Entrepreneurship, innovation, startups and Microsoft is what makes Paul Murphy tick. Paul is Director of Innovation at Microsoft and his company has pretty ambitious goals about fostering and creating opportunities forand innovation in India, especially among the student community.

When Paul is not working out of his office in Bangalore, he is busy traveling to different parts of India meeting with policy makers, entrepreneurs, Venture Capitalists, students and teachers. His goal is to foster and help create entrepreneurship and innovation in India, especially among the student community. Paul and his team work with various Tier-1 and Tier-2 schools to help create entrepreneurship and innovation programs and incubators where students can get hands-on knowledge and experience of starting companies.

In Part-1 of the interview Paul talks about the three-pronged strategy that Microsoft has in creating and promoting entrepreneurship in India. He points out that support structure in terms of capital, mentorship and cross-border angel networks are starting to form in India, but there is lots more that needs to be done in India.

Tune in to find out what Paul has to say about Microsoft’s roadmap for entrepreneurship and innovation in India.

Related Post: Video Clip of Paul Murphy

Can Jet Airways become one of the top 5 global airlines under the stewardship of Naresh Goyal? Yes it can, and it has the right person with the right vision and attitude to make it happen says N. Sunderaj aka Raj, a seasoned aviation executive and a former Vice President at Jet Airways. But, he does caution that the rising fuel costs is something to watch out for by the airlines industry.

Raj worked with Jet Airways for 6 years and retired a couple of years ago as Vice President. Prior to that he worked for 25 years with Singapore Airlines. What Raj brought with him to Jet Airways was his deep knowledge and hands-on experience of working in Singapore Airlines. He was part of a team that helped shape the success of Singapore Airlines and transform it into a global brand known for its excellent and innovative service.

In Part-2 of the interview Raj shares his experience of working with Jet Airways and Goyal, who founded the airlines in 1993. Goyal is a “dynamite” and is very “pro consumer oriented,” and “always wants the best for his Airlines,” says Raj. “He never takes no for an answer,” and is very “hands-on,” he adds. It is Goyal’s persistence and openness that led to Jet Airways adopting the best practices in customer care, food and ground service. What is ironic in some ways is that Goyal looked at Singapore Airlines as a model to emulate. And about 30 years ago Singapore Airlines looked at Air India as a role model for best practice in the commercial aviation sector. “From India to India,” is how Raj describes the change that is taking place in the Indian aviation industry led by Jet Airways.

Starting June 14th 2008 Jet Airways will become the first India-based airlines to operate a direct flight from San Francisco to India. Jet will fly from San Francisco via Shanghai to Mumbai.

In case you missed Part-1 of the interview with Raj you may want to listen to it. Raj spoke about the evolution of Singapore Airlines into a innovative company known for its excellent service.

Technorati Tags: n.sunderaj,jet airways,naresh goyal,indian aviation,san francisco,air india,travel,india,ideas

Singapore Airlines inspired by Air India? Well, it seems that was just the case in the world of aviation not so long ago. Until the 1960s Air India (AI) under JRD Tata was one of the top-notch International airlines and was a role model for Singapore Airlines way back in the 1970s. It is hard to believe that while Air India lost its edge within 20 years and in the same period Singapore Airlines went from a small airlines to a world-class airlines and a trend setter in the aviation industry. How did Singapore Airlines transform itself into a well-recognized brand and airlines? Anyone remember the Singapore Girl advertisement? I had lots of unanswered questions and turned to N. Sunderaj or “Raj”, who was part of the early Singapore Airlines team and and helped expand Singapore Airlines’ footprint around the world.

This is a two-part interview. In Part-1 Raj talks about the connection between Air India and Singapore Airlines, and how with laser sharp focus the airlines emerged as one of the top airlines in the world. How did Singapore Airlines do it? How did they do their branding and marketing? How did Singapore Airlines emerge as a trend setter known for its excellent service, innovation and marketing? Maybe there is a lesson here for India on how it lost out on its early advantage in the aviation industry.

Raj started his career with Air India in Singapore and then joined Singapore Airlines. After spending 25 years at Singapore Airlines Raj retired as VP from the airlines. He had barely settled down to enjoy his retirement days when he was recruited into Naresh Goyal’s Jet Airways, where he was a senior executive and helped raise the profile of Jet Airways. “India to India,” is how Raj describes his stint with Jet Airways and in an ironic twist of fate he brought back to India what he had learned from his first job working for Air India. Raj thinks that his former boss Naresh Goyal has the spirit, motivation and ambition to make Jet Airways into one of the top airlines in the world. After Jet Airways Raj joined Air Sahara from where he retired as senior VP recently.

