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  POLITICS & GOVERNANCE[2001 onwards] POLITICS & GOVERNANCE[1996-2000] MOVIESMUSICSPORTSBUSINESSNATIONAL SECURITYINTERNATIONAL AFFAIRSINFOTECHSOCIETYSTYLELIVETRAVELSCIENCEELECTION'99ELECTIONS '98 | ||
'Failure in Silicon Valley is not a unique event'20 June, 2001: Kailash Joshi, president, The Indus Entrepreneurs, spoke lucidly about how TiE is helping entrepreners. He urged others to pitch in to become mentors and insisted that it was 'a rich man's club' as many believed.
Mr. Kailash Joshi : Folks, Welcome. I am ready to talk. jim : I have an idea for a great networkingchip. Whom should I talk to? Mr. Kailash Joshi : If you're in Silicon Valley, you may want to ask for one-hour of mentoring time by calling the TiE office. That will lead you to the right person. xyz : Kailashji namaste Mr. Kailash Joshi : namaste to you. your question? Hope you are well. xyz : How did u arrive at the people who will speak in the conference Mr. Kailash Joshi : we started with the most desired names, by topic, and then worked our way through the list. we were fortunate that in most cases our first choices worked out. Sachin : Hello Kailashji..What you think of the prospects of MEMS Mr. Kailash Joshi : From the little I know, this area represents vast opportunities in the device area. I believe cost-competitiveness and continued innovation are the two critical success factors in this domain. xyz : What is the fees for the conference Mr. Kailash Joshi : $395 for the conference and $115 for the Saturday banquet. Sachin : Is the one hour of mentoring time available for a fee or for free? Mr. Kailash Joshi : Free. We have now made it free and quite flexible - in that one can ask for a session, say in career counseling, not just entrepreneurship alone. jim : Namste Kailashji, Thank you for answering my firstquestion.I am in India, Do you have any plansfor people in India.Thanks again. Mr. Kailash Joshi : As you might know, we have 9 chapters - visit www.tie.org - we are encouraging these chapters to have similar mentoring and monthly event schedule. We are also sending speakers to those chapters from time to time. Sachin : From your personal experience, would you recommend that one should go in for a PhD or an MBA after an M.S with the aim of becoming an enterpreneur. Mr. Kailash Joshi : I would say this is a very personal matter. If you are an innovator, then a Ph.D. degree will sharpen your knowledge and analytical base. If you're an organizer and management type, then the MBA will add to your edge. Sachin : May I ask about your educational and professional background? Mr. Kailash Joshi : I have degrees in physics from Agra U, BE degree from IISc in Bangalore, MS from Washington State University and PhD from Cornell. I spent one year on Cornell faculty. I had 25 years of experience with IBM where I managed a division which is now called Lexmark. I have been in Silicon Valley since 1992, involved in several startups. I now spend my time between TiE and AIF, the new foundation. sroy : hi mr joshicould you tell us about the mentoring plans that you have put in place at tie.for young startups trying to break into the market with their product. Mr. Kailash Joshi : Our mentoring program is generic and you should be able to discuss any topic of professional interest to you. Once your first session is held, you can request the mentor to direct you to the next person who may be more suited to guide you in your specific area. Sachin : Dont you think that the membership fee for students is a little on the higher side, given the fact that even after becoming members , students have to pay for most networking events. Mr. Kailash Joshi : Frankly, our primary focus has been the population of professionals and entrepreneurs - and not students. That said, we are looking at reducing the entrance fees for everyone. I will also propose to the team to look more favorably at the students. tata : Mr Joshi, do you still expect Sabeer Bhatia to attend the conference after what happened to his firm today? Mr. Kailash Joshi : I am hoping to see Sabeer. Failure in Silicon Valley is not a unique event. Entrepreneurs try multiple times and as long as there are more and bigger successes than failures, things are on the up. I am not quite sure about his participation in his session, however. sroy : with the downturn in the US economy, do you think US companies are more likely to outsource work to india and china etc. if you look at any consumer product today, most likely it has been made in china. so i think there is a strong for such companies to thrive. of course, they should aspire to set quality standards. Mr. Kailash Joshi : I strongly agree with your proposition. In the 1970's, hardware businesses migrated to the Far East and have mostly stayed there. I believe in this cycle competent transfer of software, businesses will happen and India can gain a great deal of foothold as well as other countries like China and Russia. The quality cost and on time delivery will be the determining factors. vijay : Kailash, does the TIE mentor raw entrepreneurs with not too suave personalities? Mr. Kailash Joshi : yes. We want to make mentoring as a natural process for everyone who wishes to reflect different thoughts and ideas. If you would like, ask for me in particular for your first mentoring session - and we will see how it works out. sroy : i was waiting for your response on greater outsourcing under the current US situation Mr. Kailash Joshi : you got it! sroy : how is the response to tie-con this year. Mr. Kailash Joshi : We are