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February - 2014 - issue > Entrepreneur Corner

Four Dimensions of Entrepreneurship

Naveen Bisht
Co-Founder -Auriss Technologies Inc.
Wednesday, February 5, 2014
Naveen Bisht
Have you ever wondered what makes Silicon Valley tick? So many countries around the world have tried to replicate it but there is no other place like Silicon Valley that has made such an enormous impact in the society and our day to day lives. Many books have been written about the entrepreneurial and innovative ecosystem that exists here between angel investors, venture capital, risk-taking entrepreneurs, law firms and immigrants who are hungry and ready to make a mark.

This month's article brings to you a highly generous entrepreneur who incorporates most of the pieces that make up the Silicon Valley puzzle. This is how Mike Cassidy characterized him in a San Jose Mercury News article last year. Vish Mishra is a technology entrepreneur-turned-executive and now a VC for past 12 years with Clearstone Venture Partners � a VC fund with nearly $700 Million in committed capital. Clearstone has been quite successful as an early stage investor in PayPal (eBay), Overture (Yahoo!), Kazeon (EMC), Integrien (VMware), Ankeena (Juniper), The Rubicon Project, BillDesk (India), United Online, and Vast. A Silicon Valley veteran, Vish has over thirty years of leadership and management experience including CEO and Director of several companies. He was co-founder of Excelan (1983) acquired by Novell for $225 million; a founder and board member of Telera, a voice web infrastructure company sold to Alcatel for $140 million. A past president of TiE Silicon Valley, he has actively dedicated himself to its growth since its inception. I have the distinct pleasure of knowing Vish for many years including during the time we served together on TiE Board. It is with special gratitude to him, here are four key take away (4KTA) points, which center around the concept of four dimensions of entrepreneurship, based on my discussions with him recently.

1.Know Thyself!

If you want to start a company, you must know what you are truly good at. You must feel comfortable under your skin. For instance, are you a technologist or are you a marketing expert? It helps others to collaborate and work with you. People do not change. Your personality is developed during your teenage years. The rest of your life goes towards learning survival mechanisms. I realized early on that I enjoyed helping others whether it was helping my classmates with their homework or whether giving my colleagues new contacts or advice. In my first job at Control Data, I started as a design engineer in the communications division for re-designing recently introduced product in the market, so I could extract efficiency and reduce cost further. The hardest problem in my job was to get a solid grasp of the customer�s reported problems. So, I started holding meetings with members from marketing, sales, and customer support and product groups to get to the heart of problems amidst hide-bound personalities. As a result of my collaborative and helping nature like a peacemaker, I was moved into management and leadership role early on in my career.

2. Know Your Market


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