Dr. Gopi Balasubramanian is the CEO and co-founder of XeedQ, a quantum computing company based in Germany.

He grew up in Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India, during the 1980s and 1990s – a time when it was still a quaint town on the cusp of change. His father, a physics professor, was fortunate to gain hands-on experience in computers and computer-aided instrumentation even in those early days of computing through Prof. R. P. Riesz, a well-known American professor who founded the post-graduate physics department at the American College in Madurai. 

One of his most cherished anecdotes, which he would recount with great enthusiasm, was about the arrival of the first Apple II computer at the college – possibly the first in the state, transported, no less, on a bullock cart. While he may have embellished the story for dramatic effect, it beautifully captured the transformative power of technology and the unique opportunities it brought to a developing country like India. This unique and early access to technology positioned the physics department of American College Madurai at the forefront of R&D in India for many decades.