Sameer Mehta is a co-founder of Imagine Marketing Private Limited and does business as the consumer electronics brand boAt. He is also the owner of Redwood Interactive which distributes computer gaming hardware under the brand name Redgear.
Redwood Interactive provides products such as keyboards and mice to accessories like cooling fans, speakers, and more. Sameer is also the director at Kores, India, and has been operating since 1936. In 2010, he was appointed as the director of Kores India Limited. In recent news Sameer has been appointed the non-executive independent Director of Delhivery.
Sameer Mehta – Biography
Full Name
Sameer Mehta
Born
Mumbai
Nationality
Indian
Education
St. Xavier School Mumbai, Narsee Monjee College of Commerce and Economics ( B.Com)
Occupation
Co-founder of Imagine Marketing Private Limited, Owner of Redwood Interactive, Director of Kores India, Independent Director of Delhivery
Sameer Mehta – Early Life and EducationĀ
Sameer was born and brought up in Mumbai to a business family. Kores India Limited, the Indian branch of global business products, has been owned by his family since 1936. He completed his education at St. Xavier School Mumbai from 1984-1992 and went on to study B.Com at Narsee Monjee College of Commerce and Economics.
Sameer Mehta – Career Highlights
Sameer started his career as a part of his family business, Kores India Limited. He is currently the Executive Director of the company and was appointed in 2010. But he wanted to do something more than just be a part of his family business.
Sameer noticed that there was a gap in the market for computer accessories and other peripherals that were good quality but affordable. So, Redwood Interactive was set up in 2007 with its focus on computer peripherals like keyboards and mice, and accessories such as cooling fans, computer cases, and speakers. The brand became an instant success.
In 2014, he co-founded Imagine Marketing Private Limited along with Aman Gupta. This company would be the base for the brand we now know as boAt.
boAt (the legal name āImagine Marketing Services Pvt. Ltd.) is an Indian online brand that provides multi-category consumer electronics such as headphones, earphones, power banks, smart watches, stereos, hair trimmers, and cables. The brand is more famous for its wireless earbuds under the brand name Airdopes.
The brand promotes its products via a combination of brand tie-ins and influencer marketing in public and sporting events. boAt influencers are called boAtheads and include names such as Neha Kakkar, Naved Shaikh, Hardik Pandya, and Shreyas Iyer.
The brand also has tie-ins with cricket teams such as Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings. Also, they co-branded its devices for music events such as Sunburn Festival in Goa and Lakme Fashion Week. Sameer is currently working on internal parameters to get ready for an IPO in 18 months.
Under their brand boAt, Sameer Mehta has been highly active in social welfare initiatives. Some of them include:
Hear Me Roar – This campaign was created to support underprivileged children who wanted to pursue their passion for dance, drama, music, and cricket. The brand collaborated with Kailash Satyarthi Childrenās Foundation to create a year-long program to empower youngsters with the opportunity to develop their talents.
Hear Me Roar Initiative by boAt
Freedom to Play – To address the issue of providing quality education and opportunities for girls in football, the brand collaborated with the Shikhar Dhawan Foundation to create the Freedom to Play campaign. They hosted over 130+ girls from Delhi NCR and offered scholarships to the best performers.
Sameer Mehta – Awards and Recognition
In 2022, Sameer received the Forbes India Leadership Award for Outstanding Startup of the Year. This was awarded to him and Aman Gupta to recognize their excellence in entrepreneurship and business. They were also featured on the cover of Forbes magazine. The brand boAt has also received awards such as:
Named Indiaās number-one brand for wireless and earwear in 2020.
Named as the 5th largest wearable brand in 2020.
Awarded gold in consumer electronics
Leadership Award for Outstanding Startup of the Year
Sameer Mehta – Facts
As per Mehta, not all of boAtās products are 100% made in India
Mehta and Gupta do not consider any other Indian brands to be their competitors
Mehta is focused on increasing their employee count and hitting their sales milestones
In 2024, Mehta said that boAt is scaling its wearables to focus on high-end audio products
Sameer is working on internal parameters to get ready for an IPO in 18 months
He has joined Delivery as a non-executive independent director
FAQs
Who is Sameer Mehta?
Sameer Mehta is a co-founder of boAt, a well-known Indian consumer electronics brand that specializes in audio products and wearable devices.
What is boAt known for?
boAt is known for its affordable and stylish audio products, including headphones, earbuds, speakers, and wearables, which have gained significant popularity in India.
What role did Sameer Mehta play in boAt’s success?
As a co-founder, Sameer Mehta played a vital role in shaping boAt’s business strategy, contributing to its growth and establishing it as a leading consumer electronics brand in India.
Writing when you have a word limit to stick to is stimulating and challenging at the same time. The leveraging character limit for your own good is simply at another level. And thatās the idea behind Twitter. This social media platform has revolutionized concise messaging through the concept of tweets.
News, views, reviews, and whatnot are exchanged on Twitter. Sports, politics, movie industry, social workers, businessmen, organizations, the ordinary publicā¦nearly every class and kind of person could be found on Twitter. Itās hard to follow that favourite celeb of yours had it not been for Twitter. Twitter now X is social media platform founded by Jack Dorsey, Biz Stone, Evan Williams, and Noah Glass
Jack Dorsey is an American entrepreneur and the co-founder and former CEO of Twitter. He is also the founder of Block, Inc. (Formerly Square). The net worth of Jack Dorsey is $4.1 billion, as of February 2025. Dorsey remained the CEO of Twitter till November 29, 2021, when he stepped down from the coveted position and was replaced by Parag Agrawal. Dorsey also resigned from Twitter’s Board of Directors on May 25th, 2022.
This StartupTalky article explores Jack Dorsey’s success story, including his early life, history, childhood, personal life, education, awards, net worth, and more.
Jack Dorsey Biography
Name
Jack Dorsey
Born
November 19, 1976
Place
St. Louis, Missouri, United States
Nationality
American
Parents
Marcia Dorsey, Tim Dorsey
Education
Bishop DuBourg High School, Missouri University of Science and Technology, New York University
Known for
Co-Founder and Ex-CEO of Twitter, Co-Founder of Block, Inc.
Jack Patrick Dorsey was born on November 19, 1976, in the city of St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Jack grew up in a middle-class Catholic family. He grew to be one of the most famous entrepreneurs alongside his brothers, Andrew and Dannie Dorsey. Tim Dorsey & Marcia Smith Dorsey are the parents of Jack Dorsey.
When Jack Dorsey was young, he was an observant kid who had a speech impediment. As a result, he normally stayed at home and developed a fascination for simplicity. An introvert in childhood, Jack overcame his shyness by participating in various oratory competitions. After many failed attempts, he overcame his fear of speaking in front of the public.
As a teenager, Dorsey loved spending time with computers. An early version of the IBM computer fascinated him and he spent hours, if not days, analyzing and understanding it. His ambition was to draw a live map of New York City, comprising several dots or legends that represented vehicles and landmarks.
Jack Dorsey – Education
Jack Dorsey attended Bishop DuBourg High School and after leaving high school, he enrolled in the Missouri University of Science and Technology.
Missouri University of Science and Technology
He left after two years to pursue his dream of living in New York and joined New York University only to drop out in the final year to work on his idea of Twitter. His goal of creating the live map took over his academics but fate has its quirks.
During the summer of 1991, Jack Dorsey joined Mira Digital Publishing Company. A young Dorsey interrupted his boss in the middle of a project. Although his boss promised to talk to him within a minute, Jack didnāt get to speak to him. After the meeting, his boss saw him standing at the same spot. Jack had a thing for patience. He went on to lead a team of programmers in their thirties.
Jack Dorsey Young
Jack Dorsey – The Dot-Com Setback
Jack Dorsey got into the Dispatch Management Services Corp by hacking their security system and emailing the companyās manager, Greg Kidd, on how to patch the hack. He worked for the company for several years and worked for Greg Kiddās project called dNet.com. However, the dot-com bubble destroyed the efforts that were put in for dNet.com, and Dorsey was left unemployed. His condition was so bad that he had to go for massage therapy courses.
Dorsey was then saved by Odeo Company, which specialized in internet startups. The company was headed by Evan Williams and faced a financial crisis and ideological difficulties amongst the employees.
Jack Dorsey – Launch of Twitter
Jack Dorsey created Twitter because he wanted to combine the SMS concept with an algorithm so that the would-be read only by the senderās network. This was the only core logic behind Twitter. After two weeks, Dorsey and his friend came up with the iconic blue bird logo for Twitter.
Twitter Logo
The first tweet was done by Dorsey which read – ājust setting up my twttrā (yes, twttr, and not Twitter). Twitter went public in the year 2006.
