Kris Poria is a successful and high-achieving executive who has a combined thirst for learning with a determination to improve business functionality throughout his career.
Born in a humble farming community in rural India, at the age of 16, Kris spent three months at an English school with no understanding of the English language. Rather than shirk the task of mastering a much-needed foreign language, Kris displayed resilience, character, and determination to learn and soon succeeded in becoming fluent in English.
By the age of 21, Kris Poria was juggling two businesses, a new marriage, and university studies. Kris saw the vision in all three and effectively managed his time and money accordingly.
His love and inquisitive nature of software saw him become a Microsoft Certified Solutions Developer and leave his native country to gain international experience in Europe and America.
Deciding that Australia was the best country in the world to raise a family and expand his entrepreneurial spirit, Kris first moved to Sydney where he launched a new media publication, ‘Invest in Australia’. As well as successfully publishing this magazine Australia-wide, Kris’ love of IT and its endless foray into every business overtook his energies and he was back in that world again with some of the largest IT production companies and system integrators while completing his MBA from Macquarie Graduate School of Management.
But the entrepreneurial bug was still running through his veins and when Kris stumbled upon a gap in the market for big companies to work with start-ups that had innovative solutions, he realized a platform needed to be launched, to marry the two together, along with enabling start-ups and early adopters to exchange value early on.
Kris Poria launched EarlyBirds – a global platform and business model that connects tech innovators, start-ups, along with independent experts, to share expertise and knowledge, to enable businesses to upscale quicker.
EarlyBirds helps organizations by providing capability solutions within a trusted networking platform to millions of businesses around the world. The platform allows early adopter challenges to be solved quickly by experts providing solution options. It is complemented by innovation programs, products, and services on offer to allow organizations to see what the global market is doing. Finally, subject matter experts are welcomed onto the platform to work with customers to deliver business-focused outcomes. This helps improve the innovation lifecycle and enables any products or services to come to life quicker.
For more details about EarlyBirds, visit their website here.
What inspired you to become an entrepreneur?
Kris: The foundation of EarlyBirds was inspired by bringing together experiences, passion, and services with the intent to deliver better value to society. Both Kris and his co-founder, Jeff Penrose, have similar experiences as far as starting their career in the public sector and living and working in various countries. They work closely together, and both understand that they need to combine their experiences and passion while understanding what they want to deliver and what value they can provide.
How did you get started?
Kris: The idea for EarlyBirds came when Kris was working for a large systems integrator. There was a lot of engagement working with customers on big transformation projects. He had identified that one challenge in the market was that some of the big customers could not access or engage with startups that had innovative solutions.
While working on one project, Kris needed a solution to manage a multi-cloud environment. The startup Jeff worked for at the time had created a multi-cloud management solution. After several meetings, they felt that they had a strong solution for the client. However, they could not get buy-in from the systems integrator, who ultimately decided to build the solution in-house. Kris and Jeff did not feel that the client received the best solution, so the two of them continued to discuss their idea and began researching the problems they witnessed when working with customers. Based on their findings, they decided to build a global platform and business model to connect tech innovators, startups, and scaleups to early adopter customers. Early on, the co-founders interacted with tech incubators and accelerators globally and found the platform worked well, and as a result, the platform was launched in September 2019.
What was your biggest startup challenge? What steps did you take to overcome it? What did you learn?
Kris: The idea of EarlyBirds came from the challenge that Jeff and I faced working on a large transformation project where a disruptive startup solution could have been used instead of creating extended projects to create new products from scratch. Please check EarlyBirds story here for more info with this link.
What is the Most Memorable Thing You’ve Done Since you Started your Business?
Kris: Solving a couple of wicked problems for our customers including in the large public sector and private sector customers.
What is one book you recommend, and why?
Kris: Autobiography of a Yogi. Life is a lot more than just business and it might open up opportunities for you to explore your journey.
In terms of legacy, what is the mark you’d like to leave on the world?
Kris: Business is a service to society and we are here to help society.
In one sentence, what’s the best advice you’d give to someone just starting out on their entrepreneurial journey?
Kris: Start the journey as it is one of the best thing you can do.
To keep up to date with Kris Poria, connect with him on his LinkedIn.