The Education Problem: Raj Reddy (Part 3)

The cost of education has been the source of intense debates around the world. Can a new framework and approach increase the quality of education while decreasing the cost? Can it increase accessibility to quality education and become a global solution? In this next segment, Raj provides some insight to these questions.

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Turn Around Series: Jerry Rawls, Finisar (Part 4)

A key strategic victory for Finisar was facilitating the fiber channel stadard to utilize multimode fiber and shorter wavelengths. Here Jerry discusses how Finisar was able to do this, a feat which leading experts at the time said was impossible.

The Education Problem: Raj Reddy (Part 2)

Essential to Raj’s vision is the creation of a knowledge base, which requires a substantial amount of time and funding to develop. Here we learn one manner in which this can be accomplished. SM: Before you move on let me ask you, purely from a systems building and systems scalability point of view, if you’re

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Turn Around Series: Jerry Rawls, Finisar (Part 3)

To support the company initially, Finisar relied on providing consulting services. It’s a very common way that companies bootstrap themselves. I have done it myself. SM: What kind of Consulting did you provide? Like System Integrators? JR: Well, actually, the first customer would be Raynet themselves, but we would have to get others soon enough.

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The Education Problem: Raj Reddy (Part 1)

Recently I talked with Raj Reddy (wiki bio here) about his thoughts in applying technology to education. To begin this series we review the theoretical foundation for his current work. SM: Raj, I am really looking forward to having a discussion on what I would call strategy and policy in terms of broader use of

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Is Bootstrapping Becoming Sexy Again?

Gone are the days when entrepreneurs boasted at cocktail parties about how many million dollars they have raised for their startups. That was so very nineties! Yes, times have changed. Entrepreneurs seem to have become savvier. In the last 2 months, I have worked / spoken with several sets of entrepreneurs who are perfectly happy

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Turn Around Series: Jerry Rawls, Finisar (Part 2)

After discussing his background, Jerry talks about the decision he and Frank Levinson made to go out on their own and create Finisar. SM: What year does that bring us to, when you left Raychem? JR: That will get us to about 1986 I would guess. In 1986 I was the general manager of a

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Online Video Beneficiaries: Introduction

Last night, I started publishing an interview with Jerry Rawls, CoFounder and CEO of Finisar (FNSR), an fiber optics components leader that has gone through tremendous turmoil in its relatively long history. Remember, fiber optics, at one time, was a very hot market. Numerous startups got funded, massive amounts of venture money went down those

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