Your Tech Story

Tech Story

Emersion

John Wesley Emerson and David Nelson Farr- Two gems of Emerson Process Management

Leave a Comment / Founder, Tech Story / By

Industrial sectors all over the world adapting the digitalization and automation processes. In fact, it is the need of the present situation for any business to thrive with advanced technologies. Also, to stand out firm and to continue the success, the industrial approach needs to be modified with changing time. For that, Emerson is the perfect example of such an industry all over the world. Because the company rises as a regional manufacturer and today, it is a powerhouse of global technology solutions.

Emerson, previously known as “Emerson Electric Manufacturing Company” is a pioneer in adapting the altering innovations. Also, by changing the business strategies with changing times, Emerson stands out as powerful as it was over 100 years back. The company is at the highest peak of success with its miscellaneous business segments. Presently, it’s one of the business segments known as Emerson Process Management taking the firm to the next level.

Emerson Process Management

Emerson is one of the successful industries in America as well as all over the world. Today, it’s 8 separate divisions deliver the best services in various fields. Includes, Network power, Motors, Appliance solutions, Industrial automation, Climate technology, Tools, storage solutions and Process Management.

It is best known for its delivery of revolutionary technologies, services, and solutions. Being the pioneer in the unification of technology and engineering. Also, best known for many advancements in the industrial, and commercial solutions. For example, cost-cutting, improvised safety measures, reduction of energy emission, and many more.

Emerson Process Management is an essential part of Emerson for decades. In fact, it is one of the leading companies to grab customers around the world.

The backstory of the Emerson

Two Scottish orphans, Charles and Alexander desired to start a mechanical-electrical production unit. In 1890, they met John W. Emerson who at the end of the meeting became a principal investor for their project. Hence, Emerson’s great contribution resulted in the foundation of “Emerson Electric Manufacturing Company”. It established in late 1890 at St. Louis, Missouri.

Previously, the company was a regional electric motors and fan manufacturer. Which turned as a provider of leading global technology solutions.

John Wesley Emerson- Founder of Emerson

John Wesley Emerson, the lawyer, war commander, and judge who then help in the foundation of the company known as Emerson. Today, the same company is a renowned business firm in America. Let’s discover the journey of J. W. Emerson, a professional lawyer who turns out as Emerson Electric Manufacturing company’s founder, and president.

John Wesley Emerson
Image Source: Google

Early Life

He was born at Pepperell, Massachusetts on 26 July 1832 to the Rosannah Ellen and Willam Emerson. At a young age, he spent most of the time in Pennsylvania. Where he went to Iron City College. Later, he attended the University of Michigan for his graduation in law. William M. Moffatt was his mentor during his law education. After that, he practices and served as a lawyer in Ironton, Missouri.

John as an American War commander

He served for the nation on the battlefield in the 19th Century. John was Volunteer assistance at the Battle of Richmond in 1862. Then he achieved the rank as Colonel and Major. During the last years of service, he served as the war commander of the regiment through the end of the battle.

Later Achievements

After the service in the war, he comes back as a lawyer at Ironton. He also appointed as judge of the 15th Judicial circuit court. John served for the Eastern District, Missouri for the next 4 years. In 1890, he invested the 50000 dollars in an electrical and mechanical start-up of two Scottish persons. These company then named after him as Emerson Electric Manufacturing Company. Also, he worked as the first president of Emerson for two consecutive years.

Later Life

During the last days of life, he became the civil war historian and contributed in writing a history of wars he attended. He rests in peace on 20 June 1899 in Ironton. John W. Emerson belonging to a completely different profession became the founder of a huge industry of the present era. Today, the company aims to deliver the multi-faceted requirements of diverse industries.

Current successes of Emerson Process Management

One of the segments of Emerson i.e., Emerson Process Management provides miscellaneous quality process control products and services. PlantWeb, DeltaV system, and PROVOX system are three main process control services of the company. These systems alter the economics of process automation. Because it delivers dependable control solutions with solid investment returns. Ultimately building the proven paths for future technology.

