V.K. Vinod Sreekumar is a visionary leader, serial entrepreneur, and tech innovator with over 30 years of experience in software engineering and enterprise technology.
Hailing from Kerala, India and having grown up in Mumbai, he is the founder and CEO of PracticeSuite, a leading cloud-based platform for ambulatory care in the United States. He also founded Equilibrium Capital, a U.S.-based venture capital firm that plans to launch a social impact fund in India, aimed at providing financial support to both existing and new small and medium-sized businesses.
1. What inspired you to move beyond traditional wealth-building goals and focus on solving systemic inequalities?
My experiences from building businesses from ground up has helped me see how the current market system − which was originally designed to uplift the aspiring− is inadvertently overwhelming favors the already established. I’ve observed how access to opportunity and capital has shrunk for the common man. This was not the case 20 years ago, when I began my journey as an entrepreneur. Today, hope and opportunity are being stripped from everyday people. A 21 old kid cannot think of making enough to cover the shared rent. The only option for him is to work on minimum wage with aggregators as driver or delivery buying. A husband and wife working for $40 an hour cannot afford to buy a home, let alone think of starting a family. Even if they do all this, the pressure to make a living running after money breaks the subtle link – marriage. In any economic system, there should be wealthy, rich, and striving common man, and the poor. Competition to run over others, Greed and Evil are part of human nature. Yet with all these there exists an equilibrium(EQ) where a common aspiring man strives today with a hope for a better tomorrow. When that hope is destroyed, the toiling man has nothing to lose. That hopeless and hapless common man shall revolt potentially setting the stage for anarchy. This needs to be stopped.
I stopped working traditional personal accumulation of wealth and illusionary glory. My family and I made the decision, what we have is enough. I moved beyond to create disruptive financial resources and a new economic model where wealth accumulation and the economic opportunity to the abandoned majority shall co-exist. This may sound like a paradox but in reality it is a symbiotic relationship
2. Do you see a growing trend of founders shifting towards impact-led ventures in India or globally?
I don’t. The problem is not the founders but the wrong education system and the failure of the business schools that failed to inculcate cosmic capitalism. I assure you Adam Smith’s soul must be hurt seeing the mess we created in the name of profit, and investor ROI.The only way it will change is when we instill a new system that transcends the current system.
3. Can you explain how you’ve structured funding to support long-term impact initiatives?
Equilibrium Capital focuses on the “medium return/low risk” quadrant, targeting sectors like Main Street businesses that have been largely abandoned. We partner with family offices, institutional funds, and private investors who want financial return and long-term system change. Instead of tapping into charitable funds, we create structured capital aimed at building nurturing and sustaining essential businesses that provides food, clothing, shelter and health
4. Which sectors are you planning to bring impact to?
Main Street will be our focus. Even though they are critical, it is largely abandoned, ignored and under invested. Businesses such as small mom and pop stores—restaurants, coffee shops, flower shops, repair shops, health and wellness, services like plumbers, ac mechanics, fitness trainers, hair salon, landscaping etc.
5. What models or frameworks do you follow to ensure your funding mechanisms are inclusive and sustainable?
We are creating what we call a “ Main Street MBA” that is a combination of Y combinator and Mcknessy for Main street. Initial capital, a structured bootcamp business training, mentorship to aspiring entrepreneurs and ongoing support infrastructure to ensure they do not fail. We focus on investing in the person just as much as the business. Our framework evaluates drive, grit, willingness, and to do whatever it takes to succeed.
6. How do you balance investor expectations with your social impact goals?
Wall Street investment is at its peak, the highly inflated market creates massive downside risk. The next opportunity is on main street. It is left untapped for stable long term return. . Our investments offer stable long-term growth by backing essential services.
7. What kind of systemic inequalities are you specifically addressing through your ventures?
We are addressing the growing concentration of wealth and opportunity that favors big business while locking out the average aspiring entrepreneurs. Whether it’s lack of access to startup capital, mentorship, or foundational education. Our goal is to remove those barriers and restore upward mobility for the everyday person who wants a fair shot.
8. Can you share a project or initiative that you feel best exemplifies your mission-driven focus?
The essential sectors that serve all of us. Those sectors are in the main street. Think for a moment, what do you need to live? – it is your luxury car, it is not your Instagram, or mind conquering online tool, or social media followers or your social stature or how others perceive you. If you could nail those few things down, that is precisely where we will focus. Currently, we have ignored, harmed and are destroying it. EQ is taking the mantle to cut the darkness so others can follow the trail.
9. What’s next for you in your journey of funding or building systemic change
Equilibrium capital is just the beginning. We want to build a repeatable model that can scale globally. A capital engine that can support aspiring entrepreneurs in any part of the world. Over time, our goal is to rebalance the investment ecosystem, restore hope to the common man, and prevent the kind of economic and social imbalance that leads to despair.
***
