In our second part of the interview we delve into Exterprise, the first business venture by Manoj. SM: What was your first company? MS: It was basically a business collaboration platform, a company called Exterprise. We started that in June of 1998 and we sold it in March of 2001. We grew pretty rapidly from
Our Serial Entreprenuer series continues with a fascinating interview with Manoj Saxena. In this first segment we explore his background up to the point of his first venture. SM: Where did you grow up? MS: I grew up in India. A city called Hyderabad most of my life and then we were down in Bombay.
SM: Have you read any of my writings on the entrepreneurship in India? PO: Yes I have, and we have talked some on this. What are you referring to specifically? SM: Well I did a series under the title of Concept Arbitrage. If you look at Indian entrepreneurship right now there is a huge amount
We continue our interview with Peng Ong and talk about his next venture, Interwoven. Here Peng addresses some very interesting topics and his personal philosophy on risk. SM: So tell us the story of Interwoven. You put in your own money? PO: I think the interesting thing if you look at my career, usually the
Previously, we discussed Peng Ong and his background. Today we begin to explore his first true entrepreneurial venture, Electric Classifieds, which spawned the creation of Match.com, the worlds largest online dating service. SM: How long was match.com? PO: I spent probably a total of less than a year totally active there. SM: So you were
Here is an interview with Peng Ong, the first in a new Serial Entrepreneurial series. This series will highlight those entrepreneurs who have repeatedly been able to come up with innovative ideas for new ventures, been successful in their endeavors, and also failed, but most importantly, have taken in their stride a certain way of
In the previous two-part post showcasing Battery Venture’s perspective on investments in India, the 300 million strong Indian middle class and its problems were highlighted as a key target market, and hence, opportunity. So, what are the problems that the Indian middle class faces? To answer this question, one should ask another question : How did
I had invited Mark Sherman at Battery Ventures to contribute his perspective to the series. Mark has responded via Ramneek Gupta, who wants to focus this interview on investment as it pertains to India, specifically. Battery has a major focus on India right now. SM: Please describe your background, to help entrepreneurs understand your point-of-view.