WEBVTT - Desh Deshpande: Boston is Blessed With Problem Solvers (Audio)

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<v Speaker 1>Ah. You're listening to Taking Stock with Bim Box and

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<v Speaker 1>Kathleen Hayes on Bluebird Radio. We are broadcasting live from

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<v Speaker 1>the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center before tonight's Greater Boston

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<v Speaker 1>Chamber of Commerce twenty sixteen Annual Meeting. I'm Pim Fox

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<v Speaker 1>my co host Kathleen Hayes. I'd like to introduce now

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<v Speaker 1>the president and the chairman of the Sparta Group. He

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<v Speaker 1>is also a trustee at the foundation that bears his name,

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<v Speaker 1>Desh Despondent. Thank you very much for being here, sir,

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<v Speaker 1>thank you now and just looking a little bit into

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<v Speaker 1>your background, you are what they might call a serial entrepreneur.

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<v Speaker 1>You just can't keep still. Can you give us a

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<v Speaker 1>little capsule of your journey to helping found some of

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<v Speaker 1>the most well known technology companies in the world and

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<v Speaker 1>how you came to be here in Boston. Well, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>I grew up in India, Kim Canada, did my master's,

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<v Speaker 1>taught for a year, got a PhD, worked in Toronto

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<v Speaker 1>for a little bit, and then came division Division of Motorola,

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<v Speaker 1>and then came to Boston, mostly because I wanted to

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<v Speaker 1>do startups and those days, the only two places where

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<v Speaker 1>he could do startups, where Boston and California only two

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<v Speaker 1>places where they had venture capital. And so it's kind

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<v Speaker 1>of naive, you know, a young couple moving into Boston

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<v Speaker 1>not knowing a single soul and say, maybe I'll do

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<v Speaker 1>a company. But that's what entrepreneurship is all about. It's

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<v Speaker 1>a little bit of naivety, a little bit of optimism.

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<v Speaker 1>And Boston has been fantastic to us. And did a

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<v Speaker 1>company called Cascade Communications Sycamore Networks, and I probably did

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<v Speaker 1>about ten of them. And but for the last fifteen years,

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<v Speaker 1>it's not so much I doing companies, but making creating

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<v Speaker 1>ecosystem so other people can start the companies. And of

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<v Speaker 1>course tonight, UH at the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce

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<v Speaker 1>twenty sixteen annual meeting, you will be honored. You'll be

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<v Speaker 1>taken into the academy of just being distinguished Bostonians along

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<v Speaker 1>with two other terrific people. Uh. And in the time

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<v Speaker 1>you've been here, how has Boston changed? You know? Biotech?

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<v Speaker 1>Is this is really the center now for biotech in

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<v Speaker 1>the country. It's not Silicon Valley, it's not anywhere else now,

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<v Speaker 1>it's right here. What makes Boston different though, when you

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<v Speaker 1>talk about creating that the ecosystem for other countries companies

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<v Speaker 1>to develop, how would you compare it to other hotspots. Well,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, I think I think Boston has fantastic educational institutions.

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<v Speaker 1>We have a lot of them, and and in general,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, I think my philosophy and all this is

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<v Speaker 1>built into something that is simple. There is three types

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<v Speaker 1>of people in this world. Some people are oblivious to everything.

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<v Speaker 1>Some people see a problem and get all excited about it.

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<v Speaker 1>Some people see a problem and complain about it. And

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<v Speaker 1>the only difference between a why brunt community and an

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<v Speaker 1>empowerished community is a mix of those people. Boston is

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<v Speaker 1>blessed with problem solvers. You know, we've with being the

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<v Speaker 1>tradition here for a long time, whether it's politics or

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<v Speaker 1>justice or health care, business, technology, science. Every time the

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<v Speaker 1>Boston has gotten into a slump, they've reinvented themselves out

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<v Speaker 1>of it and showing the world how to do it.

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<v Speaker 1>And so I think it's just the just the inner

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<v Speaker 1>way you mind. You know, the power of looking at

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<v Speaker 1>a problem and finding a way to solve it. How

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<v Speaker 1>do you find the resources you You've got the m I.

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<v Speaker 1>T Center, they respond a foundation with three centers in India,

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<v Speaker 1>in here, in Massachusetts, and also in New Brunswick in Canada.

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<v Speaker 1>How do you marshal the money to do that? Well?

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<v Speaker 1>You know, the thing that I found is that, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>when I did a company, you come here, you come

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<v Speaker 1>with nothing, and then if you have a good idea,

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<v Speaker 1>it's amazing people actually write you millions, right. I mean

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<v Speaker 1>nineteen ninety when a million meant a million, first company,

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<v Speaker 1>somebody wrote me a check for three million dollars. I

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<v Speaker 1>mean that was a lot of money. So I think

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<v Speaker 1>if you have good people, good ideas, and you can

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<v Speaker 1>show that you can make a difference when you will

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<v Speaker 1>follow all right, just to go back for just to

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<v Speaker 1>put it into a little more context, Sycamore Networks went

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<v Speaker 1>public in n I think your market cap there was

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<v Speaker 1>eighteen billion. You own a little bit more than a

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<v Speaker 1>fifth of the company. When you meet young entrepreneurs, now,

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<v Speaker 1>what do you wish someone had told you or someone

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<v Speaker 1>had guided you when you were building those companies? I

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<v Speaker 1>don't know. I have not much really, you know, it's

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<v Speaker 1>been such a fun journey. Um. I think you make mistakes,

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<v Speaker 1>but that's a part of the deal. I mean, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>nobody will make a mistake knowingly right, And the only

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<v Speaker 1>mistake you do in life is not to correct it

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<v Speaker 1>when you find that it's a mistake, because mistakes can

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<v Speaker 1>only be found in hindsight. And fortunately, I've had a

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<v Speaker 1>good life. I mean, I can't I can't complain at all.

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<v Speaker 1>What do you worry most about the US economy or

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<v Speaker 1>about the Massachusetts economy? You've done so much. Is there

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<v Speaker 1>one thing in particular you are concerned? They hope may

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<v Speaker 1>because it rests as we get culturing election season. Well,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, I think the thing that I've sort of

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<v Speaker 1>really passionate about for the last ten years has been

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<v Speaker 1>social entrepreneurship. And we started a lot of that in India,

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<v Speaker 1>but we've brought it back to US. So I'm very

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<v Speaker 1>excited about new possibilities for all the Gateway cities because

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<v Speaker 1>you know, I think this globalization, technology, all this has

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<v Speaker 1>really enabled entrepreneurs just for a few people to do

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<v Speaker 1>a tremendous amount of wealth creation, impact and so on.

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<v Speaker 1>But you don't want a world where a few people

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<v Speaker 1>make everything happen and the rest of the people are

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<v Speaker 1>just beneficiaries. I mean, that's not a stable society. So

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<v Speaker 1>I'm very excited about a program that we launched about

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<v Speaker 1>five years ago called for all entrepreneurship for all. So

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<v Speaker 1>just like entrepreneurship, the power of innovation entrepreneurship, I would

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<v Speaker 1>like to bident to these Gaveay cities. Well, you're gonna

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<v Speaker 1>have to come back and tell us about that. Despond,

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<v Speaker 1>the President chairman of this PARTWO group, being honored tonight

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<v Speaker 1>by the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce. This is Bloomberg Radio.