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  • 6 Things to Consider Before Becoming a GC From an Associate

    As you have been enjoying the perks and the higher than average salary in a law firm, but now you are thinking of becoming the General Counsel (GC) of your own firm. So, what happens next? In the legal profession,  the next step of an associate in his career is to become a GC or a General Counsel. A general counsel is a chief lawyer of the legal department in a company.

    Although being your own boss is a rather tempting idea, it is fundamentally plastered with certain inherent problems and issues. This is because being a general counsel includes a lot of effort and hard work. This is particularly so because the work of a general counsel never ceases. Thus, the person who is contemplating such a tectonic shift in his career must know and understand certain key factors.

    In this article, we will talk about 6 things that you must consider before becoming the General Counsel from an Associate. So, let’s take a look at it.

    Developing Legal and Non-legal Skills
    Seeking a Comprehensive Sectoral Understanding
    Strategize Your Business Right
    Build Better Relationships
    Knowing the Stakeholders
    Stepping Outside Your Comfort Zone

    Developing Legal and Non-legal Skills

    The esteemed role of GC might sound tempting, but it’s not that simple! There’s a difference between being an associate in a law firm and working in the office of general counsel. For the latter, a command over the legal and non-legal skills is very important – but not in quite the way that you’d expect. You may not spend your entire day arguing in court and validating legal points, but you will be validating business by communicating with the clientele.

    One very important element that is a part of a GC’s primary duties is handling matters related to a company’s business development and advising them on every issue in the periphery of operations. This is why general counsels are always busy and don’t even have enough time to stand and wait in one place!

    Seeking a Comprehensive Sectoral Understanding

    The core competency of a general counsel stems from a holistic understanding of the domain or the industry in which the company operates. Thus, it is essential that you build a holistic understanding a develop a complete knowledge of the sector or the industrial segment in which your company tends to operate.

    This understanding should not be myopic or restricted merely to legal and compliance standards. Neither should you concentrate more on regulatory knowledge only. A complete understanding of this sector stems from an overview of all nuances relating to the industry’s practical working and business trends and governing conventions in general.

    Strategize Your Business Right

    It is amazing to know how some GCs can turn young businesses into hugely successful corporations. This rapid growth is attributable in no small part to proper planning and strategizing. Most GCs are not aware of their company’s corporate or financial position, and it goes downhill pretty quickly from there.

    The business strategy primarily covers both the parts of learning about the business and planning it well to manage it better. Ascertaining all relevant information is integral to planning your company’s operations. As GC, you will need to pay attention to these minute details and create the right strategies to propel your business to the top. Thus, at its core, strategizing includes gathering information on all corners of the business and then involving each corner in the mainstream business.

    Build Better Relationships

    Relationship management is a serious business in the legal world. A general counsel should not just be concerned with what is happening externally in the industry. He should also focus on the workings of the company also. In order to do that, as an associate GC, you should start by developing a keen idea about the company and its workings.

    Not just that, but you should also be aware of the various people who are working within the organization, what their profiles and designations are, and what their jobs entail. Building better relationships and networking with fellow employees and peers helps you gain the right knowledge about the organization’s internal values and culture. An associate GC who identifies with the organizational ethos and has a complete understanding of the company’s internal work and functionalities can better fulfil his role as a general counsel.

    Knowing the Stakeholders

    To be a general counsel, it is very important to know the various parties and the stakeholders involved with the company. The various stakeholders of the company are important points of consideration for an aspiring GC. Understanding their perspectives manifests almost entirely from perfect listening skills.

    In fact, if an organization wants to better understand the stakeholders’ needs and expectations, it’s kind of impossible not to listen to their concerns. It offers better insight into what drives and motivates them.  It is by completely understanding the drivers you can be equipped to advise them of the best possible recourse for the company in any given scenario.

    Stepping Outside Your Comfort Zone

    As a general counsel, it is your job to contemplate the right decisions for the company’s benefit and advise the same to the senior management. Occasionally, this might entail the need to shoulder certain risks and advise from a commercial perspective. The ultimate agenda to do this is to ensure that the company’s problems and grievances are redressed and that they can go about their businesses in a more productive capacity.

    This job’s primary responsibility is to support your company through proper problem-solving abilities and ensure complete compliance even if the resulting problem is outside your comfort zone. This is the reason that helps you maintain positive relationships with colleagues, staff, and other members of senior management. Who knows, maybe their recommendations can help you to transition from the associate general counsel to bigger, better, and greener pastures.

    Conclusion

    These days, the competition and search for better opportunities have become tougher. This means that there still has to be twice the effort for a normal candidate with the right profile. Hence, it is important to understand that one needs to chalk out a few details before committing full time to the cause. A general counsel’s job is anything but easy, and you quite simply will run out of time and patience on multiple occasions. So it would be better if you stay prepared for the first instance.

    FAQ

    Who is a General Counsel?

    A General Counsel is a chief officer of a legal department of a company.

    Who should a General Counsel report to?

    A General Counsel should report to the CEO of the company.

    Do you need to be a lawyer to be a General Counsel?

    To be a General Counsel one needs to be an expert in both law and business.

  • Ankiti Bose – Story of Founder and CEO of Zilingo

    Through social networking applications, retail stores, and augmented realities, technology is transforming the way customers purchase. To market their brands in front of their customers, brands are adjusting to changes such as adopting more and more technology to make it more convenient for customers to shop.

