In the tech-fueled hustle of modern entrepreneurship, stories of hyperscaling are often told through the lens of revenue graphs, fundraising rounds, and exponential headcount. But what if the real metric of success wasn’t just how fast you scale, but how much of your soul you retain in the process?
That’s the thesis quietly powering the work of Vasanthan Ramakrishnan, the founder of Ascend HSI Advisory Partners. While leading one of the most influential high-skilled immigration advisory firms in the U.S., Vasanthan has built something few in this space manage to: a mission-driven business that scaled to a 60+ member team serving clients from over 10 countries, all without losing the heart and humanity that made it special in the first place.
And now, in his newly released book, Success DNA: Mastering Persistence in Leadership and Life, he invites readers into that philosophy, chronicling the lessons learned, values preserved, and battles fought to scale with integrity.
A Mission Born of Rejection
Success DNA doesn’t begin with polished leadership maxims. It starts with a rejection letter.
“I was turned away by multiple immigration attorneys,” Vasanthan writes in the book. “Not because I didn’t qualify, but because I didn’t fit the mold they were used to.”
That frustration became fuel. Vasanthan, a first-generation immigrant himself, taught himself the law, built his own case, and ultimately succeeded, paving the path not only for his own U.S. permanent residency, but for the 350+ others he would later help through Ascend.
But his advocacy roots trace back even further. As the founder of Feminist Pen Foundation, an international nonprofit that at its peak had over half a million members, Vasanthan has always viewed leadership through a lens of social impact. Immigration simply became the next frontier where that mission could flourish.
Building from the Ground Up
When Ascend launched formally in early 2023, it was a four-person team with just 10 clients and zero brand equity. Immigration, with its unforgiving timelines and life-altering consequences, offered no room for trial and error.
“We didn’t have a proof-of-concept, and every case felt like someone’s entire future was on the line. Because it was,” he says.
So the team did the only thing they knew how: overdeliver.
“We spent five times the hours a traditional firm would. We didn’t have scale, but we had care. That became our currency.”
That care-first approach worked. Today, even with hundreds of clients and explosive growth, 100% of Ascend’s business still comes from referrals. The firm has no outbound sales team. No ads. Zero customer acquisition cost.
It’s a business built on trust, and trust doesn’t scale unless you embed it into your very systems.
The People-First Operating System
Much of Success DNA focuses on leadership, not just the ability to steer a ship, but to build a crew that can eventually captain their own.
Vasanthan famously chose not to hire external CXOs. Instead, he promoted fresh graduates from within, with 90% of current leadership roles filled by people who joined Ascend as first-job professionals.
“It wasn’t about cost-cutting,” he clarifies. “It was about belief. I believed that leadership could be taught, and that culture is strongest when it’s grown from within.”
But that kind of growth required a very different leadership muscle.
“I had to be available in ways most CEOs aren’t. Team members would come to me not just for strategy, but for decisions about family, burnout, imposter syndrome. We were a community before we were a company.”
This close-knit culture may seem incompatible with scale, but Vasanthan insists it’s the reason scale happened in the first place.
“People think culture is a byproduct of scale. It’s the opposite. Culture creates scale, because it builds loyalty, trust, and relentless advocacy.”
Scaling With Intention
Now operating as a 60+ member organization with a global footprint, Ascend is entering a new phase. Service lines are being spun out into standalone brands. Expansion into Canada and parts of the EU are underway. Partnerships with law firms, accelerators, and legal tech startups are formalizing a larger ecosystem.
But despite the big moves, Vasanthan is wary of one thing: losing soul.
“I’ve seen what happens to startups when they chase growth without guardrails. They forget who they are. That’s the death spiral.”
To counteract that, Ascend is rolling out automation, but only in low-risk, high-volume areas like internal tracking and routine communications. The high-emotion, high-context touchpoints, client strategy, coaching, and case planning, remain fully human.
“I’m not building a machine. I’m building an organization of humans who help other humans change their lives.”
Lessons in Persistence
At its heart, Success DNA is less about immigration and more about the mental software of entrepreneurship.
“I wrote the book to remind people, especially underdogs, that you don’t need to be born with access to succeed,” says Vasanthan Ramakrishnan. “You can build your own tools, your own system, and your own voice. That’s what I did.”
The book has already topped multiple Amazon best-seller charts, and its blend of narrative, strategy, and vulnerable reflection has resonated widely with aspiring founders and professionals alike.
So what does the future hold?
“I want Ascend to be the gold standard for what values-driven immigration strategy can look like. But I also want to be part of a broader conversation, about how we lead, how we grow, and how we treat people along the way.”
That’s what Success DNA ultimately leaves readers with, not a playbook, but a provocation: What if you built a business not just to succeed, but to stay true?