Modest beginings

I have always been interested in the history of business and draw a lot of inspiration from the great entrepreneurs of our times. What they have achieved is truely great, but how they started is even more amazing. John Rockefeller started his career as an apprentice bookkeeper in Cleveland, OH and created Standard Oil from scratch. At one point he accounted for 10% of America's wealth! Andrew Carnegie, son of a hand loom weaver, came to America when he was 11 years old and started working in a cotton factory. He "owned" the steel industry at one point and helped propel America to the forefront of the industrial revolution. We have more recent success stories like Michael Dell, Larry Ellison, Bill Gates, Warren Buffet etc. What is it about America that makes people dream big? There is something awesome about this country that other nations should try to emulate. Honestly, I don't know the answer. I come from a family of farmers from India and my father was the first one to break the convention by joining the armed forces. I don't know from where I mustered the courage to start a software company right out of b-school? I met some truely amazing people when I first came to America and can attribute some of the inspiration to those folks. Yes, I have been lucky in this aspect. But there is something about this country that brings out the best in people. One of them is this sense of empowerment and equality. There is this unfliching faith in the future, that it will be great if you work hard.

Sounds like a 4th of July type of post :-) Never intended it to be that. But hey, its the right time of the year to salute the American spirit. I will end this post by lobbying for keeping the inheritence tax (there is so much talk about it nowadays.) Nothing is more imporant than aspiring to have a level playing ground. I couldn't find a more appropraite quote than this one by Warren Buffet - "Repealing the estate tax would be equivalent to choosing the 2020 Olympic team by picking the eldest sons of the gold-medal winners in the 2000 Olympics."