Story of Vivek Wadhwa- a Silicon valley tech entrepreneur turned academician

‘Hard work bears sweet fruits’; this old adage has successfully proved its veracity in every age. And sweetness to these fruits is enhanced when talent and skills are blended to it. While reaching to the pedestal of success, failures are generally encountered but one must not sway away from the aim. It is the firm determination and incessant efforts that can aid you in achieving what you wish for.

The story of Vivek Wadhwa, a Delhi born technology entrepreneur from America voices out the same dedication and hard work which helped him to grab his goal. Wadhwa completed his graduation from University of Canberra in 1974 with a B.A. degree in Computer Studies. After graduating, he upheld his career in programming computers, adding a mere number in the prodigious swarm of programmers to make his ends meet. But as time passed, it became cumbersome to carry on with the same pace. Expanding family demanded more income and at the same time he too realized the need to progress. Thus, his needs and talent invoked in him the passion to come out of his shell and break new ground.

Matter of choice

The decision to move into a new life wasn’t a trivial one. He knew his one step forward would change his entire world for good and the uncertainty of the outcome was hanging like a sword over his neck. But a ordinary life was not what Wadhwa desired. It is said that stagnation leads to rotting and this is what kept him moving. At the time when he was newly married and his wife was expecting, he decided to enroll for a MBA degree from New York University. It was biggest bet of his life as he didn’t have enough savings which meant tough times ahead.

His thirst for knowledge knew no boundaries and he was aware that doing an MBA would enrich his brain with the understanding of business world which he did not know of in much depth. With the hope for a bright future he invested all his savings and time to earn the degree. Vivek had to make many compromises to pursue MBA as he had to scale down his living standards and also had to shift to a compact one-bedroom flat with his wife.

Education never deceives you

Though he considers doing MBA as best investments as it helped him grow professionally and become an entrepreneur, yet he is no more an advocate of hiring MBA’s in startups. Vivek sees a clear gap between the skills that a business school teaches and what a startup requires.

After MBA Vivek secured a decent job in the IT department of CS First Boston, where he rose from the position of a programmer to become a project leader and then to the post of vice president of the company. His skills and hard work were finally illuminating his way to success.

Although he was doing a praiseworthy job at CS First Boston he couldn’t achieve complete satisfaction from his work and then he decided to lay his first step in the entrepreneurial world by spinning of the startup, Seer Technologies. He used his skills to persuade IBM to invest $20 million in his company and this gave the initial bolt to his company. Under his leadership Seer Technology grew to $118 million publicly traded company.He later founded Relativity Technologies in North Carolina in 1997 which was considered as one of the best companies to work in the world.

Later, he left the company and shifted his focus to academic research. Vivek Wadhwa is now a fellow with the Labor and Worklife Program at Harvard Law School, a professor at the Pratt School of Engineering at Duke University, and Vice President of Innovation and Research at Singularity University. He writes for different blogs like Techcrunch and Businessweek.com. Vivek Wadhwa has set an example for everyone that success could be achieved if you are ready to dedicate your time and energy to your aim without dwindling for a moment.