Previous Occupation:

Pre ISB: Member of Technical Staff, Infinera (Optical Networking Products), 2005

Last Job: Director of Products, PubMaticInc (Online advertising), Until 2010

Present Occupation: Co-Founder, MindTickleInc

Sector: Gamification and Learning

Work Experience: 10 years

Interests – Professional/Personal: Professional –Online learning and event management Personal – Travel and water sports

Tell us about yourself – your profile, recap your professional life after ISB including your career progression.
I have always been a “startup” guy – more comfortable in very small and passionate groups doing strange and/or creative stuff.

I started my career in 2000 and for next five years, I was part of startups developing photonic and semiconductor chips in India and the US. After ISB, I decided to experiment with the internet space and joined Microsoft, as a program manager. This was my first corporate experience. After spending a couple of years in the corporate world, I went back to my roots and joined PubMatic, a startup in the online advertising space.

Now finally, after ten years of trying, failing and learning, I have started MindTickle, my own venture with anotherISB alum and a few friends, where we are trying to create a gamification platform for employee engagement and learning.

Describe your fondest memory at ISB.
Although I graduated from the Class of 2006, Iwas associated very closely with ISB until 2008. Since I worked at Microsoft, which is very close to the ISB campus, I was on campus almost every evening, having fun with students and staff.

It is really hard to identify the “fondest” memory from the countless amazing moments I have had at ISB – dunking, parties, arbit CP (class participation), celebrations, etc. But the one thing that is closest to my heart is the making of the world’s first wiki movie “Sapney” by ISB alumni across the world. It was a lot of fun to work with alums and create a movie on ISB. Everyone came together to provide full support and participated with a lot of enthusiasm.

With the knowledge and experience gained at ISB, when looking back, tell us something that you would have done differently while you were a student here?
Looking back, I feel that I should have started my entrepreneurial journey during my ISB days. Instead of focusing on grades and getting confused with multiple career paths, it would have been best to get as much experiential knowledge by launching something and leveraging upon the ISB network and support that I had at that time.

In your personal life, how have you changed post-ISB? Do you see yourself doing something differently because you went to ISB? What has left a lasting impression?Definitely.Before ISB, I always used to daydream a lot.Post ISB, after working with so many smart people and seeing the success stories of ISB alums, I have become more confident in working towards converting my dreams to reality.

How do you think ISB has contributed to your career growth?
The ISB network has given me a lot of connections. I have asolid support system and know that anything I need in any field is just a phone call away.

In retrospect, I think ISB was one of the best decisions of my life. I made lifelong friends and am currently working on several ideas that were conceived during my ISB days.

If you have to sum up ISB in one word: Awesome !

What are the areas that you can contribute to at ISB?
I was in the Placements Committee at ISB and I have seen many students go through placement-related dilemmas. Thus, I will be happy to provide help in this area. Also, I would love to help the entrepreneurship centre and budding entrepreneurs in any way I can.

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