Sabeer Bhatia, Founder, Hotmail
| Sabeer Bhatia |
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| 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
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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."