EP #46: Ruban Kanapathippillai - Serial Tech Entrepreneur With Two Exits Collectively Over $1 Billion

Ruban Kanapathippillai (@rubanmusings) is a entrepreneur, angel investor, charter member at TiE Silicon Valley and author of the "Accidental Entrepreneur" series.He joins Ara on this week’s episode of #TheTamilCreator to discuss how he's seen The Bay Area change in the many years he's lived there, why he decided to become an angel investor, building a company from 5 founders to 200 employees in about 2 years, having his first company acquired by Intel, how a heart attack was a wake up call to prioritize mental health and much more.Follow Ruban:- LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/ruban-kanapathippillai-064413/) Timestamps00:19 - Ara introduces this week’s guest, Ruban Kanapathippillai01:23 - Ruban talks about his upbringing in Sri Lanka, how he met his wife05:22 - The Bay Area; then vs. now (corporations, real estate, etc.)11:57 - The impact of digitalization and COVID (on Silicon Valley)16:09 - How prevalent is the Tamil community like in San Francisco?21:06 - Having his first company acquired by Intel29:44 - Owning multiple Google patents and the process behind acquiring one32:34 - How Intel caught wind of Ruban’s company38:02 - Relatives initially questioning his decision to quit his job before seeing his success38:34 - What makes Ruban tick; fear of failure40:08 - Retiring at 35 and being a stay-at-home dad43:03 - Creating Virident Systems and having it acquired45:20 - Feeling like he still hadn’t proved himself after multiple exits48:09 - Why Ruban decided to become an angel investor53:10 - Ruban speaks on some of the companies he has invested in - and what they do57:35 - Interests outside of work; cricket, mentoring, cooking, family time and ballroom dancing1:00:35 - Maintaining relationships while balancing other priorities like family and health1:03:16 - Purchases that Ruban has made but doesn’t regret1:05:28 - What Ruban wants to be remembered for; humility and honesty1:09:26 - Creator Confessions1:17:09 - The Wrap UpIntro MusicProduced And Mixed By:- The Tamil Creator- YanchanWritten By:- Aravinthan Ehamparam- Yanchan Rajmohan      Support the show