The Conversation: GURURAJ DESHPANDE, ENTREPRENEUR & VENTURE CAPITALIST

WHO IS THE POSTER-BOY OF INDIAN TECHNOLOGY IS A QUESTION THAT CAN ELICIT ARGUABLY DIFFERENT NAMES. BUT THE ONE PERSON WHO SURELY FITS THE EPITHET IS GURURAJ DESHPANDE. STARTING OUT WITH CODEX CORPORATION IN THE 80s, DESHPANDE CO FOUNDED CORAL NEWORKS THAT MADE ROUTERS, WHICH GOT SOLD TO SUNOPTICS FOR $15 MILLION. BUT THE BROTHER-IN-LAW OF INFOSYS CO-FOUNDER N.R. NARAYANA MURTHY’S WIFE SUDHA MURTHY MADE HEADLINES WHEN HE SOLD CASCADE COMMUNICATIONS, A FIRM HE FOUNDED IN 1990, TO ASCEND COMMUNICATIONS FOR $3.7 BILLION IN 1997. TODAY, DESHPANDE INVESTS IN CREATING SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACT THROUGH ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND INNOVATION 1 . HE SHARES HIS ENTREPRENEURIAL INSIGHTS AND WHY HE BELIEVES INDIA’S UNTAPPED BILLIONS NEED START-UPS WITH A PURPOSE AND NOT JUST UNICORNS.

- V. KESHAVDEV

 

TECH’S BOOM-BUST CYCLE 

Given a business as disruptive as technology, are we in an era where tech start-ups are increasingly being “built-to-flip”, or has it always been the case, even during the dotcom days?