Type of Fellow: Research Fellow
Description:
I am a senior writer for Business 2.0 magazine in San Francisco. I joined Business 2.0 in April 2003 and have been writing telecom and broadband related stories for the magazine since then. Here is a link to all my articles published in Business 2.0.
Prior to that I was a senior writer for Red Herring focusing on the telecommunications sector. My first book, Broadbandits: Inside the $750 billion telecom heist, was released on May 15, 2003. Before joining Red Herring in July 2000, I was part of the founding team of Forbes.com where I was a senior editor. My writings have also appeared in newspapers and magazines such as The Wall Street Journal, Business 2.0, Brandweek, and Crains, New York Business. In 1999, I left Forbes.com to join Hambrecht & Quist Asia Pacific as an investment manager, thus crossing over into the venture capital business. During my tenure as a venture capitalist, I met and worked side by side with many CEOs, entrepreneurs and investors, and was privy to the inner workings of Silicon Valley.
However, few months in the VC business made me realize how much I missed the world of writing and reportage, and I went to work for Red Herring where (at least I thought) I could apply my extensive knowledge and insight into the world of venture capitalism and cutting edge technologies.
As a technology journalist and a brief tenure as a venture capitalist, I have witnessed and documented firsthand the rise and fall of the Internet and telecom industries, which has given me unrivaled access and insight into this world. I graduated from St. Stephens’ College in New Delhi with an honors degree in chemistry in 1986. St. Stephens’ is akin to the “Yale of India” and has produced several of today’s brightest Indian business, economic and political leaders.
I have also contributed to several Indian publications including the Economic Times and The Week, India’s leading news weekly. My early career highlights include a position with the Quick Nikkei News, New York-based news service that followed technology stocks for Japanese institutional investors.
Additionally, in 1995 I co-founded a South Asian portal, Masala.com. Of course I have several other tiny projects including Desiparty.com; which arguably is one of the oldest Indian websites left standing after the dot-bomb.