delighted with the response despite the difficulties in the marketplace. We will exceed last year's attendance, double the companies in the showcase, have a very similar number of sponsors as last year and to top it off, have a great evening of entertainment on Saturday. Hope we will see you there. vijay : Kailash, could you tell us your experience in starting a new company, the final factor that made you leave your full time job? Mr. Kailash Joshi : My leaving IBM on an early-retirement at age 50 had to do with wanting to try the small company experience and Silicon Valley. I did not leave to start a company. As far as startup process is concerned, it is very difficult where things fluctuate from day to day. However when success comes, the joy and the fruits seem to be worth all the efforts and pain. iamabhijit : hello sir, my question to you is , Dont you think that there is also a little hype to the US economy downturn? Mr. Kailash Joshi : My personal belief is that there is a sizable overreaction this time. It is not unnatural as there was overreaction to the opportunities in recent years. sroy : a lot of indian companies are trying to market their products or services in the US. IT and non IT companies like engineering companies.they cannot afford to set up a marketing office along with the necessary infrastructure at first shot. there appears to be no such incubator marketing companies for them. they do not have a clue as to what is done as best practice in this country and how to develop contacts. Mr. Kailash Joshi : You are right. I have seen a lot of frustrated businesspeople from India who have the capacity and talent and are not able to penetrate the US market. Since US market success is a key part of the success of hi-tech companies anywhere there may be an opportunity for an innovative, profit-sharing concept for someone in the US to address the need. tantralogician : Dr. Joshi, although TiEcon has its theme as "Back to Basics" there is no mention whatsoever about the basics in your agenda. Shouldn'tyou talk about the keyword in your theme title? Mr. Kailash Joshi : Well we thought the word basic implies proven recipies such as revenues, profits, management experience, etc. I believe most people would realize what the short title implies. vijay : Kailash, what differentiates an Entrepreneur from a Dreamer? Mr. Kailash Joshi : I think there is a fine line - an entrepreneur has great listening skills and is willing to give it all. The dreamer may not share these two attributes to the extent needed. vijaytwo : Hi Kailash, this is vijay again. Is there a lot of Stratification in who mentors whom? I really liked your answer - the listening part Mr. Kailash Joshi : There is no stratification, as far as I have seen. What seems to happen that the mentor-mentee relationship strikes a level of common interest and may lead to a longer lasting relationship. Sachin : This may seem inappropriate for this forum, but it is generally seen that Indians in the US also group along linguistic lines. While that may be only natural, is that also reflected in the mentorship programs of TiE. That is some from karnataka being a mentor to a fellow kannadiga and so on? Because that is the general trend that I have seen in the US so far. Mr. Kailash Joshi : I think we have a mix. The language facility does tend to gravitate people from their own region. However, I can give you my own example where I have had the pleasure of meeting young entrepreneurs from all parts of India and several other countries. enterpreneuer : What has TIE done to help indians on H1 who are out of a job now? Mr. Kailash Joshi : This is an unfortunate situation for which not many people have been prepared. TiE does not have a provision of locating jobs, etc. But we have realized that the H1 process needs to be significantly enhanced in favor of the recipient of the visa. Kanwal Rekhi has taken the lead in working with the legislative changes and I also intend to lend my support. vijaytwo : How different is the TIE-con from the Garage.com boot camp? Mr. Kailash Joshi : the basic difference is in the fact that we are trying to accomplish several tasks which range from networking to startup companies and a vision of the future. tantralogician : Enterpreneuer, how can you expect thePrez of TiE to admit to infighting?Any place you have a bunch of humans interacting there is bound to be politics.TiE is no exception. My own guess is that petty diviseness is not yet an issue with TiE. But give the fellows alittle time, will you? They havejust started. Mr. Kailash Joshi : A little bit of this in good humor is okay. vijaytwo : Do you Believe in the fact that the downturn is the best time to start a company? Mr. Kailash Joshi : The answer could be yes if you have an idea with ready customers. Funding is waiting on the sidelines and a talent pool of extraordinary abilities is itching to jump in. I would recommend a heavy dose of personal due diligence before presenting the opportunity to potential investors. Administrator : Folks, mind your language or else you will be thrown out. Ask our guest some questions and do not carry out your private discussions with other chat members. tantralogician : Dear Dr. Joshi, you didn't answer this:whose idea was it to bring Bali Brahmbhattto the TiE cultural evening? Is thisthe level of culture among TiE members? Mr. Kailash Joshi : What's the problem? You don't like "Kem Cho"? What about some ethnic humor? I think this is a great new experiment for us. vijaytwo : what is the approximate ratio of Potential Mentors to budding Entrepreneurs? Mr. Kailash