In the start, many people labelled the Twitter concept as āuselessā. Even Williams was sceptical about its potential. It was a hard time since companies like Odeo, which supported young programmers to build their own companies, were not available to help Dorsey with his Twitter venture.
Naturally, there was a concern for funds to keep Twitter away from shuttering. However, the Twitter team soon found a scanned image of half a million dollars in its checkbox. A guy named Fred Wilson offered this cheque and was willing to work for Twitter as a strategic consultant. His plans assisted Twitter in building a global reach.
With time, Twitter cemented its place and the rapid developments in smartphone tech only bolstered Twitterās growth. Twitter has around 2.2 billion visits per month at present. During the Southwest Film Festival in 2007, employees used multiple screens to show the facility of the real-time messages offered by Twitter. This helped increase the daily tweets count from twenty to sixty thousand.
In May 2008, the billionth tweet was posted. In the same year, the market capitalization of Twitter reached a whopping $1.5 billion. The market cap of Twitter was last recorded at $26.10 Billion in February 2022.
In October 2009, Twitter gained its first revenue of around $25 million. Google Inc. and Microsoft had a role to play in this deal. The deal was centred on the condition that Twitter messages would become visible to Google and Bing search engines. Later, Dorsey refused to work with Facebook.
In 2013, there was a 182% increase in Twitterās shares. This was due to an increase in the stockās value in IPO (the stock price was $26, but increased to more than $46 on the first day of trading). At present, 85% of the revenues come from online advertisements.
Jack Dorsey, being the brain behind one of the most popular social media platforms of our times makes him an iconic social media entrepreneur. Jack Dorsey is currently worth around $4.1 billion, as of February 2025 reports.
Jack Dorsey Net worth
Jack Dorsey – Exit From Twitter
Jack Dorsey served as the CEO of Twitter since he founded Twitter in 2006. However, he had to resign due to the alleged problems in the functioning of the platform and in the management of the company for which he was pushed out of his role by the board in 2008.
The genius, however, witnessed a Steve Jobs– style return to his home company as a CEO in 2015 and had finally opted to resign on November 29, 2021, when he left the office to give way to Parag Agrawal, who replaced him immediately the very same day.
Speaking about Agrawal, Dorsey has mentioned that firstly, he wants to stop Twitter to be an entity that is founder-led. Furthermore, he mentioned that his trust in him āis bone-deepā.
Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey said that he won’t be hanging there on the Board of Twitter for long. This is vital because he thinks that it is āimportant to give Parag the space he needs to leadā. Dorsey took to his homegrown platform to post his resignation letter, which reads:
Jack Patrick Dorsey quit the Twitter Board of Directors on May 25, 2021. Though he stepped down from being the Twitter CEO on November 29, 2021, he still remained aligned with the social media giant’s Board of Directors, however, he had already planned to leave the Board since he stepped down from the CEO position. Twitter is witnessing a visible change in its administration and is going through a major transformation since the days when Jack Dorsey stepped down. Now, Parag Agrawal is the CEO of Twitter, while Elon Musk is on the verge of acquiring the popular social media platform, which would bring in more change to follow.
Dorsey is now working on the development of Block, Inc. (Formerly Square). While Square still exists as one of the company’s main products, the company changed its name to Block on December 10, 2021.
Block Inc. is headquartered in San Francisco, California, USA, and is financial services and digital payments company founded by Jack Dorsey and Jim McKelvey in 2009. The company Block derived its former name “Square” from its square-shaped card readers. Block is currently a public company that was registered on the New York Stock Exchange in November 2015.
Square, which is a payments platform that helps small and medium-sized businesses accept credit card payments and use tablet computers as payment registers for a point of sale system, is one of the core businesses of Block. Some other products/businesses of Block include:
Cash App – A mobile app that allows money transfers between users and businesses.
Afterpay – A buy-now-pay-later service of Block.
Weebly – Weebly is a website hosting service.
Tidal – Tidal offers audio and music videos to the users as a subscription-based music podcast and video streaming service.
In the year 2012, Starbucks invested $25 million in Square, Inc. The CEO of Starbucks, Howard Schultz joined Squareās board and became one of the most important personalities on the board.
Jack Dorsey – Awards and Achievements
Jack Dorsey’s Major Achievements:
Co-founded Twitter and led its expansion into a global social media platform.
Founded Square (now Block), transforming mobile and digital payments.
Philanthropic contributions, supporting education, COVID-19 relief, and universal basic income.
Jack Dorsey’s Awards & Recognitions:
MIT Technology Review (2008): Named one of the Top 35 Innovators Under 35.
The Wall Street Journal (2012): Awarded Innovator of the Year in technology.
Crunchies Awards (2012): Honored as Founder of the Year at the 5th Annual Crunchies.
Jack Dorsey is an American entrepreneur best known for co-founding Twitter and founding Square (now Block). He played a key role in shaping social media and digital payments.
Where did Jack Patrick Dorsey go to high school?
Jack Dorsey went to Bishop DuBourg High School.
What is Jack Dorsey education?
Jack Dorsey attended Missouri University of Science and Technology and New York University, but he dropped out in his final year to work on Twitter.
Where was Jack Dorsey born?
Jack Patrick Dorsey was born on November 19, 1976, in the city of St. Louis, Missouri, United States.
When did Jack Dorsey start Twitter?
Jack Dorsey started Twitter in 2006 and his first tweet was ājust setting up my twttrā.
How did Jack Dorsey start Twitter?
When Odeo went out of business, Jack Dorsey started work on his idea where he wanted to combine the SMS concept with an algorithm so that the would-be read-only by the senderās network.
Did Jack Dorsey graduate college?
No, Jack Dorsey dropped out first from the Missouri University of Science and Technology and after two years he transferred to the New York University but dropped out from there too to work on Twitter.
Did Jack Dorsey leave Twitter Board?
Yes, Jack Dorsey resigned from Twitter’s Board of Directors on May 25, 2022.
When did Jack Dorsey leave Twitter?
Jack Dorsey, the founder of Twitter, stepped down from the Twitter CEO position On November 29, 2021, which brought Parag Agrawal as the new Twitter CEO. Furthermore, on May 25, 2022, Jack Dorsey left the Twitter Board of Directors, which was when Jack Dorsey left Twitter altogether.
Who are Jack Dorsey siblings?
Jack Patrick Dorsey has two brothers Daniel and Andrew.
Where did Jack Dorsey go to high school?
Jack Dorsey went to Bishop DuBourg High School.
How did Jack Dorsey start Twitter?
Jack Dorsey started Twitter in 2006 with Noah Glass, Biz Stone, and Evan Williams. It began as an idea for a simple status-sharing platform. The first tweet was posted by Dorsey on March 21, 2006. Twitter quickly grew into a major social media platform.
What did Jack Dorsey invent?
Jack Dorsey co-invented Twitter (2006), a social media platform for short messages, and founded Square (now Block) (2009), a mobile payments company.
Chamath Palihapitiya is a Sri Lankan-born Canadian Silicon Valley entrepreneur and venture capitalist. He worked as a senior executive at Facebook from 2007 to 2011, after which he founded Social Capital. He is also one of the hosts of the tech podcast All-in with David Friedberg, David Sacks, and Jason Calacanis.
Chamath Palihapitiya – Biography
Name
Chamath Palihapitiya
Born
3rd September 1976
Birthplace
Galle, Sri Lanka
Nationality
Canadian
Education
University of Waterloo ( BASc)
Occupation
Businessman – Entrepreneur – Venture Capitalist
Spouse
Brigette Lau ( divorced 2018 ), Nathalie Dompe ( 2023)
Chamath was born in Galle, Sri Lanka, but moved to Canada at 5 years of age when his father was posted at the Sri Lankan High Commission in Ottawa. When his fatherās diplomatic posting ended in 1986, his family sought asylum in Canada due to his fatherās political stand against the violence against Tamils during the Sri Lankan Civil War.
He grew up in difficult economic circumstances, as his father struggled with unemployment and alcoholism. His mother supported the family by working housekeeping jobs. From 14 years of age, Chamath worked at Burger King to support his family. While working, he attended the Lisgar Collegiate Institute and later completed his degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Waterloo.
Chamath Palihapitiya – Career Highlights
Beginning his career in – 2004-2011 – Winamp, AOL, Mayfield, and Facebook
Chamath started his tech career with Winamp, which was later acquired by AOL. He became the youngest VP and headed its instant messaging division in 2004. In 2005, he left AOL and joined Mayfield Fund. But in 2007, he left Mayfield and later joined Facebook.
At Facebook, his first year was very tumultuous. He led the release of Facebook Beacon, the advertising system that failed. It soon became the subject of multiple lawsuits. His next focus was on new user growth, and after four years, Facebook reached 1 billion users. He then led Facebook Home and Facebook Phone projects and soon left.
