The group has expanded to include all comers and has grown nationally and internationally. TiE now has more than 3,000 members in about 20 chapters. Rekhi boosted his fortune from investing in these and other companies. But he said that the mission of TiE, which is a nonprofit organization, is for successful entrepreneurs to share their experience and wisdom. The concept is payback, giving a helping hand.
Young guys have energy, a sense of technology and a sense of the market.
He said that the movement has been paying off. Today, as many as one-fourth of the companies in Silicon Valley are started by Indians, he said. He also is promoting entrepreneurship in India, where five TiE chapters have formed. America is the closest thing to perfection, entrepreneurial nirvana. The population, counted at 57,000 in the 1990 census, nearly doubled in the first half the decade to 100,000 in the 1996 community survey.