I was in Mumbai for the TiE summit conference. Had an amazing time, strengthened relationships with some other TiE members.

The summit was opened by a discussion by Narayan Murthy and Ratan Tata, chaired by Shekhar Gupta, the Indian Express editor. It was an unusually candid session (quite unexpected from what I had known of the gentlemen on stage). When Q&A opened, a young woman asked, with some feeling,

“Mr. Tata, if there were one mantra of success you could give to youngsters, what would it be?”

Ratan Tata, replied cheekily,

“Umm, at the risk of being facetious, I would say that you’ve got to be lucky!”.

The audience erupted in laughter.

Narayan Murthy added a bit more seriously, “I agree with Mr. Tata, but you’ve got to be prepared for that opportunity.”

All in all a great session and a great conference. Great job by Manak Singh and his team at TiE Mumbai.