By Prakash Narayan–
(Prakash Narayan is chief technology officer at 3K Technologies)
Silicon Valley (and the world of entrepreneurship) woke on Sunday, September 1, to the shocking news that Preetish Nijhawan, a beloved entrepreneur, investor and visionary leader was no more. He passed away on the evening of August 31. Known for his innovative spirit and dedication to technology, Preetish leaves an indelible mark on the technology industry. He was admired not only for his business acumen, but also for his generosity (particularly with his time) and his commitment to mentoring young entrepreneurs. Preetish was like a tree that has more fruit – it bends more.
Preetish could be described as the Silicon Valley engineer-turned-Venture Capitalist. He had a keen propensity towards technology. Given the fast-changing times that we are in, it always amazed me (in the few interactions that I have had with him) that he was up-to-speed on the latest tech trends.
In India, Preetish grew up in Hyderabad and went to Hyderabad Public School (which was also the school that both Satya Nadella and Shantanu Narayen graduated from). He received a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani. He came to the U.S. after getting accepted into a master’s program in Computer Engineering at USC Viterbi School of Engineering in 1989. Upon graduating from USC, Preetish joined Intel as a program manager. He worked there for six years and then pursued the MBA program from Sloan school at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Upon graduating from MIT, Preetish was part of the founding team of Akamai Technologies, a global content delivery network, cybersecurity, and cloud services company in 1998. It should be said that one of other members of the founding team, Danny Lewin, died on 9/11/2001 in one of the airplanes that hit the World Trade Center in New York City. While Akamai is still in existence today (with a revenue of about $4b), Preetish left them in good terms to pursue other leadership roles at McKinsey, Neon, BMC Software, iVita and NeoEdge Networks.
Preetish cofounded Cervin Ventures with Neeraj Gupta in 2011. He found his passion in early stage investing in the enterprise software space. He liked supporting founders by providing them with not just funding, but also resources, knowledge, and the benefit of his vast experience. Over the years, member of the Cervin team have worked with over 100 investments across the enterprise. Some of the start-ups have been sold to corporations like Intel, Oracle, NTT, PAR Technologies, Akamai, SmartBear and others.
Preetish particularly liked working with companies in the formation stage, since he felt that he could add most value in that stage. In a recent interview, Preetish said, “I love what I do. I wake up every morning with a smile on my face, and I hope to be doing this for the rest of my life.”
Unfortunately, fate played a cruel twist, and that brilliant, compassionate life was taken away from us too early.