    In an overly catered fashion industry, creating a novel and unique experience may set a business apart from the competition. Zilingo is such a fashion technology and e-commerce platform that worked with the idea of utilising technology to put up appropriate and efficient business within everyone’s reach.

    Ankiti Bose cofounded Zilingo and is also the ex-CEO of this e-commerce startup. She received various awards and recognition and even made to Forbes Asia’s 30 Under 30 list, as well as Fortune’s 40 Under 40 2019. She was terminated from her role as the CEO in April 2022 after a trial to pursue money-related suspicions regarding Zilingo’s accountancy operations. Bose was then ousted from Zilingo in May 2022, .which eventually resulted in her quitting from the Zilingo board too on June 30, 2022.

    Ankiti Bose – Biography

    Name Ankiti Bose
    YOB 1992
    Nationality Indian
    Occupation Co-founder and former CEO of Zilingo
    Previous Jobs Venture Capital and Management Consulting at Sequoia Capital and McKinsey & Company
    Net Worth $5 million

    Ankiti Bose – Early Life, and Education
    Ankiti Bose – Family
    Ankiti Bose – Career
    Ankiti Bose – Zilingo
    Ankiti Bose – Early Challenges
    Ankiti Bose – Controversies Related To Zilingo
    Ankiti Bose – Awards

    Ankiti Bose – Early Life, and Education

    Ankiti Bose is an Indian entrepreneur, who is known for her keen determination and fashion sense. Zilingo, an eCommerce and fashion-technology startup, was co-founded by her, along with Dhruv Kapoor, a software engineer and an IIT graduate. But after an attempt to raise cash prompted doubts about Zilingo’s accounting systems, she was terminated by the board from her role and responsibilities in April 2022.

    Ankiti Bose with her Husband, Dhruv Kapoor
    Ankiti Bose and Dhruv Kapoor

    She attended Poddar School and Cambridge School in Mumbai, which forms the base of her education. She attended St. Xavier’s College in Mumbai to study economics and mathematics. She made Forbes Asia’s 30 Under 30 list in 2018, and Fortune’s 40 Under 40 and Bloomberg 50 lists in 2019.

    Ankiti Bose – Family

    Ankiti’s father, whose name is unknown, worked for a state-owned oil business as an engineer. Because of his job, Ankiti’s family had to relocate frequently as she grew up. Ankiti’s mother was a university professor, and her name is also unknown. She resigned from her job to take care of her family and her single child, Ankiti.

    Ankiti Bose – Career

    Bose gave a head start to her career in Bangalore with her first job in McKinsey & Company and Sequoia Capital. Bose realised that fashion marketplaces in Southeast Asia had a lot of space for penetration and expansion after visiting the Chatuchak Weekend Market.

    Over 11,000 individual retailers do not have an internet name in the market. While there was an investment in boosting internet connection, Bose observed that shops were unprepared to cope with major global firms due to a lack of training in finance, scalability, web designing, and sourcing.

    Bose resigned from her job as a financial analyst at Sequoia Capital in 2015 to start her own business, Zilingo. Bose created Zilingo while she was just twenty-three years old. In 2016, she relocated to Singapore to work on technology and distribution network solutions.

    In 2019, Zilingo secured $226 million in Series D funding, valuing the company at $970 million. It has over seven million active users on the global network as of 2019. Because of the trade conflict between the United States and China, American retailers left China, allowing Zilingo to grow in the United States. She has sought to get Indian textiles for Californian firms and has opened offices on both the West and East coasts.

    Bose developed a programme at Zilingo to teach Indonesian women how to make garments, recognising that about 40% of Indonesian women leave the industry after getting married. To help executives throughout the firm, Zilingo established a coaching programme. Bose participates in services that help and train female entrepreneurs.

    Ankiti Bose – Zilingo

    Co-founder and CEO of Zilingo - Ankiti Bose
    Co-founder and CEO of Zilingo – Ankiti Bose

    Zilingo is an online fashion marketplace service and e-commerce website launched in 2015 by Ankiti Bose and Dhruv Kapoor, who each invested $44,000 in the venture. Sequoia India provided initial money, and in September 2016, the firm secured an additional $8 million in a Series A funding round. In 2017, it secured an additional $18 million in a Series B round, and in 2018, it raised $54 million in Series C financing.  

    Zilingo was exporting to eight countries by September 2017 and had seller hubs in Korea, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Indonesia, Cambodia, and Thailand, with 5,000 new merchants added in the preceding year.

    In February 2019, Zilingo raised $226 million in a new round of funding from Sequoia India, Burda, Singapore sovereign fund Temasek, and Sofina. The partners have secured $28 million with the full backing of heavyweight investors like Silicon Valley billionaire Tim Draper, and presently have 8,000 merchants and over two million consumers.

    Ankiti Bose – Early Challenges

    Ankiti signed up as a retailer to obtain the customer experience to truly comprehend the market and make Zilingo as welcoming as possible to merchants. Zilingo was not built on orders and commands; instead, it was built on as much personal experience as possible to become what it is today.

    Ankiti and her team quickly recognised that having only an e-commerce network was insufficient to assist these small firms. They were severely lacking in production, shipping, and other operations that a larger company would have. This is why Zilingo decided to create an online market platform that would help small businesses grow.

    In 2016, they supported organisations with product development and design, data analytics, logistics, and customer service by developing software to offer supply chain capabilities.