An aviation buff Raj continues to track the latest developments in the the aviation industry.

Raj lives with his wife Geetha in the San Francisco bay area.

Technorati Tags: n.sunderaj,singapore airlines,jet airways,aviiation,air india,jrd tata,aviation in india,innovation,singapore girl,air travel,travel,india,singapore

Consider this: there are about 3.2 million broadband users in India out of a population of over 1 billion. Clearly there is a huge latent demand for broadband services in India. The question is should the path for broadband be via wired line or via wireless? Is WiMax the way to go in India? WiMax is the way to go in India says Shankar Prasad, President of Tata Communications Retail and Business Unit. He points out many Indian users “really don’t understand what they are missing in broadband.” And the way to bridge the gap is via WiMax. Wireless is the way to go in India to increase broadband penetration says Shankar.Tata is deploying one of the largest WiMax networks in India.

“What wireless has done in voice and cable can be done in broadband too,” he points out. Prior to joining Tata Shankar was part of Airtel and says, “I have been part of the mobile revolution, which changed the way people India communicated. And I am lucky that I am involved in another revolution.” In a short span of less than 10 years the number of mobile users in India has grown at a break neck speed and every month a few million new subscribers are added according to the figures released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India. Can a similar revolution be replicated in WiMax? What are the reasons that WiMax will succeed in India? What about 3G? Tune in to find out why Shankar thinks WiMax is the right way to go in India.

This interview was recorded at TiECon 2008 in Santa Clara, CA.

Technorati Tags: WiMax,WiMax in India,broadband,Internet,Shankar Prasad,Ideas,India,Technology

Neeru Khosla has firmly remained under the radar for many years and has instead focused her attention on her family, children and their education. For many years Neeru was involved in volunteering for her children’s school. During this period she also went back to school and got her second master’s degree in education from Stanford University.

Inspired to do something in the area of education Neeru’s husband Vinod Khosla suggested looking into textbooks for high school students. And that suggestion sparked off Neeru’s interest although she initially resisted the thought since she believes in providing personalized content for school kids. However, Neeru discovered that there is a gap and a need to provide contextual content for high school students and teachers especially in the areas of science and math. And thus was born the idea for CK-12, her non-profit organization. Through CK-12 Neeru has combined her passion for education with purpose.

Over the past couple of years Neeru and her co-founder Murugan Pal have been working behind the scenes to create open-source, collaborative text books called textbooks. Flexbooks and their technology will be made available in August 2008.

In this interview Neeru shares how CK-12 is developing the technology and seeding content to create flexbooks that will are free to be used by high school students and teachers. She also shares on where and how she gets help from her husband, the in-house expert, who helps her with her questions. Doing a start-up is consuming as Neeru has discovered. So, I asked her if she has a better understanding of what her husband’s work in running his companies and being a venture capitalist. Tune in to find out what Neeru has to say on this subject.

Related Links: Knowledge Unlocked, Video Demo of Flexbooks and Video Interview with Neeru Khosla and Murugan Pal.

Technorati Tags: neeru khosla,vinod khosla,murugan pal,ck-12,flexbooks,education,startups,silicon valley,open-source,ideas. flexbooks video demo,video interview ck-12

Ravi Viswanathan is a partner in New Enterprise Associates (NEA), a prominent venture capital firm headquartered on the East Coast with a strong presence in Silicon Valley. NEA has committed capital of about $8.5 billion and has invested in over 550 companies with over 160 that have gone public.

Ravi joined NEA in 2004 and has led investment rounds in a handful of companies, including 4 that have an India connection. Ravi’s area of interest is Information Technology, but he has a strong interest in cleantech companies and sits on the board of Deeya and Suniva.

I caught up with Ravi at this year’s TiECon in Santa Clara where we spoke about cleantech, Deeya, investing and India and what is that he enjoys the best about being a venture capitalist. “At the core it is company building, where I can use my business and technical skills that I have developed,” says Ravi.

With a PhD and an MBA from Wharton Ravi brings strong research skills to the table. Prior to joining NEA Ravi worked for different organizations including Goldman Sachs.

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