My desire to be an entrepreneur led me to be the first in my family to venture outside engineering and computer science and instead study business. I started my first company, AtWeb, in 1996 (during the ‘Internet 1.0’ days) which received funding from Sequoia and was subsequently acquired by Netscape in 1998. I went on to build two other companies including Simply Hired which was acquired by Recruit Holdings.

Alongside my entrepreneurial journey, I have invested in over 100 startups and over 25 venture capital and private equity funds. It has been especially rewarding to be a mentor to many founders and entrepreneurs over the years.

In 2003, I started India Community Center (ICC), inspired by similar work in the Jewish community. ICC has now become the largest Indo-focused community organization in North America and operates several facilities in the San Francisco Bay Area offering over 500 programs annually. I am also proud to be associated with a few causes that are close to my heart, including economic development via Sandbox ( https://bit.ly/3oioIhp ), education via Akshaya Patra ( https://www.akshayapatra.org ), and a range of initiatives related to animal welfare.

I am also a patron of Table Tennis, a sport I’ve loved since I was a kid I’ve been an advisor and supporter of the United States Table Tennis Association (USATT – https://www.teamusa.org/usa-table-tennis) and the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF – https://www.ittf.com). The ICC Table Tennis program (https://icctt.org)  is recognized as the # 1 table tennis program in the United States and has produced more Olympians and National Champions than the rest of the country.

I am deeply passionate about achieving optimal health and peak energy in my life. As our environment continues to become more toxic and complex, people are struggling to stay healthy into their later years. I believe there is a huge opportunity with the advances in areas like genetics, precision medicine and wearable health tracking devices to live a much longer lifespan and healthspan. This has led to several initiatives and explorations in this area that are ongoing.

In my free time, I enjoy playing table tennis, to which I usually devote two hours daily. My 19-year-old son Aditya is currently pursuing his dream to become a professional table tennis athlete by taking a couple of years off from school to play full time. In my early years, I also played tennis for the University of California, Santa Barbara team. I also love to read books about entrepreneurship, health and longevity, psychology and philosophy. I have traveled to many amazing places and continue to explore new ones every year. I am also a big foodie and love exploring great places to eat (my favorites are Indian, Mexican and Italian food).