Grand Keynote

Vivek Ranadive is an entrepreneur, investor, tech visionary, author, philanthropist, and sports team owner recognized for his outside-the-box thinking. He has led the advancement and use of real-time technology in business operations and decision-making, earning him the nickname "Mr. Real Time" in technology circles. Mr. Ranadivé is dedicated to the vision that if you get the right information to the right place at the right time and in the right context, you can make the world a better place. In 1986, Mr. Ranadivé founded Teknekron Software Systems, which focused on creating the stock trading floor of the future. Teknekron went on to automate Wall Street and that technology became the engine for most of the world's capital markets. In 1997, he founded TIBCO Software Inc. in Palo Alto, California with the mission of bringing real-time computing into the mainstream and eventually powered technology behind everything from the web to airlines, financial services, utilities, communications providers, manufacturers and governments. TIBCO was sold in 2014 for $4.3bn. In 2016, Mr. Ranadive founded Bow Capital, a venture capital firm in partnership with the University of California Regents. In 2021, he took WeWork public with his SPAC, injecting $1.5bn into the company and joined the Board of Directors of the company. Mr. Ranadive has authored three books that are New York Times and global best sellers, both widely read in business and academia. His most recent book is titled “The Two-Second Advantage: How We Succeed by Anticipating the Future – Just Enough.” His previous book, “The Power to Predict,” explores how companies can break new ground in their quest to anticipate customers' needs, capture new opportunities, and predict and avoid problems. “The Power of Now” covers how winning companies sense and respond to change using real-time technology. A native of Bombay, India, Mr. Ranadive watched a documentary on MIT and was inspired at the age of 16 to leave India for Cambridge, Massachusetts, arriving with only $50 in his pocket. After earning both a Master's and Bachelor's Degree in Electrical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he obtained an MBA at Harvard, where he was a Baker Scholar. Mr. Ranadive is a huge basketball fan, which started when he coached his daughter's middle school team. Mr. Ranadivé's coaching success was highlighted in a New Yorker magazine article by Malcolm Gladwell, as an example of innovators who win big by doing the unexpected and breaking the rules – the ultimate “David beats Goliath.” He started his foray into the professional side of basketball when he became the co-owner and vice chairman of the Golden State Warriors NBA franchise. In 2013, he became the first Indian majority owner of an NBA team when he purchased the Sacramento Kings, and in 2019 he realized his dream by bringing NBA basketball to India, with games played in his hometown of Bombay.

Diane Brady has interviewed many of the world's leading business and political figures throughout her career, along with managing far-flung teams and building groundbreaking editorial franchises. She is currently an assistant managing editor at Forbes, overseeing the editorial teams that run C-suite coverage, ForbesWomen, For(bes) the Culture, the 30 Under 30 franchise, and coverage of creators and startups. Prior to joining Forbes, she worked at McKinsey, Bloomberg Businessweek, The Wall Street Journal and Maclean’s, along with running her own company. Her book, Fraternity, was named one of Amazon’s best books of the year.

Soma Capital was founded by Aneel Ranadive, who has over 15 years of experience building and investing in startups. Soma invests in software to automate the economy across any sector or geography. Since March 2015 founding, Soma Cap has invested seed in 17 unicorns, and over 300 startups valued over $50 billion combined including Cruise, Rappi, Rippling, Ironclad, Ramp, Razorpay, among others. Aneel also works closely with his father Vivek Ranadive, who founded TIBCO Software ($4.3b exit). TIBCO Software’s pioneering products include big data, analytics, event processing and cloud services, making Vivek a key expert in enterprise software. Through this relationship, Soma Capital has access to Vivek’s deep rolodex of CEO-level relationships with some of the biggest brands in the world, who can help make strategic introductions for portfolio companies. In 2013, Vivek Ranadive purchased the NBA’s Sacramento Kings, becoming the first Indian-born majority owner in the league.

Anjali Ranadive is a Coordinator for the Sacramento Kings and the founder/director of Jaws & Paws wildlife sanctuary in California. A philanthropist and Billboard charting singer/songwriter, Anjali represented the Sacramento Kings in the 2014 Draft Lottery after graduating from U.C. Berkeley.