    Ankiti Bose – Controversies Related To Zilingo

    Singaporean B2B fashion e-commerce startup Zilingo has suspended its Indian founder and CEO, Ankiti Bose, after irregularities in the company’s accounts were reportedly uncovered during an attributable procedure for a fresh financing round.

    Bose has denied the charges and challenged her suspension, calling the firm’s move a “witch hunt” sparked by harassment complaints she filed against a corporate investor.

    The apparent accountancy issues surfaced just as Zilingo was in active discussions to seek $150-200 million in a fresh round at a projected valuation of $1.2 billion, setting the stage for it to become a unicorn.

    Ankiti Bose then retaliated with several charges after the company announced her departure as CEO following an inquiry into financial irregularities.

    Bose has threatened to sue the board saying, she was fired because of her rebellious nature with Sequoia Capital India and Sequoia managing director Shailendra Singh. She holds an 8.58% stake in the company and is attempting to reclaim the business’s $40 million in unpaid obligations, which creditors recalled following her discharge.

    The company, in a statement, said, “Following an investigation led by an independent forensics firm that was commissioned to look into complaints of serious financial irregularities, the company has decided to terminate Ankiti Bose’s employment with cause, and reserves the right to pursue appropriate legal action.”

    Ankiti Bose – Awards

    Year Award
    2018 Asia’s Forbes 30 under 30
    2019 Fortune magazine’s 40 Under 40, The Bloomberg 50, and Business Worldwide Magazine Most Innovative CEO of the Year – Singapore
    2020 Singapore Top 100 Women in Tech List

    FAQs

    Who is Ankiti Bose?

    Ankiti Bose is a 29-year-old entrepreneur who co-founded the e-commerce startup Zilingo.

    Who founded Zilingo?

    Zilingo was launched by Ankiti Bose and Dhruv Kapoor.

    What does Zilingo do?

    Zilingo is a fashion technology and e-commerce brand.

    What is the net worth of Ankiti Bose?

    Ankit Bose’s net worth is reported to be approximately $5 million.

  • Why Investors Are Investigating Top Executives?

    The top executives of a company are some of the most important people for their business. The CEOs, CFOS and other executives are actually responsible for the overall success of a company, all the significant decisions are taken by them and they are the people that keep the business together. However, we all know ‘Teamwork makes the dream work.’ Apart from the executives being the brain of the company, the employees are also the heart and a business needs both for their survival.

    An employee can be said to be the most important asset of an organization, they are the ones with whose help the proper functioning of a business can happen. Although, they are the subordinates of the top executives they are as important as them. Plus the executive’s behaviour in real life shows their actual character; their behaviour makes them the person they are. Recently, a few actions of some top executives with people of lower rank have created big controversies and they are on the end of receiving backlashes. Companies are surely suffering because of that, images of those companies are crumbling down and investors are now in turmoil about who to trust and who to not.

    Therefore Investors now have decided to launch investigations to examine the behaviour of founders, CEOs and other executives of a startup in their daily lives. In this article, we will find out what has led to this situation and how investigations are conducted. So without any further ado, let’s get started.

    “The way your employees feel is the way your customers will feel. And if your employees don’t feel valued, neither will your customers.” -Sybil F. Stershic

    The Controversy of Ashneer Grover
    Similar Past Incidents
    Why Investors are Investigating Top Executives?
    What Are the Important Things Investigators Are Investing?

    The Controversy of Ashneer Grover

    This entire situation started when an audio clip of Ashneer Grover, the co-founder of BharatPe was seen doing rounds on social media where it can be heard that Grover is insulting, threatening and abusing a bank employee. Although the co-founder of BharatPe denied the accusation, Kotak has decided to take legal action against Grover for hurling abuses and using inappropriate language while communicating with the bank’s employee.

    A few days later an email exchange between Hashjit Sethi of Sequoia India came up where again Grover was seen using abuses while conversing with the former. Post this scenario, Ashneer Grover decided to take a leave of absence for two months.

    Similar Past Incidents

    The case of Ashneer Grover was not the first one and it is certainly not going to be the last, as similar incidents are surfacing recently. As we dwell deeper, there are instances where these types of the same situations have occurred in the past. Some of the incidents are:

    • The former CEO of Flipkart, Binny Bansal shocks the world when he resigns from his position after he faced allegations of serious personal misconduct in 2018, an investigation was conducted followed by the allegations.
    • In 2018, ICICI Bank’s then CEO and managing director Chanda Kochhar faced allegations of nepotism and multiple agency probes against her, this situation led to her quitting her job.
    • Another instance happened when Manu Sawhney, the CEO of ICC was instructed to go on leave when an investigation by a UK based agency happened where it shows his behavioural misconduct. He was allegedly behaved arrogantly and was firing employees without any proper reason plus he was also bullying many staff members. This led to an investigation and he was asked to go on leave.
    • In 2022, fashion E-commerce site, Zilingo suspended Ankiti Bose, the Chief executive and  Indian founder of the E-commerce site for some alleged irregularities in the accounting part of the company. This has led to her suspension which is valid till 5th May 2022.

    Why Investors are Investigating Top Executives?

