Indian Institutes of Technology alumni are at home in Seattle
By ANDREA JAMES
P-I REPORTER
Friday, March 2, 2007
At Microsoft's Vista launch party in January, the employee crowd was silent as it viewed video clips of launch celebrations around the globe. But when dancers flitted across the screen in front of the Taj Mahal, the employees clapped and cheered.
India.
The country is the birthplace for many technology workers in the Pacific Northwest, some of the most brilliant of whom are graduates of the Indian Institutes of Technology.
"A lot of us who come here obviously tend to be in the top 1 percent of the country because of having been filtered through IIT," said Naveen Jain, a class of '79 IIT alumnus who founded InfoSpace Inc. and is now chief executive of Intelius Inc.
The Indian government established the Ivy League-caliber institutes after it won independence from the United Kingdom 60 years ago. Each of the seven schools is highly selective -- each year churning out hundreds of engineers who scatter the world to work, consult, earn more degrees and start businesses.
Though Microsoft appears to be the largest employer of the Seattle area's 500 IITians, as they are known, a growing number of graduates hold leadership positions across the Northwest's corporate landscape.
To get all these decision-makers together, Mohan Venkataramana, a 1974 IIT graduate, is organizing a Pacific Northwest chapter for Pan IIT, an alumni network that includes all of the institutes. Some institutes already have small local chapters.
Venkataramana began coordinating last year. "I know I can build this, but I don't know how to do it," he said in October.
Five months later, his idea is taking shape. Last week, the chapter held its first formal meeting at Google's office in Kirkland. About 30 people attended to hear a speech from Google engineer Peeyush Ranjan, also an IIT graduate.
There is also an online forum, available at iitpnw.org, and a mailing list.
"There's an element of nostalgia involved with all this alumni network," said Nishant Kumar, a 29-year-old IIT-Bombay graduate who now works at Microsoft. "It kind of ties you back to the good old days where you had lots of fun."
At the networking event at Google on Feb. 21, Kumar made a couple of new friends and found someone from Bokaro, his small hometown near Calcutta.
Venkataramana hopes the Seattle chapter becomes strong enough to become a driving force in the state, helping to build trade bridges between Washington and India.
"There are people like me from IIT who have been here a long time and they have reached influential positions," he said. "If you have smart young people and smart old people who are experienced, experience and energy can be combined and we can actually take on projects that matter to the state of Washington and to India."
Venkataramana, 54, moved to Seattle 10 years go and holds a doctorate in chemical engineering from MIT. He is president of Redmond-based Syntonix Inc. His success started with his IIT education, which he attended for the equivalent of $30 per year.
"I couldn't afford $30 so they gave me $25 and said, 'You go find $5 from your parents,' " he said. "I just consider myself lucky."
Mentoring and networking are major themes of the Pacific Northwest Pan IIT chapter, said Sandeep Shrivastava, chairman of TiE-Seattle, a non-profit that supports entrepreneurs.
Older people are asking, "What can we do for India? What can we do for the Pacific Northwest?" Shrivastava said.
The chapter will hold three types of events: Some will cater to young IIT alumni who want to socialize. Midcareer folks will want to network and learn how to form companies. And established Indians will learn ways to give back, said Shrivastava, an IITian and managing partner of Indus Fund, a hedge fund.
Salil Dave, a 1986 IIT-Kanpur graduate who works at Microsoft, said that organizing in a place like Seattle is difficult because there's "so much to do" and people don't need to rely on each other for support.
But, "it expands your horizons in a way that is very unique; you don't always get to talk to other companies," Dave said. "The Google talk was very interesting because it was attended by a lot of their competitors from Microsoft."
Amey Parandekar, a 31-year-old Microsoft program manager, said the network is just starting to take off. "You have allegiance to (the) school you went to in terms of relating to people who went to school there and also in terms of giving," he said. But the larger chapter will help him network.
Even though the Pacific Northwest is thousands of miles from where they grew up, IIT alums say they are dedicated to contributing to the region.
"Whether you are an IIT grad or from any school, I believe it is your duty to give back to the people who made you successful, which really is the community you live in," said Jain, 47, who lives in Medina. "You can never ever help the same person who helped you. You always have to help someone else."
News About Naveen Jain and Intelius
Intelius, co-founded by Naveen Jain, often appears in the news. The following represent a sample of the news coverage of Intelius. Naveen Jain leads Intelius as its CEO.
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer's reporters, Andrea James and John Cook, wrote an article entitled, "Immigrants Behind Startups: 1 of 4 public firms founded by foreign-born, study says." The National Venture Capital Association commissioned a study that found that since 1990, immigrants have founded one out of every four public, venture-capital-backed companies. In high tech, the figure is that immigrants found 40% of such businesses. In the private sector, almost half of all venture-backed startups surveyed were started by immigrants. The article includes the story of Naveen Jain , an immigrant from India who started Intelius.
John R. Throop wrote an article published in Your Church Magazine. The article discusses customized searches for background checks. Congregations in the US and Canada have an estimate of over 10 million volunteers and staff members. Insurance companies have required church employee background checks as well as volunteers' background checks before providing coverage. Intelius, a company that provides background check services, was founded by Naveen Jain to give people intelligent information to make everyday decisions.
Lover's Point, an online dating guide and resource, provides dating safety tips for individuals before they get serious with others. The tip for November 1, 2006, states that daters should perform a background check offered by Intelius.com after a first date if they are thinking of a second date. Intelius, co-founded by Naveen Jain, provides background checks that include information about marital status, a criminal background check, property value, lawsuits, judgments, bankruptcy, and liens. Lover's Point suggests such due diligence because "you may be investing not only your time and money but also your most precious feelings in this person."
Naveenjain.info is a Naveen Jain Web site. Naveen Jain is the founder of Intelius. Naveen Jain works with information technology initiatives. Other information about Naveen Jain includes his professional endeavors and accomplishments of note. This information is important for those interested in learning more about Naveen Jain. Naveen Jain provides consumers with intelligent information for everyday decisions through Intelius. Naveen Jain graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology in 1979.
|