Ah. You're listening to Taking Stock with Bim Box and Kathleen Hayes on Bluebird Radio. We are broadcasting live from the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center before tonight's Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce twenty sixteen Annual Meeting. I'm Pim Fox my co host Kathleen Hayes. I'd like to introduce now the president and the chairman of the Sparta Group. He is also a trustee at the foundation that bears his name,
Desh Despondent. Thank you very much for being here, sir, thank you now and just looking a little bit into your background, you are what they might call a serial entrepreneur. You just can't keep still. Can you give us a little capsule of your journey to helping found some of the most well known technology companies in the world and
how you came to be here in Boston. Well, you know, I grew up in India, Kim Canada, did my master's, taught for a year, got a PhD, worked in Toronto for a little bit, and then came division Division of Motorola, and then came to Boston, mostly because I wanted to do startups and those days, the only two places where he could do startups, where Boston and California only two
places where they had venture capital. And so it's kind of naive, you know, a young couple moving into Boston not knowing a single soul and say, maybe I'll do a company. But that's what entrepreneurship is all about. It's a little bit of naivety, a little bit of optimism. And Boston has been fantastic to us. And did a company called Cascade Communications Sycamore Networks, and I probably did
about ten of them. And but for the last fifteen years, it's not so much I doing companies, but making creating ecosystem so other people can start the companies. And of course tonight, UH at the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce twenty sixteen annual meeting, you will be honored. You'll be taken into the academy of just being distinguished Bostonians along with two other terrific people. Uh. And in the time you've been here, how has Boston changed? You know? Biotech?
Is this is really the center now for biotech in the country. It's not Silicon Valley, it's not anywhere else now, it's right here. What makes Boston different though, when you talk about creating that the ecosystem for other countries companies to develop, how would you compare it to other hotspots. Well, you know, I think I think Boston has fantastic educational institutions. We have a lot of them, and and in general, you know, I think my philosophy and all this is
built into something that is simple. There is three types of people in this world. Some people are oblivious to everything. Some people see a problem and get all excited about it. Some people see a problem and complain about it. And the only difference between a why brunt community and an empowerished community is a mix of those people. Boston is blessed with problem solvers. You know, we've with being the tradition here for a long time, whether it's politics or
justice or health care, business, technology, science. Every time the Boston has gotten into a slump, they've reinvented themselves out of it and showing the world how to do it. And so I think it's just the just the inner way you mind. You know, the power of looking at a problem and finding a way to solve it. How do you find the resources you You've got the m I. T Center, they respond a foundation with three centers in India, in here, in Massachusetts, and also in New Brunswick in Canada.
How do you marshal the money to do that? Well? You know, the thing that I found is that, you know, when I did a company, you come here, you come with nothing, and then if you have a good idea, it's amazing people actually write you millions, right. I mean nineteen ninety when a million meant a million, first company, somebody wrote me a check for three million dollars. I
mean that was a lot of money. So I think if you have good people, good ideas, and you can show that you can make a difference when you will follow all right, just to go back for just to put it into a little more context, Sycamore Networks went public in n I think your market cap there was eighteen billion. You own a little bit more than a fifth of the company. When you meet young entrepreneurs, now, what do you wish someone had told you or someone
had guided you when you were building those companies? I don't know. I have not much really, you know, it's been such a fun journey. Um. I think you make mistakes, but that's a part of the deal. I mean, you know, nobody will make a mistake knowingly right, And the only mistake you do in life is not to correct it when you find that it's a mistake, because mistakes can only be found in hindsight. And fortunately, I've had a good life. I mean, I can't I can't complain at all.
What do you worry most about the US economy or about the Massachusetts economy? You've done so much. Is there one thing in particular you are concerned? They hope may because it rests as we get culturing election season. Well, you know, I think the thing that I've sort of really passionate about for the last ten years has been social entrepreneurship. And we started a lot of that in India,
but we've brought it back to US. So I'm very excited about new possibilities for all the Gateway cities because you know, I think this globalization, technology, all this has really enabled entrepreneurs just for a few people to do a tremendous amount of wealth creation, impact and so on. But you don't want a world where a few people make everything happen and the rest of the people are
just beneficiaries. I mean, that's not a stable society. So I'm very excited about a program that we launched about five years ago called for all entrepreneurship for all. So just like entrepreneurship, the power of innovation entrepreneurship, I would like to bident to these Gaveay cities. Well, you're gonna have to come back and tell us about that. Despond, the President chairman of this PARTWO group, being honored tonight by the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce. This is Bloomberg Radio.