In 2011, he left Facebook and started the Social Capital Partnership with his wife, Brigette Lau. In 2015 he later changed the company name to Social Capital. Chamath invested the funds in a number of companies, such as Yammer, Glooko, Inc., Box, SecondMarket, and Slack. In 2015, Social Capital had more than $1.1 billion in assets from external investors.
In 2018, Social Capital saw a decrease in funding operations and a significant change in top management and co-founders. Axios reported that Chamath spent more time on his new girlfriend in Europe rather than showing up to the office or answering emails. The firm then returned to investor capital and converted it into a family office. In 2019, Chamath stepped down as a Board Member of Slack.
Transitioning to single-GP technology holding company
In 2018, Chamath transitioned Social Capital to a single GP firm and commented that he wanted to return to his first principles and restructure the firm to align it better with the long-term goals of entrepreneurs.
After that, Social Capital has made investments in three main areas: life sciences, climate science, and biotech. It also invested in the decentralization of the digital economy through platforms such as digital assets, blockchain, and crypto.
The SPAC Platform
In 2019, Chamath helped make Virgin Galactic go public via a Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC). But in 2021, he sold the stakes in the company for around $213 million and in 2022, he stepped down as the Chairman of the company.
In 2020, the brand took over Opendor, an online real estate marketplace, and made it public via SPAC. The brand raised over $1 billion through a merger – over $400 million came directly from SPAC, and the other $600 million through PIPE investors. Chamath himself put in $100 million.
In 2021, he planned to take over SoFi, a financial service platform, and Clover Health, a Medicare insurance brand. But both takeovers received heavy criticism from the Financial Times who commented that he is āshilling risky reverse-mergers to retail investors on an almost bimonthly basisā.
After the Clover Health merger, Hindenburg Research issued a report accusing Chamath of luring investors into broken businesses and argued that he deceived them into investing in failed businesses. In the Clover Health merger, Chamath made over $290 million based on a simple 25K investment. Also, the Clover Health CEOās previous organization, CarePoint Health, was accused of price gouging clients.
As per the New Jersey commission, he siphoned off over $150 million for himself and his friends. This caused the company to go into bankruptcy and caused a major hospital crisis in New Jersey. Based on this research, the Securities and Exchange Commission opened an investigation on 4th February.
In the GameStop short squeeze, Chamath called out Robinhood and its founders as unethical because they sold payment for order flow to HFT firms like Citadel Securities and made his fans switch over to SoFi. SoFi was merging with his SPAC but he failed to mention that the brand employed the same practice of order flow to HFT firms.
In 2021, Social Capital filed four new SPACs that focused more on biotechnology companies under the stock tickers DNAA through DNAD. In 2020, the brand acquired the texting app Hustle, with Chamath taking over as the CEO in 2023.
The acting director of the SECās Corporate finance division, John Coates, criticized Chamath for his views on the benefits of SPACs over traditional IPOs. Coates commented that a judge could rule a SPAC similar to an IPO, something that Chamath promised could be avoided.
Chamath Palihapitiya – InvestmentĀ
When working for Facebook, Chamath invested in multiple start-ups through the venture capital fund company Embarcadero Ventures. In 2010, he helped buy the Golden State Warriors for $450 million and is a board member for the team. In 2022, his 10% stake brought him a 2000% return – over $520 million from just a $25 million investment.
Chamath Palihapitiya – Philanthropy
Chamath donated over $25 million to his alma mater, the University of Waterloo, for the engineering department in 2018. In 2021, he donated over $7 million to offer clean drinking water to over 1000 families in Californiaās Central Valley through the partnership with One2One and Source Global.
Chamath Palihapitiya – Political RoleĀ
Chamath was initially a supporter of the Democratic Party and donated over $1.3 million in 2021. In 2020 he had commented to the New York Times that he wanted Michael Bloomberg as the presidential candidate along with Amy Klobuchar or Elizabeth Warren.
But recently, he shifted to the Republican Party. In 2011, he donated over $7500 to the US Senate candidate Ted Cruz. In 2023, Chamath hosted the $50,000 per plate fundraiser for Vivek Ramaswamy, the presidential candidate. In 2024, he was also a part of the committee for the Donald Trump fundraiser hosted by David Sacks. He was also the co-host with Jacqueline Sacks and helped raise over $12 million in 2024.
Chamath is one of the Founders of the group FWD.us, launched in 2013 with the goal of improving education, bringing in immigration reform, and enabling technological innovation. In the Bloomberg The Next Big Thing conference, Chamath critically rebuked San Franciscoās mayor Ed Lee, and proposed the city provide subsidized housing for low-income residents that were to be funded by taxes paid by startups.
In January 2021, Chamath challenged the then Governor Gavin Newsom in the event he was recalled. He promised that he would cut state income taxes from 16% to 0% and would offer free education vouchers and a two thousand dollar credit for every child born in California. He even had a campaign website. But in February, he declared that he would not run for governor.
Chamath Palihapitiya- Personal Life
After Chamath graduated from the University of Waterloo, he followed his then-wife, Brigette Lau, to California. They were married and he had three children with her. Sadly, they divorced in 2018. In 2023, he married Nathalie Dompe, the Italian business executive, and has two children together.
Chamath Palihapitiya – Facts
Chamath is an accomplished poker player and has competed in both the World Series of Poker and World Poker Tour events. He won over $175,800.
In 2020, he bought a $75 million Bombardier Global 7500
Chamath has a 10% stake in the Golden State Warriors worth over $520 million.
He commented that he regretted helping Facebook become one of the largest social media platforms.
FAQs
Who is Chamath Palihapitiya?
Chamath Palihapitiya is a venture capitalist, entrepreneur, and former Facebook executive. He’s known for his early investments in tech companies and his prominent role in the Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) market.
What was Chamath Palihapitiya’s role at Facebook?
Palihapitiya joined Facebook in 2007 and led the platform’s user growth team. He played a key role in expanding Facebook’s user base.
Why is Chamath Palihapitiya interested in SPACs?
Palihapitiya believes SPACs offer a more efficient way for promising companies to access public markets, democratizing access to investment opportunities and disrupting traditional IPO processes.
Andy R. Jassy is an American business executive who is currently the President and Chief Executive Officer of Amazon. Before being appointed by Jeff Bezos and the Board of Amazon in the fourth quarter of 2020, Jassy was the SVP and CEO of Amazon Web Services from 2003 to 2021. Andy has emerged as a pivotal figure, especially in the domain of online retail and cloud computing. Being Jeff Bezosā right-hand man for more than two decades, it is time to meet the man who helped shape the future of internet infrastructure.
Jassy is the son of Everett and Margery Jassy of Scarsdale, New York of Jewish Hungarian ancestry. His father was a senior partner at the corporate law firm Dewey Ballantine and was the Chairman of the management committee. Jassy grew up in Scarsdale and attended Scarsdale High School where he was a part of the soccer and tennis teams.
Andy went to Harvard University and graduated cum laude in government. He was also the advertising manager of The Harvard Crimson and earned his MBA from Harvard Business School. In 1989, he wrote a piece in The Crimson about continuing ads from Eastern Airlines even though they were going through labor dispute problems.
Andy Jassy – Personal LifeĀ
In 1997, Andy married Elana Rochelle Caplan, at a Loews Hotel in Santa Monica, California. She is a fashion designer for Eddie Bauer and a graduate of the Philadelphia College of Textiles and Science. Their wedding was officiated by New York reform Rabbi James Brandt, Elanaās cousin.
Both Andyās and Elanaās fathers were senior partners at Dewey Ballantine, and that is how they were introduced. Andy and Elana have two children and live in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle. They purchased their 10,000 sqft house in 2009 for $3.1 million, and a 5500 sq ft house in Santa Monica for $6.7 million. Andy is also the Chairman of Rainier Prep, the charter school in Seattle.
Andy Jassy – Career Highlights
After completing his graduation and prior to starting his MBA program, Andy worked as a project manager for MBI for five years. Post this, he and an MBI colleague started a company, but sadly it closed down.
In 1997, Jassy joined Amazon as a marketing manager. In 2003, along with Jeff Bezos, they came up with the idea of creating a cloud computing platform that later became Amazon Web Services, when launched in 2006. It was headed by Jassy, with a team of 57 people.
In 2016, Jassy was named as the Person of the Year by the Financial Times, and a month later he was promoted from Senior VP to Chief Executive Officer of Amazon Web Services (AWS). He also earned over $36.6 million in that year itself.
