Age: 34.
Hometown: Kandy, Sri Lanka; grew up Manchester, U.K.
Education: M.A., computer science, University of Cambridge.
About the business: Blinkx touts itself as “the world’s largest video search engine.”
Hours per week you work: 80.
For which organizations do you volunteer: Mainly Rang De, an Indian microfinance charity.
Favorite cause: Anything that supports social mobility through access education and health care.
Favorite escape: A glass of pinot noir, outside a winery in Anderson Valley.
Guilty pleasure: Midnight room-service burger after a really tough day on the road.
Greatest professional accomplishment: Pulling off London’s second-best performing IPO in four years.
Stress relief: Just about any activity with my wife and our son.
Favorite college sport/club: Rowing.
Favorite quote: “Look at a day when you’re supremely satisfied at the end. It’s not a day when you lounge around doing nothing; it’s a day when you had everything to do and you’ve done it.” — Margaret Thatcher.
How long in your current role: Five years.
What is a typical day like for you: One flight, 300 emails read, 50 sent, 25 phone calls, four meetings, three cups of tea or coffee. In just about any order.
Why did you go into your current field: The unique sense of camaraderie you get from having a close-knit team begin with nothing but their own wits and go on to achieve the statistically extremely unlikely.
As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up: From age 8, to run a technology company; from age 12, to do it in Silicon Valley.
Best advice you ever got: Strategy is great, but remember first you have to live to fight another day.