Sabeer Bhatia, Founder of Hotmail

Today, my guest is Sabeer Bhatia, the Founder of Hotmail, serial entrepreneur and angel investor.

After graduating from Caltech with a BS and Stanford University with an MS in Electrical Engineering, Sabeer started working on new ideas for the Internet and he teamed up with Jack Smith, a colleague from Apple.

The two came up with the concept of a web-based database and while pursuing this idea, they subsequently realized the potential of a web-based e-mail system and thus decided to create one called HoTMaiL (the uppercase letters spelling out HTML).

The e-mail service was provided for free and revenue was obtained through the advertising on the website. In less than six months, the website attracted over 1 million subscribers. As the interest in the web-based email provider increased, Hotmail was sold to Microsoft for $400 million in 1997. Since then, Sabeer has started and invested in numerous companies. His latest project is Showreel, an app which utilizes artificial intelligence to develop critical thinking skills.