K.B. Chandresekhar conveniently left out one fact. His company Exodus communications went bankrupt. A lot of investors lost their money, a part of their life savings.
Hello as iam azhar mohiuddin working in Saudi Arabia as a marketing executive in shipping company it was very interesting journey of Mr. K B Chandrasekhar. As per his experience, marketing plays a vital role in business. i strongly belive education and training plays a key to sucess of any bussines.
With all due respect, Exodus is a complete failure, except may be for the ones who cashed out before the company crashed and burned! One critical measure of a company is its sustainablity. This company has ceased to exist! Not mentioning this critical fact is one of the most "amazing" part of the "story of Chandra". I wonder if Mr. Chandra is out looking to raise more money for another IPO. Watch out!
RE:Real story: Exodus and Chandra
by Sam on Aug 05, 2006 01:13 AM Permalink
Mr. Bhaskaran:
If you are willing to praise somebody, to the tune of billions of dollars, just for taking risks that's your choice. But I prefer to measure an entreprenure by the results. A lot of companies are formed during an investment boom like the one observed during the late-nineties in the US. But as anyone with any real business experience will say, you can sort out the men from the boys when a recession hits. These boys ran as fast as they could, with their tails between their legs, as soon as the time got tough leaving the company in the hands of a woman. If Mr. Chandra and his cronies really believed in their business they would have stuck it out in the good times and the bad. When somebody calls himself a serial entreprenure he should know which word to emphasise. BTW, may be you can refrain from calling anybody a communist just for voicing one's opinion about a businessman's responsibility beyond making money for himself.
RE:Real story: Exodus and Chandra
by Chris on Aug 06, 2006 11:03 AM Permalink
Mr. Baskaran,
Please take a close look at what really happened at Exodus. It NEVER made a single penny, yet its foundersbecame millionaires - how? Simple, they made money cheating its investors (those investors included widows and orphans). Even after it went bankrupt, these shameless founders still 'glorify' their 'achievements. Let us keep a proper perpective about entrepreneurs and not come to the defense since he is a fellow country-man.
RE:Real story: Exodus and Chandra
by Baskaran on Aug 03, 2006 08:49 AM Permalink
May be Sam & Hiten don't understand that spirit of entrepreneurship is about taking risks. The important point is Chandra's thirst for doing something useful and his hard work to achieve that. If he wanted, he could have continued in Wipro or other companies, but is that challenging? Nobody starts business thinking that it should fail. But, when it happens you need to have great courage and face the situation and move on. Even though he failed in sustaining Exodus, he managed to move ahead and do new things, which could be equally risky. His ventures in India focussing on research and in US just proves his never-say-die spirit. It could be true that many employees have lost jobs but is all part of the game and they also in the process gain strength and move on. To me, you comments show your communist mentality and age old arguments about job security etc. This is one reason, India is yet to catch up in entrepreneurship as people are averse of taking risks. If you don't understand the spirit of venturing on your own thats fine- 9-5 job will be the best for you, but don't discourage others who want to achieve.
Do you know hat happened to EXODUS? In 2001 the company went Bankrupt and a$10 billion Value company was sold for $393 million to Cable and Wireless and then for measely $110 million to Savvis. Do you realize how many people lost employment and savings due to the investment in their stocks. Guys like Rekhi, Chandrasekhar and Jagdeesh made $$$$$$. Did they ever cared to find out the state of the EXODUS employees?
