The VIP from India was late. As the minutes stretched into hours, the gro=
up
of about 20 Indian businessmen did what comes so naturally and is so
essential in Silicon Valley. They networked. Out of that came a sort of
networking club, which they called The IndUS Entrepreneurs -- a name
carefully crafted to signify that the members are of two lands -- India a=
nd
the United States -- and are tied together in purpose. Over the past seve=
n
years, the Santa Clara non-profit organization has opened chapters
nationwide and gained an international reputation for its annual conferen=
ce,
which will start this Saturday at the San Jose Fairmont.
Silicon Valley pioneer Kanwal Rekhi was one of TIE's founders and remains=
a
guiding force as its president. Here is an edited interview by Staff Writ=
er
Mark Schwanhausser.
Q Which is easier to assimilate into: Silicon Valley's business community=
or
the community at large?
A The business community. In Silicon Valley, especially, it's all
merit-driven. It's how smart you are. In Silicon Valley, it has been very
easy to participate fully. As a matter of fact, there was a recent Busine=
ss
Week story that said 40 percent of the valley's start-ups have some India=
n
connection, either a founder, a co-founder or one of the principals.
Q That sounds like a much different picture from the one painted by the R=
ev.
Jesse Jackson, who made headlines during a recent visit here by saying
Silicon Valley fails to embrace minorities.
A Jesse Jackson is blowing smoke. This is a very open community. At least
for Indians and Pakistanis it has been open. We have had the education. W=
e
have had the training. We all started as engineers and programmers. Jesse
wants people to have a piece of the pie, but he doesn't want them to go
through the education and the experience.
Q Do you feel employers here have an accurate appreciation of the educati=
on
in India?
A Absolutely. In the techie world, Indians shine very quickly because of
their knowledge of math and science. It is outstanding. Even if you are n=
ot
able to speak the language fully, you are able to articulate your thought=
s
on paper and you are able to do designs that work. So, nobody is able to =
put
you down. You are able to compete with the best and the brightest right f=
rom
the start.
Q Have you always felt Indians were treated as equals?
A Back in the 1970s, when I was working, you could always see they never
promoted Indians to be managers. There was a fear that whites wouldn't wo=
rk
for Indians and a fear that Indians wouldn't be good in sales and marketi=
ng
and finance and all that. There were no examples of Indians in that space.
When I was doing well, I noticed they promoted the guy next to me -- who =
was
only half as good as me -- because he was white. That was in the 1970s,
though. By the '80s, people were seeing Indians moving into sales, market=
ing
and finance. I was a CEO myself in 1985.
Things have changed. You get the breaks. In the 1990s, I don't see this i=
s
any issue at all. Indians are in senior management at Sun, Microsoft,
Cisco -- anywhere.
Q How difficult is it to line up venture capital?
A We made the breakthrough in the 1980s. In the '70s, it would have been
unthinkable.
In the beginning, you had to call (a potential investor) and say, ``I hav=
e
an Indian start-up.'' Now when an Indian comes up with a business plan, t=
hey
go to the top of the heap -- higher than the start-ups by whites. Indians
have had close to 50 companies funded, and they're worth about $5 billion=
on
the stock market now. Hotmail was started by Indians. Junglee was acquire=
d
by Amazon.com about six months ago. CyberMedia. AtWeb. Infospace. The lis=
t
is unbelievably long.
But when I sought funding for my company (Excelan) in 1982, they looked a=
t
me and said, ``You don't have general manager skills.'' I knew what they
were saying was, ``You don't have a white heading the company.'' Then th=
is
one guy (John Bosch at Bay Partners) looked at us and said, ``The Indians
have not been funded up to now; maybe it's time to do one.'' That turned =
out
to be the best investment he ever made. After that, he funded many Indian
start-ups.
Q Because investing in Indian ventures was so unusual, did you feel any
extra pressure to succeed?
A I felt we had to make it. I thought, ``If we don't make it, the others
will not get the funding. If you screw up, the whole line behind you may =
not
get the funding.''
Q The Mercury News reported two weeks ago that many Asian entrepreneurs t=
urn
to their own communities to finance ventures because they feel shut out f=
rom
traditional funding sources because of cultural differences and language
limitations.
A That is true with the Chinese. The Chinese are funded by Taiwan, Singap=
ore
and Hong Kong. That's not true for Indians. Indians are funded by Sand Hi=
ll
Road primarily. Indians do not have old money. There is a big distinction
between Indian and Asian entrepreneurs in that respect.
Q TIE's members include Indians, Pakistanis, Nepalese, Bangladeshis and S=
ri
Lankans. Do cultural differences pose problems, as they might back home?
A That used to be true among our people. But we said, ``No, we need to be
inclusive. We need to foster prosperity. Enough divides us. How can we fi=
nd
something that unites us?'' We don't allow any politics. We don't allow a=
ny
religious agenda. We don't allow cultural activities. We are absolutely
focusing on entrepreneurs, wealth creation and economics.
Q It's noteworthy that many of TIE's conference sponsors rank among the
biggest venture capital and legal firms.
A The TIE conference has become a hunting ground for them. They are able =
to
spot entrepreneurs there. They sponsor us and they make speeches, and tha=
t's
how they market themselves. They recognize that if you if don't catch the=
m
early you have lost them forever.
Q Is the conference a place to troll for funding then?
ATIE is not about funding at all. TIE is about mentoring, fostering and
encouraging. Funding happens at the fringe of TIE. A lot of members netwo=
rk
with each other, and people get funding from each other. That's what
happened to me after the first TIE conference. A lot of people said, ``I =
am
inspired, I want to start a start-up, but no one will give me the money.'=
' I
ended up investing in four companies back in 1994. Three of those paid of=
f.
That wasn't TIE, though. That was me as an individual.
Q What is your role now that you are "retired''?
A I am president of TIE. I am semi-retired. I just invest and mentor. I h=
ave
invested in more than 20 start-ups since 1994. Five have paid off. Three =
are
on the verge of paying off. Four have gone bust. The rest may or may not =
pay
off. I have made more money investing since I left Novell than I made in =
my
own company. It is a very, very lucrative not-for-profit activity.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------=
--- ----------------------- For information about TIE and its San Jose conference, click on www.tie.o= rg or phone (408) 567-0700.
Tushar J. Mehta email: [email protected]