Andy is a member of the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence (NSCAI), set up in 2018 and issued the final report in 2021. In January 2021, Bezos designated Jassy as his successor and the transition would happen in July 2021. After becoming the CEO of Amazon, Andy received a ten-year pay package of a total of $212.7 million. But the majority of his package is in stocks and investments for 10 years.
In 2024, Andy emphasized the companyās focus was to be on Artificial Intelligence. The company announced plans for 2025 with investments of up to $75 billion, with most of them directed towards AWS and generative AI.
As the CEO of Amazon, Andy has focused more on accelerating the brandās digital transformation, investing in AI, and improving the overall customer experience.
Digital transformation:
He was one of the pioneers (along with Jeff Bezos) of cloud computing and transformed Amazon from a simple online bookstore into a global computing powerhouse.
He was the mastermind to lead Amazon through a shift in digital transformation.
Artificial Intelligence
Emphasized the focus of Amazon on Artificial Intelligence.
Pledged over $4 million to Anthropic.
Announced their plans to spend more than $75 billion in 2025 with most of its investments directed towards generative AI and AWS.
Customer Experience
Delivering at a faster rate to Prime members, with more than 7 billion products delivered on the same or the next day in 2023
Increased the total items delivered the same day or overnight by nearly 70% in 2023
As the CEO of Amazon, Andy emphasized the importance of learning, authenticity, and accountability in his leadership style. He also encourages leaders to challenge others and deliver on their commitments.
He is also an ardent follower of the Leadership Principles of Amazon, and it affects how he leads:
Ownership is the most important quality of leadership and does not only mean taking charge of your team and responsibilities.
āYou are Right, A Lot.ā but this does not mean that your idea will always be right. The key is to get the right people to offer feedback and think about the best answer for the customer or their business. It doesn’t matter whose idea it is, but what matters is getting a solution that works for everyone.
Andy believes in the concept of truth-seeking. Compromising with one another to make each other feel better does not help get the truth. At Amazon, all employees are empowered to speak up if they think something is going wrong.
Amazon believes that its leaders need to be strategic but must be able to Dive Deep to find the solution. Andy leads as per this style because he believes that leaders should not only be able to fill up whiteboards with ideas but to get into the details.
He also believes that Amazon employees need to keep learning and finding ways to improve themselves. They must be curious about any new avenues and possibilities and explore them.
Ramesh Damani established himself as a market expert who brings together astute investment decisions and visionary market strategies. Since joining the Bombay Stock Exchange in 1989, he has built his reputation through the identification of mispriced assets and their transformation into profitable investments. The investor Ramesh Damani stands out because he uses his long-view perspective together with trend prediction skills to demonstrate how knowledge can unite with intuition and discipline in stock market investing.
Damani built a career that started with his father’s stock market insights to pioneer investments in Infosys and CMC and emerging businesses, showing his ability to predict future trends and stay persistent. We will examine the life story of Ramesh Damani through his professional work and investment decisions to understand how they transformed wealth generation methods and permanently shaped the Indian stock exchange sector.
Ramesh Damani: Biography
Name
Ramesh Damani
Born
August 26, 1995
Home Town
Hyderabad
Alma Mater
HR College, Mumbai & California State University, Northridge
The life of Ramesh Damani represents a unique combination of family advantages and personal drive alongside fortunate circumstances. Unlike typical investor narratives of those who started from poverty, Damani grew up in a financially secure family that already practiced stock market activities. Through his father’s twenty-year investment experience, Ramesh received a secure lifestyle that included top-tier educational opportunities.
He earned his Bachelor’s degree at HR College in Mumbai before moving on to study for an MBA at California State University in the USA. Stock markets held no appeal for Ramesh despite his father’s lengthy experience in that field. His professional ambitions pointed toward a field that existed entirely outside his father’s investment trading activities.
However, fate had other plans. His father wanted his only son to return home to India so he could introduce him to investment practices. His father made a strategic wager after Ramesh repeatedly refused to return to India.
He sent his son $10,000 with a proposition: The money passed to him needed to be invested through stocks. Ramesh needed to double the money his father sent him before it became his permanent possession. The money belonged to him completely if he lost it. Ramesh accepted the challenge with hesitation before starting to invest. He lost all $10,000 he had invested during the six-month period despite being in a bull market at that time.
Ramesh viewed the situation differently than his father, who lost faith in his trading abilities. His financial loss served as a direct challenge to his abilities because he held both an MBA degree from a respected university and extensive educational credentials. His ego suffered, but he chose to devote himself completely to stock market research so he could prove his trading abilities.
Ramesh Damani started his exceptional investment career at this turning point through the combination of his investigative spirit and strong drive to succeed.
Ramesh Damani: Career
Ramesh Damani’s professional path showcases both his market intelligence and his ability to predict industry patterns. After earning his Master’s degree from California State University Northridge, he joined the Bombay Stock Exchange in 1989 to pursue a career in broking. His genuine love for business discovery and extended-term investments in promising companies became his signature approach from an early stage in his career.
Through his successful father, the stock market became a fundamental concept that Damani learned. He developed his investment approach differently than his father, who sold stocks right after making a profit. In a previous interview, Damani explained how his father generated family income but failed to create lasting wealth. Damani developed his wealth creation strategy after realizing that he should focus on finding underpriced assets that he could watch grow into valuable investments.
How to Prepare for Bull Market by Ramesh Damani
A Turning Point in the Harshad Mehta Era
The Harshad Mehta bull market of 1989-1990 enabled Damani to produce substantial returns that resulted in client profits reaching 100% for numerous investors. He understood investing in his own assets would bring him better returns after receiving only a small 1% brokerage fee from his initial deals. After the bubble collapsed, Damani started constructing his own investment portfolio.
The Infosys & CMC Masterstroke
In 1993, Damani invested Rs. 10 lakh across Infosys and CMC during their initial public offerings. His experience working as a coder in the U.S. allowed him to predict how Infosys would use India’s low-cost workforce to deliver global IT services. His investment grew a hundred times over by 1999, which solidified his position as a brilliant investor who predicted market leaders before others did.
Early Bets on Emerging Sectors
During the early 2000s, Ramesh Damani recognized the Indian liquor industry as an underappreciated sector that he believed would experience significant appreciation. He later stated that the entire Indian liquor business was available for purchase through a Rs 500-odd crore investment. His investments within this sector produced significant profits because the industry expanded rapidly.
Damani discovered investment potential across both private-sector businesses and public-sector companies. When he invested in Bharat Electronics Ltd. (BEL) and Bharat Earth Movers Ltd. (BEML) during their early stages, he saw companies with solid fundamentals and growth potential. His achievements were followed by an acknowledgment that he should have put greater financial weight behind these promising prospects.
A Career Built on Vision
Through extensive research and long-term perspectives, Ramesh Damani developed an investment method that detects market trends before they reach mass acceptance. His investment career stands out because of his willingness to make brave choices, including his early support of Infosys during their startup phase and his discovery of future growth potential in liquor and public sector businesses.
Ramesh Damani stands today as one of India’s most accomplished investors because he translated his combination of expert knowledge and patient decision-making with intuitive insight into remarkable financial success. Through his remarkable story, investors across generations find continuous inspiration to build wealth through stock market investments.
Ramesh Damani: Investments
As one of India’s most prominent investors, Ramesh Damani demonstrates his market understanding and long-term investment mindset through strategic investments in high-potential companies. His investment strategy includes established blue-chip stocks alongside promising niche players because he believes this approach supports his goal of long-term wealth growth.
CMC & Infosys
During the 1990s, Damani invested early in CMC and Infosys, which helped establish his reputation throughout the Indian stock market. His first investment of Rs. 10 lakh in these IT giants generated exponential value growth that reached 100 times its initial value during that period. His strategic investment established his reputation as a visionary investor while paving the way for future business triumphs.
Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Ltd (GRSE).
The Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Ltd (GRSE) stake in Damani’s portfolio stands out as his most substantial holding, worth Rs. 75.3 Crores. The defense-oriented shipbuilding company demonstrates strong fundamental characteristics and shows potential for long-term growth. The Rs. 276 Crores value of Damani’s GRSE stake demonstrates his belief that the company will succeed by meeting India’s expanding defense requirements. The company conducts its operations through shipbuilding engineering and engine production segments to deliver critical assets, which include warships, deck machinery, and marine pumps. With a market cap of Rs. 16,721.16 crore and an impressive one-year return of 133.69%, GRSE stands as a robust addition to Damani’s portfolio.
Vadivarhe Speciality Chemicals Ltd
The strategic sector expansion of Damani continues through his Rs. 92.6 Lakhs investment in Vadivarhe Speciality Chemicals Ltd. Vadivarhe Speciality Chemicals Ltd operates as an Indian manufacturer that produces organic, inorganic, and bio-chemicals together with bulk drugs and active pharmaceutical ingredients.
