Startup Leadership Program: History
Founders
Anupendra Sharma, Partner, Siemens Venture Capital
Anupendra Sharma is Partner at Siemens Venture Capital investing in healthcare (devices, diagnostics, software and services). Anupendra is an investor in BioImagene, China Diagnostics and Cylex and supports investments in Radpharm and U-Systems. He is a former investor in Sequenom (NASD: SQNM). Prior to SVC, Anupendra was an investment banker and M&A professional for eight years at JPMorgan, Citigroup and Siemens, after he graduated from Cornell’s MBA program. Prior to business school, Anupendra worked at Ford in the UK, and was a member of the team that set up Ford in both India and China. Anupendra co-founded Mobile Medics, named the Most Innovative Social Venture of 2006 by the Global Social Venture Competition for attempting to solve the “last-mile” problem for global rural healthcare, which later became eSwasthya, owned by Piramal Healthcare. Mobile Medics was subject of an hour-long documentary by Japan Broadcasting Corporation and a University of Toronto business school case. Anupendra also started a shrimp farm in Belize, Central America while at business school. Anupendra founded Startup Leadership Program, the Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership at BITS Pilani, is Founding Advisor to Peking University's Venture Capital Association, founder of the Massachusetts Life Sciences Startup Initiative (MALSI) to accelerate the pace of startups in the Commonwealth, and advisor to government and quasi-government agencies on matters related to startups in the Commonwealth. Anupendra holds an MBA from Cornell University, MS in Accounting & Finance from Manchester Business School, and Masters in Economics and Bachelors in Instrumentation Engineering from BITS Pilani, India.
Puran Dang, Founder, Minuteman Group
Mr. Dang is Founder and Chairman of Minuteman Group, Inc., a consulting company started in 1980, focused on Technology Development and Human Resource Services primarily of scientific and technical personnel. Mr. Dang is involved in many community, social, cultural, artistic, and entrepreneurial organizations. He is Chairman Emeritus and former Chairman of MITHAS (MIT Heritage Of The Arts Of South Asia) which is a function of the School Of Arts & Music of Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Mr. Dang is Founder and President Emeritus of Indian Institutes Of Technology Society In New England ( IIT-SINE ), the first association of the alumni of IITs in USA. He also serves on the Board of Governors of IIT Foundation, tasked with raising $200 million under the VISION 2020 program of IIT Kharagpur. Mr. Dang was one of the founding Charter Members of TIE-Boston. He served on the Board of Directors in the initial years, and was Chairman of Membership Committee. He has mentored many young men and women in joining and starting entrepreneurial companies. Mr. Dang has also played a major role in motivating and developing young college students to take part in the American political process. He was the Chairman of the Internship Program of IAFPE (The Indian American Forum for Political Education). During his term, a major effort was made to raise the profile of IAFPE and many college students were sent to The White House, Congressional Offices and Governors’ Offices. Puran Dang holds a B.Tech. (Hons) degree from IIT Kharagpur, honors degree in Physics from Delhi University and an MBA.
SLP History
SLP was founded in 2006 by Anupendra Sharma and Puran Dang. Mr. Dang believed that the “subtle” skills of leadership were critical to the development of entrepreneurial leaders, but were commonly glossed over. A subsequent conversation between Anupendra and Desh Deshpande about the importance of career development resulted in the creation of Startup Leadership Program by Anupendra Sharma.
The founding class of seven Fellows met once a month, starting in September 2006, at Anupendra’s office over a period of nearly one year. The seven Fellows drove the development of the curriculum to bring in speakers in various sectors of life sciences. With an emphasis on creating socially responsible leaders, the class also raised $2,500 for the Jimmy Fund at the Children’s Hospital. At the end of the year, the Class of 2007 gave a big thumbs up in a formal evauation for continuing the program. Recommendations included increasing class size, adding diversity of sectors through technology, cleantech and social enterprise, formal training workshops, and a rigorous, formal and transparent selection process. The class graduated at the end of summer, at the home of Puran Dang, setting a tradition of creating a sense of community and family amongst the mentors and mentees who are part of the program. Tamara Nazzal and Vikas Goyal, Fellows from the 2007 program became the first Program Managers to the Class of 2008.
TiE Boston’s team stepped in to formally support the program in its 2nd year thanks to the enthusiastic backing of President Al Kapoor and Executive Director Vanita Shastri, as the class expanded to 17 Fellows, and saw the introduction of the Skills workshop and several interesting field trips. After graduating in 2008, Shobhit Chugh, Ryan Bardsley and Hooman Hodjat became program managers to the Class of 2009. This was the largest class of 18 Fellows and saw the creation of several new initiatives. Parker Treacy started Ideation Sessions to brainstorm startups, Amar Kendale created the Founders' Salon for alums and current Fellows to work in a more focused manner on startup development, and the rest of the Fellows, working in cohorts, created the Venture Capital Competition and separate day-long Hard and Soft skills workshops.
As the Class of 2010 applications come due, the largest ever team of Program Managers is being lead by Parul Singh who is stepping into the role of Program Coordinator. Anupendra Sharma will focus on expansion of SLP around the globe, with support from Angela Chen. Praveen Yajman has launched SLP's brand new website. Amar Kendale will take on the role of Alumni Coordinator, strengthening connections across the SLP classes.