CEOs of LinkedIn, 5-hour Energy headline the event.
SAN FRANCISCO: TiEcon, the largest global conference for entrepreneurs, was held on May 17 and 18 at the Santa Clara Convention Center. TiEcon is the flagship event hosted by the The Indus Entrepreneurs, a network of successful and aspiring entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, and corporate executives.
TiE has more than 60 chapters in 17 countries, dedicated to the virtuous cycle of wealth creation, and giving back to the community. Now in its 20th year, TiEcon endeavors to foster entrepreneurship around the world and provide expert resources for startups with participation from CEOs of technology giants, prominent venture capital firms, and global service providers.
The two-day event featured various speaker panels, fireside chats and expos including six conference keynotes and 12 track keynotes.
Day 1 of the conference focused on professional growth and innovation trends. Three parallel full-day tracks on “big data,” “mobility” and “software-defined infrastructure” covered overall industry trends, the direction that “big data” is headed to, and the prime areas where the VCs are investing in.
Jeff Weiner, CEO of LinkedIn, delivered the first keynote address of the conference to a standing-room-only crowd. In his address, Weiner detailed some of the tools of effective leadership, which, in his words, included understanding the direction of technology and harnessing it, and optimizing for passion, skill and the market.
Among other speakers were Satya Nadella, president of Microsoft’s server and tools division, and Chris Anderson, author and the CEO of 3D Robotics, who toasted the entrepreneurial foundation of Silicon Valley.
Nadella predicted that the most innovative work will happen around the conversion of data into meaningful insights and actions.
TiE50, the annual award ceremony, recognizes 50 best-of-breed companies selected among over 1,100 technology startups worldwide, covering five technology sectors: internet, life sciences, energy, mobile and software.
The 2013 TiE50 Finalists, according to the organization, represented the “companies that shine because of their edgier idea and smarter operations.” Some of the major winners in the milieu were CloudVolumes, Openbucks and Infinite Monkeys.
Showcasing over 100 booths, the TiE Expo provided unparalleled opportunities to network with peers, investors, customers and experts. Apart from prominent tech leaders such as SAP, Intel, HP and aspiring startups, booths featuring entrepreneur service providers, nonprofit groups, media publications, and other fields found fair representation.
Canada’s minister for citizenship, immigration and multiculturalism Jason Kenney made an appearance at the Canadian government booth, touting his nation’s Startup Visa program aimed to lure young entrepreneurial talent to the country.
Day two featured three parallel full-day tracks, including one centered on an entrepreneur boot camp, covering how to start, scale and grow a company. The other tracks of the day covered women and youth issues, as well as social and global innovation. The keynotes were delivered by tech luminaries who are now Forbes billionaires, among them Bharat Desai, the CEO of Syntel; Ronnie Screwvala, the founder of UTV-Disney, India; and Manoj Bhargava, the CEO of 5-Hour Energy.
In addition to providing infinite opportunity for informal networking with founders and funders, this year TiEcon redesigned its Mentor Connect program with a more formal setting, networking lunch, various networking breaks, a cocktail reception on Friday evening, and a new mobile networking platform making networking seamless onsite and offsite.
Youth entrepreneurs were celebrated at the TIE Youth Forum panel where high
powered tech experts connected with the world’s youngest entrepreneurs who have begun their careers with blazing trails.
“Our goal is to jumpstart and inspire the next generation of budding entrepreneurs,” Program Coordinator Terry Koh explained. “Programs and conferences like such are great windows of opportunity to help frame young entrepreneurial studies into the context of the real world.”
The maverick billionaire Ashish J. Thakkar charmed the delegates during his youth keynote address. Thakkar, 31, is Africa’s youngest billionaire, who started his first company at age 15. His Mara Group has turned into a pan-African conglomerate. He announced the launch of three mobile applications at the TiEcon which includes an African equivalent of Skype.
“I’m a fond believer of rather than re-inventing the wheel and to bring Silicon Valley to Africa, let’s bring Africa to Silicon Valley,” said Thakkar, who intends to improve communication within Africa and connect Africa better with the rest of the world.
The TiE Youth Forum featured several prodigies, some as young as thirteen.
Jordan Casey, 13, a self-taught game developer and founder of Casey Games was the youngest speaker at the conference. He addressed 3,000 delegates on “Things I learned the hard way as a young CEO.”
Tanay Tandon, 16, a sophomore at Cupertino High School is the founder of content-summarization startup Clipped.me. Aron Beierschmitt, CEO of Foundation Games, Priyanka Jain, a Stanford University student who was named “Youth Philanthropist of 2012,” are few of the young guns who left their indelible mark at the event.
For the second consecutive year, TiEcon featured a special women’s only panel on Day 2.
Successful women who have climbed up the tech ladder, related their success stories, strategies and fostered encouragement to other women. The primal issues addressed were the relative lack of women in high places in tech sector, and overcoming the challenges face by women in this sector.
In the women’s keynote, Maya Strelar-Migotti, VP of Ericsson, talked about what it takes to lead with innovation.
Beth Styles, director of Biba Systems, stated that leaning isn’t enough. “Sometimes you have to leap,” she said.
Letha McLaren vice president of iControl Networks, a home automation software, declared that she balanced work and family by going all in on both sides of the equation.
Preeti Somal, vice president of VMware, talked about turning what might be perceived as a negative into a positive. She recalled how being the only girl in her engineering class of 40, has helped her become more assertive , even today when she still walks into rooms that consist only of men.
R. Paul Singh, convener of TiEcon, said that the event generated the largest turnout he has seen in the five years he has been involved with the organization. More than 3,500 attended the two-day event. “Entrepreneurship is sexy now,” said Singh. “That’s the big takeaway. People are realizing it’s a truly viable career option for young people now.”
In the closing keynote, Manoj Bhargava, CEO of 5-Hour Energy, made an emphatic case for keeping it simple and doing only what impacts customers. Bhargava’s speech was humorous and self-effacing. He paid tribute to the most important tenet that got him to where he is now: common sense.
(Zenobia Khaleel has donned a lot of hats; writer, photographer, travel enthusiast, troop leader, amateur actor, event coordinator, community volunteer, but predominantly go by the title Mom.)
To contact the author, e-mail: zenobiakhaleel@americanbazaaronline.com