The company’s market capitalization stands at Rs. 47.99 crore while delivering a 47.11% one-year return despite its moderate stock price movements.
Goldiam International Ltd
The investment portfolio of Damani includes Goldiam International Ltd, which functions as a leading exporter of high-quality jewelry. Goldiam International Ltd maintains its Rs. 31.9 Crore holding value while running its worldwide operations primarily through U.S. and European markets. The business demonstrates market stability through its steady one-year return of 24.30% despite the stock price dropping 13.52% in the last month.
Panama Petrochem Ltd
Through Panama Petrochem Ltd, Damani maintains ownership in a company that specializes in petroleum product production for the printing, textile, and pharmaceutical industries. Panama Petrochem holds a market capitalization of Rs. 2,100.64 crore while maintaining a valuation of Rs. 29.8 Crore. Panama Petrochem Ltd shows signs of steady growth despite experiencing short-term stock challenges that produced a -7.67% monthly return rate but delivered an 18.32% return in one year.
Ramesh Damani is a well-known Indian investor, stock market expert, and value investor.
What is Ramesh Damani known for?
He is known for his long-term investment approach, identifying undervalued companies with high growth potential, and his insightful commentary on the Indian stock market.
What kind of companies does Ramesh Damani invest in?
He typically invests in small and mid-cap companies with strong fundamentals, good management, and potential for future growth.
Kavit Palicha is an investment strategist and advisor working for the Jafar Family Office as the Chief Investment Officer. He currently lives and works in the United Arab Emirates but was previously working as a private banker in Dubai. He is now the Investment Director of the Jafar Family Office where he specializes in investment strategies, investment advisory, and investment management. He is also one of the initial stakeholders in his son’s eGrocery startup that has become wildly popular in the India market- Zepto. What started as a simple idea, is now a million-dollar business, and if the IPO is released in 2025, it will mark a major achievement.
Kavit Palicha – Biography
Name
Kavit Palicha
Born
Mumbai
Nationality
Indian
Education
University of Mumbai (B.S) , London Business School
There is not much information regarding his early life before moving to the United Arab Emirates. But, he completed his Bachelor of Science, Mathematics, and Computer Science from the University of Mumbai from 1991-1996. He then started working in small companies in Mumbai. In January 2001 he shifted to Dubai, United Arab Emirates to take over as the Head of Operations for Rasmala. He worked in Rasmala for over 7 years from 2001-2008, as the Head of Operations. After this, he shifted to Bank J. Safra Sarasin Ltd. as a private banker. During this time he completed his degree from London Business School.
Kavit Palicha – Career Highlights
Kavit had a humble start in his career in India, but later he moved to the United Arab Emirates. He joined Rasmala and worked in the company for 7 years (from 2001-2008) and slowly moved up to become the Head of Operations. He then shifted to become a Private Banker for Bank J. Safra Sarasin Ltd.. Here he worked for more than 12 years and left the company after becoming an executive director. During this time he also completed his degree from London Business School which helped fast-forward his career in investment management and investment advisory.
After this Kavit joined the Jafar Family Office as the Investment Director. Here he worked for 4 years from 2020 to 2024, and was invested in investment strategies, investment advisory, and investment management.
But Kavit is not only into investment strategizing, he is also involved in:
Kavit Palichaās son Aadit Palicha is one of the co-founders of Zepto, the eGrocery brand. The idea for Zepto came to them in 2020 when they moved back to Mumbai during the COVID-19 pandemic. But during quarantine, they faced issues buying groceries as it took 6-7 days to deliver. They founded Zepto in 2021 in Mumbai. After just one month the startupās valuation reached $200 million. Within 5 months it reached $570 million and received funding from multiple investors such as Glade Brook Capital and Y Combinator. They also found multiple angel investors such as Silicon Valley, Nexus Venture, and Global Founders. In 2022 Zepto surpassed INR 7300 Crore and included multiple cities such as Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore, and Gurgaon. The company raised $665 million in 2024 and started planning to issue an IPO by evaluating it to $3.6 billion. Kavit is one of the stakeholders in Zepto and one of the first investors in his sonās dream eGrocery startup.
Kavit maintains a low public profile but is highly committed to his professional life in the financial sector to help highlight his multifaceted contributions. He is married to Urvashia Palicha, the Chief Executive officer of Search Point, a recruitment firm in the Middle East that specializes in the placement of Finance, Technology, and Banking professionals. He has two sons – Aadit and Ishaan. Aadit is one of the co-founders of the online grocery store Zepto, one of the fastest-growing eGrocery brands in India. Kavit is a stakeholder in Zepto.
Kavit Palicha is a prominent figure in the financial world, known for his investment acumen and focus on future-oriented ventures. He is the father of Aadit Palicha, the co-founder of Zepto, and is also a stakeholder in the company.
What is Kavit Palicha’s area of expertise?
He has expertise in finance, investments, and identifying emerging trends and technologies.
What kind of companies does Kavit Palicha invest in?
He likely invests in companies at various stages, from startups with high growth potential to established companies adapting to future trends.
One name that carries excellence in corporate and philanthropic contributions is Azim Premji. The man who transformed this small vegetable oil company into the largest IT service firm in the world was formerly the Chairman of Wipro Limited. Besides, he is widely known as a philanthropic giver and has been a contributing factor to making him one of the most effective change-makers in India. His life is the story of innovation, hard work, and love, a legend for any entrepreneur and humanitarian worldwide.
Earlier, he was popularly known as the Czar of the Indian IT industry; he managed Wipro for nearly four decades in the growth phases of diversification, where he allowed the brand to emerge as one of the world’s leaders in the global software space.
By 2010, Asiaweek elected him the world’s 20 most powerful man. He was featured on the list of Time magazine not once but twice: first in 2004 and secondly in 2011 in a list of its 100 most influential people in the world. By 2024 Forbes India ranked him as India’s 19th richest leader with over $32.2 billion worth.
Azim Premji – Biography
Name
Azim Hashim Premji
Birthplace
Bombay (now Mumbai), India
Nationality
Indian
Born
24th July 1945
Education
Bachelorās in Electrical Engineering, Stanford University (completed via correspondence)
Occupation
Entrepreneur, Founder and Chairman of Wipro
Wife
Yaseen Premji
Children
Rishad Premji, Tariq Premji
Known For
Chairman Emeritus of Wipro Limited, Founder of Azim Premji Foundation
Azim Premji, from a well-established Nizari Ismaili Shia Muslim background, was born on July 24, 1945 in Bombay, India. His father, Muhammad Hashim Premji, was known as another celebrity businessman: The Rice King of Burma. He was the founder of Western India Vegetable Products Ltd, then renamed Wipro. He inherited the entrepreneurship spirit from his father and, in fact, proved it by assuming the family business at the age of 21. His father unexpectedly died.
Premji joined Stanford to pursue engineering courses. However, his father passed away in 1966 forcing him to head the family enterprise back in India. He later cleared his degree in Electrical Engineering via correspondence courses he was undertaking for himself.
Early Leadership: Premji led Wipro from a small company producing hydrogenated cooking fats to a diversified conglomerate to become the top IT services organization in the world. In the 1970s, an emerging IT sector was seen by Premji, which had enough potential and Wipro turned toward technology and software services.
Growth and Global Success: Wipro became synonymous with innovation and quality in the IT industry. Wipro’s sharp strategic vision helped Premji achieve his dream when the company got listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2000-an important milestone marking the global aspiration of the company. As of the day he stepped down as chairman in 2019, Wipro has had operations in over 60 countries and over 170,000 workers.
Business Philosophy: Premji supported ethical business practices, customer-focused strategies, and commitment to excellence. He believed in managing a culture of learning and innovation by empowering employees, hence contributing significantly toward the sustained growth of Wipro.
Azim Premji is known as one of the most important philanthropists in the world and has received numerous awards and recognitions for them. Some of his philanthropic roles are:
Azim Premji Foundation: His journey in philanthropy is as significant as his corporate successes. In 2001, he founded the not-for-profit organization Azim Premji Foundation aimed at improving rural children’s education in India. December 2010; vowed to invest USD billion towards better schooling in India by transferring the equity shares holding in Wipro Ltd. The worth is 213 million equity shares, Azim Premji Trust. One of the biggest donations in Indian history.
He committed another 34% of his individual holding in Wipro in March 2019. His share, as of date worth $7.5 billion, will make the contribution from the founder to the tune of $21 billion. To respond to the requirements generated by the COVID-19 scenario, the foundation and its partners, the National Centre for Biological Sciences and the Institute for Stem Cell Science and Regenerative Medicine, upgraded the testing infrastructure in May 2020.