    The step was taken after the controversial situation of BharatPe’s Co-founder Ashneer Grover arose. Investors are now concerned so they are taking the help of investigating firms and forensic teams of known accounting companies to conduct an investigation on the behaviours of top executives. These things are done to make sure:

    • There will be no controversies regarding their behaviour which may lead to a bad image of the startup.
    • To decrease the chances of fraud-related issues in the company in the future.

    Misbehaviour of top executives is actually a red flag for the investors that things might go wrong in the near future if they carry on with their behaviour. If a wrong executive is hired, it will harm the brand image of the company.

    What Are the Important Things Investigators Are Investing?

    A person behaviour’s toward their subordinates or the people who are of lesser rank shows the actual personality of a person. A startup depends on the hard work and the passion that can be found in the executives but its image also depends on the character of the key executives. The work culture of a company is extremely important. The key things of executives that are getting investigated are:

    • Their behaviour with their subordinates.
    • Their social media behaviour and if they are getting into petty arguments that are not necessary.
    • If they have any illegal substances with them or consume them.
    • If there is any traffic violation done by them.

    Conclusion

    Just because someone is in a higher position doesn’t mean that they have the right to misbehave with others. Being humble and kind is never a mistake; in fact, it gives a safe feeling to your subordinates that they are in the right company. Toxic culture will only lead to bad performance as well as a bad image of the . also helps in strengthening the brand image of the company.

    FAQs

    Why are investors investigating top executives?

    After the Ashneer Grover controversy, many investors were worried about getting their brand image tarnished which led them to investigate top execs’ behaviour.

    What are the things investigators are investing against the top executives?

    Investors are hiring firms to investigate the behaviour of founders and top executives on social media and their behaviour towards their employees.

  • The Rise Of South Asian CEOs | Top Asian CEOs of Fortune 500 Companies

    The top ranking executive of a company is called as CEO (chief executive officer). They have so many responsibilities. It includes making important decisions of the company, management of all operations of the company, management of the resources of the company, etc. The public face of a company is CEO.

    There is a common thread that connects the famous multi-billion dollar companies. The current CEOs of these companies are mostly from south Asian countries, mainly from India. South Asians secured the most number of C-level leadership positions in the tech industry. Many of these south Asians are born and raised in their home countries before moving to the Western countries.

    South Asian CEOs of Fortune 500 Companies

    Sundar Pichai
    Satya Nadella
    Shantanu Narayen
    George Kurian
    Nikesh Arora
    Rajeev Suri
    Dr. Sara Saeed Khurram
    Raj Fernando

    The CEOs from South Asian Countries

    The Indians are playing an important role in changing the way of technology works. The world’s two largest technology companies are headed by Indian origin CEO’s. We can add more names to the list. Being a leader in the most important companies in the world and playing an important role in growth are not an easy task.

    In large companies, CEOs generally manage only the highest level of strategic decisions, which affect the overall growth of the company. In small businesses, CEOs  are often involved in daily operations. If you think that some of the best CEO’s  in the world are international, you will be surprised to hear so many names from India.

    Sundar Pichai

    CEO: Google

    Sundar Pichai - CEO of Google
    Sundar Pichai – CEO of Google

    Sundar Pichai is the CEO of Google. He was born in Tamil Nadu, India on 10 June, 1972. He took a degree in metallurgical engineering from IIT Kharagpur. After that, he moved to US. He completed his MS in material sciences and engineering from Stanford University and he attained his MBA from Wharton University.

    He was awarded the titles named “Siebel scholar and Palmer scholar” from there. On August 10, 2015, Sundar Pichai was selected as CEO of Google. He played an important role in the development and launch of the Google Chrome web browser. He was the product head for projects related to Google drive, Google map, and Android. That helped him to grow in his career.

    Satya Nadella

    CEO: Microsoft

    CEO of Microsoft
    Satya Nadella – CEO of Microsoft

    Satya Nadella is the CEO of Microsoft. He was born in Hyderabad, India on 12 August 1967. He was selected as CEO of Microsoft on February 4, 2014. He completed his degree in electronics and communication engineering from the Manipal institute of technology. He completed his master’s degree in Computer Science from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee.

    He attained his MBA from the University of Chicago. After that, he worked as a technology staff at a company named “Sun Microsystems”. In 1992, he joined the Microsoft. Satya Nadella headed in some major projects at Microsoft, which including cloud computing and developing one of the world’s largest cloud cluster infrastructure.

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    Shantanu Narayen

    CEO: Adobe

    Shantanu Narayen - CEO of Adobe systems
    Shantanu Narayen – CEO of Adobe systems

    Shantanu Narayen is the CEO of Adobe systems. He was born in Hyderabad, India on 1963. He took his degree in electronics and communication engineering from University College of Engineering, Osmania University. After that he completed his MBA from Haas School of business, University of California.

    He earned his master’s degree in computer science from Bowling green state university, Ohio. His career started at Apple. After that, he worked in Silicon graphics. He co-founded a digital photo sharing company named “Pictra”. In 1998, he joined the Adobe Systems. He promoted as CEO of the company, in 2007. Also, he got the Padma Shri award in 2019.

    George Kurian

    CEO: NetApp

    George Kurian - CEO of NetApp
    George Kurian – CEO of NetApp

    George Kurian is the president and CEO of NetApp. It is a storage and data management company. He was born in Kerala, India. He completed his engineering from IIT Madras. He attained bachelors of Science degree in electrical engineering from Princeton University and earned MBA from Stanford University.

