The Kiruba Show | kiruba.com

February 1st, 2007

Podcast with Kanwal Rekhi, The Founding Father of TiE

While at the TIE Entrepreneurial Summit, the guy who sat next to me was the venerable Kanwal Rekhi. Out there, he was treated like a cult hero. You know the kind who just just steps on the stage and the crowd goes boisterous with applause. Kanwal is the venerage sage of entrepreneurship. He made a fortune selling his startup to Novell and went on to become its VP and CTO. Now he helps guide startups and has become an ambassador for Indian entrepreneurship.

He has a very fascinating story. You should definitely read this very nicely written bio of his. Fascinating.

We plugged off from the event briefly and holed up at the media room to record a podcast. He talks about the birth of TiE and how it grew to become the biggest organization for entrepreneurship.

Listen in.

P.S: Just like YouTube, you can embed this podcast on your blog too. Click on the ‘share’ button.

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January 26th, 2007

Podcast Interview with Pradeep Kar, CEO of Microland

It’s good to get back to my show after a short break. I get to speak with Pradeep Kar. Don’t know this guy? Hmm.. let me drop you a few hints. Think of the infamous full page advertisement on the front page of Times of India. Hint 2: He’s the guy who brought big names like Compaq, Novell, Cisco & Netscape to India. Hint 3: He’s the guy who started the Beer drinkers Association of IT! Well, now you get the kind of guy we are talking about.

He was truly the poster boy of Internet during the dot com boom days. In his own words, he says he raised $50 million without even giving a business plan to his investors. Such was the aura surrounding this guy. The bust came and his Internet empire crumbled. Those unlimited beer on Friday nights dried up.

Now, he seems on his way back. He has focussed on his company’s core competency, IT infrastructure management. But boy, what a roller coaster ride it has been.

I met him in Mumbai and we had an interesting discussion. You’ll find that in the interview below. It’s an audio interview. Some folks might mistake it for video by the looks of the player. Do listen to it and let me now your frank feedback.

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