Herman Narula, the 29-year-old son of billionaire Harpinder Singh Narula of the construction and engineering group DSC faced the same pressures when he started his own company Improbable, a virtual reality business with his friends from Cambridge Rob Whitehead and Peter Lipka in 2012 – a modest beginning from Narula's family barn.
Five years down the line, Improbable is all over the headlines, having signed a record-breaking contract with Japan's SoftBank for Improbable, employs a 180 employees and has an office in San Francisco.
The recent deal now makes the business worth more than $1 billion, the largest early stage investment for a venture-backed European company, firmly putting the London company into the top ranks of the industry.
It is common among Asian families to expect the sons of business families to join the family business. It does not go down well with the parents when that does not happen and children want to move out of their orbit to do something completely different. But Herman did exactly that and that makes his an inspirational story.
He learned to code at 12 and was rebellious enough to shun the golden spoon and his secured path, accept the family conflict with a pinch of salt and go ahead with his dreams. He created products in the virtual business that is historic and a landmark in itself. Improbable has partnered with prestigious clients like Google and worked with the British and American defence departments, and the UK government.
