First and foremost, I’ d like to convey my sincere gratitude to Allah, the Almighty, for every aspect of my existence. This book would not have been possible with my sole contribution. From the time I moved to Silicon Valley in December 1999 until now, I have been influenced by so many great people, both at a conscious as well as subconscious level, that it is impossible to acknowledge them all in this section – so any omissions here are purely accidental.
I have to acknowledge SAP as an organization that has given me the opportunity over the years to take risks, drive change and work with start-ups in Silicon Valley throughout the last 18 years. Without their openness and support, I would not have been able to attain the valuable experience that helped me in having the insights presented in this book.
I also would like to acknowledge SAP’ s Chief Design Officer, Sam Yen, whose leadership in championing Design Thinking for driving innovation has been a source of tremendous inspiration for me. Sam has also been instrumental in driving a cultural change inside SAP to become more entrepreneurial.
This book would not be possible without Janaki Kumar, a Design leader and a recognized influencer in Silicon Valley. Under Janaki’ s leadership, I was able to learn, grow and shine as an innovation leader.
I also would like to acknowledge Naeem Zafar, an entrepreneur and professor at UC Berkeley and Brown University, for giving me the opportunity to showcase this framework for the entrepreneurship class at UC Berkeley. Naeem also invited me to mentor start-ups during several entrepreneurial events in Silicon Valley.
Over the course of the last 15 years, I have also been able to try numerous entrepreneurial endeavors myself. My collaborators, including Bilal Ahmed, Asif Habib, Najam Saeed, Khurram Hassan and Ateeq Khan have been a great source of inspiration for me throughout these years.
I also would like to acknowledge the founders of the start-ups who asked me for my input in their endeavors. This includes Pradeep Pydah of Maxerience, Inc., and Atif Sarvari of Proge, Inc.
I would also like to thank my editor, Michael Sinocchi, and his team at Routledge/CRC Press for showing their confidence in me and exhibiting immense patience.
Finally, this book would not have been possible had my wife, Tabassum Alam, not supported and encouraged me throughout these years. Thank you very much, Tabassum, for all your love and support.