    He started his career at Oracle in 1996. Later, he promoted as the senior vice president of Oracle’s server technologies. Also he served as vice president of Application Networking and Switching Technology Group at Cisco Systems. In 2011, he joined the Netapp. He became the CEO of the company in June 2015.

    Nikesh Arora

    CEO: Palo Alto Networks

    Nikesh Arora - CEO of Palo Alto Networks
    Nikesh Arora – CEO of Palo Alto Networks

    Nikesh Arora is the CEO of Palo Alto Networks. He was born in Uttar Pradesh, India on 9 February 1968. He completed his degree in Electrical engineering from IIT Varanasi. After that, he completed his MBA from Northeastern University. Also he earned a master’s degree in finance from Boston College.

    He worked at Google. Also, he served as a president of a company named SoftBank Group. He resigned from there on 21 June 2016. In June 2018, he joined the Palo Alto Networks. Presently, he serves as the chairman and CEO of the company.

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    Rajeev Suri

    Ex-CEO: Nokia

    Rajeev Suri - Ex-CEO of Nokia
    Rajeev Suri – Ex-CEO of Nokia

    Rajeev Suri is the ex-CEO of Nokia. He was born in New Delhi, India on 10 October 1967. He has Singapore citizenship. He completed his degree in Electronics and Communications Engineering from Manipal Institute of Technology, India. He served for multi-national companies in Nigeria and India. In 1995, he joined the Nokia. He played an important role in transformation of the company. He became the CEO of the company on 29 April 2014.

    Dr. Sara Saeed Khurram

    CEO: Sehat Kahani

    Dr. Sara Saeed Khurram - CEO and Co-founder of Sehat Kahani
    Dr. Sara Saeed Khurram – CEO and Co-founder of Sehat Kahani

    Dr. Sara Saeed Khurram is CEO and co-founder of the company named “Sehat Kahani”. The services of the company focus on health awareness, primary health care consultation, and health counselling. She was born in Karachi, Pakistan. She completed her MBBS in 2010 from DOW University of Health Sciences.

    Later, she earned a master’s degree in Health Policy and Management from The Aga Khan University of Health Sciences. She is the first women in Pakistan to win the Rolex award.

    Raj Fernando

    CEO: Workstorm.com

    Raj Fernando - CEO and Chairman of Workstorm.com
    Raj Fernando – CEO and Chairman of Workstorm.com

    Raj Fernando is the CEO and Chairman of Workstorm.com. He is a Sri Lankan descent American businessman. He was born on 8 July 1971. He completed his bachelor’s degree in economics and history from Beloit College. He found a company named “Chopper Trading” in 2002 and he became CEO of the company.

    Fernando’s contributions helped the company to become one of the main participants on world’s largest global exchanges. But in 2015, he sold the company. He launched an internet startup named “Workstorm.com” in 2016. Now he serves as the CEO of the company.

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    Conclusion

    The South Asian cultures encourage debate, communication, and argumentation. Also, the mainstream American culture encourages assertive communication too. According to a study by MIT, South Asians are more likely to achieve leadership roles in American organizations. The research focused on the three key aspects of prejudice, motivation, and assertiveness.

    The research proposed that the cultural differences around assertiveness and the willingness to engage in the debate may be strong contributing factors in what resonates with American company leadership expectations.

    This is a good trait that is seen in South Asian peoples. Because of this type of trait and culture, there is a high chance of people from Asia succeeding in leadership roles. We can expect more such leaders to take up leadership positions in big multi-national organizations.

    These CEOs are not from the same background. It includes from poverty to the middle class. Most of them were born and raised in different places. They left the home countries to attain higher education in other countries, yet they all have the same instincts, values and traits. Anyway, climbing the ladder of success is not an easy task. So, this completes our list of top Asian CEOs of Fortune 500 companies.

    FAQ

    How many Fortune 500 companies have Indians as there CEOs?

    38 CEOs of Fortune 500 Companies are Indians.

    What is the number of Asian American CEOs in the fortune 500 companies?

    5.6% of total CEOs in fortune 500 Companies are found to be Asian American.

    Who is the first female CEO of a Fortune 500 company?

    Katharine Graham is the first female CEO of a Fortune 500 company.

    Which is Number 1 in the Fortune 500?

    Walmart is ranked no. 1 in Fortune 500 Companies.

    What is the number of Asian Americans in professional workforce?

    Asian Americans made up about 13% of the professional workforce.

  • Why Jeff Bezos is Stepping down as Amazon CEO on July 5?

    Amazon.com is one of the well-known e-commerce platforms based in the United States. It is one of the big five IT companies of the United States along with the tech giants Google, Facebook, Apple and Microsoft. The CEO and the founder of the company Jeff Bezos have announced that he would step down from his position of CEO on July 5. Let’s look at the reason, Why he decided to step down as CEO of the company.

    Amazon CEO – Latest News
    Reason Why Jeff Bezos is stepping down as Amazon’s CEO
    Who will be the New CEO of Amazon?
    Reason Why Jeff Bezos chose 5 July as the date to step down
    FAQ

    Amazon CEO – Latest News

    Amazon CEO and the founder Jeff Bezos had announced in the Annual Shareholder Meeting of the company that he would step down as the CEO of the company he had founded around 3 decades ago on 5 July 2021.

    The company had previously announced about the transition plan of the CEO and is also noted that Jeff Bezos would not stay away from the company and would remain close to the company taking the major decisions of the company staying as an executive chairman.