Recently, Emerson added two IIoT based solutions to PlantWeb to improve the data analytics platform, for the management of wireless network infrastructure in the industry. The company continually growing as one of the biggest manufacturing as well as process management firms in the world. Surely, the renovative ideas and policies of the company’s CEO help the embellishment of the company further. David Nelson Far, the chairman, and CEO of Emerson EMR proved that the longstanding company can be stand out firm, with the strategy advancement and implementation of new technology.

David Nelson Farr – CEO of Emerson

He started his career at Emerson more than 35 years back. Currently, he is the CEO of Emerson Electric Manufacturing company. But before acquiring the post, he served many roles for the company. He was manager of investor relations, corporate planning vice president, President of ridge tool division and served many such roles. His continuous efforts and dedication to the company finally awarded him the position of CEO in 2000.

David Farr
Image Source: Google

Personal Life

David Nelson Farr was born in 1955 in the US. He completed his graduation in Chemistry at Wake Forest University in 1977. After that, he pursued an MBA in 1981 from the Owen Graduate School of Management at Vanderbilt University. In the same year, he started his journey as an intern at Emerson Electric company. After working with the company for a long time he acclaimed the position as CEO.

Achievements

In 2000, Farr was named as one of the top 25 Managers. Also, in 2004 he was on the list of 100 best corporate citizens. He served as a campaign chair for the United Way of Greater St. Louis. Where he contributed to raised the record-breaking amount of 68.8 million dollars to help people of st. Louis.

In 2009, he was also named as one of the best CEOs in America in the electrical equipment and multi-industry. Over 35 years of contribution and leadership of Farr welcomed the best for the company.

Packard bell

Billionaire Beny Alagem’s Computer Company Acquired By Pbx Holding

Leave a Comment / Founder, Tech Story / By

Winners are rarely asked how they did it. It is one perfect and clean strategy that takes a company to the top. In the entrepreneurial world, everything is all about smooth tricks and excellent business deals. The story of Beny Alagem from Packard Bell is among one of them.

Once a company goes public or launches a new product, it makes a thousand competitors. But, at the end of the day, it is for the customers to decide whose products are better than others. The scenario might look simple but it is always not. Confusions, unclear advertisements and the blurred line between distinguishing companies can often play an ace.

Beny Alagem’s computer hardware company, Packard Bell used alike strategies. In 1986, Beny along with Larry Metz founded the company.

The Story Behind the Name

Does the name Packard Bell ring a bell in your mind? You might have been just going in the right direction. The name Packard Bell came from the American radio set manufacturing company, Packard Bell Corporation.

In 1986, Beny along with some Israeli investors bought this company from Teledyne. The main goal behind forming this company was to provide personal computers at an affordable rate.

The company Packard Bell Corporation was actually founded by Herbert A. Bell and Leon S. Packard in 1933.

Beny Alagem

Beny Alagem
Image Source: Google Images

Born into a family in Israel this entrepreneur was a former tank driver. Beny went to California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. He showed a very interest in computers from a young age and it grew once he attended college.

In his university, he met Jason Barziley and Alex Sandal with whom he planned to open a start-up. The plan worked well and in 1983 they established Cal-Abco. It was a company that exclusively dealt with wholesaling computer hardware.

This gave Beny a clear idea about taking the next big step. And in 1986 he founded the big company. Cal-Abco didn’t go out of business then and the two companies came into some kind of business deal. He served as the Chief Executive and the President of the company for twelve long years.

Some disagreements with the other major stakeholders of the company led him to step down from his post. A year after he left the company he was given the right to AST Research name from Samsung. Resigning from Packard Bell paved his way to something bigger and he started serving as the Chairman of Alagem Capital Group. In December 2003, Beny bought Beverly Hilton Hotel for $130 million and since then his name has been popping up in the business magazines regularly.

Bell Packard’s strategy

An idea is all it takes to unleash your power and sit on top of the world. The motive to build low-cost personal computers was certainly a good one. But, the brand name was certainly better. In the 1990s, Bell Packard earned much profit by playing along with the misconception of customers.

Many companies like Pacific Bell and Bell Laboratories were in business at the same time and this created brand confusion. Instead of being concerned about it the company just went with the flow. Well, we have to admit it was a clever trick.

