday

Work Smarter, even when away from desk
TechGig

Indian innovation thriving despite downturn and terrorism
VentureBeat & NYTimes, Edward Iwata

Sahil Parikh bets on SaaS to provide a remote control project management product, DeskAway
Nasscom Product Conclave Special, YourStory

Interview on WideTeams (Podcast)
Avdi Grimm

Interview on GetApp
GetApp

Trends Updates — Book Interview
TrendUpdates

YourStory.in Interview
YourStory

Young Turks Innovators (TV)
CNBC

Awaaz (TV)
CNBC

Who needs an office address
Financial Express

Speaking #

Panel Discussion ><

Some of my past speaking/panel engagements:

The Startup Leadership Program, Mumbai
I spoke about my experience in bootstrapping to 100+ customers & SaaS best practices.
@ Avendus Capital, Mumbai

Zinnov Techtonic CIO Event
@ Intercontinental Lalit, Mumbai

CloudCamp Mumbai
@ Peninsula Grand Hotel, Mumbai

Nasscom EmergeOut Conclave — How Cloud, Mobile and Apps will change the Software and Services Landscape
@ Leela Kempinski, Gurgaon

Social Media Club Mumbai — How do products make ROI sense of Social Media and more.
I spoke about how we use Social Media at DeskAway
@DirectiPlex

Rotary Club of Bombay Mid-town — Cloud Computing Simplified
I presented the basics of Cloud Computing to the members (mostly, non-technical) of the Rotary Club of Bombay Mid-Town.
@ The Taj Mahal Palace, Mumbai

Zinnov R&D Globalization Council — Cloud Opportunities in Emerging Markets
I was invited to be a part of a panel discussion on "Cloud Opportunities in Emerging Markets” with Karthik Anand (Director, Zinnov), Rahul Kulkarni (Product Manager, Google) and Anand Ramakrishnan (General Manager & Head — Cloud Computing Services, Wipro Infotech).
@ The Chancery Pavilion, Bangalore

iWeekend Mumbai — 10 insights on building a web product company
Presented some of the most important learnings an insights I got while starting and growing DeskAway.
@ IIT Mumbai

On the ET Now Starting Up Show with Mr. Vinod Dham
Sudhir Syal from ET Now Starting Up had arranged an interesting meet with Mr. Vinod Dham (the father of the Pentium chip) and 6 Mumbai-based product entrepreneurs. Mr. Dham started off with the early days at Intel and then we went into a group discussion on the product space in India. We pitched in and it turned out to be a great, from the heart discussion.
@ ETNow Studio

Interop — Top 10 SaaS Myths
Presented common myths and mindset issues people have when deciding to switch to software as a service (SaaS).
@ Bombay Exhibition Centre

Launch of E cell Magazine ’ E-Spire’ at Dr. D Y. Patil University
I was invited to give a brief talk on my experience as an entrepreneur and also to launch their new website and magazine.
@ Dr. D. Y. Patil University, Dept. Of Business Management

IIT Mumbai, Ideaz 08
My talk on taking an idea and building a business out of it — experiences starting and growing DeskAway.
@ IIT Mumbai