    Reason Why Jeff Bezos is stepping down as Amazon’s CEO

    Jeff Bezos has conveyed that moving to the executive role he would be closely connected to the company and the decision-making process as well as being able to focus on a lot of other works.

    Jeff Bezos had conveyed that he is very excited to move into the chief executive chairman position of the company where he would be able to focus his energy and attention on new initiatives and products.

    It is expected that Jeff Bezos is stepping down as the CEO in order to focus on his other initiatives such as Blue Origin Spaceship company, Bezos earth Fund, Amazon Day 1 Fund and The Washington Post.

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    Who will be the New CEO of Amazon?

    Jess Bezos had also conveyed that he would hand over the position of CEO to Andy Jassy who has been a part of Amazon from the year 1997. He was the one who launched Amazon’s most profitable segment which is the AWS cloud computing division in the year 2006.

    In the year 2020, the revenue generated from AWS was around USD 45.3 billion and delivered an operating margin of 30 %. One of the recent achievements by Andy Jassy before the official handing over of the CEO position is to bring back the former senior executive of the company Jeff Blackburn.

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    Reason Why Jeff Bezos chose 5 July as the date to step down

    Jeff Bezos during the Shareholder meeting conveyed that there was an emotion behind choosing the date 5 July as the day to hand over the CEO position. He added that he chose the date as it was sentimental for him. July 5 is when Amazon has incorporated 27 years ago exactly on the same date in the year 1994.

    Bezos had even spoke about Andy Jassy providing an assurance for the shareholders that he would never let the company down and has the highest standards and the energy that is required to keep the company alive and special. He also mentioned about the deal where Amazon had acquired MGM studios.

    Conclusion

    Amazon has always made sure to keep its succession plans quiet but however certain spectators have predicted the successor to be Andy Jassy. The contribution of Andy Jassy to the firm Amazon is innumerable and the same would be expected from the new position which he would undertake.

    FAQ

    How much Amazon stock does Andy Jassy own?

    Andy Jassy owns over 1,250 units of Amazon.com stock which is worth over $280,268,736.

    How much does Jeff Bezos make an hour?

    Jeff Bezos earned an average of $13.4 million per hour during the pandemic.

    Who will be the next CEO of Amazon?

    Andy Jassy will be the next CEO of Amazon, he has launched Amazon’s most profitable segment which is the AWS cloud computing.

  • Why Zhang Yiming is Stepping down as ByteDance’s CEO?

    Byte Dance which is a parent company of popular short-video app TikTok which has a huge market worldwide. The popular application was banned in India and was about to be banned in the United States. Recently the founder of TikTok and the CEO of ByteDance had announced that he is going to quit from his positions as a CEO. Let’s look at the reason why he decided to quit from the post of CEO of ByteDance?

    About ByteDance
    Why Zhang Yiming is Stepping down as Bytedance’s CEO?
    Who will be the Next CEO of ByteDance?
    FAQ

    About ByteDance

    ByteDance is an international internet technology company that is based in China. The company was founded in the year 2012 and has its headquarters in Beijing and it is legally domiciled in the Cayman Islands.

    ByteDance is the developer of TikTok and Douyin who are video sharing social networking services. In the year 2017, the company had acquired Musical.ly which was a famous social media startup and combined it with TikTok.

    As of 2018 the company had around 800 million daily active users. As of March 2021, the company has a valuation of more than USD 250 billion.

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    Why Zhang Yiming is Stepping down as Bytedance’s CEO?

    Zhang Yiming was the founder of TikTok and he is currently the CEO of ByteDance. He is one of the major pioneers behind making the tech giant successful and making it one of the biggest names in Chinese tech.

    Yiming had announced that he will be stepping down from the post of CEO. He had announced that in an internal memo sent to the employees on 19 May 2021. The major reason for stepping down from the position as mentioned is that he lacks some of the skills required by an ideal manager.

    He added that, he is more interested in analyzing the principles related to the market and organizations and to leverage these theories which will help in reducing the works related to management rather than managing people.

    He also conveyed that he would prefer reading and day dreaming than running the tech giant. He added that he would transition to a new role by the end of 2021 where he would concentrate on long-term strategy, social responsibility and corporate culture.

    Zhang Yiming on stepping down as ByteDance's CEO
    Zhang Yiming on stepping down as ByteDance’s CEO

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    Who will be the Next CEO of ByteDance?

    Zhang Yiming has conveyed that he will be handing the position of CEO to Liang Rubo who is co-founder and the HR head of ByteDance. In order to ensure a smooth transition, the two men are looking forward to working together for the next 6 months.

    According to the memo received by the employees, Yiming has communicated that Liang Rubo would be better with his strengths in management, organization and social engagement.

    Liang Rubo had prior experience as he was the head of the R&D of Lark and Efficiency Engineering and he currently is the head of HR and marketing role as the company had scaled up at an incredible level on a global basis.

    FAQ

    How much is Zhang Yiming worth?

    The net worth of Zhang Yiming is 3600 crore.

    When was ByteDance founded?

    ByteDance was Founded in 2012.

    Who is CEO of ByteDance?

    The new CEO of ByteDance is Liang Rubo.

    Conclusion

    This is considered to be another big change in the upper management as the TikTok CEO had quit back in 2020 just 4 months after he was appointed to the new position. The popular social network application is being banned in India and there is no information about the lifting of the ban.

