No room and space for caution, says former GE chairman.
AB Wire
SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA: The 22nd edition of TiEcon, billed as the “largest global gathering of entrepreneurship,” began here on Friday at the Santa Clara Convention Center. The headliners on the opening day included former General Electric Chairman and CEO Jack Welch, Chief Data Scientist of the United States Dr. D.J. Patil and Infosys CEO and Silicon Valley denizen Vishal Sikka.
The theme of this year’s TiEcon is “Disruptive Entrepreneurship.” The event kicked off with a keynote by Welch and his wife, Suzy Welch. “You cannot wait six months to do something,” said the iconic former GE CEO and current Executive Chairman of the Jack Welch Management Institute. “There is no room and space for caution.”
He cautioned all the entrepreneurs in the room that in today’s world there are new and exciting ways to market a product, several new ways to meet the customer and creating a better experience, but no market for something which is mediocre.
Dr. Patil, who joined the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy in February, reiterated the unlimited opportunities of using data. He said, “data can benefit users and industry. Our data scientists have played a major role in churning out information during recent Nepal earthquake.”
Featured topics in the two-day conference include data economy, cloud infrastructure and the Internet of Things.
Sikka, who was a member of the executive board of SAP AG until he took over as Infosys CEO and Managing Direct last year, spoke via satellite from China, about “rethinking IT services.” He is part of the high-level business delegation that accompanied Prime Minister Narendra Modi to China.
On Saturday, a number of Indian American heavyweights are scheduled to speak, among them, Sacramento Kings owner and founder of TIBCO Vivek Ranadive, US Attorney, New York, Preet Bharara and Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Global Markets Arun Kumar and Sandhill publisher M.R. Rangaswami.
Hundreds of entrepreneurs are among the 1,500 delegates. “It took me a while, but I have finally decided to take the plunge,” Kumar Kandaswamy, a former Ebay engineer, who is now working on his new startup which is in stealth mode, told the American Bazaar. “I am making the transition from a Job seeker to a job creator.”