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Viresh Bhatia to lead TiE in Silicon Prairie

J M Shenoy

One of the biggest names in startups in the Midwest has been elected the president of The Indus Entrepreneurs, a non-profit organization that fosters entrepreneurship and mentoring programs.

"The Midwest's hotbed of talent inherently fosters entrepreneurial spirit," said Viresh Bhatia, who, with Rick Harold, founded InstallShield Software Corporation.

"Our challenge as a not-for-profit organization dedicated to promoting and fostering entrepreneurial efforts, is to nurture and lead that energy in the name of this region's economic growth, as well as technological advancement everywhere."

Bhatia was elected at TiE's 2000 kick-off meeting at the Holiday Inn Mart Plaza, Chicago late last month.

During his acceptance address, he outlined his vision for entrepreneurial growth within the Silicon Prairie fueled by mentoring, networking and education.

Thirteen years ago when Bhatia started InstallShield Software Corporation to develop and market software for the emerging Microsoft Windows environment, the firm had just about half-a-dozen employees. Now InstallShield, a leading provider of innovative installation and software deployment solutions, has 240 employees.

InstallShield products were ranked by New York-based Media Metrix, Inc, as the sixth most-frequently owned and eighth-most-frequently used software among home PC users.

InstallShield has also earned its third inclusion in the prestigious 'Inc 500', Inc Magazine's listing of America's fastest growing private companies.

Bhatia, a BS degree in Computer Science from Northwestern University, has received multiple industry awards including KPMG's 'Illinois High Tech Award', SiliconIndia Magazine's 'Top 100', and Ernst & Young's 'Software Entrepreneur of the Year Award' (Illinois/Northwest Indiana region).

He is also recognized by top Chicago business publication, Crain's Chicago Business, as a driving force in Chicago's technology arena.

Within a few days of Bhatia's election, the TiE-Midwest Chapter launched the Angel Forum, a group of charter members, angel investors and venture capitalists organized to provide strategic counsel and financial resources to budding TiE entrepreneurs in the Midwest.

The forum provides entrepreneurs with an opportunity to present their business plans and gain invaluable insights into starting and growing their businesses from successful professionals.

Bhatia has planned the Angel Forum to hold meetings several times a year to review and critique pre-selected business plans. Entrepreneurs selected to participate will have 15 minutes to present their business plans followed by 15 minutes of Q&A.

"TiE members across the country have generated more than $ 50 billion in wealth and played a powerful role in shaping today's technology marketplace," he said, discussing the importance of Angel Forum and grooming new generation of entrepreneurs.

"We are committed to ensure that TiE-Midwest provides our membership the tools to advance these results and yield proportionate statistics for this region's entrepreneurs," he said.

The Angel Form will hold its first meeting on February 17 at 1800 at 900 National Parkway, Suite 125, Schaumburg.

TiE is a not-for-profit organization of industry professionals who share the common interests of promoting and fostering entrepreneurial efforts. Among its founding leaders are Desh Deshpande, Vinod Khosla and Kanwal Rekhi, some of the biggest names in the Internet business.

The TiE-Midwest Chapter, the sixth TiE chapter, was launched on November 13, 1998.

For more information about TiE-Midwest, visit the chapter's web site at www.tie-midwest.org or call (847) 289-4542.

For more information, visit www.tie.org.

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