• Events

    TIECON Chennai 2020

    Earlier this year, TiECON Silicon Valley 2020 happened online, giving me a chance to attend it virtually. There were talks by Mr Deepak Chopra, Ms Indra Nooyi, Ms Shellye Archambeau and many others. Coming to my city, Chennai, every year, TiE Chennai organizes their annual mega-event celebrating entrepreneurship called TiECON (2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2010, 2008). This year the entire conference had moved to a virtual platform due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The content of the conference was great, with stellar speakers and fine arrangement. I liked the timings, it was spread over 5 days, every day 3 hours in the evening: this suits better for a virtual platform…

  • Events

    TIECON 2020 – Keynote by Ms Indra Nooyi

    Like all the events around the world, this year’s TIECON 2020 global organized by TIE Silicon Valley has become virtual. For me, it was a blessing, as I could attend the event for free (as a TiE Chennai member) and not spend the thousands of dollars travelling to the USA and also the entry ticket fee. Earlier there were talks by Mr Deepak Chopra, Mr Vinod Khosla and Ms Shellye Archambeaua. Today, the grand keynote was by Ms Indra Nooyi, Former Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of PepsiCo, who happens to be from my city (Chennai, India). Below are from the notes (in random order) I took during the talk:…

  • Events,  Faith,  Lounge,  தமிழ்

    நாட்டார் தெய்வங்கள் – திருச்சி பார்த்தி

    நகரத்தில் (சென்னை) பிறந்து, இங்கேயே வளர்ந்து, சொந்த ஊரின் தொடர்புகள் இல்லாமல் இருக்கும் பலரைப் போன்றவன் நான், அதனால் தான் என்னவோ தமிழ் நாட்டில் முழுவதும் இருக்கும் எண்ணற்ற ஊர் தெய்வங்களை, காவல் தெய்வங்களைப் பற்றி எனக்கு எதுவும் தெரியாது. ஐயனார், மதுரைவீரன், பாடிகார்ட் முனீஸ்வரர் போன்றவர்களை கேள்விப்பட்டதோடு சரி, அதற்கு மேல் தெரிந்ததெல்லாம் தமிழ் சினிமா மூலமாகத் தான், அதுவும் பல சமயங்களில் கதையின் போக்குக்காக இந்தத் தெய்வங்களை மேலோட்டமாகத் தான் காட்டியிருப்பார்கள். என் போன்ற கிராமத்து வாசமே இல்லாதவர்களுக்குப் பல சமயங்களில் இந்தத் தெய்வங்களைப் பார்த்தாலே ஒருவித பயமாகயிருக்கும் – யோசித்துப் பார்த்தால் அந்தப் பிம்பத்திற்குத் தமிழ் சினிமாவும், என் அறியாமையும் தான் காரணமாக தோன்றுகிறது. எங்கள் குடும்பத்தில் வழிபாட்டுக் கட்டுப்பாடுகள் எல்லாம் கிடையாது, பெருமாள் கோயிலுக்குத் தான் அதிகம் செல்வோம், அங்கு மட்டும் தான் செல்ல வேண்டும் என்று என் தாத்தா லிப்கோ திரு சர்மாவை அவர்கள் ஒரு போதும் சொல்லியது கிடையாது. அப்படி பெருமாள் கோயில்களுக்குப் போகும் போதுக் கூட…

  • Events

    Digital Marketing Playbooks for Early Stage Startups by Vedanarayanan Vedantham

    Today TiE Chennai had organized a webinar on “Digital Marketing Playbooks for Early Stage Startups” by Vedanarayanan Vedantham (SME Business Head at Razorpay), who I am happy to say is my cousin-brother. The topic he covered was a very relevant one for all the startups out there. Below are from the notes (in no specific order) I took during the talk: The benefits of Digital Marketing: Push or Pull marketing: Let us see a story, assume you are working in a restaurant and your boss has tasked you with eliminating flies in the place. You can do it in two ways: one you take a electric fly catcher and try…

  • Events

    Compassionate Capitalism with Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw by TiE Austin

    TiE Austin had hosted an interview by Ms Kerry Rupp with Ms Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, the executive chairperson of Biocon Limited, and the former chairperson of Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore. Below are from the notes (in no specific order) I took during the talk: There are two types of entrepreneur: The first are those who are looking at how quickly I can make money, how can I take my business to billion dollars; the second ones are like me, those who think how can I make a difference? When I started my bio-tech journey 40 years ago, I started developing enzymes for various businesses. I couldn’t a job as a…

  • Events

    TIECON 2020 interview with Shellye Archambeau

    Like all the events around the world, this year’s TIE CON 2020 Roadshow which is being organized by TIE Silicon Valley has gone virtual. Last month, there were talks by Mr Vinod Khosla and Mr Deepak Chopra. Today there was an interview conducted by Ms Thuy Vu, Co-Founder of Global Mentor Network with Ms Shellye Archambeau, the former CEO of MetricStream.com. Below are the notes (in random order) I took during the talk: Shellye Archambeau has a book on words titled “Unapologetically Ambitious“. I grew up in a racially charged suburb of LA and people around me didn’t want me to succeed. Two things for my success are discipline and…

  • Events

    Becoming the best version of yourself with Mr Ajay Piramal, Chairman, Piramal Group

    SOIL Institute of Management has been running a series of webinars during this season. Last week it was a talk with Mr Nitin Paranjpe, COO of Unilever and today it was a discussion with Mr Ajay Piramal, Chairman, Piramal Group. Below are from the notes I took during the call: Yours is the organization that formalises Vedic practices and has Bhagawat Gita in the office. How did that happen? I come from a family of spiritual faith, I feel it is the blessings from the previous birth that gives you the belief in faith in this world. At the same time, people from the same family, all didn’t get the…

  • Becoming the best version of yourself with Nitin Paranjpe, COO, Unilever
    Events

    Becoming the best version of yourself with Mr Nitin Paranjpe, COO, Unilever

    SOIL Institute of Management has been running a series of webinars during this season. A friend forwarded me an invite and I attended a webinar today hosted by Mr Anil Sachdev, Founder & CEO of SOIL and the guest was Mr Nitin Paranjpe, COO of Unilever. The topic was “Becoming The Best Version of Yourself”. Below are from the notes I took during the call, where Mr Nitin Paranjpe shared the following: There were two major setbacks in my life: In 1997, when after say 9-10 years with the company (Hindustan Lever Limited India), I became the branch manager in Chennai. The state of Kerala decided to boycott our products…