E-billionaires

Millennium millionaires is evidently no longer an adequate label for entrepreneurs of the Indian diaspora striking it rich in the Silicon Valley. E-billionaires would be more apt. The road ahead has been cleared a little further with the sale of an Indian-owned company, Smart Modular Technologies SMART, for 2 billion, coming as it does on the heels of last month8217;s Cisco Systems acquisition of another Indian-backed company, Cerent, for 6.9 billion. And if these transactions overshadow the 400 million Sabeer Bhatia fetched when he sold his Internet-based free e-mail service Hotmail to Microsoft, the number of Indians in the US involved in exploring the cyber frontiers points to many more such success stories in the future8230; a 300,000-strong Indian techie community, with Indian-owned or backed firms valued at 40 billion.

In fact, even as the husband-wife team behind SMART, Ajay Shah and Lata Krishnan, justify the acquisition of their company by arguing that they stand to gain immensely from the mammothorganisation they will now be umbrellaed under, a new generation of Indians is clearly exploring the advantages of jumping ship, forsaking multimillion-dollar stock options in first generation Internet companies to follow their dreams of specialisation, zaniness and innovation beyond cyber pass. The dream story of the moment 8212; and remember, even that is a very long time in Silicon Valley 8212; seems to centre on twentysomething Nirav Tolia and his young buddies, two of them too of Indian origin, who are sharing the bounty that is e-commerce. But the buzz is not so much about the fact that their site, Epinions.com, will not sell, or for that matter auction, anything at all but will be a web of opinion on what can be bought at other sites. If business the speed of thought is the catchphrase today, Tolia and co have abided by it amply by securing 8 million in financing and getting their company going in just 12 weeks.

Interestingly, this new flexibility and speed offered to those in the know has led to a fairmeasure of unease. As Po Bronson wrote about Epinions, 8220;Watching an instant company get built is slightly disorienting. Silicon Valley is sustained by the myth that you can come here from anywhere with sheer smarts and a firm handshake and make good. Second-generation Internet companies seem to seriously tip the favour to those already here.8221; But then, even as despair is voiced over brainy Indians being rendered redundant after frenetic work on smoothing out Y2K glitches comes to a close, this advantage conferred by being entrenched will no doubt be exploited by them. Indeed, the stereotype of an Indian as a software whiz is now part of American popular culture, as can be gauged from highly successful romantic novels aimed at cosmopolitan yuppies like Shiva Dancing. Ajay Shah and Lata Krishnan8217;s dream run has only added to the romance.