Ashok Tipirneni, FlexMBA ’07

Ashok holds a Master’s in Electrical Engineering from Virginia Tech and a Bachelor’s in Electronics and Communications Engineering from Osmania University in India.

Why did you choose to return to school to get your MBA?

To advance in my career, I needed an environment to learn and practice management skills and best business practices. What better way than to get back to school.

Why did you choose the Rady School?

Three things differentiated Rady from other business schools. 1) World class faculty and course work that clearly focused on technology (high tech and biotech) 2) Vision of the founders and dean that embodied the entrepreneurial spirit of a brand new business school 3) Proximity: Having such a great school close to home/work.

Where did you get the idea for your Lab to Market (L2M) project? Can you tell us more about it?

Having spent a better part of my 10 year career in the wireless industry, I was privy to the need for bringing new technologies faster to the marketplace. There were numerous bottlenecks in the wireless value chain that caused innumerable delays to the launch of new technology. A study of the fragmented test and certification market led to our idea of ELF. We started off with a wireless test equipment product idea in the first course of L2M. As we worked through the idea by talking to thought leaders in the industry, we found that a services company (instead of a product) would better address the needs of an the entire value chain in the wireless industry — starting from the chip manufacturers, handset vendors, wireless operators. The goal was to be a one-stop shop in addressing the certification/testing needs of a wireless device.

We realized that we needed huge upfront capital and stopped pursuing it as private enterprise. A few months later however, I realized that a division at Qualcomm was facing the same problem that we tried to solve in the L2M project. I got in touch with my current boss at Qualcomm and decided to join the team. After many pitches to the exec team, and numerous refinements later, we now have a fully operational “Q-Lab” at Qualcomm providing clear value to the company through A) faster time-to-market; and B) a one-stop shop alternative. It’s a multi-million dollar project initiative currently in U.S. and India and looking to expand to five more countries within the next year.

How did you realize that ELF would be more successful as an in-house undertaking at Qualcomm, rather than as a new company?

ELF needed big upfront capital and a leader who has the power to influence the major players in the wireless value chain. Who better than Qualcomm, to lead the way for providing a value service to the wireless industry.

How were your ties to India helpful in expanding the project there?

I was very involved in my past life (as an engineer) in our facility at Qualcomm-India prior to my involvement with ELF. I was well connected to the major wireless operators, as well as the engineering teams in India. Having both the engineering background and the business connections in India helped me tremendously in making the project successful.

Is there anything else about the Rady School, Lab to Market or your current career path that you'd like to share?

At times the L2M project felt like a huge burden on my schedule, but now, I miss those Saturdays at Rady, that gave me such a head start in my career. I couldn’t have learned what I did without the L2M initiatives that were promoted so passionately by the Rady School. The entrepreneurial spirit at Rady (both with the faculty and the students) is unmistakable.