The Indian Connection Silicon Valley

The rise of Indians in the Silicon Valley, arguably the hot bed of technological advancement has made waves across the world. Satya Nadella, Sundar Pichai and Shantanu Narayen have powerful positions in Giants of technology and have brought renown to our country through their innovations as well as contributions not just to their companies but ultimately the world.

Not just these three, but several Indians have been core to the technological advancements which have changed lives and made things infinitely easier. Almost 15% of the start ups in Silicon Valley are by Indians. The spirit of Indian intelligence and innovation is embodied in the people who have conquered the technological giants who power the world.

Ajay Bhatt

Ajay Bhatt is the co-founder of the USB standard that is now present in every computer. While working in Intel he not just invent USB but also has also lead to standardization crucial to graphics. Born in Baroda and completing his graduation from MSU Baroda and post graduation from City College NYU, Ajay has made several strides as a computer architect. He also holds 115 International patents.

Vinod Dham

The man behind the Intel Pentium Processor which brought us miles forwards in processing power, Vinod Dham is the reason for chips being built into computers and laptops today. He was an expert at solid state electronics and that lead to his breakthrough in not just processing power but also advancements in Intel like Intel’s first flash memory. He was a graduate of Delhi College of Engineering and completed his masters from University of Cincinnati. He is now a Venture Capitalist and sits in the board of many companies.

Satya Nadella

The currently very famous Microsoft Chief executive has brought renown to the country by bagging the top position in one of the most powerful tech industries in Silicon Valley. He was born in Hyderabad then he went on to complete his education in Electrical Engineering from Mangalore University and then a Masters degree in Computer science form University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and in addition he also has an MBA from University of Chicago. Before joining Micrsoft, he was part of Sun Microsystems, founded by another exemplary Indian.

Ruchi Sanghvi

An Indian who broke the glass ceiling in Facebook by being the first female engineer to be hired by the Social Media giant. Ruchi completed her Bachelors and Masters at Carnegie Mellon University and worked at Oracle before joining the Facebook Team. She was responsible for the overseeing of the News Feed which is one the most iconic parts of Facebook. She also wrote the code for the first iteration of Facebook’s privacy laws. She is currently cofounder of Cove which has been acquired by Dropbox.

Padmashree Warrior

A Chemical engineering graduate from IIT Delhi and a post graduate from Cornell University, Padmashree Warrior has immense contribution in Motorola. In her 23 years at Motorola she held the position of Chief Technology Officer and General Manger of Moto Energy System. Under her tenure, Motorola won the prestigious National Medal of Technology by the US Government. After Motorola she joined as the CTO at Cisco Systems and then was the CEO of NIO U.S.

Vinod Khosla

Founder of Sun Microsystems, Vinod Khosla is a graduate of IIT Delhi and a post graduate of Carnegie Mellon University and an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business. Vinod Khosla after serving as the CEO of Sun Microsystems became a Venture Capitalist and started his own firm, Khosla Ventures. He has been the investor in several startups in their initial and growth phase. He is also one of the 400 of the richest men in the world.

Shantanu Narayen

He is currently the CEO of Adobe Systems, an important company which has its services spread across the world and in almost every computer! He had done his graduation from Osmania University and has done his Masters in Business Administration from University of California, Berkeley. He initially used to work for Apple from where he moved on to Silicon Graphics and then finally as a senior management in Adobe Systems. He is responsible for the rise of the company. He has been honoured by Obama by being given the seat at Member Management Advisory Board to help in implementing the best technological practices.