Vinit Nijhawan

Vinit Nijhawan, an entrepreneur, angel investor, and former venture capitalist, is Lecturer and Executive-in-Residence in the Boston University School of Management's Institute for Technology Entrepreneurship and Commercialization (ITEC).

Previously a Venture Partner at Key Venture Partners, Mr. Nijhawan was a Director of Airwide Solutions and Optasite, Key VP portfolio companies. He also served on the board of Nextworth. Airwide provides software to wireless operators for text and multimedia messaging. Mr. Nijhawan was the CEO of Taral Networks which acquired Sema Messaging to form Airwide Solutions. Optasite is a wireless tower operator. Nextworth refurbishes used iPods.

Before that, Mr. Nijhawan was the founder, president, and chairman of the board of Kinetic Computer Corporation, which was established in 1992 to provide wireless solutions for transportation and logistics fleets. Kinetic's wireless mobile computer product line was sold to Symbol Technologies (now part of Motorola) and Kinetic's eTruck intellectual property was acquired by Qualcomm. Mr. Nijhawan was the senior vice president and chief operating officer of Payload Systems, Inc., which developed spaceflight instrumentation for the space shuttle and the international space station. Payload merged with Space Industries (now part of General Dynamics). Mr. Nijhawan served as the Marketing & Sales Director for Cal Corp., (now part of EMS).

Mr. Nijhawan has participated in over 100 panel discussions and paper presentations about venture, wireless, logistics and aerospace markets and technologies, and is the Chairman of TiE-Boston and a Board of Trustee for TiE Global. Mr. Nijhawan earned a B.A.Sc in electrical engineering from the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada.

Recent posts and comments

• Academia Beckons: Launching the BU Kindle Mentoring Program

  I joined Boston University (BU) as a Lecturer and Executive-in-Residence in January 2008 and have been teaching courses on entrepreneurship to MBA students. My academic career has expanded recently with two... Read more »

• Commenting on: Massachusetts Technology Industry Needs a New Deal, Not a New Brand

  Vinit said: Here are some thoughts on strategy and tactics. Tactics first since your readers correctly pointed out that it is time... Read more »

• India’s Innovation Front Lines, Part 8 (Final Installment): A Return Home and a Reflection

  Boston, Tuesday, January 20–I have been back from India for about two weeks and have had time to reflect on my trip and to view my hometown of Boston with a... Read more »

• India’s Innovation Front Lines, Part 7: Of Trains, Countryside, and The Great Indian Laughter Challenge

  Mumbai-Delhi, Tuesday, December 23—I boarded the overnight train to Delhi at Bombay Central Terminal (the mixed use of old and new city names for Bombay is a metaphor for old and... Read more »

• India’s Innovation Front Lines, Part 6: Return to Pune, the Boston of India

  Pune, Monday, December 22—I visited the cerebral city of Pune, 120 miles southeast of Bombay (Mumbai), on the Deccan plateau. Pune is the closest parallel city to Boston, with a multitude... Read more »

• India’s Innovation Front Lines, Part 5: The Emerging Entrepreneurial Class

  Mumbai Friday December 19, 2008—The TiE Entrepreneurial Summit in Bangalore was a huge success–the sponsoring hotel was barely able to manage the large crowd. What struck me was how young the... Read more »

• India’s Innovation Front Lines, Part 4: Of Hyper-Competition and Corruption

  Bangalore, December 15—For 45 after independence, Indian companies for all practical purposes operated without competition. Monopolies were granted by the government for extended periods. Many fortunes were made, both by industrialists... Read more »

• India’s Innovation Front Lines, Part 3: Of Property Markets, Both Physical and Intellectual

  New Delhi, December 10—The housing meltdown in the U.S. got me thinking about the property market in India. With the dramatic urbanization and growth of Indian cities property prices have skyrocketed.... Read more »

• India’s Innovation Front Lines, Part 2: Of Industry-Targeted Degrees, Water, and Spinoffs

  Chandigarh, Sunday, December 7—I drove straight north from Delhi to Chandigarh about 300 km, on a much improved four-lane highway. Chandigarh is a planned city that was designed by the French... Read more »

• Dispatch from India’s Innovation Front Lines

  Editor’s note: Xconomist Vinit Nijhawan is in India visiting venture capitalists and startups with an eye to bridging Boston and Indian startup ecosystems. This is the first in a series of... Read more »

• A Walk on the Dark Side

  I have been part of the entrepreneurial ecosystem for over 25 years, mostly as an entrepreneur but also as a VC and angel investor. I firmly believe that the symbiotic relationship... Read more »

• Telecom’s New Epicenters: India and China

  The acquisition of BCGI (Nasdaq) by Megasoft (Bombay Stock Exchange) for $65M that was announced yesterday continues the trend of Indian telecom software companies acquiring European and North American companies. Driving... Read more »