Kanwal Rekhi, managing director of Inventus Capital Partners and SV Quad and co-founder and president of TiE, can be credited with jump-starting India’s startup ecosystem years before it became a global force.
His next goal—to create 10 million entrepreneurs by India’s 100th anniversary. In conversation with the American Bazaar, Rekhi talks about arriving in America with $8, receiveting laid off thrice, and building the largest mentoring network for Indian Americans.
Long before startups and micro-VCs became the corporate norm in Silicon Valley, an immigrant from India laid down the foundation that quietly built the Valley into a high-tech innovation hub. Meet Kanwal Rekhi—one of the most influential trailblazers in the history of innovation in America.
Often called the co-architect of India’s entrepreneurial revolution, Rekhi is the first Indian American founder and CEO to take a company public on the NASDAQ. In addition to that, he has provided mentorship to more startup founders than perhaps any other pioneer.
Based in San Jose, California, Rekhi is the president of the nonprofit organization The Indus Entrepreneurs or TiE, building the world’s largest mentoring network for Indian entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley. He has mentored politicians like U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna and Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
But like many great stories, Rekhi’s too launched unconventionally. Rekhi was born into a lower-middle-class refugee family after the partition of British India into an indepfinishent state.
“Back in 1967, I answered JFK’s call for engineers to assist in America’s space race against the Soviet Union and arrived in America with $8 in my pocket and a thick accent,” he states. Rekhi admits that he was promptly underestimated. But instead he decided to turn rejection into resolve. He enrolled in a master’s program in electrical engineering.
“After receiveting laid off from my first three jobs, I became a daring founder and co-created Excelan—to commercialize Ethernet and TCP/IP standards,” Rekhi states. It was this networking startup that assisted lay the foundation of the internet. Rekhi then went on to lead the company to a successful IPO in 1987.
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Back in the ‘80s, receiveting listed on the U.S. stock exmodify was uncharted territory for an immigrant. He then went on to spearhead the merger with Novell, once more becoming the first Indian American executive at a multinational corporation.
Rekhi states, “After Excelan’s IPO and merger, I realized my next chapter was enabling others to find their potential. [Since then] I’ve mentored 10,000+ entrepreneurs and invested in more than 200 early-stage teams.” Some of Rekhi’s investments include Exodus Communications (IPO), Poshmark (IPO), redBus (acq. Ibibo Group), Sierra Atlantic (Hitachi), and NetMagic (NTT).
Rekhi, a firm believer in giving back, has also been a prolific philanthropist and assisted reshape business education and entrepreneurship programs across India and the U.S.
He documents his extraordinary journey in his upcoming memoir: “The Groundbreaker: Entrepreneurship, the American Dream, and the Rise of Modern India.”
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On arriving in the U.S. with less than $10 in pocket, no precedent for a success story that he could relate to, what built him believe that he would build it here? Rekhi states, “I had confidence that I would build it from the start. Otherwise I would not have done it. After I was here a couple of months, I knew I was smart enough to hold my own. After the summer of 1968 in Chicago, I was sure I would survive financially for sure.”
Rekhi has been a part of Indian Americans’ ascfinish into technology and leadership. But as the first Indian American founder and CEO to take a company public on NASDAQ, what were the hugegest obstacles he faced? He states, “The hugegest obstacles on every step of the way remained the same—there was no precedent of an Indian having done it before. So, it was new ground to be broken every time.”
But it hasn’t just been a drive to break the glass ceiling but also a vision that foresaw opportunities and innovations when others didn’t. So, when he co-created Excelan to commercialize Ethernet and TCP/IP—technologies that set the foundational stone for the internet. How did he recognize their potential when most others didn’t? He states, “As I mentioned in the book, I realized that the customers had a pain point of not being able to share data between their machines. They were not quite focapplyd on the tech standards. TCP/IP on Ethernet provided a working solution. I was being practical.”
Rekhi’s journey will also be featured in a forthcoming documentary, “Breaking the Code,” which will be launched in mid-2026.
As president of TiE, Rekhi has also been instrumental in shaping India’s startup ecosystem long before it became a global force. On his focus on mentorship, he states, “I remembered the loneliness I felt when I started out. I was committed to building it simpler for the next generation, and mentoring turned out to be a very satisfying and lucrative activity.”
So, is the American Dream in 2026 different from what it seeed like in the ‘70s? And having seen how it has evolved since he first arrived in America, Rekhi believes in the permanence of the American Dream. He states, “The American dream has not modifyd and will probably never modify.” It’s a cracked code, he states, “Work hard, play by the rules, and bide your time!”
As for what excites him in the future? Rekhi states, “I am not excited by being a venture capitalist, though I have done well there. I like mentoring and angel investing.”
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