TiE set to kick off operations

MUMBAI, AUG 25: Silicon Valley venture capitalist Kanwal S Rekhi and Infosys Technologies CEO Nandan Nilekani will kick off the first Ind...

MUMBAI, AUG 25: Silicon Valley venture capitalist Kanwal S Rekhi and Infosys Technologies CEO Nandan Nilekani will kick off the first Indian unit of the highly successful The Indus Entrepreneurs TiE on Tuesday. The chapter will start in Bangalore and be followed by branches in Bombay, Hyderabad and Delhi at later date, Rekhi said at a meeting organised by the Bombay Computer Club. Rekhi himself, however, has no plans to invest in companies here.

TiE is a non-profit organisation which aims at fostering entrepreneurship among the Indus people Indians, Pakistanis, Bangaldeshi and other countries in the Indus region. The six-year-old organisation, started by over a dozen Indians, has been so successful that it has been studied by the Harvard University and even the Japanese government.

To understand just how successful it has been, consider this: Rekhi8217;s personal investment of 200,000 in one of the companies he mentored as TiE member has vaulted to 50 million in two years. Today, the company, Exodus,is valued at around 8 billion. Its service has become indispensable to popular websites like Yahoo and Amazon and is growing at an average of 12 per cent a month double every half year.

quot;Forty per cent of Silicon Valley start-ups have an Indian connection,quot; says Rekhi. Hotmail8217;s Sabeer Bhatia and Rakesh Mathur of Junglee.com are just two of them. Rekhi8217;s goal is to bring this culture of entrepreneurship to India. quot;There are lot of Chandrasekhars Exodus founder in India. How do we discover them and have them here?quot;

Rekhi himself is a sage of sorts. He realised the power of the net long before others had heard of it and formed Excelan, the first Indian start-up in Valley, which was later acquired by Novell for its expertise in internet technologies. Rekhi joined Novell8217;s board only to leave it later and start networking in earnest at TiE.

quot;Entrepreneur genes are only 1 in 50,quot; says Rekhi. And in a basket of 10 such start-ups, one will be hugely successful, one or two mediocre, and six or sevenfailures, he estimates. By that yardstick, Rekhi certainly has winner8217;s genes. Of the 24 start-ups he has funded so far, 10 have proved successful and five are already paying.

In Rekhi8217;s opinion a start-up with an A team and a B plan stands a better chance of succeeding than a B team with an A plan. This is because an A team can always adapt or change the product while on the other hand, a great product with B team does not necessarily ensure success. What makes an entrepreneur? quot;Honest8230; a risk-taker but not foolish, very competitive but fair-minded, and does not take no for an answer.quot;

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In India, apart from initiating the process of setting up TiE chapters, Rekhi 8211; an IIT, Mumbai, alumni 8211; will also play an active role in mobilising funds from other alumni. quot;There are at least 30,000 IIT alumni in United States. At least they should pay back 8212; or they would be freeloaders,quot; says Rekhi, quot;US universities have a very well established network of alumni. Universities like Harvard receive around 5 billionin endownments.quot; He has mooted a trust of the five IITs to collect 500 million.