I am passionate about innovation and love to guide teams to successfully achieve stretch goals. I have found that with optimism, creativity and organized effort individuals and teams can do more than what they think they are capable of. I started my professional life as an engineer in a networking startup (RapidCity) and learned best practices for efficient product development from a team of very experienced serial entrepreneurs. These skills were further honed in three subsequent startup firms (Inkra Networks, Nevis Networks, Damballa Networks). My various roles in these startups involved working directly with customers to fully understand their needs and concerns, and leading our teams to deliver appropriate solutions. I started my own firm Confiserve to help entrepreneurs deliver MVPs using lean startup methodology, design thinking and Agile development process.Community is very important to me, and I deeply consider the impact of my actions and work on society. I feel strongly about equalizing access to opportunities for everyone. I joined the Liberty Partnership Program (http://libertypartnerships.com/ ) as a tutor in its early days and participated in pioneering work led by dedicated social workers and teachers, who carved a path for its participants to college or to the job core. I have carried learnings from this experience to my professional work and community work. With a few team members, I helped to start an education program in rural India that helps children from young age, and sees them through to a vocational or professional job (http://akshara.uwcmahindracollege.org) . One of the most satisfying aspects of my life is to see the fruits of this labor, where both male and female participants of the program are making it all the way to US Universities, getting good jobs and turning around to support their communities.