From Startup to US IPO in 5 Years: Kanwal Rekhi’s Historic IPO of Excelan
The Neon Show
- Published
- January 22, 2026
- Duration
- 1h 18m
- Summary source
- description
- Last updated
- Aug 23, 2026
Discusses Kanwal Rekhi first came to the US in the 1960s. He took his company public on Nasdaq in 1987. As a y…
Summary
Kanwal Rekhi first came to the US in the 1960s. He took his company public on Nasdaq in 1987. As a young Indian in the US, he was laid off from his first three jobs. That experience pushed him towards entrepreneurship. At the time, Indians were known and hired for technical and mathematical skills, not as founders building companies on US soil.But Kanwal …
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Show notes
Kanwal Rekhi first came to the US in the 1960s. He took his company public on Nasdaq in 1987. As a young Indian in the US, he was laid off from his first three jobs. That experience pushed him towards entrepreneurship. At the time, Indians were known and hired for technical and mathematical skills, not as founders building companies on US soil.But Kanwal and his co-founders decided to bet on themselves. They faced rejection from nearly 50 investors before one VC agreed to invest $2 million for 5