Growth and Expansion

Once the computers hit the market, the consumption grew exponentially. But, the happy phase didn’t last long. In 1995, another computer company, Compaq sued Packard Bell on the grounds of reusing internal computer parts.

In the same year, the company made an acquisition of Zenith Data Systems from Groupe Bull. But, Groupe Bull and NEC, on the other hand, acquired a bigger stake of Packard Bell. It summed up the company’s value to $4.5 billion.

After a point of time, it seemed like the company strived hard to maintain its position. Because suing by Compaq created a bag image for the company and it was well-exposed not being the chameleon anymore.

The Downfall

Compaq acquired the company in 1996. Packard Bell announced that the losses it faced summed up to $1 billion between 1997 and 1998. NEC tried its best to have the back of the company but it finally decided to cease the company’s U.S market.

Not going too far

The company thought to stay in the market by selling computers at cheap prices. But, they needed to use reused parts and when they did so they lost the reputation for its quality.

In October 2016, a company called PBX Holdings acquired the Packard Bell trademark. And in June 2017 JCPenney announced that it would be selling laptops in the name of Packard Bell as a part of their expansion. But, the company didn’t make a breakthrough yet.

Southwest-logo

Southwest Airlines – Flying High Since 1971

Leave a Comment / Founder, Tech Story / By

To build a business career in the airline is a very sensible choice. Anything can go wrong anytime. Well, every business has some of the other risks it takes. But, airline companies need a lot to think through, for example, low fare, high capital investment, high maintenance, etc.

And, speaking of low fare, Southwest Airlines is the world’s largest low-cost carrier. Herb Kelleher established the company in 1967, but the operations finally started in 1971. Initially, the name of the company was Air Southwest Co. On 29th March 1971, Herb and the rest of his team renamed the company to Southwest Airlines Co. with headquarters based on Dallas.

Herb Kelleher

Herb Kelleher served as a lawyer in his early career. Later, he turned out to be one of the billionaires of New Jersey.

Herb Kelleher
Image Source: Google Images

Herb was born on 12th March 1931. Born and brought up in New Jersey, Herb completed his schooling from Haddon Heights High School. He went to Wesleyan University and later to New York University and acquired his law degree from there. After graduating, Herb worked at the New Jersey Supreme Court. But, the job was short-lived.

Herb fled to Texas as he had something bigger in mind. He wanted to start a law firm of his own or start a business. Though the idea of the business was little blurry, he started planning with Rollin King and John Parker. Rollin was a Texas businessman and John was a banker.

After talking about many potential business aspects, the trio finally came up with the idea of airlines. There’s a myth that the founders wrote the plan of Southwest Airlines on a cocktail napkin. But, Herb always declined this.

The take-off

The services of Southwest started from 1971 with two routes: from Dallas Love Field to Houston Intercontinental Airport and from Dallas Love Field to San Antonio. Within a year, the company made it to 100 take-offs each week leaving the Saturdays.

Southwest Airlines have taken ideas and inspiration from what made Pacific Southwest Airlines famous and successful. In 1978, the Airline Deregulation Act enacted and Southwest started planning expansion. The company declared that it would soon start its interstate service to New Orleans.

By the 1980s, Southwest started expanding to many new cities and routes which included Oklahoma City, Cleveland, Denver, Nashville, etc. In 1994, Southwest acquired Morris Air and that began services to Pacific Northwest.

Gaining Momentum

In 1985, the company made a huge acquisition for $60.5 million. It acquired Muse Air and renamed it as TranStar Airlines. During the early 1990s, Southwest had only 650 employees working at the headquarters and it grew twice in number by 2006.

Since the internet was gaining popularity at this time, Southwest planned to reach customers through the web. In 1995, the company created its first website where users could view the schedules, maps and about the company. By this time, Southwest became famous all over the world. The main reasons were low price, effectively combating fuel price fluctuation and strategic ways of making huge profits.

The Uniqueness

In 2008, the company started using the Ecopower water pressure washing system. It cleaned the turbine blades which turned out to improve fuel efficiency by 1.9%. In 2008, Southwest acquired some major assets of ATA Airlines for $7.5 million.

