Anand Rajaraman has seen the startup world from pretty much every angle, and particularly when it comes to mainstreaming innovative technologies, there are few people with more experience and knowledge. We’re so excited to have him join us for the next episode of Udacity Talks, and we look forward to hearing Sebastian Thrun deliver your questions to Anand throughout the episode!
Anand Rajaraman joins us for Episode 5 of Udacity Talks on Friday, August 26th, at 11AM PDT. RSVP now, and send in your questions via the link in your confirmation email.
Mainstreaming Innovation
Anand Rajaraman’s career displays a remarkable knack for not only founding successful startups, but parlaying those successes into personal career advancements as well. He co-founded Junglee in 1996, and after it got acquired by Amazon, he became Director of Technology at Amazon! Then, in 2005, he co-founded Kosmix, which was acquired by Wal-Mart. Can you guess where this is headed? Yes! Anand then became SVP of Global eCommerce at WalMart.
A Knack for Investing
Anand also possesses a finely-tuned radar for identifying promising ventures other than his own. Cambrian Ventures, the venture firm he co-founded in 2000, enjoys a long list of impressive investments, including a little company called Facebook, which his company invested in all the way back in 2005, when Facebook was only a month past being “thefacebook.com.” Other notable investments include Aster Data Systems (acquired by Teradata), Efficient Frontier (acquired by Adobe), Neoteris (acquired by Juniper), Transformic (acquired by Google), and Kaltix (acquired by Google).
What’s Next?
Curious where Anand’s radar is taking him these days? That’d be a great question to send to Sebastian! But, to give you a hint, you might be interested to know that Cambrian Ventures recently put a significant amount of seed money into a certain mobile-only doctor consultation platform, which puts Anand right at the forefront of a revolution in Healthcare IT funding!
Why You Should Tune In To Udacity Talks
You should tune in to Udacity Talks Episode 5 with Anand Rajaraman because he really, really, really understands entrepreneurship, investing, and the startup world. So if you have any interest in building your ideas and innovations into something significant and substantial, then you have a rare chance to learn directly from someone who knows. RSVP today, and prepare to learn!
“Some startups are born great: the right team starts with the right idea at the right time, and the rest is history. Some have greatness thrust upon them: the right conjunction of market forces propels an unlikely startup to dizzying heights. Other startups, not so lucky as those in the first two categories, need to earn their greatness. And sometimes that requires a reboot.” —Anand Rajaraman
