A week ago we got a call from Inventus telling us that Kanwal Rekhi would be coming to our office in Pune. He would be spending a few hours in our office and would like to talk to us all. The agenda was that Kanwal would first talk about his journey as an entrepreneur and would open it up for questions. At first it was excitement which slowly turned into a worry. What if we end up not asking any questions at all? Well as the day progressed it didn't take long to realize the fears were unnecessary. I will re-cap the rest of the day in the order of the questions asked and Kanwal's answers. I have paraphrased almost all of the responses. My intent here is to convey the message and not to quote.
Should the strategy of an entrepreneur be eyeing an exit?
An effective entrepreneur eyes at building a company that is enviable. Exit is one of a lot of outcomes. It could be an acquisition or an IPO or a literal buy-out. So don't worry about structuring your company for an exit. But rather build a product/company that creates a dent.
What do you feel about opening geographically distributed offices? Building a sales office local to the market makes sense but what about engineering. What are the challenges of managing engineering through remote offices?
The reasons mostly to open distributed engineering offices is to tap into local talent. Bangalore currently seems too crowded. While it has a lot of talent it also has attrition. Pune seems to be a good place to gather talent, albeit harder than Bangalore. As a certain baseball player said "Coney Island is so crowded that no one ever goes". But if you have to then you must preserve your culture. I would take a couple of my best engineers who have been with the company for sometime and start the new offices. They will set forth the required necessary infrastructure and preserve culture.
It was now time to go to the auditorium where the rest of the team had assembled. We had recently moved into the new building and the elevator wasn't fully functional yet. To prevent Kanwal from climbing 5 floors we had provisioned for a semi-functional elevator whose floor readings weren't fully calibrated. The elevator had to be stopped manually. Seeing this Kanwal instantly chose to climb the stairs instead. He seemed fit as a fiddle! While climbing the stairs he mentioned that he works out 45 minutes everyday!! And we youngsters were panting while Kanwal was reciting stories on his way!
Kanwal's journey as an entrepreneur.
It was 1967 and the times when Kanwal graduated from IIT Bombay were not very fruitful to competent engineers in India. There were mostly govt jobs which didn't seem so exciting to him. He finished his Bachelors in Electrical Engineering and moved to the United States. The arrival wasn't very welcoming in the USA. The scene was completely different for Indians then. Many of the Indians were considered non-smart. When Kanwal aced his exams the professor would say "maybe you were cheating", to which he would say "I am smart! I am from IIT!". The next time the professor stood behind to catch the plagiarism. Kanwal aced again to which the professor said "If you were cheating, you did it really well!".
After graduating Kanwal found a decent job and rose very well as an individual contributor. He mentored many to become great managers while staying as an executor. All his managers would say "If you did so well in this role why would we ever pull you out". He was making good money (USD 75K which now would be USD 350K). But an entrepreneurial bug always kept him unsettled. It was about the time in 1980s when Apple, IBM and other companies where penetrating the PC market. A one Mr Johnson's success into this industry kept him inspired. He finally got his guts together and decided to quit his full-time job. He goes home and tells his wife about his decision to which she asks "We have such a nice house, two cars and kids, why would you do this? Is it me?". His answer instantly was "It isn't you, it is Mr Johnson!".
Kanwal started in the field of networking setting up LAN and gradually into WAN. His company Excelan was into smart ethernet cards which adopted TCP/IP and was one of the champions behind the success of TCP/IP and Internet.
It may now seem easier for entrepreneurs to establish geographically distributed offices and tap into the US economy, but then it wasn't. Many of the Indian entrepreneurs who struggled then have now paved the foundation for now Indians to establish businesses.
He now yielded to the floor for questions.
What do you look for during investing in a company?
He looks for the team. Because if the team is good and deserving then whatever be the odds they will definitely be able to overcome the hurdles. He believes in the team and not just the idea.
You have such a busy schedule. How do you manage and what keeps you going? You now have made many to retire.
He believes in giving back. The concept of venture capitals provides a good ecosystem for growth. India only recently has opened up and one can now see the tremendous growth achieved. A venture capital borrows the money from LPs assuring them returns. This in-turn goes into funding companies who can effect a change. This brings jobs and improves the economy of any nation while bringing in accolades for many. Nothing comes for free or is charity. When is there any time to rest?
What do you think of brain-drain?
He thinks this is inappropriate. Only a few thousands go oversees to pursue other interests. In a nation of billions if only those few have brains then India should be worried!
How would you measure the effectiveness of innovation?