Azim Premji Foundation
Commitment to the Giving Pledge: He also became the first Indian in 2013 to enroll in the Giving Pledge created by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, pledging at least half his wealth to give. So far, he has donated over $21 billion to his foundation which places him among the most generous philanthropists alive. He is the third non-American after David Sainsbury and Richard Branson in this club.
EdelGive Hurun India Philanthropy List: Azim Premji tops the list of āIndiaās most generousā leaders released by Hurun India and EdelGive in November 2020. He is known to have donated INR 79.04 billion, for the financial year 2019-20, mainly towards improving education. He again donated INR9713 crore in the financial 2021.
Azim Premji – Awards and Recognition
Ranked one of the “Greatest Entrepreneurs” by Business Week for Wipro
Manipal Academy of Higher Education, (2000) Honorary Doctorate Awarded
Business Week (2004): Ranked in “Greatest Entrepreneurs of All Time”.
Time Magazine, (2004 & 2011): Named to 100 most influential people in the world.
Awardee of National Institute of Industrial Engineering 2006 Lakshya Business Visionary
Padma Bhushan, 2005: for distinguished service to trade and commerce.
Honorary Doctoral Degree from Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, 2009, for distinguished philanthropic efforts.
Padma Vibhushan, India’s second most prestigious civilian honor (2011) For exceptional service to the nation
Lifetime Achievement Award from Forbes India Philanthropy Awards 2012
Asian Business Leaders Award 2013 for excellence in corporate social responsibility.
Mysore University, 2015: Honorary doctorate
India Today Magazine (2017): Ranked him 9th in India’s most powerful 50 people
Knight, Legion d’Honneur of France (2018): highest French civilian award conferred by French Govt
Featured on “Heroes of Philanthropy list of 20 altruists” in Asia-Pacific region – Forbes Magazine 2019. Additionally, he features in the lists of the World’s most charitable philanthropists outside of the USA.
Azim Premji – Personal Life
Azim Premji is married to Yasmeen Premji, who is also a well-renowned writer and philanthropist. He and Yasmeen have two children, Rishad and Tariq. Rishad Premji today is the executive chairman of Wipro, just like his father before him.
Premji is a man of simple living and dislikes ostentation. This is one reason why he still flies economy class and drives an ordinary car even though he is one of the richest men in India. He is the epitome of humility and responsibility.
Facts About Azim Premji
Azim Premji took over Wipro at the age of 21 when his father died suddenly. Then, Wipro was mainly a company dealing in vegetable oils and soaps. Under his vision, it turned into a global IT giant.
Although he is one of India’s richest individuals, Premji is a thrift. He saved money by employing such simple austerity measures as sticking paper clips into documents instead of staples and reserving office furniture for reuse.
The Azim Premji Foundation alone has given away more than 66% of its wealth to charity. It thus makes him the largest philanthropist individual in India and indeed one of the greatest philanthropists in the world.
In 2019, Premji released shares to the tune of $7.5 billion to his foundation, which made him the biggest individual philanthropic giver in that country.
Corporate governance and transparency are highly advocated for by Premji. He believes that long-term profitability in business is guaranteed through adherence to principles that are right and just.
He is credited with pioneering the Indian IT outsourcing model that has enabled the bringing in of global clients into Indian tech companies, and in fact, transformed the way Indian tech businesses function.
He has also made Wipro one of the first companies in India to bring in structured employee training programs and developmental workshops so that their employees are constantly being upskilled.
The Azim Premji Foundation operates with more than 500,000 teachers across India, hoping to improve the quality of government schools.
Premji believes that wealth should not be inherited indiscriminately but rather used to serve the greater good. His foundationās structure reflects this philosophy.
Premji still has a humble life, from taking a basic Toyota Corolla around to staying at budget hotels.
During his time as a head, Wipro began practicing sustainability, thus it is considered among the earliest Indian businesses that embraced an intent toward utilizing renewable sources and non-environmentally friendly businesses.
Premji is reported to mentor young entrepreneurs and help them understand what ethical business and long-term sustainability mean.
Under the leadership of Azim Premji, Wipro has entered the digital age with all its emerging trends like cloud computing, AI, and data analytics, even ahead of their going mainstream.
Azim Premjiās Legacy
The life story of Azim Premji exemplified the power of vision, tenacity, and compassion. A global giant due to his inspiring leadership at Wipro, with a philanthropy touch, Premji has transformed millions of lives. Not only an ethical practitioner but also a tireless champion for social responsibility, and innovation, a whole generation of entrepreneurs and social changemakers has been inspired by Premji.
His legacy in business and philanthropy together underlines the transformative potential of wealth when it is accompanied by a sense of responsibility toward society.
Aravind is an Indian computer programmer, researcher, and scientist, as well as the CEO and co-founder of Perplexity.ai. He grew up in Chennai and studied Electrical Engineering at IIT Madras. Srinivas started his career as a research intern at OpenAI and later interned at Googleās DeepMind and later Google itself. He later shifted to the USA to do his Ph.D in AI and deep learning from the University of California, Berkeley. His research was based on reinforcement learning, contrastive learning, and deep learning.
In 2022, Srinivas, along with Denis Yarats, Andy Konwinski, and Johnny Ho, co-founded Perplexity.ai.
Aravind Srinivas – Biography
Name
Aravind Srinivas
Born
1994
Birth Place
Chennai, India
Nationality
Indian
Education
IIT Madras (Electrical Engineering) & University of California, Berkeley ( Ph.D)
Occupation
Computer Programmer, Reasearcher, Scientist, Co-Founder and CEO of Perplexity.ai
Aravind Srinivas – Early Life and Education
Aravind grew up in Chennai, India, and earned a Dual Degree (B.Tech + M.Tech) in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras. He started interning at OpenAI and later went on to intern at Googleās DeepMind and, Google. Soon, he shifted to the United States to complete his Ph.D. in Computer Science at the University of California, Berkeley, in 2021. His research focused on Contrastive Learning, Reinforcement Learning, and Transformers for image and video generation. He also taught Deep Unsupervised Learning in the Spring of 2020 and 2021.
Aravind Srinivas – Career Highlights
Aravind spoke about his drive to learn about deep learning and entrepreneurship. This led him to intern at DeepMind. It was during this time that he read about Larry Page, the founder of Google, and the evolution of PageRank. This led to him interning with the inventor of Transformers, Ashish Vaswani, where they worked on developing deep learning models for vision and making transformers more universal for computation. This drew Srinivas to build a product that provides users with faster, more accurate, and truthful answers. This is what led to the creation of Perplexity AI.
The creation of Perplexity AI
In 2022, Aravind co-founded Perplexity AI with Denis Yarats, Andy Konwinski, and Johnny Ho. The company is working towards building a trusted information service. Perplexity AI works mainly as a search engine that uses advanced AI technology to answer user queries and has the ability to discover AI use cases and challenge other tools such as ChatGPT and Google Search. It uses mostly conversational search engine options that let users ask questions and receive accurate answers with online citations. The citations work as user guides to provide truthful answers and provide them with additional reading options.
In 2024, the company bagged $73.6 million or INR 600 crore in funding from US chip maker Nvidia and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. The funding was led by Institutional Venture Partners with additional funding from Databricks Ventures and NEA. The AI was valued at $520 million. It also has an AI assistant named Copilot.
Aravind Srinivas – Angel Investor
Since 2023, Aravind has been working as an angel investor as well. His early angel investments have focused on companies that develop AI capabilities or approach these in multiple ways. Some of those investments include:
ElevenLabs: Working on text-to-speech and voice cloning software
Pika: Developing a text-to-video platform
Suno: Developing a text-to-music platform
Julius: Developing an AI data scientist for the analysis of multiple data sources
Extropic: Developing novel hardware for generative AI computation
Aravind Srinivas – Awards & Recognitions
Some of the awards and recognitions that Aravind Srinivas has won are:
Viterbi India Fellowship: Received by Indo-US Science and Technology in May 2015
Indian National Mathematics Olympiad Merit Awardee: National Board of Higher Mathematics
Kishore Vaigyanik Protsahan Yojana: Department of Science and Technology, from the Government of India
National Talent Search Scholarship: Government of India
Aravind Srinivas – Facts
Aravind won the NTS scholarship from the Government of India and the Kishore Vaigyanik Protsahan Yojana scholarship from the Department of Science and Technology
He won the merit award at the Indian National Mathematical Olympiad, from the National Board for Higher Mathematics (NBHM)
He went into depression as he could not secure admission in Computer Science and was admitted into electrical engineering at IIT Madras
His Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) was 0.01 lower than the required amount, so he lost his chance to change his course
In 2015, he received the IUSSTF-Viterbi Program Fellowship, that is a program partnered with the Indo-US Science and Technology Forum and the Viterbi School of Engineering, University of Southern California (USC)
He was recognized by John Schulman, the inventor of ChatGPT, and got his first internship at OpenAI in 2018
In 2019, he was a research intern at DeepMind and at Google from 2020-2021
In 2024, he signed up for the game show Squid Game (Season 3)
In Nikhil Kamath’s podcast, Aravind shared how his motherās dream of him studying at IIT Madras played an important role in his educational and career choices, influencing his path toward tech and research.
