Bala Girisaballa

CEO

Bengaluru, Karnataka, India33 yrs 2 mos experience
Most Likely To SwitchHighly Stable

Key Highlights

  • Over 25 years of global technology and business experience.
  • Founded three startups and advised numerous venture funds.
  • Keynote speaker on entrepreneurship and innovation.
Stackforce AI infers this person is a SaaS and startup ecosystem expert with extensive leadership experience.

Contact

Skills

Core Skills

EntrepreneurshipBusiness Development

Other Skills

Social Media MarketingCustomer RetentionTechnology StartupE-commerceSecurityCustomer RelationsProduct StrategySaaSConsumer InternetStartupsInnovationLeadershipStrategyProduct ManagementCRM

About

Bala has over two and half decades of global experience in technology & business. An entrepreneur and an author, he has founded three startups and is an advisor to many startups and venture funds for over 10 years. He has also contributed to many books. Bala is the President of Techstars India - the world’s leading platform for startups & innovation, Prior to that Bala was the Managing Director at Microsoft Accelerator India, Microsoft’s flagship startup program. His previous experiences include leading innovation at Yahoo, enterprise products at Oracle, and a partner in a global management consulting & research firm. Bala keynotes at events on topics ranging from entrepreneurship, business disruption, innovation, and building startups. He has contributed chapters in the books “Wiley’s Black Book Enterprise 4.0” and “Do More Faster” India edition. Bala also talks about Indian History & Culture in his YouTube channel. PROFILE Entrepreneur, advisor, author, and techno-business leader with global experience BUSINESS COMPETENCIES - Leadership: Building, leading & coaching high performance, cross-functional teams - Management: Building business from concept to launch and scaling it globally. - Strategy: Developing & executing market winning strategies, packaging, positioning, messaging, branding, pricing & go-to-market strategies - Innovation: Building an innovation culture, programs and generating measurable impact - Marketing & Brand Building: Campaigns, lead generation, events, promotions, online & social media marketing; managing industry analysts, trade bodies, media & public relations - Ecosystem & Business Development: Building an ecosystem of partners, alliance, developers and startup relationships EXPERIENCE PROFILE - Entrepreneurship & start-up experience in bootstrapping businesses from ground up. - Business strategy, M&A assessment & fund raising - Expertise in enterprise applications including CRM, ERP, SaaS, On-Demand & business portals - Experience in CRM, Consumer Internet, Enterprise Application, Platforms and Information Security domain. - Technical expertise in Web, RIA (Rich Internet Applications) & open source technology. Specialties: Executive & Business Management, Business & Product Strategy, Business Coaching, Innovation, Marketing, Customer Relations, CRM, E-Commerce, Information Security, Partners/Alliance relations, Media, PR & Trade body relations, Innovation, Ecosystem Development

Experience

33 yrs 2 mos
Total Experience
4 yrs 4 mos
Average Tenure
11 yrs 5 mos
Current Experience

Welsh, carson, anderson & stowe

Partner

Oct 2024Present · 1 yr 8 mos

Vista equity partners

Managing Director

Sep 2020Jun 2024 · 3 yrs 9 mos · Bengaluru, Karnataka, India

  • Vista Equity Partners is a private equity firm with over $100 billion in assets under management and 20 years of investing exclusively in enterprise software.

Techstars

President

Mar 2018Jul 2020 · 2 yrs 4 mos · India

  • Techstars is the worldwide network that helps entrepreneurs and corporates succeed. We are constantly looking for people with passion - startups, mentors, leaders!

Microsoft

MD, Microsoft Accelerator India

Aug 2016Feb 2018 · 1 yr 6 mos · Bengaluru Area, India

  • Helping later stage tech startups become insanely successful!

Enthusiast of Indian Philosophy, Science and Knowledge Systems

Jan 2015Present · 11 yrs 5 mos

  • My interest is in Indian science and philosophical texts and scriptures such as Upanishads, Darsanas, Gita, Sutras/Shastras and contextualizing it for our times.
  • (I am adding this as a position here only because it might allow me to connect with other like minded enthusiasts)

Purplefront

Founder, Director

Jun 2013Present · 13 yrs

  • Technology startup helping small businesses leverage social media effectively to grow and retain customers.
Social Media MarketingCustomer RetentionTechnology StartupEntrepreneurshipBusiness Development

Zinnov

Partner & Practice Head - Globalization, R&D Technology & Innovation Advisory

Jun 2013Jul 2016 · 3 yrs 1 mo · Bengaluru Area, India

  • Help organizations with envisioning, institutionalizing and managing R&D global center transformation, innovation and value creation.

Yahoo!

Head - Yahoo! Entrepreneur Network

Jul 2010Jun 2013 · 2 yrs 11 mos

  • Lead Yahoo! Entrepreneur Network group focusing on building innovation and ecosytem development
  • Crafted and ran industry recognized engagement programs (P-Camps, Innovation Conference, Hack Days etc)
  • Created and grew innovation capability
  • Built relationships with startups, VCs, partners, academia, developers, and industry bodies

Iviz security

VP, Head Product Strategy & Marketing

Jul 2008Feb 2010 · 1 yr 7 mos

Ninemotion.com

Co-founder, COO, CTO

Sep 2006Jul 2010 · 3 yrs 10 mos

  • nineMotion is a B2B portal to manage outsourcing relationships. Co-founded this startup and was responsible for wide ranging functions like development, product management, business development, delivery, packaging, branding, fund raising etc.

Oracle corporation

Director, Product Strategy

Mar 2001Aug 2006 · 5 yrs 5 mos

  • Product Strategy for Sales and Alignment solutions
  • Roadmap planning and execution, customer evangelism and relationship, supporting sales and marketing, building strategic alliances, collaborating on design and development, influencing business investment and direction.

Altair engineering

Business Development

Jan 1996Jan 2001 · 5 yrs

  • Established software services as a new market for Altair
  • Building and executing business plan, building highly competent team, managing client relations, sales and marketing, building strategic partnerships

Infosys

Product Manager

Jan 1995Jan 1996 · 1 yr

Asian paints

Branch Head

Jan 1993Jan 1995 · 2 yrs

Education

Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad

MBA

Osmania University

Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech.) — Chemical Engineering

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