Southwest is also known worldwide for the cultural aspect. The employees are very welcoming which makes customers pay for Southwest’s services all the more. Herb, in one of his interviews, said that people from around the world showed interested to know how Southwest hired employees. From the first round to the kind of training the employees to undergo fascinates and challenges every other airline out there.

The Smooth Landing

In 2011, Southwest completed the acquisition of AirTran Airways. This broadened the area of Southwest’s business thus getting international access to Atlanta. Fortune magazine featured Southwest for ten consecutive years and ranked it 3rd among America’s Top Ten most admired corporations.

In May 2012, the company received permission for carrying out international services from William P. Hobby Airport. In 2014, the company decided to rebrand itself and created a new logo. After a couple of years, the company was granted approval for its services to Cuba. This became a great deal for Southwest as USDOT chose it as the sixth ever airline to initiate services in Cuba.

From 100 departures a week the company now commences 4000 departures every single day. According to 2018, the company’s annual revenue summed up to $21.965 billion. Southwest is planning to expand its services to Hilo in 2020.

Coinbase Logo

Applications Of Cryptoassets Led Coinbase To The Unicorn Club

Leave a Comment / start-up, Tech Story / By

We talk about a new era of technology where the Internet has made our lives pretty easier. The modern technologies and types of equipment have been beneficial to our medical, educational and industrial systems as well. But, it is high time we put a little attention to our financial system.

The world is changing but the subject, that is, mankind is constant. Since time immemorial humans have improvised the world. Speaking of the modernization in our financial system, the major population is not familiar with the concept of cryptoassets.

Defining cryptoassets is similar to introducing one to a whole new financial world. They are nothing but digital assets with the implementation of cryptographic techniques. There are no central parties to monitor any transaction. Coinbase is a company based on such digital assets which made billions over the span of seven years.

Coinbase

Currently, Coinbase is the United Nation’s largest crypto assets exchange. In June 2012, Brian Armstrong and Fred Ehrsam founded the company. Within five years the company hit annual revenue of $ 1 billion. The company’s headquarters is based in San Francisco California.

The main products of Coinbase are Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, Ethereum and exchange of digital assets. The bitcoin transaction of Coinbase takes place in more than 190 countries worldwide.

Brian Armstrong

Brian Armstrong
Image Sorce: Google

Brian Armstrong completed both his Bachelor’s and Masters from Rice University. While he was an undergraduate student in Computer Science he worked as an intern for IBM. He also worked at Deloitte & Touch for five months.

In August 2003, Brian co-founded UniversityTutor.com and in 2011 he joined Airbnb.com as a software engineer. He resigned when he decided to build Coinbase.

Fred Ehrsam

Fred went to Duke University and has a B.S degree in both Computer Science and Economics. He also carried research on Self-assembling DNA Nanostructures from Duke University.

Fred Ehrsam
Image source – Google

He started off his career as a Trader on GoldmanSachs and worked there for a couple of years. In 2012, he co-founded Coinbase with Brian Armstrong and now serves as the Board of Directors. Fred also co-founded Paradigm in June 2018. He also appeared in Forbes 30 Under 30.

Early History

Back in June 2012, Ben Reeves, co-founder of Blockchain.info was also a part of the founding team of Coinbase. But, due to mismatching of future plans, he left shortly. The company wasn’t in its full form back then. After it participated in the Y Combinator startup incubator program it finally started providing services from October 2012.

Initially, the company launched the service buying and selling bitcoin but who knew it would be a scope of investment in the near future. Once the company sees through it never really had to turn back.

Investments, Growth, and Expansion

The company’s Series A round took place in May 2013. Coinbase raised a funding of $5 million from venture capital firm Union Square Ventures. After a few months, the company again received a funding of $25 million from Andreessen Horowitz, Union Square Ventures and Ribbit Capital.

The next year Coinbase hit a million users. It also implemented a lot of new things in their systems. Some of them were a vault system for secure bitcoin storage and secured insurance for the bitcoin stored in the company’s server.

In 2015, the company received a funding of $75 million from Draper Fisher Jurvetson, New York Stock Exchange, etc. 2017 was a big year for Coinbase as it received the BitLicense. The company was given legal permission to trade in Ethereum and Litecoin. On 5th April 2018, the company formed Coinbase Ventures to invest in companies with similar grounds of interest.

