Vijay Nadkarni

Vijay Nadkarni

I am a serial entrepreneur, engineer and inventor that currently holds nine patents in voice, data, wireless, motion sensing and pattern recognition with others pending.

Santa Clara, California, United States
Member since October 30, 2012
  • About
I am a(n):

Entrepreneur

If you're an entrepreneur or corporate innovator, why?

I want to invent something cool.

My favorite startups:

GoPro, Square, LinkedIn

What's most frustrating and rewarding about entrepreneurship/innovation?

The markets change quickly. At some point down the road, you often times find that the market opportunity is not exactly what you expected. Frustrating as that might be, to succeed, you must have the ability to quickly adapt and evolve the business model. The rapid change and the myriad cycles one encounters during a startup's life, is for me, what keeps it exciting and interesting. Any startup will have many opportunities to fall off of the cliff and the biggest reward comes when you can make it work. It's all about the journey and making sure that you have the knowledge and confidence needed to successfully deal with whatever comes your way.

What's the No. 1 mistake entrepreneurs/innovators make?

They don't have a solid revenue model. You can have fantastic technology and a terrific team, but if you can't make money, then it doesn't matter.

What are the top three lessons you've learned as an entrepreneur?

Quality of the team matters – many people pick their friends or family for the management team. This can be a huge mistake if they aren't truly the best people to ensure success.

Not being flexible enough, knowing how to adapt. Acquired knowledge is something that one can learn. Fortitude, thinking on ones feet and being creative to develop solutions and deal with the myriad issues that arise.

Don't go to the VC's too early in the game. For many startups, this is the only way to raise initial funding. In my experience however, I've learned that it's better to build the early successes on your own.

Full bio

Vijay has spent over 20 years in the wireless, networking and biomedical sectors and has demonstrated a consistent track record of conceiving and delivering first-to-market products. In addition to founding Mobiplex, Vijay founded Perceptronix and Wellcore, and was the co-founder of Veraz Networks, which had a successful IPO in 2007.

In addition to co-founding Mobiplex, Nadkarni co-founded Wellcore in August 2007, where he co-developed the Wellcore automatic fall detection and monitoring device (personal medical alarm system); and later the NewYu connected fitness monitor device, similar to the fitbit Tracker.
He also co-founded ipVerse, and co-developed ControlSwitch, a product for open soft switch solutions, which merged with Nexverse, later called ECI Telecom on November 1, 2002, and the joint company was renamed Veraz Networks, aglobal provider of application, control and bandwidth optimization solutions. Prior to co-founding ipVerse, Nadkarni founded Perceptronix Inc. in 1992, where the company developed products in pattern recognition.  

Prior to starting his entrepreneurial career, Nadkarni initiated and built the VoIP program at US Robotics and later 3Com (the two companies merged February 27, 1997); was the principal architect at Motorola’s Cellular Infrastructure Group and a lead developer for Motorola’s SmartZone wide-area trunking radio system; and began his career in biomedical sciences at Fuller Research Corporation, a division of Abbott Laboratories, an infrared fiber optics research and development company, where he co-invented and patented designs for cladded optical fiber and a process for manufacturing the same.
 
Education Nadkarni holds a Bachelor of Technology in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay; a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering from Northwestern University, where he was a Walter P. Murphy Fellow; and a Master of Business Administration degree from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.