- Ajai Chowdhry recalled HCL's humble start in 1976 with six co-founders and limited funds
- Their first office was a small barsati in Golf Links, Delhi, with the computer still in design
- Initial orders came from IIT Kharagpur and IIT Madras before convincing businesses was a challenge
There was a time when a computer was not something you carried in your pocket, placed on your desk or opened with a fingerprint. In India of 1976, it was an unfamiliar, almost futuristic idea - and for six young men, it was a dream worth risking their careers on. This is what Ajai Chowdhry, the co-founder of Hindustan Computers Limited (HCL), shared in a long post on X. Chowdhry recalled they had no sprawling office, no venture capitalist waiting to fund the next big idea and no established market waiting for their product.
"Between the six of us, we managed to put together Rs 1.87 lakh. We borrowed, pooled our savings and, in one case, even sold a car," Chowdhry said in the post, adding that their first computer existed, in a sense, only on paper.
"Our first office was a small barsati in Golf Links, Delhi," said Chowdhry in the tweet that has nearly three lakh views. He also posted a photo of HCL's six co-founders.
There was a brochure. There was a mock-up. The machine itself was still being designed. Yet, the six men went out and tried to sell it.
Chowdhry said the first orders came from IIT Kharagpur and IIT Madras, but then came the harder part - convincing businesses.
"In Coimbatore, we were up against DCM DP, a much bigger and more established name. I still remember sitting in the reception area of Premier Mills while the DCM team made its pitch. We went in second. And we won. That one order gave us five more. Then ten," said the tweet.
It is easy, 50 years later, to look at the story of HCL through the lens of the technology giant it became. But its origins were far more modest. There was uncertainty, long days, rejection, audacious sales pitches and the thrill of winning customers one at a time.
As HCL turns 50, co-founder Ajai Chowdhry's recollection takes us back to those early days, when India's technology industry was still in its infancy and the idea of building an Indian computer seemed almost fanciful.
But Chowdhry beautifully sums up the the spirit that has kept the company alive: "Dream big. Take the risk. And above all, Just Aspire."