Coinbase Ventures made its first investment on May 20 on Compound Labs.

Acquisitions and Partnerships

Coinbase made its first acquisitions in 2014. It acquired Blockr, blockchain explorer service and Kippt, a web bookmarking company. In the same year, the company came into joint ventures with Overstock, Dell, Expedia, etc. The company also made a deal with PayPal, Braintree and, Stripe which allowed users bitcoin payment.

Recently, Coinbase has acquired a company called Neutrino. The company was acquired for an undisclosed amount. A lot of questions have been coming up since then. Some information came up regarding Neutrino’s founders having a connection with the Hacking Team. Hacking Team is a Milan based company that sells information to the government and clearly has a poor human rights record.

In August 2019, the company announced a hacking attack. A questionable acquisition followed by a hacking attack has clearly put the users in a dilemma. But, Coinbase declared that nothing was compromised and everything is secure.

Mastercard Logo

Ajaypal Banga: Mastermind Behind The Mega Success of MasterCard

Leave a Comment / Founder, Tech Story / By

Knowing about successful professionals is always inspiring. There are people in leadership and management niche who have created a path that is a dream of many to follow. One of such outstanding, talented professionals is Ajaypal Singh Banaga – The President and MasterCard CEO.

As a person, Ajaypal Banga is a gem but his life story is tremendously inspiring. Let’s know more about his success story.

Personal life of Ajaypal Banga

Ajaypal is born in 1960 in a small town near Pune, Khadki, where his father was working. Banga originally was from Jalandhar (Punjab). His father retired Lt. General, Harbhajan Singh was an army person. Thus, he got the chance to study all over India. He has been in schools in Secunderabad, Jalandhar, Delhi, Hyderabad, and Shimla.

Mastercard CEO- Ajaypal Banga
Image Source: Google

Ajaypal had no interest in an army career. Therefore, he preferred to study Economics. He went to St. Stephen’s College, Delhi University. Later, he completed his MBA from the IIM, Ahmedabad.

In fact, his entire educational journey was completed solely in India. He proved that you need not have to have degrees from other countries to climb the ladders of success.

Career

Ajaypal Banga began his career with Nestle India in 1891. He involved as a management trainee and resided in the company for 13 years. Doing different assignments including sales, marketing, and general management.

After Nestle, he joined PepsiCo’s Restaurants Division. Where he contributed significantly to the launch of Pizza Hut and KFC in India. Due to the lessening of government regulations related to the economy.

Earlier Achievements in Career

His career journey spanned many positions. In 1996, he was the head of marketing in India for the consumer business in Citicorp. In 2000 he served as head of CitiFinancial and the U.S. consumer assets division. In the next two years, in 2002 he became President of a retail bank in North America. Also, he was the head of Citigroup’s international consumer-banking and finance businesses.

In 2008, he moved to Hong Kong. Where he oversees all the bank businesses in Asia including credit cards and consumer banking, alternative investments, etc. He joined MasterCard in the US in 2009. In 2010, he took over as a Mastercard’s CEO.

Innovative Mastercard Journey

After joining Mastercard, one of his best clients helped him finding ways to encourage a number of youths to use debit cards. For that, he redesigned the debit card product with a bunch of features. For example, connecting it to the music. After so many trials, he fashioned a creative branding tactic with the Commonwealth Bank of Australia. This marketing method turned out to be a game-changer.

Challenge accepted

At that time, the areas of high-tech innovation, altering driving e-commerce, mobile and transit fares were challenging a bit. The other challenge was a group of young people in MasterCard Labs.

These creative people were honing new ideas and were trying to implant them for their clients. One such idea was scanning a bar code to make a purchase. He considered all the factors and his policies welcomed the best for Mastercard’s growth.

Prestigious Memberships

He showcased the best management skills at Mastercard. At that time, Ajaypal was also a part of a few prestigious associations-

  • The Economic Club of New York and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
  • President’s Advisory Committee for Trade policy and negotiations (Barack Obama appointed him)
  • Foreign Policy Association
  • Financial Services Roundtable
  • Business Roundtable – Chairman, Information and Technology Initiative.

