In 1999, Vijay Cherukuri arrived in Detroit with nothing but a dream to build a business. He had no safety net and no guarantees, but he had a clear vision of what he wanted to create.

“I remember thinking, ‘Everything here is so structured,'” he recalls of his first days in the U.S. “Back home, it was chaotic — full of potential, but unpredictable. I knew then I wanted to build something with structure, scale, and soul.”

Over the next two decades, he turned his dream into Infolob, a boutique tech consulting company that now spans three continents and specializes in FinOps, infrastructure, data, and AI. His success story wasn’t smooth. Through downturns, pandemics, and near-collapse moments, Vijay chose principle over profit. That choice would ultimately define his career.

Related: I Started My Business with $1,000 — It’s Now Worth Billions and Serves Over 163 Million People. These 7 Principles Were My Secrets to Success.

The decision that changed everything

In 2018, Vijay stood on the brink of a transformative exit — a major M&A deal that promised massive personal gain. But as the terms unfolded, he saw that the team who helped build the company from the ground up would be left behind, their contributions undervalued and their future uncertain.

“I couldn’t justify it,” he says. “These people were the foundation of everything we had built. I wasn’t willing to sacrifice their trust and our culture for a personal win.”

So he walked away.

The immediate aftermath of that decision was brutal. With an expanded leadership team, rising overhead, and no fresh capital, Infolob plunged into financial freefall. Then the pandemic hit. “I had to make painful decisions, let go of people, and challenge every assumption I held,” Vijay recalls. But that trial by fire became the cornerstone of his philosophy: real success is never worth it if it comes at the cost of people, principle, or purpose.

Related: How to Build a Team That Thinks and Executes Like a Founder

The five principles to deal with crisis

Infolob weathered the storm, operating profitably across three continents. Vijay credits the turnaround to the lessons learned in crisis. He’s distilled into five guiding principles:

1. Value creation over valuation — Measure success by the value you deliver, not the numbers you boast.

2. Words deceive, numbers reveal — In a world of spin and emotion, data is the clearest truth.

3. Ethical leadership always wins — Protecting team equity carried a steep financial cost but built priceless loyalty.

4. Delegate and empower, but never disengage — Leadership means trusting your team while staying engaged; oversight is non-negotiable.

5. Protect work-life boundaries at all costs — Sustainable businesses depend on sustainable leaders.

He also credits his team — including core family members — with helping navigate the rebuild. “They never wavered. That loyalty, that emotional equity is priceless,” he says.

A lesson for other entrepreneurs

Growth is on the horizon, but his focus isn’t on chasing size or speed. What matters most to him now are the principles forged in crisis: valuing people before profit, protecting character over shortcuts, and building trust that lasts.

“Success is temporary,” he says. “Character isn’t. If your success costs you your values, it’s not worth it.”

Related: I Built a $20 Million Company by Age 22 While Still in College. Here’s How I Did It and What I Learned Along the Way.