Page 18 - Transforming an Idea Into a Business with Design Thinking

Acknowledgments

First and foremost, I’ d like to convey my sincere gratitude to Allah, the
Almighty, for every aspect of my existence. This book would not have been
possible with my sole contribution. From the time I moved to Silicon Valley
in December 1999 until now, I have been influenced by so many great
people, both at a conscious as well as subconscious level, that it is impos-
sible to acknowledge them all in this section – so any omissions here are
purely accidental.

I have to acknowledge SAP as an organization that has given me the
opportunity over the years to take risks, drive change and work with start-ups
in Silicon Valley throughout the last 18 years. Without their openness and sup-
port, I would not have been able to attain the valuable experience that helped
me in having the insights presented in this book.

I also would like to acknowledge SAP’ s Chief Design Officer, Sam Yen,
whose leadership in championing Design Thinking for driving innova-
tion has been a source of tremendous inspiration for me. Sam has also
been instrumental in driving a cultural change inside SAP to become more
entrepreneurial.

This book would not be possible without Janaki Kumar, a Design leader
and a recognized influencer in Silicon Valley. Under Janaki’ s leadership, I
was able to learn, grow and shine as an innovation leader.

I also would like to acknowledge Naeem Zafar, an entrepreneur and pro-
fessor at UC Berkeley and Brown University, for giving me the opportunity
to showcase this framework for the entrepreneurship class at UC Berkeley.
Naeem also invited me to mentor start-ups during several entrepreneurial
events in Silicon Valley.

Over the course of the last 15 years, I have also been able to try numer-
ous entrepreneurial endeavors myself. My collaborators, including Bilal
Ahmed, Asif Habib, Najam Saeed, Khurram Hassan and Ateeq Khan have
been a great source of inspiration for me throughout these years.

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