Rediff On The NeT: Deshpande To Offer Help To Overcome Fear of Failure


	HOME \| US EDITION \| COMMUNITY

September 30, 1999

ELECTION 99
COLUMNISTS
DIARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA!
ELECTIONS
ARCHIVES

Search Rediff

Deshpande To Offer Help To Overcome Fear of Failure

A P Kamath in Cambridge, Massachusetts

Desh Deshpande will give one of the keynote addresses at the 16th annual Harvard Business School of Entrepreneurship Conference.

The founder of Sycamore Networks and Cascade Communications will speak on How to Overcome the Fear of Failure at the Entrepreneurship Conference on October 16. The event, organized by Entrepreneurship Club at Harvard Business School, will be of special interest to new entrepreneurs and venture capitalists. The MBA students at Harvard will also get an opportunity to meet the leaders of many high-tech companies.

Paresh Patel is the co-chair at the conference, which has a significant number of Indian American organizers and participants. Sunny Bedi (COO) and Maya Dani (CFO) are among the organizers. Among the sponsors are Microsoft, Bain & Company and Battery Ventures.

The panelists include Vivek R Rao (Rann International), Rob Chandran (Commonwealth Capital Ventures), Manjit Singh (FutureStep), Malik Khan (Sitara Network).

Among the panelists, Asheesh Lakhanpal will speak on How to Make the Best of Time at School and Binoy Somia on Recruiting the Dream Team: Who to Get, How to Get Them, and How Much to Pay.

One of the keynote speakers at the conference, Bob Davis, is the president and chief executive at Lycos Inc, which he has made one of the most powerful Internet hubs in four years. From a $ two million venture capital enterprise, Lycos has become a multibillion dollar success story.

Deshpande, founder and president of Sycamore Networks, was recently named among the 10 top entrepreneurs in America. Among his big success stories is the transformation of Cascade, a two-person startup firm in 1991 into a $ 500 million company in 1997. The firm was sold for $ 3.7 billion.

Fortune magazine picked two-year-old Sycamore Networks early this year as one of the 12 Cool Companies for 1999.

Citing Sycamore's fast, first year ramp-up that has included developing and shipping products, as well as booking revenues of nearly $ 30 million, Fortune had cited that "no other networker -- not Cascade, Ciena, or even Cisco -- has ever left the starting gates so quickly." In addition to an impressive track record, Fortune considered Sycamore's goals to "do nothing less than change the nature of the Internet," as a factor in their selection.

The one-day event offers a slew of activities:

A Match Made in Cyberspace: Want to start a business but don't know whom with? Register for the conference's on-line matchmaking service. It will match MIT technologists and Harvard Computer Society geniuses with HBS students, financiers with idea folks, salesmen with operating managers.

Fantastic Advice from Accomplished VCs and Entrepreneurs: Want to work in VC but don't know anybody? Want to start a business but don't know how? Listen to over 60 speakers in 15 panel discussions on topics ranging from 'How to finance your business' to 'Common mistakes to avoid' to 'Women in Entrepreneurship'.

Lunch with Panelists: Want to work in VC and still don't know anybody? Want to work for a startup? The first 185 registrants can sign up for small lunch meetings with panelists to discuss business models or future employment.

For registration, check out www.hbseconference.com; or contact Paresh Patel at ppatel@mba2000.hbs.edu; or Rajeev Batra, class 2000 co-president, (617) 232-1663.

If you would like to post any information about forthcoming events or community happenings, please email the details to bettypais@aol.com

Information and photographs can also be mailed to Betty Pais at 87-52 108th Street, 2nd Floor, Richmond Hill, NY 11418-2229, USA.

Tell us what you think of this information