What do most 26-year-olds do? Go to office, meet friends, party and travel? Kaustubh Chokshi does all of this. But the difference is that he runs the office he goes to. Meet Kaustubh Chokshi, who is co-founder and chief executive officer of Intelligent Business Systems, a company based in the UK and India that specialises in artificial intelligence solutions.

Chokshi comes from an entrepreneurial family. His grandfather was founder-director of Themis Pharmaceuticals (of Metacin fame) and his father is a management consultant in Switzerland .

Most people would think it was easy for him to take the entrepreneurial route. Chokshi doesn’t agree. “My grandfather broke away to start his own venture, and so did my father,” he says. “The family business was more a support system. Entrepreneurial talent was encouraged.”

Chokshi displayed this talent right from his schooldays at Jamnabhai Narsee High School in Mumbai and graduation from Mithibai College of Arts and Commerce. He organised a number of events in school and college. This gave him exposure to aspects like budgeting, sponsorship and marketing. His high point was when he took over as president of a defunct Rotaract Club in his area and turned it around.

Chokshi admits that he had joined commerce assuming that he would take over the family business one day. But, then, he fell in love with computing. “I wrote my first software programme in Class VIII. While studying, I also marketed my software programme to train managers.” In 2000, after graduation, he left for the UK to pursue his masters in information technology management as he was aware that a commerce graduate would never be accepted in the IT domain in India .

While studying for his masters at the University of Sunderland, he developed a project called National Numbers that helped people choose numbers for their automobiles. The project was so successful that it was showcased in the University for three years. It paved the way for his research fellowship at King’s College, London, in 2002.

Chokshi had decided to do research in the area of artificial intelligence. Explains he, “Imagine if the computer that we work on could sense our moods. I was fascinated with the whole idea of a computer reprogramming itself and that’s why I chose artificial intelligence.” While working on campus and publishing papers on the subject, he also came into contact with John Taylor, who is considered the father of artificial intelligence.

The other key person he met there was his partner Christo Panchev. Says Chokshi, “Both Panchev and I had been handling projects worth millions of pounds for the University. We thought it was the right time to venture out on our own.” Thus, was born Intelligence Business Systems in 2003.

Chokshi says that they initially wanted to approach a venture capitalist for the start-up capital. Instead, they bagged a project and that solved the funding problem. Chokshi devoted the year 2005 to completing his thesis as well as managing his company.

In 2006, the company decided to open an R&D centre in India. Chokshi had come down with the intention of scouting around for suitable locations for the proposed R&D centre. He was awed by the market potential he found here. “The retail and banking sectors were booming and there was a huge market in India which could avail of our artificial intelligence business solutions,” says Chokshi.

He’s been proved right. The company has opened its second office in India. Chokshi says that some of his clients have even been able to slash marketing costs by 90 per cent.

Looking ahead, Chokshi plans to expand the company’s operations and focus on R&D. Another area of interest will be teaching artificial intelligence. He feels that there are very few courses in India that cover this subject.

But Chokshi is not just about artificial intelligence. He also keeps abreast of what’s going on in the world and is a connoisseur of single malt whisky. Clearly, he is a young man who works hard and parties even harder.

Based on a conversation with Aparna Harish in Calcutta