Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu to founders: Enemies of profit in business are …

Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu has cautioned entrepreneurs against chasing hype-driven sectors, saying that businesses built away from public attention often deliver stronger long-term value. Sharing a post on microblogging platform X (formerly known as Twitter), Vembu said technology trends move in phases, with one sector becoming “hot” at a given time. "Prestige and limelight are often the enemy of profit in business," he said. He listed examples such as e-commerce, social networking, software-as-a-service (SaaS), and now artificial intelligence (AI), which is currently drawing widespread attention from investors and the media.Sridhar Vembu said that while these sectors attract “prestige and limelight”, they are not always where the best business opportunities lie. In the post, he cited Nvidia’s early years as an example, writing that the company steadily worked on its general-purpose GPU strategy and made key acquisitions, including high-speed interconnect firm Mellanox, at a time when those technologies were largely ignored.According to Vembu, this lack of attention allowed Nvidia to build strong capabilities without intense competition or pressure from short-term expectations. He argued that entrepreneurs should focus on identifying areas that are important but overlooked, rather than following popular trends. At any given point in time, a particular sector becomes hot, such as ecommerce, social networking, SaaS and now AI ...It is worth keeping in mind that when Nvidia was steadily building towards their GPGPU vision and made smart acquisitions like high speed interconnect firm Mellanox, those areas had no media attention.Smart entrepreneurs should ask "what areas are important that are not in the limelight?" Prestige and limelight are often the enemy of profit in business.Speaking at India AI Impact Summit 2026, Sridhar Vembu said that India has a significant advantage due to its young population. "With our vast youth population, we have the most AI enthusiastic population in the world. We are adopting AI faster than any other nation,” he noted. He further said that the Indian youth is already leading in technology adoption and creating new opportunities.