Srinivas Anumolu's Schools

• University of California, Los Angeles , Class of 1990 MBA in Business Administration

• Indian Institute of Management Calcutta (IIM Calcutta) , Class of 1987 MBA in Finance

• Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) , Class of 1985 Bachelors in Engineering Mechanical Engineering

Srinivas Anumolu's Publications

• Salman Rushdie, Srinivas Anumolu September, 2010 Salman Rushdie is one of the most visible figures in the literary world. Both despised and beloved, Salman Rushdie is nearly as well-known for the sensational story of his own life as the stories he has told in his best-selling novels. Widely known as a fiction writer, Salman Rushdie is also an eloquent essayist and cultural critic. Exalted as a fiction writer early in his career, Rushdie’s internationally popular work received nearly universal critical acclaim. However, following the publication of his novel, Satanic Verses, Salman Rushdie endured years of hiding in protected isolation after being issued a Fatwa—essentially a death sentence—by fundamentalist Islamic leaders who deemed his work blasphemous. Salman Rushdie continued to write and, after some years, the political climate changed and the fatwa was lifted. An honorary professor at MIT, Rushdie is a prolific writer. Married four time and a fixture at glittering social events, Rushdie is a larger-than-life character with prodigious literary gifts and a flamboyant personality. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, Rushdie has been awarded eight honorary doctorates and many distinguished literary awards for his lifetime contributions, including the Austrian State Prize for Literature and the Arsiteion Literary Prize. Rushdie’s best-known novels include Midnight’s Children, Shame, and The Satanic Verses, all published in the 1980as. Set in post-independence India, Midnight’s Children lays out a private family saga that allegorically presents the nation’s political history. Rushdie’s second novel, Midnight’s Children, received several noted literary prizes, including the coveted Booker Prize for Fiction, the English-Speaking Union Award, and the James Tait Black Prize for Fiction. In 1993, the book was awarded the “Booker of Bookers,” as the best novel to have won the award in the prize’s 25-year history. Born and educated in India, Salman Rushdie also attended school in Cambridge, where he studied history. After college, he lived in Pakistan with his family, who had immigrated there while he was in school in England. Reflecting upon his country of origin through the lens of exile, Rushdie explores the imposition of the Western perspective on his own experience. Taking on the issues of globalization and political upheavals, Rushdie’s novels resonate with the universal themes of love, isolation, memory, and loss. Often telling epic and sprawling tales which span significant time periods and continents, Salman Rushdie’s work is frequently non-linear and nontraditional in form. Salman Rushdie says of his work, “It seems to me, more and more, that the fictional project on which I’ve been involved…is one of self-definition. … to come to terms with the various component parts of myself-countries, memories, histories, families, gods.”

• Midnight's Children, Srinivas Anumolu November, 2010 By: Srinivas Anumolu Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children numbers among my most-loved books. Published in 1981, Midnight’s Children chronicles the life of Saleem Sinai, who was born in India between 12 A.M. and 1 A.M. on August 15, 1947, the day India achieved its independence. The circumstances of his birth make Saleem one of midnight’s children, endowed with special powers, the most prominent of which is telepathy. Saleem uses his telepathic ability to draw together the rest of midnight’s children—the 1,000 children born in the same hour as Saleem. During the course of the novel, Saleem comes to understand that the events of his own life link inextricably to the events and future of India. He undergoes a severe crisis of identity in which he sometimes loses the ability to think of himself as a separate entity from his country. The Sinai family must move around the country as wars wreak havoc on the land, and Saleem completely loses his memory. He cannot recover the knowledge of his origins until he embarks on a journey of exile in the Sundarban jungle. Subsequent events, which lead to Saleem’s detention as a political prisoner, provide Rushdie with an opportunity to explore complex themes, including the individual desire for power and the impact of Indira Gandhi during the Emergency in India. Ultimately, Midnight’s Children is an allegory for India’s rise to independence, the country’s partition, and the events that took place in the country following these momentous changes. Divided into three books, Midnight’s Children is an exceptional example of the greatest achievements in the genres of magical realism and postcolonial literature. Awarded the Booker Prize in 1981, Midnight’s Children also received the James Tait Black Memorial Prize in the same year.

