In 2012, I joined as Dean of the newly launched MBA programme at Naipunnya Institute of Management and Technology (NIMIT), Pongam, Karukutty, Thrissur district. Not long after, some students told me about a promising IT startup at Infopark, Koratty, and mentioned that its founder was willing to address the MBA batch. I readily agreed, and soon the young founder walked in to interact with our students.

That young man was Abin Jose Tom, the founder of Webandcrafts, a web-designing startup he had set up the same year. From the outset, Abin struck me as candid, outspoken, and refreshingly down-to-earth. He spoke with the ease of someone who had lived his passion.

His passion for electronics had begun very early. At just ten years old, he was making custom LED torches for rubber tappers in his neighbourhood. Whatever small profit he earned, he reinvested to make more. In Class 9, his father bought him a computer. The first thing he did was dismantle it, only to reassemble it and discover how it worked. Before long, he was building and selling assembled PCs to local families.

After completing Plus Two, Abin couldn’t secure admission in engineering colleges in Kerala,  due to his low marks, so he joined one in Chennai. His academic journey there was unconventional, he cleared only one paper, graphics. But while most would have seen this as failure, Abin was already charting his own path. He created a new website for his college, then began designing websites outside, taking freelance work right from the first semester. As demand grew, he hired three people to work with him. A degree no longer mattered, his course had already been cut out.

Determined to return to Kerala, he launched his venture at the newly opened Infopark in Koratty, Thrissur, in 2012.

At first, listening to Abin unsettled me. His words felt disconcerting, even embarrassing, to my own conservative, traditional mindset as a teacher. Yet, as I listened further, I realized his story carried a quiet but powerful inspiration. Around that time, I often encouraged my students to listen Steve Jobs’ famous Stanford commencement address, a mini autobiography—a speech I admired for both its message and its craft. Jobs had urged students to “connect the dots” in their lives, ending with the unforgettable call: Stay hungry, stay foolish. For me, these two qualities were the essence of an entrepreneur. In Abin Jose Tom, I saw that message come alive. He embodied it fully—driven by the fire in his belly, unafraid to be different from the norms around him. That is how I positioned him in my mind.

I returned to St. Berchmans College in April 2014 as Director of the Berchmans Institute of Management Studies (BIMS). That same year, Ms. Jilu Joseph, an engineering graduate with three years of experience at Cognizant Technology Solutions (CTS), joined the MBA Finance program.

It didn’t take long for her to stand out. Her initiative and leadership became evident both inside and outside the classroom. Among her many contributions, two remain vivid in my memory: her role as coordinator of the Best Manager contest during the annual management fest Berchnova 2015–16, and her confident ramp walk in an executive suit, gracefully carrying her slender frame.

At the 2016 graduation ceremony, she was the shining star. She not only topped the institute in academics across four semesters but was also recognized as the Best Outgoing Student, an award based on objective criteria as well as a poll among students and faculty.

A personal memory lingers too. Jilu came to my home to invite me to her wedding on 27 October 2016. That was when I discovered her groom was none other than Abin, I had first met at NIMIT. She later revealed that their proposal had taken shape during her fourth semester, which explained why she had opted out of campus placements at BIMS.

Abin Jose Tom openly admits that he struggled with dyslexia, something he first came to realize during his engineering studies. In his own words: “If you have seen the film Taare Zameen Par, that is my story. Remove the cinematic exaggerations, and it is 100% my life. I am that boy. When I first watched the film, I wondered how they knew every detail about me.”

Despite the challenges he faced with academics, Abin found ways to stay engaged and channel his creativity. The name Webandcrafts was suggested by his granduncle, Joseph Mattappally—a respected social activist and mentor to many youngsters. It was he who encouraged Abin to explore software development and even gave him ₹1,500 to host his very first website—an investment that marked the beginning of the startup journey. With the support of a capable team, Abin ventured confidently into the tech world.

His work soon gained international recognition. In 2014, then US Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker mentioned his achievements at ICANN’s 51st Public Meeting in Los Angeles. That same year, he earned national acclaim when he was featured among 30 die-hard entrepreneurs in India in Small Big Bang, a book published by the IIMs.

From simple web design, Webandcrafts expanded into custom mobility solutions, e-commerce platforms, web and mobile applications, cloud services, cybersecurity, and dynamic digital marketing strategies.

Abin transformed WAC into a global digital house, building a team of 450+ professionals, serving 600+ global clients across 35+ countries, delivering 700+ successful digital projects, and driving a daily digital footfall of over 10 million.