Joshi : Right now, we have about 15 charter members and nearly 100 slots open for mentoring in the next 30 days. So we don't look at ratios but focus on meeting the need. enterpreneuer : Did TIE contribute to the earthquake victims of Gujarat or did they just pay lip service? Mr. Kailash Joshi : You will be pleased to note that TiE has affected significant funding through the UCA and AIF channels and have helped with the launch of several undertakings in healthcare and home building. We have also sent our first batch of US volunteers to serve Gujarat last week. You can visit www.aifoundation.org for more information. tantralogician : I also commend Dr. Joshi for being gracious in theface of criticism leveled against TiE. Criticism isan important part of the process of growingup. Mr. Kailash Joshi : You are being very kind. The fun goes up when you have some exciting discussions and a little humor and some teasing. krishna : What is TiE's role in AIF? There is a saying among Indian comunity that it's a richman's club? Mr. Kailash Joshi : AIF is an entirely independent entity even though several TiE charter members are the co-founders. I am currently serving as the acting CEO and working with over 30 volunteers in launching India programs. I welcome everyone who beleives in helping others to seriously consider joining in. The value of volunteers is beyond any millions of dollars. AshishB : do u think,it is a good time to go back to school? Mr. Kailash Joshi : Yeah. Going back to school is always a good idea. Even at my age I have a strong desire to give some of my time to teaching in the US and India. tantralogician : Dr. Joshi, as for the earthquake contributions, your fundraiser in San Jose was a disaster.It only served to further the cause of the missionaries. But my question is, did theex-Prez Kanwal Rekhi attend and if he did, did he shake a leg at MC Hammer's music, and if he did do we have it on video? Mr. Kailash Joshi : Kanwal is a major contributor to several humanitarian efforts and he was there. I think he can dance and he's a great sport in group situations. vijaytwo : Would you be open to a non-Tie related mentoring group via email? Mr. Kailash Joshi : My primary problem is time availability. If this is a limited amount of time on a subject that resonates between participants, then I will consider it. krishna : What is the key in starting a new company.an exit strategy or running it for generation to come. I'm asking this in the wake of companies like Arzoo is closing the shop? Mr. Kailash Joshi : I think thinking of exit strategy at the start is a bad way to enter entrepreneurship. Creating a sustainable entreprise has to be the sharp focus and the longevity and exit strategies will unfold from there. krishna : Sabeer Bhatia is also among the speakers in Tiecon 2001. What we should expect from him Mr. Kailash Joshi : Sabeer was invited to participate in a panel where the environments of past would be compared with what is going on today. I am sure if he participates, he will be quite forthright about the difficulties in making Arzoo happen in these times. krishna : There has been much controvery in Tie opening office in Pakistan? what more plans you have for South Asia? Mr. Kailash Joshi : I must say the Pakistan chapters are doing very well. We also have chapters in Singapore and Dubai. Theere are several new chapters underway in India and possibly one in Dhaka. One of the biggest impacts TiE is having is in the area of government economic policy changes relative to taxes, telecom, privatization and we are very pleased. tantralogician : Dr. Joshi, from what I have read and seen, TiE focusses almost exclusively on the success stories. We never get to hearof the (many more) failures, whose lives have been reduced to rubble. What are you going to do about this? Or does TiE subscribe to only the "winners take all" ethic? Mr. Kailash Joshi : I would say TiE has to become more reflective about successes and failures. Remember failures often teach us more than successes do. vijaytwo : Why do companies totally close shop, instead of outsourcing their product maintenance overseas in India to reduce their burn rate and buy time till the market improves? e.g. Arzoo? Mr. Kailash Joshi : The primary reason is $$. When the company's board concludes that there is no viable way of keeping the business alive for any significant length of time (through any means), they dissolve or declare bankruptcy. sidn : Hello. I am a friend of Naresh Belwal. He speaks very highly 0f you Mr. Kailash Joshi : Give Naresh my hello. He's a dynamic and bright individual. vijaytwo : Why cant we have something similar to an incubator - a "sustainer" in india to maintain code and be an umbrella for companies who wish to reduce their burn rate Mr. Kailash Joshi : May be it's an idea worth looking at. krishna : Mr Joshi. how many people are likely to attend TiCon 2001. what's market feedback you have recieved as just a day is left for the great event? Is it sold out already? Mr. Kailash Joshi : We expect over 2,100 people. Market feedback is very positive because there will be great value exchanged among the attendees. The banquet is sold-out but the conference is still open. tantralogician : Dr. Joshi, I've gotta go. Hopefully one of these days we shall meet for lunch or dinner. I hope this chat transcript will be posted on the TiE website. Who knows, posterity might look upon it as the fifth Veda.Good luck! Mr. Kailash Joshi : Thanks and best wishes. Mr. Kailash Joshi : Thank you all for chatting. 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