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Kanwal Rekhi - Up Close And Personal

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One of the highlights of the TiE Conference 2004 was Kanwal Rekhis very cut and dry observation of the remnants of feudalism in the obeisance shown to the politicians who delayed the conference by over an hour and a half. Avant... See more » One of the highlights of the TiE Conference 2004 was Kanwal Rekhis very cut and dry observation of the remnants of feudalism in the obeisance shown to the politicians who delayed the conference by over an hour and a half. Avant Garde had the unique opportunity to spend a few precious moments with this simple but extremely successful man as he opened up and did not even attempt to pull his punches. Kanwal graduated from IIT Bombay with a Bachelor in Electrical Engineering and went one to become one of the sages of Silicon Valley, a journey that has inspired many. AG: Could you tell us something about the genesis of Silicon Valley and your own experiences as an entrepreneur? In 1950s when Shockley invented the transistor and started his company he set it up in Silicon Valley, he was followed by Fairchild of Intel in 1974- this spawned the beginning of a host of companies in the region. But the term Silicon Valley was more of a put down that anything else for a long time. However the relational paradigm, the open environment and standardization as well as the influx of IP values have made a certain distinct culture prevalent there. It became a natural locational choice for like-minded companies. I was laid off three times and by 1982 I started asking myself- why? Was I sleeping? Then it occurred to me that these jobs were like arrangements rather than like a marriage. When the mini computer business was undergoing consolidation there was a lot of turmoil in the market so I went back to school. I took 7 years to study law, business and several other early-bird courses. And I started getting better at my job. I had acquired around 2-3 patents under my belt by then. My colleague- David Jackson started Altos Computers- with a CPM-G80 one of the early forms of the PC. And then I asked myself- was there such a big difference between us? Why not me? At that time- Ethernet was being hyped about. People were waiting for the Ethernet chipsets to reach the market. People had no idea what it would actually do. I joined hands with Narain Jain from BITS Pilani (and a PhD from CMU).- he was a software wizard. I sat down and designed the initial few products on the back of a paper napkin. We became a networking company when the concept of networking was in its nascent stage and we reaped huge benefits out of this first movers advantage. It has been twenty years now since I had done any designing. I am totally into management and marketing. And a good part of my work involves networking with people- which is a challenge. Indians are known in the US as Techies but there is always a question as to whether they make good bosses. Becoming a commercial thinker is an innate characteristic- you have to draw from within. A good understanding of a few basic micro-economic concepts in terms of demand side pricing, supply side pricing, bottom up approach etc goes along way. AG: What do you feel is going to be the trend in outsourcing from the USA in the wake of the recent legislations? About outsourcing making it sway to India and the Chinese threat- China is not really there. The US side is pretty open- they are heavily dependent on Indian talent in services, Technical, Medical, Law etc. 1out of every 4 doctors in the US is an Indian, as is every 1 out of 10 professors. Pakistan however does have potential except for the military rule. They have Musharraf there, atleast we dont- we elected these people! The joke about Pakistan goes like this- there were two dogs one Indian and a one Pakistani- both were trying to cross the border from either end and met each other at on the Wagah border. The Pakistani dog asked the Indian dog,Hey why are you leaving India? The Indian dog says- Here they let me bark all day but they dont feed me The Pakistani dog then says Here they feed me but they never let me bark!! AG: What are your future plans with respect to India? Nothing concrete. I have married an American and I am an American passport holder. My son is a Hollywood producer/director and my daughter is at London school of economics. I was born in See less »

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Kanwal Rekhi - Up Close And Personal

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