Aravind Srinivas is an Indian innovator and the co-founder and CEO of Perplexity AI.
What is Perplexity AI?
Perplexity AI is a company focused on building conversational AI search engines that provide direct answers with source citations, unlike traditional search engines.
What is Srinivas’s contribution to the field of AI?
He is considered a rising star in the AI field, pushing the boundaries of conversational search and information access.
What is Aravind Srinivas’s education?
Aravind earned a Dual Degree (B.Tech + M.Tech) in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras. He later completed his Ph.D. in Computer Science at the University of California, Berkeley, in 2021, where his research focused on Contrastive Learning, Reinforcement Learning, and Transformers for image and video generation.
Where was Aravind Srinivas born?
Aravind Srinivas was born on June 7, 1994, in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, where he began his early education before moving on to pursue higher studies and research in the United States.
Bharti’s journey from a humble beginning to one of the most renowned personalities in the global telecom industry is, indeed, an inspiring entrepreneurship cum vision story. His vision is to establish the foundation of Bharti Enterprises, which is expected to revolutionize mobile connectivity, digitally reshape India, and create paths across the world.
Bharti’s success story is really the tale of adaptation and innovation combined with astute investments. Bharti shone in his international alliances, paving the way to worldwide expansion and successfully traversing the developmental changes of technology as a futurist innovator. He really was able to think ahead, lead the vision, and work hard for excellence, which made Airtel come into existence. He also saw some remarkable milestones for the company, including the launching of the first telecom services to international fame.
Sunil Bharti Mittal: Biography
Name
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Birthplace
Ludhiana, Punjab, India
Born
October 23, 1957
Nationality
Indian
Education
Wynberg Allen School in Mussorie , Scindia School in Gwalior, Arya College in Ludhiana, Harvard University
Occupation
Industrialist Philanthropist
Title
Founder & chairman Bharti Enterprises
Alma Mater
Panjab University, Chandigarh
Spouse
Nyna Mittal
Children
Son: Kavin Bharti, Sharvin Bharti and Daughter: Eisha Mittal
Sunil was born on October 23, 1957, in a Ludhiana, Punjab, Agarwal-Khatri family. Sunil was the son of Sat Pal Mittal, a distinguished Member of Parliament from the Rajya Sabha. He inherited the familyās legacy and an indomitable spirit of determination and ambition.
Sunilās childhood was spent in the busy streets of Ludhiana with his political luminary father, creating a colourful background for his life. The exposure to politics, leadership, and public life undoubtedly sowed the seeds of discipline and purpose in young Sunil.
Sunil first attended Wynberg Allen School in Mussoorie, one of the most renowned schools in the Himalayan hills. But his academic path soon took him to the Scindia School in Gwalior, famous for its culture of nurturing future leaders.
Sunil graduated from Panjab University, Chandigarh, in 1976 with a Bachelor of Arts and Science. During this time, he also studied at Arya College in Ludhiana, building a foundation as diverse as his aspirations.
Sunil Bharti Mittal – Career
Bharti Enterprises founder Sunil Bharti Mittal is a man of ambition, resilience, and innovative thinking. Sunil was born into a business-focused family and had an entrepreneurial spark as a child. In 1976, at 18 years old, he started his first business with INR 20,000 borrowed from his father. His first foray was crankshaft production for bicycle makers, a lowly beginning that would be the basis for his business acumen.
In 1980 Sunil and his brothers Rakesh and Rajan started Bharti Overseas Trading Company. At first, the enterprise imported goods like Suzuki Motorsā portable electric generators from Japan. Sunil had financial success from this venture, but a government ban on generator imports in 1983 forced him to pivot.
In 1982, Mittal attended a trade show in Taiwan, where he first saw push-button phones. He was fascinated and wondered if he could introduce this technology in India, where rotary phones were still the norm. In 1984, he began assembling these phones under Bharti Telecom Limited (BTL) in collaboration with Germanyās Siemens AG. Mittal’s brand Beetel became synonymous with modern telephony, and soon, Mittal started making fax machines, cordless phones, and answering machines.
In 1992, the Indian government auctioned licenses for mobile telephony, marking a pivotal moment. Mittalās determination helped Bharti get the permit for Delhi despite competing with industry giants Tata and Birla. In 1995, he partnered with Franceās Vivendi to launch Bharti Cellular Limited under Airtel. By 1997, Airtel had become a name on every householdās lips, having crossed the two million subscriber mark in record time.
Mittalās vision was not limited to connectivity. With the launch of IndiaOne, he revolutionized STD and ISD rates and made telecommunications affordable and accessible for millions.
Bharti was taken into international markets because of Mittalās hunger for expansion. In 2008, he tried to make an audacious $45 billion acquisition of South Africa’s MTN Group, which would have been the most significant overseas deal by an Indian company. The deal fell through, but his resolve was not broken. Bhartiās successful 2010 acquisition of Zain Telecomās African operations for $10.7 billion was the largest telecom acquisition by an Indian company.
Mittal’s leadership style was defined by adaptability and innovative financing strategies. He approached telecom, a traditionally capital-intensive industry, with a modular mindset: start small break even on operations.
Airtel’s success was spearheaded by bold initiatives, such as scrapping national and international roaming charges in 2017, which restructured the industry and made Airtel a customer-centric brand.
Mittal is a visionary entrepreneur who has always believed in giving back. He is also involved in the education business through the Bharti Foundation, which operates 250 schools and serves 46,000 students.
Sunil Mittal may be India’s most successful business leader, but he is still humble and has learned the hard way from his early days. His story is not just a story of personal triumph; itās a blueprint for aspiring entrepreneurs. Sunil Bharti Mittal has changed the face of Indian telecommunication and spurred generations to dream big through foresight, innovation, and a relentless pursuit of excellence.
Sunil grew up with his brothers Rajan Mittal and Rakesh Bharti Mittal, who later joined him in shaping the Bharti legacy. Their mother, Lalita Mittal, held the family together with values of resilience and compassion. However, in 1992, Sat Pal Mittal, the Mittalās patriarch, died of cardiac arrest.
Sunil Mittalās family has always been close to him. Nyna Mittal is his wife, and they have a happy life together. They are proud parents to three children: Kavin Bharti Mittal, Sharvin Bharti Mittal, and Eiesha Mittal, two sons. Each of his children has carved out his path in life, following in their fatherās entrepreneurial footsteps but still being who he is.
Even though he has been successful, Sunil Mittal is still grounded. His dynamic personality is reflected in his interests. Formula 1 is his passion, and he loves speed and innovation.
Sunilās life is not free of challenges. He was also controversial and called to testify in the 2G spectrum case. Yet, through his resilience and integrity, he has survived adversity.
It is a testament to Sunil Bharti Mittalās determination and vision that he went from Ludhiana to the chairman of Bharti Enterprises. He had values from his family, but he made his legacy by sheer hard work and innovation.
Sunil Bharti Mittal – Investments
Mittal invests in telecommunications and education, but his portfolio is diversified strategically. He has also invested in real estate, technology, and infrastructure companies. Bharti Enterprises has two subsidiaries: Bharti Realty, the real estate arm, and Beetel Teletech, which manufactures telecom equipment.
Mittalās investments are not purely about financial growth but also about doing good. Whether connecting the unconnected through OneWebās satellite broadband service or reshaping the future of education with UpGrad, Mittal is committed to long-term solutions to some of the worldās biggest challenges.
Under his leadership, Bharti Enterprises will continue to grow and change; Mittalās ability to see what is on the horizon and unyielding commitment to innovation will ensure that his investments make his business successful and lead to positive social change. Whether digital transformation, sustainability, or global connectivity, Sunil Mittalās investments aim for long-term impact and progress worldwide.
Year
Invested in
Aug 8, 2022
UpGrad
Aug 25, 2022
Airtel
Jun 29, 2021
OneWeb
Mar 18, 2019
OneWeb
Dec 19, 2016
OneWeb
Jun 26, 2015
OneWeb
Sunil Bharti Mittal – Controversies
Indiaās telecom revolution visionary, Sunil Bharti Mittal, became trapped in a legal quagmire that could have brought his empire crashing down. The storm at the center was so controversial that courts sharply rebuked it, exposed political vendetta, and tested the resilience of one of Indiaās most admired businesspeople.
