Decimal Point Analytics: How Shailesh Dhuri Built a 21-Year “Antifragile” Powerhouse in the Global Data Economy

January 3, 2026 15 min read

Shailesh Dhuri - Decimal Point Analytics Founder

In the ephemeral world of startups, where "unicorns" are often born and extinguished within a single decade, Decimal Point Analytics stands as a rare and formidable veteran. Founded in 2003, long before "Big Data" or "AI" were board-room staples, the company has navigated the dot-com bust, the 2008 financial crisis, and the pandemic to emerge as a global leader in high-stakes financial research. For the world’s most sophisticated asset managers—the multi-billion dollar hedge funds and private equity firms of North America—Decimal Point is the invisible engine that turns raw, chaotic data into clean, actionable intelligence.

Led by Shailesh Dhuri, a former Wall Street-aligned fund manager and IIM Bangalore alumnus, the firm has evolved from a boutique equity research shop into a tech-forward data integration powerhouse. With over 800 employees and a philosophy of Antifragility, Shailesh is proving that in the age of AI, the ultimate moat isn't the algorithm itself—it's the quality of the data that fuels it. For Shailesh, the journey of 21 years has been one of constant self-discovery, moving from 10 years of corporate comfort to building a sustainable institution that services the world from India.

Decimal Point Analytics at a Glance

21 Years: Continuous operations since its founding in March 2003.
800+: Specialized professionals serving global markets.
15 Years: The tenure of many core employees, showcasing high organizational loyalty.
US to Africa: A global footprint with North America as the largest market.

The Genesis: The 1998 Internet Realization

Shailesh Dhuri’s entrepreneurial spark was ignited on the very day the internet arrived in his office in 1997. As a fund manager responsible for treasury for foreign banks, he saw something others missed. "The first day the connection came, I realized that if information is available online, research can be performed from any part of the world and serviced anywhere," Shailesh recalls.

However, the actual plunge took another five years. Coming from a lower-middle-class background, Shailesh was burdened with education loans for himself and his sister. "I had to take care of the family obligations first," he admits. After securing his financial buffers, he launched Decimal Point Analytics in 2003. In the early days, there was no startup ecosystem or venture capital. Shailesh ran the show as a "one-man army" for 15 months, selling institutional research to UK and US hedge funds entirely via email because international calls were too expensive.

The "Internet Epiphany"

In the late 90s, research was a localized business. Shailesh realized that the internet would collapse geography. He bet his career on the idea that an Indian researcher with raw brain power could compete with Wall Street if they had the same data access. This insight predated the offshore outsourcing boom by several years.

The Evolution: From Equity Research to AI-Ready Data

When the firm started, equity, credit, and macroeconomic research were its "bread and butter." Today, that segment accounts for only 10-15% of revenue. The real growth has come from Data Analytics and Integration.

"Everybody talks about AI, but AI requires data that is clean, consistent, cross-referenced, and timely," Shailesh explains. "That is where we come in. We ensure data governance is managed so our customers can be confident in the outcomes of their machine learning models or traditional bi tools." Through products like Intellipipe, the company has automated the drudgery of data integration, allowing their clients—primarily alternative asset managers—to focus on strategy rather than data cleaning.

Research vs. Analytics: The 20-Year Shift

2003 (The Research Era): Manual equity reports, macroeconomic analysis, and credit scoring via emails.
2026 (The AI Era): Foundational data governance, machine learning body-building, and real-time data integration platforms.
Target: Moving from small boutique funds to large-scale North American hedge funds and PE firms.

Technical Precision: Scaling 1 to 1,000

Transitioning from a solo founder to managing an 800-strong workforce across multiple locations is a journey of cultural engineering. Shailesh believes the founder’s job is to think two years ahead. "You have to ensure the team speaks the same language when it is twice its current size," he notes.

He has avoided the traditional "Town Hall" lecture model in favor of deep, 20-person interactive sessions held every week. "The CEO shouldn't give a lecture; they should answer questions. That creates confidence." By hiring raw brain power from IITs and IIMs and pairing them with 15-year veterans, Decimal Point maintains a unique blend of disruptive innovation and institutional discipline.

The Data Governance Lifecycle

Data Cleaning: Stripping out noise and ensuring consistency across unstructured sources.
Cross-Referencing: Linking disparate data points to ensure a single source of truth.
Governance: Managing permissions and compliance for sensitive financial entities.
Deployment: Feeding the clean data into client-owned AI models or statistical tools.

The Antifragile Mindset: Crisis as a Growth Lever

One of the most profound takeaways from Shailesh’s narrative is his adoption of the Antifragile mindset (a concept popularized by Nassim Taleb). He argues that difficult situations are inevitable, but they are also universal.

"If I am facing a challenge, most likely everyone is facing the same challenge," Shailesh observes. "In the 2008 crisis, we suffered for a quarter, but then we built on it. When markets are down, people want to cut existing costs or find new ways to look at risk. By creating solutions for those exact moments, our business went up while others collapsed." This mindset has allowed Decimal Point to thrive through global political shifts, including the Ukraine crisis and various macroeconomic downturns.

"Limitations are opportunities, not constraints. Nobody chooses to face a difficult situation—they just happen. Your job is to help others get out of the situation, and you will come out of it yourself."

— Shailesh Dhuri

Advice for the Long-Term Entrepreneur

For Shailesh, entrepreneurship is a journey of self-discovery. He warns against starting a business just for the money. "If you start just for money, you might fail. But if you start for the joy of handling challenges in HR, Legal, Marketing, and Tech, you become a full-rounded human being. Money is simply an outcome of that joy."

Shailesh's Rules for Resilience

Clear Family Support: You need a stable home base to manage the "rollercoaster" of business.
Co-founders with Complementary Skills: Don't hire clones of yourself. Shailesh focused on fixed income, while his partners brought equity and sales expertise.
Think 2 Years Ahead: Tools and culture take years to adopt. Start building the 1,000-person culture when you are only 50 people.
Flexibility is Key: Messaging must change with the market. If customers are struggling, change your value proposition immediately.

Conclusion: The Future of Data Governance

As Decimal Point Analytics enters its 22nd year, Shailesh Dhuri remains focused on the foundational layer of the global economy. In a world increasingly obsessed with the "Front End" of AI, he is building the "Back End" of truth. By turning the limitations of early-2000s India into a global competitive advantage, Shailesh has built more than just a firm; he has built a testament to the power of persistent, high-quality execution. In the data-driven world of tomorrow, Decimal Point Analytics will continue to be the steady hand that ensures the numbers always add up.