• Tips for Raising Venture Capital, Part 1, Srinivas Anumolu December, 2010 By: Srinivas Anumolu There are many steps to preparing yourself and your business for consideration by a venture capitalist. Follow the advice here to make sure you are prepared to succeed. Tip #1: Understand Your Business Even the most well-prepared business plan will be thoroughly picked apart by venture capitalists when you meet with them. Outside of your plan, you must possess an intimate understanding of your business: the marketplace, your target demographic, how you will recoup the initial investment and accumulate more, and so forth. If you do not demonstrate comprehensive knowledge of your business and its market, do not expect to be funded by venture capitalists. Tip #2: Prepare to Work Hard Add up all the time you spent preparing your business plan, fleshing out your idea, gathering business partners, and putting things in order. Planning for meetings with venture capitalists requires exponentially more work. Your best option for success is organization: chart who you talk to and when, what they need to know for follow-up meetings, and the answers to questions they asked, as you will likely be asked those same questions by others. Tip #3: Know When to Raise Capital and When to Wait Just because you have an idea does not mean it is of interest to venture capitalists; financers need more than just a bold idea. You will need to show them that your business is ready to break into the market and succeed in innovative, exciting ways if you want them to invest in you. Wait until you can prove that there is a solid market for your business, then garner proof that you can succeed in that market. Tip #4: Practice Makes Your Pitch Perfect Never walk into a venture capital meeting unprepared. You should practice your pitch repeatedly until you are able to deliver it smoothly and confidently, much like you would when preparing for a job interview. Be prepared to deviate from your pitch when necessary: research questions commonly asked by venture capitalists, as they will certainly have several. Tips for Raising Venture Capital, Part 1

• Srinivas Anumolu on Business Growth Through Employee Training, Srinivas Anumolu May, 2011 An experienced finance professional and entrepreneur, Srinivas Anumolu shares his insights on how companies can create growth without added leverage and the risk that comes with it. Instead, Anumolu emphasizes the benefits of regular employee training. Following the credit crunch of 2008, many businesses became reluctant to borrow, just as lenders became more conservative with their loans. As the economy improves, companies naturally face the need to expand, yet the weariness to take on added debt to fuel these expansions remains. Employing creative approaches, however, many businesses can increase the growth potential of their current assets, without any significant new capital outlays. One of the most cost-effective methods to encourage this kind of growth is through employee training. Training as a growth strategy extends beyond simply ensuring the company’s sales team understands its products. By constantly improving all employees’ knowledge of the company’s operations, new efficiencies and opportunities will arise organically, without the need to spend any money. Toward that end, strive to initiate regular training sessions, in which as many employees as possible are brought up to speed on the operations of their colleagues. The benefits provided by these training sessions fall into several categories. First, every employee now has the potential to become a sales agent. The IT technician who used to tell his friends, “I maintain servers for Acme Co.” now says, “I maintain the servers for this product/process/service at Acme Co.” instead. When his friends ask what that product is, he can respond with an informed answer, creating a potential new customer in the process. Second, employees from one area often provide valuable insights to those in another area. Many costly mistakes and inefficiencies arise from lack of interaction between departments. Clearly, there are limits to which the market department will be able to assist payroll, but by keeping every team in the company abreast of the other team’s goals, relevant expertise can be incorporated as appropriate. This leads to better strategic decisions, more robust product offerings, and enhanced customer experiences. Third, when all employees understand the business well, they are more likely to refer great talent. A sales employee who understands the needs of the marketing department is more likely to say, “I know someone who has particular expertise on that issue.” Whether referring potential employees or one-time consultants, the company will benefit from this increased focus on attracting top talent.

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