When asked about her decision to marry Abin, Ms. Jilu Joseph said she herself had always dreamt of venturing out independently, which made her embrace the proposal. Soon after their marriage in 2016, she became Vice President of Webandcrafts, and on January 1, 2024, she stepped into the role of CEO. Abin, now in the designation, Managing Director, fondly says Jilu has been his personal ChatGPT ever since their marriage. They are blessed with three boys.

The two embody the very essence of the ancient Chinese philosophy of Yin and Yang. This principle teaches that true meaning in life comes from balance and harmony, the interplay of seemingly opposite yet interconnected forces. Yin and Yang are complementary halves of a whole, representing contrasts such as dark and light, female and male, rest and action. The classic circular symbol, divided into black and white with a dot of the opposite colour in each half, reflects this truth: within every force lies a seed of its opposite.

Abin and Jilu perfectly mirror this philosophy, two distinct strengths, harmoniously united to create a greater whole.

Webandcrafts marked its 13th anniversary in grand style with the Technology & Marketing Summit 2025, held under the theme BEYOND, on August 17 at the Grand Hyatt, Bolgatty, Kochi, Kerala.

Above picture from the event, of Ms. Jilu against the backdrop of the celebration, left me deeply reflective. The slender frame remains unchanged: in 2015, she walked the ramp in an executive outfit as part of a make-believe exercise; a decade later, she stands tall in real life as the CEO of a thriving tech company with a global footprint.

Today, she is not only the leader of a 450+ strong team of technocrats but also the mother of three children, balancing her roles with grace and determination. With the vision to take Webandcrafts BEYOND into a borderless world, she exemplifies the power of ambition, resilience, and balance.

For someone in the field of education, seeing such journeys unfold, where young aspirants rise to commanding heights, is nothing short of heartening.

Turning thirteen marks the threshold of teenage, a critical stage in the human life cycle. For a business too, this phase is equally significant. It represents the transition from the startup years to a stage where new horizons open up: the options of IPOs or alternative funding on one side, and the possibilities of scaling up and diversifying on the other. It is a delicate crossroads where every decision carries weight, each move can either lead to pitfalls or propel the venture to greater heights.

What stood out at this milestone celebration was the vision & mission statements of webandcraft (wac) both inspiring and captivating. I wholeheartedly wish, hope, and pray that they remain steadfast ‘to inspire, engage & empower .. to drive sustainable impact’.

Education & entrepreneurship: correlation

The Stanford Venture Capital Initiative studied the educational backgrounds of founders from over 1,000 U.S. venture-backed unicorns, and the results published in February 2025, challenge popular myths. While the media often glorifies dropout-turned-billionaires like Bill Gates, who left Harvard in his sophomore year to start Microsoft, the data tells a different story: unicorn founders are, in fact, far more educated than the general population. They are six times more likely to hold a doctoral degree, three times more likely to have a master’s, and twice as likely to have completed an undergraduate program compared to the average American over 25.

We have a mixed narration in webandcraft. Abin Jose Tom, founder of Webandcraft, shared in an interview that he realized early in engineering college that his academic performance would disqualify him from campus recruitment. Instead of accepting defeat, he turned to web designing, eventually establishing his own company by his fourth year. Disillusioned with the education system, but determined to carve his own path, he embraced entrepreneurship as his means of livelihood.

On the other hand, Ms. Jilu Joseph was on a very different trajectory. She was well-positioned for a career in reputed global IT companies, when she joined the MBA programme. After outstanding academic performance in her postgraduate studies, she chose to forgo the conventional, risk-free path and stepped into entrepreneurship, encouraged by her marriage proposal from Abin. Together, this unlikely pair, a college dropout and a top academic achiever, joined forces to build and manage a fast-growing IT venture.

Ranking Universities by Unicorns and Entrepreneurs

The Stanford Venture Capital Initiative has released a ranking of U.S. universities based on the number of unicorn founders they have produced. Complementing this, PitchBook, a leading research and intelligence platform, published in 2024 a global ranking of universities that have produced founders of venture-capital-backed companies. Remarkably, the IITs, when considered collectively, ranked among the top five institutions worldwide.

Traditionally, universities have been evaluated by placement numbers and CTC packages. However, this criterion is becoming outdated. Under the new benchmark, measuring entrepreneurial outcomes, Abin’s alma mater, S.A. Engineering College, Chennai, and Jilu’s alma mater, Berchmans Institute for Management Studies, earn recognition for nurturing entrepreneurial talent.

A Bonus: Abin’s advice to differently abled