The Indian Who Helped Build Silicon Valley

Over the past several decades, the story of Silicon Valley has been deeply intertwined with the story of Indian immigrants—engineers, entrepreneurs, and investors who helped shape the technology revolution while building new bridges between the United States and India. Few individuals embody that journey as vividly Kanwal Rekhi . Rekhi was the first Indian-American founder & CEO to take a venture-backed company public on the NASDAQ. He also co-founded and built The Indus Entrepreneurs—or TiE—into the largest global network of Indian entrepreneurs, and cofounded Inventus—where he is building the venture franchise into a catalyst for India’s tech revolution. He writes about his life in his new memoir, The Groundbreaker: Entrepreneurship, the American Dream, and the Rise of Modern India , which traces his remarkable journey from a modest upbringing in India to becoming one of the most influential figures in the Indian diaspora in the United States. To talk more about his book, Kanwal joins Milan on the podcast this week. They discuss his lifelong passion for entrepreneurship, his modest upbringing and challenging early family life, and his role in building the modern Internet. Plus, the two discuss Kanwal’s role in India’s landmark telecommunications reforms and his recent efforts to boost entrepreneurs in India. Episode notes: “ The Secret to Indian Americans' Success (with Meenakshi Ahamed),” Grand Tamasha , June 4, 2025. Meenakshi Ahamed, Indian Genius: The Meteoric Rise of Indians in America (New Delhi: HarperCollins India, 2025). Kanwal Rekhi, “ I’m a tech founder from India. Here’s why I’m worried about the future of America ,” San Francisco Chronicle , February 3, 2026. Zofeen Maqsood, “ Kanwal Rekhi’s next mission: 10 million entrepreneurs by India at 100 ,” American Bazaar , March 3, 2026.

You can listen to The Indian Who Helped Build Silicon Valley online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

The Indian Who Helped Build Silicon Valley is an episode from Grand Tamasha by Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

This episode is 00:59:58 long.

This episode was published on Apr 22, 2026.

Yes. Use the heart button on the episode page to add it to your favorite episodes list.

Yes. This page shows related episodes from Grand Tamasha when more episodes are available from the podcast feed.