The drama started with allegations about Bharti Airtel’s getting additional spectrum in 2002. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) said Mittal’s company and Hutch had received undue benefits when the late Pramod Mahajan, then Telecom Minister, allowed spectrum allotments from 4.4 MHz to 6.2 MHz and 8 MHz. The CBI argued that Airtel’s spectrum usage charges (SUC) were kept suspiciously low, allegedly to help the company’s initial public offering (IPO).
The case’s foundation was shaky from the start. The company countered that Airtelās IPO was oversubscribed days before Mahajanās decision. The SUC increase to 4% for 8 MHz was also in line with existing norms and contrary to the CBIās claim that it should have been raised to 5%. It looked less like corporate wrongdoing and more like political maneuvering.
It peaked when a special court rejected CBI’s charge sheet with scathing remarks. The investigative agency, it said, ‘fabricated and distorted’ the facts to create the illusion of a crime where there was none. The chargesā sharp words tore apart their credibility, with the judiciary describing them as a consequence of ‘extraneous reasons.’
However, this only added fuel to the fire as then Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, in a blog post, accused the CBI of politically motivated actions. According to him, the charges were cooked up on the instructions of Kapil Sibal, a central figure in the United Progressive Alliance (UPA), to tar the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) like the UPA’s infamous telecom scandals.
The case also had obvious political overtones. The CBI alleged that Mittal and his associates benefited from the spectrum allocations to promote Airtelās IPO. However, as industry experts and later court findings have shown, spectrum usage charges at that time primarily aligned with policy norms.
The preferential treatment allegations were also questioned about other policies, such as the 2001 WLL spectrum framework, which allowed companies to increase the spectrum without raising SUC. There was no hard evidence to suggest that the case was really about corporate malpractice and more about the political narrative.
Mittal’s reputation was damaged during the controversy, and the dismissal of the charges brought immense relief. The courtās judgment also served as a wake-up call for investigative agencies to make accusations based on evidence-free from political influence.
Mittal’s ordeal highlighted India’s precarious mix of business and politics. But despite the controversy, he emerged strong, with his legacy of being the architect of Indiaās telecom revolution intact.
Sunil Bharti Mittal – Awards and Recognition
Padma Bhushan (2007)
Transforming India Leader Award
GSM Association’s Chairman’s Award (2008)
Asia Businessman of the Year (2006)
Telecom Person of the Year (2006)
CEO of the Year (2006)
CEO of the Year (2005-06)
Best Asian Telecom CEO (2005)
Best CEO, India (2005
Business Leader of the Year (2005)
Philanthropist of the Year (2010)
INSEAD Business Leader Award (2011)
Doctor Honoris Causa Degrees:
Amity University, Gurgaon (2016)
Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, Katra (2018)
ESCP Business School, Paris (2018)
Global Mobile Industry Recognition (2019)
Economic Times Business Leader of the Year (2022)
Honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE, 2024)
Sunil Bharti Mittal – Interesting Facts
Sunil Mittal began his entrepreneurial journey in 1976 by making crankshafts for local bicycle manufacturers while most teenagers dreamed of college.
Bharti Foundation, Mittal’s philanthropic arm, has established over 50 schools in Madhya Pradesh and donated ā¹200 million to help establish the Bharti School of Technology and Management at IIT Delhi.
Airtel is synonymous with Mittalās success; surprisingly, few people know about his knack for innovation. He was among the first to understand the benefits of outsourcing in the telecom industry and aligned with global players like IBM for IT services and Ericsson for network infrastructure.
King Charles III honoured Sunil Mittal, becoming the first Indian citizen to be awarded Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (KBE) in 2024. His contribution to global business and philanthropy was recognized.
Sunil Mittal is a fan of Formula 1 and loves Italian cuisine, with pizza topping his list of favourite indulgences.
Neal Mohan is an American businessman who has been the CEO of the online video-sharing platform YouTube since 2023. He succeeded Susan Wojcicki and managed several of its segments, such as YouTube TV, YouTube Music, and YouTube Premium. He was one of the driving forces behind the introduction of a content moderation policy, especially prohibiting content that glorified violence.
Neal Mohan was born in Lafayette, Indiana on 14th July 1973. His parents Aditya and Deepa moved from Lucknow to the USA in the early 1970s. Neal grew up in Ann Arbor, Michigan but his family moved back to India in 1985. He finished high school at St. Francisā College where he learned Hindi and Sanskrit. He soon returned to the USA and attended Stanford University majoring in electrical engineering. Neal started working at Accenture and then joined NetGravity, a startup. He then returned to Stanford in 2003 to pursue his MBA.
Neal Mohan – Career Highlights
After Neal completed his graduation from Stanford, Neal joined Accenture. In 1997, he joined NetGravity, became a prominent figure in the companyās operations, and helped expand its prominence.
In 1997, his company NetGravity was acquired by DoubleClick and Neal moved from California to their headquarters in New York. In the next couple of years, he became more involved in the operations and DoubleClick turned to him to help cut costs during the wake of the burst of the dot-com bubble. Soon he was appointed as the Vice President of Business Operations.
In 2003 while he returned to Stanford to pursue his MBA, DoubleClick faced serious problems when acquired from Abacus Direct in 1999. The merger was de facto annulled by Hellman & Friedman, who acquired DoubleClick and then split Abacus Direct from it. They requested the longtime executive David Rosenblatt to be the CEO, who then enlisted Neal under the condition that he would stay in California.
Rosenblatt and Mohan jointly created a plan to shift DoubleClick into a company built on advertising exchange, core ad tech situations, and extensive ad networking. This concept was outlined in a 400-page PowerPoint presentation and presented to Hellman & Friedman in December of 2005, who approved it.
Google
On April 13, 2007, DoubleClick was acquired by Google for $3.1 billion with Susan Wojcicki orchestrating the actual buy-in. Neal formally joined Google, and for the next 15 years, they both played a key part in integrating DoubleClick into Googleās family. In Google, Neal was responsible for the 2010 acquisition of Invite Media for $85 million. He soon became the Senior VP of Display and Video Ads for Google, and then moved to YouTube.
In 2011, Rosenblatt, who became a Board Member of Twitter, tried to hire Neal as the Chief Product Officer, but Google paid him $100 million to remain with them.
In 2015, Neal joined YouTube as the Chief Product Officer. At the time, he was managing several segments through the later 2010s and 2020s, which included YouTube Music, YouTube Premium, YouTube TV, and YouTube Shorts. In September 2020, Neal appeared before Congress where he introduced the new content moderation policy that was aimed at addressing violent extremist content on the platform. This policy would target groups such as ISIS and other extremists, to prohibit any content that glorifies violence or recruit or fundraise for such organizations. Currently, YouTube also has a media literacy campaign that will help viewers recognize manipulation techniques used to spread misinformation.
On 16th February 2023, Neal succeeded Susan Wojcicki as the CEO of YouTube. Under his leadership, YouTube has become the go-to platform for digital content and its brand value reached $31.7 billion in 2024.
In celebration of YouTubeās 20th anniversary, Mohan shared four key plans for 2025: continuing as a cultural hub, empowering creators to grow like Hollywood startups, strengthening its role as the new TV, and leveraging AI to enhance content creation and the user experience.
Neal Mohan has received multiple awards and recognitions such as:
Ad ageās 10 Most Influential Players in Marketing – Neal was recognized for his part in marketing
ADWeekās 12 Stars of Ad Tech: Awarded for his work in ad tech
Neal Mohan – Facts
In school, St. Francisās College in Lucknow, Neal received the National Talent Search Examination (NTSE) scholarship.
When studying at Stanford University, Neal was a member of the Engineering Honour Society.
In 2012, Neal joined the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), a media company, and worked there till 2016.
Neal served as a Board Director at Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) Global, a New York-based marketing agency.
From 2017, he has served as a board member for 23andMe.
He was a member of the management board at the Stanford Graduate School of Business from 2013 to 2017 .
Neal joined as one of the Board of Directors at Stitch Fix in 2020.
Neal Mohan – Personal LifeĀ
Neal Mohan is married to Hema Sareen Mohan who has been a part of the public welfare and non-profit sectors for over two decades. They were married while he was working in New York for DoubleClick. His favourite sport is basketball and he supports the Golden State Warriors.
Neal Mohan is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of YouTube.
What is Neal Mohan’s role at YouTube?
As CEO, Neal Mohan is responsible for overseeing all aspects of YouTube’s operations, strategy, and growth. This includes product development, content partnerships, and business operations.
What is Neal Mohan’s education?
Neal Mohan holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Stanford University (1996) and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business (2005).
Sarika Anand
