Rajat Mishra’s credo is simple: Do the work, and the results will follow. The Chief Executive Officer of AI presentation maker software company Prezent, he’s less focused on outcomes than he is on process. “By shifting your perspective to find enjoyment in the journey, the focus turns to the actions within your control,” he said in a 2024 interview. “Doing an excellent job on each task becomes the priority, and whatever results follow are accepted as they come.”
A lifelong computer whiz, Mishra, in his telling, “cracked one of India’s hardest tech schools, wrote code for Microsoft, and scaled the corporate ladder at Cisco, eventually leading a team of 1000+ as one of the youngest Senior VPs.” But it didn’t satisfy him. After all that, the Wharton graduate “felt something was missing.” Working with his wife Deepti, they created a product which helped turn draft presentations into “masterpieces” overnight – and gave Mishra a new sense of purpose.
The work was personal, after all. Mishra grew up with a speech impediment, which led him to avoid leadership roles as he climbed the corporate ladder, but as he grew in the industry he noticed that he wasn’t alone. He found that his difficulties with communication mirrored those of businesses and set about presenting a solution. “I became aware that the struggle extended beyond individuals to various functions and stakeholders,” he said. “Organizations struggled with standardization and consistency while leaders lacked a scalable communication training model.”
Four years later, Prezent is providing just that, and firing on all cylinders. In late October, the company acquired Prezentium, a services company specializing in creating presentations for the life sciences sector, at the same time it announced a Series B raise. The additions, Mishra said, would help with the fundamental problem of artificial intelligence technology: educating them on best practices. “The reality of AI in the enterprise is that while AI can do a lot of things, it can’t teach people how to use AI,” he said. That’s why we want to place presentation engineers in enterprises to help our customers adopt the product faster.”
The moves moved Prezent’s value to $400 million as it gallops toward unicorn status – but as we know, Mishra’s focused less on the end goal than the work immediately ahead. His favorite lesson is “Your deepest desire is your destiny.” His desire – one that he’s reaching – is to remain forever present.