Innovation needn't be about something new, it is about doing something differently and pushing yourself ahead. There are many companies who prove this point effectively e.g. Hotmail, Google, Facebook. And competition drives innovation. Unless there is someone breathing down your throat, there is no urge to push yourself ahead.
A truly inspirational guy!
Should the strategy of an entrepreneur be eyeing an exit?
An effective entrepreneur eyes at building a company that is enviable. Exit is one of a lot of outcomes. It could be an acquisition or an IPO or a literal buy-out. So don't worry about structuring your company for an exit. But rather build a product/company that creates a dent.
What do you feel about opening geographically distributed offices? Building a sales office local to the market makes sense but what about engineering. What are the challenges of managing engineering through remote offices?
The reasons mostly to open distributed engineering offices is to tap into local talent. Bangalore currently seems too crowded. While it has a lot of talent it also has attrition. Pune seems to be a good place to gather talent, albeit harder than Bangalore. As a certain baseball player said "Coney Island is so crowded that no one ever goes". But if you have to then you must preserve your culture. I would take a couple of my best engineers who have been with the company for sometime and start the new offices. They will set forth the required necessary infrastructure and preserve culture.
It was now time to go to the auditorium where the rest of the team had assembled. We had recently moved into the new building and the elevator wasn't fully functional yet. To prevent Kanwal from climbing 5 floors we had provisioned for a semi-functional elevator whose floor readings weren't fully calibrated. The elevator had to be stopped manually. Seeing this Kanwal instantly chose to climb the stairs instead. He seemed fit as a fiddle! While climbing the stairs he mentioned that he works out 45 minutes everyday!! And we youngsters were panting while Kanwal was reciting stories on his way!
Kanwal's journey as an entrepreneur.
It was 1967 and the times when Kanwal graduated from IIT Bombay were not very fruitful to competent engineers in India. There were mostly govt jobs which didn't seem so exciting to him. He finished his Bachelors in Electrical Engineering and moved to the United States. The arrival wasn't very welcoming in the USA. The scene was completely different for Indians then. Many of the Indians were considered non-smart. When Kanwal aced his exams the professor would say "maybe you were cheating", to which he would say "I am smart! I am from IIT!". The next time the professor stood behind to catch the plagiarism. Kanwal aced again to which the professor said "If you were cheating, you did it really well!".
After graduating Kanwal found a decent job and rose very well as an individual contributor. He mentored many to become great managers while staying as an executor. All his managers would say "If you did so well in this role why would we ever pull you out". He was making good money (USD 75K which now would be USD 350K). But an entrepreneurial bug always kept him unsettled. It was about the time in 1980s when Apple, IBM and other companies where penetrating the PC market. A one Mr Johnson's success into this industry kept him inspired. He finally got his guts together and decided to quit his full-time job. He goes home and tells his wife about his decision to which she asks "We have such a nice house, two cars and kids, why would you do this? Is it me?". His answer instantly was "It isn't you, it is Mr Johnson!".
Kanwal started in the field of networking setting up LAN and gradually into WAN. His company Excelan was into smart ethernet cards which adopted TCP/IP and was one of the champions behind the success of TCP/IP and Internet.
It may now seem easier for entrepreneurs to establish geographically distributed offices and tap into the US economy, but then it wasn't. Many of the Indian entrepreneurs who struggled then have now paved the foundation for now Indians to establish businesses.
He now yielded to the floor for questions.
What do you look for during investing in a company?
He looks for the team. Because if the team is good and deserving then whatever be the odds they will definitely be able to overcome the hurdles. He believes in the team and not just the idea.
You have such a busy schedule. How do you manage and what keeps you going? You now have made many to retire.
He believes in giving back. The concept of venture capitals provides a good ecosystem for growth. India only recently has opened up and one can now see the tremendous growth achieved. A venture capital borrows the money from LPs assuring them returns. This in-turn goes into funding companies who can effect a change. This brings jobs and improves the economy of any nation while bringing in accolades for many. Nothing comes for free or is charity. When is there any time to rest?
What do you think of brain-drain?
He thinks this is inappropriate. Only a few thousands go oversees to pursue other interests. In a nation of billions if only those few have brains then India should be worried!
How would you measure the effectiveness of innovation?
Innovation needn't be about something new, it is about doing something differently and pushing yourself ahead. There are many companies who prove this point effectively e.g. Hotmail, Google, Facebook. And competition drives innovation. Unless there is someone breathing down your throat, there is no urge to push yourself ahead.
A truly inspirational guy!
