SANTA CLARA, CA: The biggest entrepreneurship conference in the world, TiEcon was held at the Santa Clara Convention Center on May 5 and 6. This year marks the 25th anniversary of Tie. The event registered record attendance with a total of about 6800 individuals, 1400 of who were first timers and about 862 startups.
On May 4, there was a startup bootcamp.The conference, spread out over the next two days, included the following tracks: Software Defined Infrastructure, Internet of Things (IoT), Fintech(Financial Technology)and Blockchain, Govtech (Technology in Government), Security, Machine Learning,Digital Health, Entrepreneurship, AR/VR, Autonomous Vehicles, Social Impact, Martech (Marketing Technology), Drones, Youth and Gaming. There was also a Words of Wisdom track that was meant for experienced entrepreneurs to help new entrepreneurs by sharing their experiences.
Awards were given to the 50 top startups shortlisted from about 100 that were selected to present at the event from 1300 initial entries.
The expo had booths of startups and other organizations, exhibiting their products and services. States such as Odisha from India and countries such as Singapore – which is hosting a FinTech conference later this year – were present, too, seeking to attract investors and talent.
Along with Q & A sessions and panel discussions, the conference was marked by several keynote presentations by notable personalities, usually founders, venture capitalists, CEOs and other top-level executives.
Congress member Ro Khanna delivered one of the opening speeches. He exhorted people in Silicon Valley to take on leadership beyond technology to solve America’s problems and help the middle class for the 21st century economy.
Tim Draper, Founding Partner, Draper Associates and DFJ, was the inaugural grand keynote speaker of TiEcon 2017. He gave a broad sweep of the technologies that would change the way the world works, such as technology in the government sector (Govtech) and finance (Fintech, Bitcoin and Blockchain). (Blockchain is a software technology that allows digital transfer of assets using Bitcoin – www.blockchain.com).
His organization, Draper University that he started to foster entrepreneurship, has spawned many startups. In addition, his children are actively involved in venture capitalism and accelerators.
Mr. Draper ended his speech with a poem, an ode to TiE, which drew great applause.
The first day wrapped up with another keynote by the legendary Vinod Khosla, co-founder of Sun Microsystems, venture capitalist and philanthropist, and Partner at Khosla Ventures, who was interviewed by Jillian Manus.
He gave an inspiring talk, touching upon the importance of luck, trying out different ways of doing things, intelligent risk taking and failures, and having an internal compass – a set of values to guide one in tough times. He has said in the past, “Break all the rules, but keep your values”.
The speakers at the conference included dignitaries such as the Consul Generals of the Philippines, Mexico and India and Siim Sikkut, Chief Information Officer, Country of Estonia, who delivered the closing keynote in the Govtech track.
From the democratization of clinical data and the marriage of medicine with artificial intelligence and data analytics to the programming of devices to perform digital financial transactions, from drones and other autonomous vehicles to Augmented/Virtual Reality, the conference offered a glimpse into the radical, brave new world (to paraphrase Aldous Huxley) out there.
Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, Chairman and CEO, Nantworks, gave the opening grand keynote speech on the second day. His presentation titled ‘Artificial Intelligence in Precision Medicine’, focused on a combination of machine vision and machine learning in developing cures for complex diseases.
The second keynote was a conversation between two entrepreneurs, Ravi Mhatre, Partner, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Dheeraj Pandey, Founder, CEO and Chairman, Nutanix, Inc. Ravi, a Stanford engineering graduate, was inspired by his father – an Indian immigrant to the United States,who himself was an entrepreneur and involved with TiE from its early days.
Ravi persisted through the post 9/11 economic slowdown to succeed. One of the pieces of advice he offered was that entrepreneurship has to come from within.
TiEcon 2017 drew to a close with a special ticketed entertainment segment by Mika Singh.
The complete list of speakers and tracks can be found at: http:/www.tiecon.org/. Videos of presentations can be found on YouTube – TiESiliconValley channel.
Some of the exhibitors at TiEcon 2017:
SankaraNethralaya Om Trust – This well known non-profit has been delivering yeoman eye care services to the poor.
Ovenues – Event hosting company
Vigilent – They were among the top 50 startups this year. Their work centers on data driven decision-making.
Network Pouch – This is a web and graphic design company.
Aryavrat – This is a company that is into human resource productivity management.
Medongo – This is a telemedicine company.
Vonage – This Voice Over IP phone service company has been in the picture for a few years now, serving customers across the world.
WILCO Source – This is a professional services company, whose area of expertise includes the Salesforceplatform.
RotaHeat – They won the TiE global award for renewable heat technology.
Cricket social – This is a global cricket connection company.
Trushelf Inc. – This is a company that specializes in adaptive mathematics learning.
Invest in Bavaria – Their booth sought to attract investors to Germany.
Kuaiwear – They design personal fitness coaching devices such as smart headphones.
Livo Corporation – They offer an enterprise platform for development of mobile applications
Digital OnUs – This is a digital business delivery system company
Cohesity – They offer a data management and analytics platform
Cavirin- This is a company that is into security, assessment and remediation. They offer a DevOps-friendly API.
BNP Paribas/Bank of the West – The giant French bank, BNP Paribas, has acquired local banks in several countries to facilitate business. Bank of the West is one such subsidiary. BNP Paribas is looking to expand its global reach and facilitate the international growth of great ideas.
Pinmiero – This is an IoT (Internet of Things) startup from Kerala, India, that won the TiE50 (one of the top 50 startups) award. They already have a customer base in Japan.
1074 Vectors – This is another startup from Kerala, India, specializing in 3D Graphics. They have developed LIDAR (Laser Based Radar) to extract 3D data as well as the software to read it.
Greentum Labs – This is an energy sector startup that has developed a smart energy model for homes. They are currently working with the Kerala State Board.
Ahead Pace – This Hyderabad based startup has built decision systems for various verticals.
Strategism – This 8 year old company offers IT project management and consulting services as well as Agile/Scrum training programs.
Vitls – A TiE50 winner, this healthcare startup offers a platform to remotely monitor patients and their vitals, including processes such as respiration, through a device.
Leowin Solutions – The Mangalore, India-based startup was one of the non-IT exhibitors. Leowin attempts to solve a different kind of problem, namely, that of deadly mosquitoes such as the ones carrying the killer Zika virus.
The company has designed a device to attract and kill mosquitoes.
Since the disease-carrying mosquito menace is a global problem, they were looking for investors and venture capital.
Foundation of Excellence – The non-profit operating in the US and India, was founded by Dr. PrabhuGoel about 23 years ago, to further the cause of providing higher education to the underprivileged. They have scholarships for very poor students who apply for medicine/engineering programs.
Paranjpe Builders/Athashri – Athashri is a senior living community project that is the brainchild of Paranjpe Builders, and is being built in Hayward, California.
Impress – This is an Artificial Intelligence (AI) platform for banks.
Kristal – This is an AI powered online asset management tool dealing with securities and managing funds.
Finvoice- This is a Fintech startup, providing cloud-based services for lending (Source: http://www.finvoice.co).
Helper – This startup that has pivoted from elder care, is a vertically integrated hiring platform. The company is building data systems to help employers.
Chugh Firm – This is a law firm that has been involved with TiEcon from its very inception.
t-Hub – This Hyderabad, India based incubator supports many startups.
One of the startups interviewed was into intelligent diagnostics and repair of electrical power grids.
Lakshmi Iyer
India Post News Service
Thank You For Your Vote!
Sorry You have Already Voted!
