Sabeer Bhatia

Sabeer Bhatia (born 30 December 1968)<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> is an Indian-American entrepreneur who co-founded the first free web-based email service, Hotmail.com (now Outlook.com) in 1996.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2021 he co-founded ShowReel with Javed Yunus. ShowReel initially hosted short videos for job seekers and founders. It has since turned into an AI-based entrepreneurship course.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Early life and education

Bhatia was born in Chandigarh on December 30th, 1968, to Baldev Bhatia and Daman Bhatia in a Sindhi family.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> His father was a captain in the Indian Army, and his mother was working at the Central Bank of India.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Bhatia studied at The Bishop's School, Pune. He then studied at St. Joseph's Boys' High School, Bengaluru, and St. Joseph's Pre-University College, Bengaluru. In 1985, he enrolled at BITS Pilani, where he studied for two years before earning a highly competitive transfer scholarship to the California Institute of Technology to complete his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering. He then attended Stanford University, where he obtained his master’s degree in electrical engineering.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Career

Bhatia briefly worked for Apple Inc, as a hardware engineer<ref>Template:Cite AV media</ref> and Firepower Systems Inc. He, along with his colleague Jack Smith, set up Hotmail on 4 July 1996, American Independence Day, symbolizing "freedom" from ISP-based e-mail and the ability to access a user's inbox from anywhere in the world.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

As president and CEO, Bhatia led Hotmail until its eventual acquisition by Microsoft in 1998 for an estimated $400 million.Template:Citation needed

Bhatia started a free messaging service called JaxtrSMS. He said that JaxtrSMS would do to SMS what Hotmail did for e-mail. Claiming it to be a disruptive technology, he says that the operators will lose revenue on the reduced number of SMSes on their network but will benefit from the data plan that the user has to buy.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> To date, JaxtrSMS service has failed to replicate the success of Hotmail.

In 2006, Sabeer proposed the construction of "Nano City", a city that would be similar to Silicon Valley in northern India.<ref name = IT>Nano City on lines of Silicon Valley in Haryana – Times Of India</ref> It was approved by the state government of Haryana in September. By 2010, no progress had been made; the project was cancelled by the HSIIDC later that year.<ref>3 yrs on, Sabeer Bhatia’s project a non-starter Indian Express, 11 May 2010</ref><ref>Nano City project called off Indian Express, 7 July 2010</ref>

RecentlyTemplate:When, he invested in email collaboration software, ccZen and another e-commerce technology provider E-junkie.

Personal life

Bhatia married Tanya Sharma in 2008 and they have a daughter Ariana. Later, they filed for divorce in January 2013 in a court in San Francisco, citing "irreconcilable differences".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Further reading

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• Bronson, Po, "HotMale: Sabeer Bhatia started his company on $300,000 and sold it two years later for $400 million. So, is he lucky, or great?", Wired, Issue 6.12, December 1999
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