  • Who is Arun Raste – The New MD & CEO of NCDEX

    On 26 April 2021, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has approved an appointment of the new Managing Director and CEO of the National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange Ltd (NCDEX). The new Managing Director and CEO of National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange Ltd is Arun Raste. Let’s look at who is Arun Raste, the new MD and CEO of NCDEX.

    Who is Arun Raste
    Education of Arun Raste
    Seminars
    What is NCDEX
    FAQ

    Who is Arun Raste

    Arun Raste is currently working as the Executive Director of the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) of India. He is also serving as the director on the board of Indian Immunological Limited which is based in Hyderabad and also the director on the board of Mother Dairy Fruit Vegetable Pvt Ltd. Which is based in Delhi.

    He had earlier worked with companies such as Kotak Mahindra Bank, IDFC Bank, ACC Cement, NABARD and also a non-profit NGO IRFT.

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    Education of Arun Raste

    He has done a bachelor’s degree in economics and also a master’s degree in economics. He also holds a post-graduation diploma in marketing management.

    He has an interest in the areas such as BoP finance, Business Strategy, CSR, marketing, Corporate Planning and NGO management.

    Seminars

    He was invited by the United States State Department for ‘The International Visitor Leadership programme’(IVLP). He has also been part of various conferences and seminars which include the ones at UNCTAD, World Social Forum, IFAT Conference, WTO ministerial, Toyo University Tokyo, Kindai University Nara Japan, PSE Group in European Parliament, Murdoch University Perth Australia, and so on.

    He has also published various research papers in National and International Journals.

    Now he has been appointed as the Managing Director and CEO of National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX) for a period of 5 years.

    What is NCDEX

    National Commodity and Derivative Exchange is a commodity exchange platform in India. It is an online commodity exchange platform that provides the market participants a platform to trade in commodities and derivatives.

    NCDEX was founded in the year 2003 and has its headquarters located in Mumbai, India. NCDEX is a public limited company that is fully owned by the Government of India. NCDEX has offices in other places which include Delhi, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kolkata, Indore and Ahmedabad.

    What is NCDEX
    What is NCDEX

    NCDEX is an leading agricultural commodity exchange in India. It offers value chain services for the entire post-harvest agricultural commodities.

    Some of the key investors of NCDEX include National Stock Exchange of India Ltd, National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development, Life Insurance Corporation of India, Oman India Joint Investment Fund, Investcorp Private Equity Fund, Build India Capital Advisors LLP, Indian Farmers Fertilizer, Cooperative Ltd, Punjab National Bank and Canara Bank.

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    FAQ

    What is MCX and Ncdex?

    NCDEX is predominantly an exchange with leadership in the agri commodity segments, while MCX has leadership in the area of gold, metals and oil.

    Where is Ncdex located?

    NCDEX headquarters are located in Mumbai and offers facilities to its members from the centres located throughout India.

    What is full form Ncdex?

    National Commodity & Derivatives Exchange Limited is full form of NCDEX.

    Conclusion

    Earlier in this month Vijay Kumar who was the former Managing Director and the CEO of NCDEX had left the position from the exchange after the completion of his extended term. Later, SEBI had appointed Arun Raste as the new CEO and MD of NCDEX.

  • Abhinav Prateek | From Engineering Dropout to CEO

    Abhinav Prateek aka Abby Viral is an inspiration to all the budding entrepreneurs out there. He is the Co-founder of Gyaanistan, an interest infused blog that showcases stories and amazing articles relating to Music, Entertainment, Fun and Inspiration from India and beyond. He is an Entrepreneur, Hustler and a Motivator

    Startuptalky interviewed Abhinav Prateek to get insights on his learnings and Journey.

    Abhinav Prateek

    Tell us about Yourself, Abhinav!

    Hello everyone, I am Abhinav Prateek, a 26 years old engineering dropout. After completing 12th, I was involved in so many things that made me a better person and helped me in achieving success in my life. 5 Years back I never ever had a thought that I can be the CEO of any company, even not sure if i’ll get a good job or not. So, Let me share my learnings that will be useful for you too.

    As Aamir Khan said in 3 Idiots “Gyaan har jagah batt raha hai, jaha se mile lapet lo”(Knowledge is everywhere, grab it from wherever it is reachable).

    Abhinav’s 3 Big Learnings:

    #1 Knowledge

    “Baadam khane se akal nahi aati, Dhakke khane se aati hai”(Eating Almonds dosen’t gives you wisdom, struggle does!).

    So,  after I completed 12th class I struggled a lot, From a street magician, Network marketing to Selling Momos, Event management, Plants and nursery business, Digital marketing, Graphic designing and BPO. I worked at so many places to learn skills and earn money for survival. It is so much difficult for someone who is studying in a college and hadn’t seen the outside world to suddenly start a business. Firstly you need to understand the market and its need(But yes, exceptions are always there).

    #2 Upgrading

    This happens that when we get a new app update for WhatsApp, after updating we get some new features in it so, similarly “When you upgrade yourself with new set of skills you level up”.

    This thing is very important for personal growth. But the trick is that you have to identify which set of skills you want to learn or which information/news you should store in your brain. Suppose if you want to be a web designer and you have very less time to prove yourself and at the same time you are also upgrading yourself as a guitarist, you are doing it wrong! I learnt photoshop when I needed a graphic designer in my company as I didn’t had financial backup to hire one.