Later Successes…

He also served as the boards of trustees of Enterprise Community Partners, Inc., and as a director of the Council for Economic Education. ‘The Economic Times of India’, awarded him as the fourth “Most Powerful Indian” in the world. It was the resultant of his keen interest and constant involvement in social issues. He received Padma Shri in 2016.

With Banga’s leadership, Mastercard has achieved various pinnacles. Presently, it is definitely one of the dream companies people aspire to be a part of.

Kraken-logo

Kraken, One Of The World’s Oldest And Largest Cryptocurrency Exchanges

Leave a Comment / start-up, Tech Story / By

With the arrival of the twenty-first century, everything around us has been transforming at light speed. The progress in every field is astounding. With every nation striving hard to build a fantastic economy, the founders of digital currency exchanges are raising a toast.

The digital currency has shown a whole new side of a financial system. It is not only for transferring assets but cryptocurrency provides a huge opportunity for investment. The value of crypto assets has been increasing with every passing day. And, speaking of digital currency the companies transferring and trading with such assets are becoming billionaires.

Kraken is one such digital currency company based in San Francisco, California. In July 2011, Jesse Powell established the company.

Jesse Powell

Jesse Powell completed his education from California State University-Sacramento. He is a well-known entrepreneur who did more than just founding Kraken.

Jesse Powell Kraken
Image Source: Google

His entrepreneurial life started with co-founding Lewt, Inc in 2001. In July 2006, he co-founded Internet Ventures & Holdings and also served as the CEO. He founded Verge Gallery and Studio Project in June 2007. This start-up of Jesse gave a lot of opportunities to the potential artists out there. It ale became Sacramento’s largest commercial fine arts gallery.

Jesse seems to have a soft corner for arts. In April 2010, he co-founded Verge Center for the Arts and after a year he co-founded Kraken.

The Beginning

Mt. Gox was the world’s largest bitcoin exchange. In 2010, Jed McCaleb founded the company. It was just a year before Kraken came up. But, who knew that the world’s leading digital currency platform would go out of business within four years.

In 2011, when Jesse started working on Kraken he suspected the downfall of the company. And, it happened in 2014. A company that carried out 70% of the world’s bitcoin transaction suddenly went bankrupt. Today, the company is still struggling hard to get back on track.

This was the golden hour for Kraken. Jesse worked on his company for two long years. And, after several tests and developments, Jesse launched Kraken in September 2013. The platform initially allowed exchange via bitcoin, Litecoin and euro trades.

Jaw-dropping Success

In July 2013, Kraken became a part of the Digital Asset Transfer Authority (DATA). The company’s trade began escalating since the very year of its launching. It came into a partnership with Fidor bank.

The company’s funding started in 2014 with a massive amount of $5 million in Series A funding. The funding round was led by Hummingbird Ventures. Just a year after its formation, Kraken became the first-ever digital currency exchange to be listed on Bloomberg Terminal.

In May 2015, Kraken launched the beta version of margin trading and later that year it opened the dark pool.

Expansion

In 2016, Kraken expanded its service to thirty-seven other states of the U.S. and all Canadian residents. In the same year, Kraken came into a joint venture with SynpasePay and Vogogo. Kraken completed its Series B funding this year. SBI Investment led the investment round.

Kraken acquired CleverCoin and Glidera in the same year. 2016 proved to be a very vital year of Kraken. Though it expanded gigantically the alleged crimes pulled down its face value.

The Turmoil

In July 2016, news spread out through media about the stolen funds of Kraken. Tension grew among customers when they heard accounts were compromised as well. The investigation went on for one long month. And, finally, the FBI informed that Kraken was safe and no such attack took place.

It took time for Kraken to build up the reputation. Because no matter a company has been under serious threats or attacks, once the word goes out it tends to fall apart.

Present Day

It is a platform that allows both the exchange of digital currency and exchange between digital currencies and normal currency like USD.

In March 2017, they acquired both Cryptowatch and its founder. Kraken also witnessed 50,000 new users signing up every day.

In April 2018, Kraken put an end to its business in Japan. The company announced that after four years of doing business in Japan suddenly the expenses started rising and they have to cease the business.

In February 2019, company received $100 million at a valuation of $4 billion. Though the company is making pocket-full for itself investigation continues.