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Sabeer Bhatia, Founder, Hotmail


Sabeer Bhatia
Sabeer Bhatia
DESK ESSENTIALS

One book: Dynamic Yoga
One newspaper: The Wall Street Journal
One Web site: Hotmail and Google
One gadget: Cell phone
One plane ticket: South Beach, Miami

DESK ESSENTIALS

What are you reading?

The Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown.

Who's been your biggest influence?

My mentor and close friend -- Dr. Suhas Patil -- the father of Indian entrepreneurship in Silicon Valley.

What's your biggest mistake?

Not hiring the right people (first) and then trusting them too much.

Is management an art or a science?

An art learnt the hard way with age and experience.

What do you reach for on your desk when the fire alarm goes off?

My cell phone.

Curriculum Vitae

  • Born in Bangalore, India, moving to Silicon Valley to study at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.
  • Launched pioneering Web-based e-mail service Hotmail with former Apple colleague Jack Smith in 1996 after raising $300,000 in investments. Within 12 months he sells Hotmail, by now boasting 10 million registered users, to Microsoft for $400 million.
  • Quits Hotmail to launch e-commerce business Arzoo.com in 1999, claiming the venture had the potential to be twice as big as Hotmail, but the site fails to prosper as the dotcom bubble bursts.
  • He says: "I would rather not be known as Mr Hotmail anymore. What is in the past is over. Now I'm looking for the next big thing."


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