Ram Shriram
Ram Shriram
Kavitark Ram Shriram is a founding board member and one of the first investors in Google. He earlier served as an officer of Amazon.com working for Jeff Bezos. Shriram came to Amazon.com in August, 1998, when Amazon acquired Junglee, an online comparison shopping firm of which Shriram was president. Before Junglee and Amazon, Shriram was a member of the Netscape executive team, joining them in 1994, before they shipped products or posted revenue...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionBusinessman
CountryUnited States of America
attribute checking correctly extra homework life lots mentor miss number signing sure tests time
My mother has been my mentor in my life. The number one attribute was discipline. To be on time to school, never miss a day at school, and then checking out homework and making sure I was doing it correctly and signing me up for lots of activities, extra tests and classes.
believe certainly education mainly
My focus is mainly on education. I believe education made all the difference for me, and it is certainly going to make all the difference for other children, too.
country wireless
No country should waste wireless spectrum. Especially not India, where the cellphone has become the personal computer.
area ended northern series
Basically, I left Northern Telecom after 7.5 years of being in one company after school. And then, I ended up in a series of start-ups. The first of those was a company called Sitech, and they were in local area networks.
best life strive
Life is fleeting, and permanence in this world is something we all strive for. The best way to achieve permanence is through philanthropy.
enjoy except limited might nice partners provide
There are times I think it might be nice to have deep-pocketed limited partners to provide me with some cushion. But I enjoy having no responsibilities except to myself, financially.
customers
Stay externally focused - on your customers - and focus internally when you have to hire.
cannot lock people
I think, ultimately, open always wins out. It wins out because you cannot lock data in; you can't lock people in. They will find a way out.
best business
My only loyalty is to what's best for business, not to any set of constituents.
aol biggest coming connect consumers easy growing remember signing single
I remember when AOL was small and they were growing like mad. Consumers were coming on in droves because they made it easy to connect to the Internet. That was the single biggest innovation of AOL; when grandmas were signing up, AOL had arrived.
downs highs hours life lived lows matter ups within
I have lived the life of the entrepreneur, and so I know the pain they are feeling. I know the daily ups and downs they go through. You know, they have their highs and lows sometimes within a matter of hours in a day.
america companies lead needs opportunity sure wants
If America wants to lead the world, it needs to make sure new ideas can get to market. More opportunity will birth more companies that create more jobs.
became bell bought ended labs northern worked
I ended up working in Michigan for a young company called Sycor out of Michigan, worked there, and that company got bought by Northern Telecom. We became the Bell Northern Research Labs of Northern Telecom.
bands decision digital either industry maintain needed pieces status tv wants wireless
There are still some pieces that aren't being used, like the white-space bands between TV channels. With digital broadcasting, those buffers aren't needed anymore. The wireless telcos want to lease them, while the TV industry wants to maintain the status quo. Either decision would be a mistake.