And I think when countries like India in particular are completely re-structuring their economic foundation, with the creation of a massive middle class, the infrastructure needed to satisfy the needs of this very, very large middle class will rely on information technology.
Kamla: I have a product related question. How do you think entrepreneurs should build products?
Yogen: We all know that true innovation comes because there’s a passion driving that innovation so if you want somebody who’s willing to leap the charge, who’s got a sixth sense that helps him decide whether they’re going to take door A or door B and in some ways it’s no different that another metaphor I’ve been using when you talk about people who climb mountains. Why do they climb mountains? They don’t climb mountains- you have to have the team but you also have to have the leader. The leader has to have supreme self confidence that they know how to take the team to the finish line.
Kamla: But the young start-up often are in a lot of flux. And there is ego involved and you know, if there is more than one co-founder, it becomes a little bit difficult to figure out who’s the leader. What are some of the common problems that you’ve seen time and again with start-ups that can be avoided?
Yogen: The most common problem with start-ups is that there isn’t a leader or two that is magnetic in their ability to pull together a team. So the leader has to be brilliant, clearly with an idea but they also have to be able to create a team that will follow them. You want a person who has a sense of their destiny and who is able to attract other people- and I would use the Google metaphor or the Hewlett & Packard metaphor to men in both cases who had a sense of their destiny, and who were able to inspire people to join the journey with them.
Kamla: What kind of leader are you?
Yogen: What kind of leader am I? Well, I think I may have been a sort of a hard charging leader in my technology days because we made some sort of major inroads into how the world should operate but I would say these days, I’m much more of a collaborative coach-oriented leader. That’s the stage in my life and the stage in my partners. They look to me for that kind of a role in leadership.
Kamla: Who mentored you?
Yogen: I’ve been fortunate to have some of the most important people in this industry mentor me. From Vint Cerf who was my thesis advisor to Bob Metcalfe, who hired from my first job to David Reddan who ran the product program at Xerox and then of course, Bill Campbell who is known to be the ultimate coach was the president of Claris. And so these people have given me the tools to think about how you encourage people to make a difference.
Kamla: Do you have a sense because you keep talking about the sixth sense... I want to take advantage of that sixth sense of yours and find out where do you think these new centers of innovation would be?
Yogen: I think that Silicon Valley be continue to be the centre of innovation. If you just go to Stanford and look at the new $ 400 million engineering court that has been constructed, it will produce some of the most amazing innovation you know, 10-15 years down the road.