By Sanjiv Goyal Featuring Naren Gupta
From Engineer To Entrepreneur
Naren Gupta is a technologist, mathematician, entrepreneur, and venture capitalist. Over his expansive career, the founder of Nexus Venture Partners has remained on the cutting edge of tech. He has evolved from engineer to entrepreneur to purposeful investor always keeping one eye on the future.
How does an engineer become an entrepreneur? It’s a matter of mindset. Gupta says, “Entrepreneurship is not about coming up with an idea someday and working on it; it becomes a way of looking at the world differently.”
He started his first company, Integrated Systems, in 1980 because he was curious about the role software could play in our lives. He was able to envision a world in which software became a part of every device. Just as he said, it wasn’t an idea but a shift in his perspective that started it all.
Entrepreneurial Success Secrets
Gupta was successful because he found people to fill in the gaps. He understood his strengths and was honest about his weaknesses. He spent his time focusing on what he excelled at and found people who were skilled at other aspects to play supporting roles.
His advice to entrepreneurs: Find an area you are passionate about, an issue for which the solution isn’t obvious and then begin exploring this realm. Figure out your strengths and uncover your weaknesses then ask for help in those places. It takes a team.
How the Internet Will Continue to Shape the Future
Gupta has seen the Internet go from inception to explosion. A savvy businessman, he has artfully adapted to the shifting tech landscape. Just as he imagined a world in which software was integrated into every device, he now envisions a world where every device is connected to the internet.
The three phases of tech integration:
1. Pre Internet
Tech is operated behind glass doors; giant computers the size of a room are occasionally consulted for computations
2. Early Internet
Access to the internet via desktops, laptops, and mobile devices; software becomes sophisticated; early stages of AI, intentional interaction with the Internet; people choose when/how much to be online
3. Integrated Internet
Technology, the internet, and software is integrated into everything including our bodies; everything and everyone is online; “Offline ceases to exist as a concept; AI sophistication
The phase we are in is mid to late early Internet. Although we are connected to the internet via the devices in our pocket that go everywhere with us, we still have to take initiative. The degree to which technology benefits us is the degree to which we are active participants. We still have to take out our phones and type into search engines.
In the Integrated Internet era, we will become the passive beneficiaries of technological advances. Technology will surround us seamlessly and we won’t need to do anything to utilize it. It will simply be integrated into everything we do, making recommendations to us, scanning our vitals, interacting with us rather than the other way around. Futurist Michio Kaku predicts this in his book, Physics of the Future.
The Pros and Cons of AI
Most tech advancements have evolved from their uses in weaponry or surveillance, not from the peaceful intention to elevate society. Take atomic energy which was used to make weapons of mass destruction or airplanes, which were first bought and produced en masse for military purposes. The internet was developed by DARPA for battlefield communication, while semiconductors and satellites were produced for surveillance.
Gupta posits that most new advancements flow from military use to public use. Once in public circulation, they take on an altruistic function. AI is in the same category today being used by some for holistic purposes and exploited for private interests by others.
Mindful use of technology makes our world a better place and allows us to reach our full human potential. When tech is misused to hurt people it limits our collective progress. With all technology, it is the intent with which it is used that makes it “good” or “bad.”
Intentional use of AI is the way forward. The question is: Can we build systems that are fundamentally designed to prevent bad behavior?
It is going to be a challenge just like nuclear weapons and social media. AI has huge potential, but anything that has huge potential has potential pitfalls and we as a society need to address the elephant in the room.
“That is the price you pay for every development in tech, at least in the beginning. It is used for bad and overtime as it develops and becomes more sophisticated, more positive cases of use emerge vs negative cases.”
Gupta is a believer in the goodness of people. He gives everyone an “A” when he meets them and believes that when given the chance, people are motivated to do good. He predicts that over time we will address and correct the pitfalls of AI as a society because goodness is our nature.
Accountability: the Cornerstone of Ethical Implementation of Tech
Ethics in AI comes down to intentional creation, understanding both the positive and negative implications, and taking accountability. AI is here to play a support role to help humans achieve their full potential and take us to the next phase of our evolution. It is here to empower us to make better decisions, not to decide for us.
“My concern is that we stop thinking, that we will turn our responsibilities over, that we will shirk accountability. We are still the responsible party, not the AI system. No matter what kind of a system we build, we are responsible for its behavior and its outcomes.” — Naren Gupta
Engineering Leadership
Engineers like Gupta are trained to look for and stay with complex problems. We have elected to stay behind the scenes, but we need to challenge ourselves to take more active roles. You can be the best advisor to someone, but you will never have the same impact if you don’t step up into a position of power and responsibility.
The trend in leadership has been that those with MBAs run things, but across the board, engineers make better leaders because we have refined analytic and problem-solving capabilities.
We have to take more responsibility both in the private sector and in government. The world will be a better place if more engineers step into leadership roles. This is something that isn’t taught at IIT, but perhaps it should be part of the curriculum going forward.
The era of starting companies to make money is over. The companies that will achieve recognition and success moving forward will be the ones that were started to make the world a better place.
And Gupta points out, “The people starting those companies must begin to view themselves and their responsibilities as those of long-term leaders of growing organizations. We must become comfortable in a new role. It is our civic duty. It is our duty to humanity.”
