TiE-ISB Connect 2006 - Technology Track Summary

The technology track began by around 3:30 PM on 21^st of September. The track chair Mr. Sudheer Koneru introduced the panel members to the audience and invited Mr. Ashok Jhunjhunwala, professor at IIT-M, on stage to give the key note address. Mr. Jhunjhunwala enthralled the audience with the achievements of the TeNet team of IIT Madras in reaching out to the rural areas with latest technological innovations. His initiative has spawned more than 10 companies in the past with a focus on development of rural sector. The next talk was given by Mr. Pradeep Gupta from Dataquest on the innovations that can be achieved in the fast changing world. He also touched upon the important fact that R&D now is increasingly sourced from outside instead of inside, giving rise to the possibility of outsourcing of R&D in the future. Mr. Srini Koppalu gave a perspective of technological changes from the perspective of Microsoft.

The session was opened up for panel discussion and all the panelists were invited on stage. Panelists included Vani Kola, Mr Ajit Deora of LightSpeed (VC), Mr Srikant from Persistent among others.Participants flooded the panelists with questions. Mr. Kalyan Manyam and Mr. Sudheer Koneru moderated the discussions. Several questions on open source posing a threat to technology, taking new innovations to markets, venture capital funding, and innovations related to wireless technology were discussed during the panel discussion. Due to time constraints all questions could not be addressed.

Perseverence of an IIT professor who took leave for a year to study Marketing and other aspects of a business in order to be better able to handle questions asked by VCs like "How will you sell it?", "Whom will you sell it to?" stood out as an example for other budding entrepreneurs. The emerging idea revolved on the value that a VC brings to a business, and also on the question that every VC asks before committing to fund a venture - "Will this business become the market leader in the long run?".

The discussion was an enriching experience for all participants. Budding entrepreneurs were inspired by the opportunities that were discovered during the course of the session.