    #3 Networking

    If you are surrounded with wise people, The positivity, knowledge, thoughts, ideas will flow and you will also get lots of opportunity to grow. After I dropped engineering, I created a network with many people who are doing great in their life, Have dreams, Don’t believe in wasting time and have some targets to achieve. They inspired me to work harder and also taught me many things that I found really helpful for me.

    So, Now you know what were my 3 Big learnings from past 5 years let me tell you about me in brief, After completing 12th class I joined.

  • Evan Spiegel: The Emergence Of Snap Inc.

    The emergence of social media embodies the 21st century. Social media is an inseparable part of every millennial’s life. It is impossible to imagine a day without texting our friends and followers through WhatsApp, posting images on Instagram, and scrolling through memes on Facebook. Something’s missing here? Yeah, it’s Snap (Snapchat). The emergence of Snap as a social media giant goes to Evan Spiegel.

    Posting pictures with creative filters has provided a boost to Snap, frequently appearing in the ‘top grossing list’ of Android and iOS apps. Snapchat is like a blessing to the startup circuit. Time to find out how Evan Spiegel brought Snap Inc. into the picture and changed the social media industry forever.

    Quick Facts

    Name Evan Thomas Spiegel
    Born 4th June 1990 – Los Angeles, California
    Age 30
    Education Crossroads School for Arts and Sciences, Standford University
    Occupation Entrepreneur
    Known for Co-founder and CEO of Snap Inc.
    Net worth US$4 billion (April 2020)

    Who Is Evan Spiegel?

    A co-founder of Snap Inc., formerly known as Snapchat Inc., Evan Spiegel is one of the most successful entrepreneurs of today’s times. He created Snap Inc. along with Bobby Murphy and Reggie Brown, his college mates. The trio were the students of Stanford University. He enrolled at the Crossroads Schools for Arts and Sciences, and later on secured a seat at Stanford. He had an unpaid internship at Red Bull and was a paid intern for a biomedical company. He is amongst the three self-made billionaires in the world who are under 30 years of age. Evan Spiegel’s innovation permits approximately 203 million people to send photos and videos through Snap.

    The Tale Behind Snap Inc.

    Snap Inc logo
    Snap Inc logo

    In college, Spiegel proposed an application with ephemeral messaging for a class project that wasn’t received well by his classmates. Every noteworthy story is riddled with setbacks followed by rise to fame, and Spiegel’s story was no different. He worked with Bobby Murphy and Reggie Brown to launch a prototype called ‘Picaboo’ into the social media segment. Picaboo was rechristened to Snapchat. The popularity of Snapchat and increasing user acceptance compelled Spiegel to leave Stanford University and focus only on Snapchat’s development. The number of daily active users crossed the 1 million mark unexpectedly quick.

    Evan Spiegel Net Worth

    Evan Spiegel’s net worth is $2.1 billion as of 16th March,2020. He owns around 18 percent of the company. Evan Spiegel was named as the youngest billionaire in the world in 2015. In 2017, Spiegel and his co-worker Murphy pledged to donate 13,000,000 shares of Class A common stock over to arts and youth non-profit.

    Also Read: Brian Acton: Connecting People Through WhatsApp

    Ups And Downs

    With the steep increase in Snapchat’s revenue and popularity, nothing seemed impossible for the company. In 2016, the company rebranded itself as Snap Inc. and introduced the concept of camera-equipped spectacles. This further boosted revenue as Snap Inc. earned more than $400 million in 2016.

    Snap Inc. faced challenges. After going public in 2017, the company failed to meet the public’s expectations, causing the stock price to fall in March 2017. The stock was below $12 per share by August. This was mainly due to stiff competition from Facebook. The mega-giant has its own success story, but has been accused of plagiarizing ideas and concepts of various social media companies. Snap Inc. was also a victim of plagiarism which lead to algorithmic filtering of content and several other improvements, bringing in new customers.

    Avoiding Facebook-zone

    After scaling new heights, Spiegel received an offer from Facebook. CEO Mark Zuckerberg offered to buy Snapchat for $3 billion. Spiegel, a visionary entrepreneur, refused to sell his venture even though he and his co-workers were to net around $750 million from the Facebook deal. Evan Spiegal never seeked short term gains, a big win mattered to him the most.

    Rift Between The Co-founders

    Snapchat was now a big shot. In order to have his share of the pie, Reggie Brown filed a lawsuit on the grounds that his idea was being used by Spiegel and Murphy for developing Snap. Brown argued he wasn’t provided the intellectual property rights of the company even though the iconic ghost logo was his creation. In 2014, Reggie Brown received a settlement of $157.5 million.

    Also Read: Top Entrepreneurs in India

    Spiegel’s Global Influence

    The social media industry owes to Spiegel. His efforts to connect people all over the world have made him a popular household name. Even though he was offered to sell Snap Inc. to Facebook, he refused. Short term investments never enticed him. This is a lesson for budding entrepreneurs! Even though Snapchat’s idea was later on copied by Facebook, it found out other ways to attract customers. In the present era, it is never easy to sustain momentum as a social media application, but Snap Inc. did it by being unique. Having more than 1 million daily users from around the globe consistently is a testimony to Snap Inc.’s position as a heavyweight. This in turn has cemented Evan Spiegel’s place in history.