Yeshwanth Daram arrived well before 9 am just to make sure he got a seat at the hall. The founder of Managers without Borders wasn’t the only one in early. Nearly 300 young techies, top businessmen from Hyderabad, and even Telangana IT Minister KT Rama Rao turned up well on time at T-Hub’s meeting hall to hear Microsoft’s CEO speak.

Satya Nadella didn’t disappoint them. He struck a chord with the start-ups. They listened to him with rapt attention. He obliged their request for a group selfie at the end of his visit to the start-up incubator. Nadella asked entrepreneurs to work on providing last-mile connectivity in rural areas and on building marketable solutions. “You can tap white spaces (unused TV spectrum) or other sources to provide last-mile connectivity and solutions,” he said. The Telangana Government has asked Nadella for expertise to expand rural connectivity.

“The defining technology for the next 10 years is Artificial Intelligence and Artificial General Intelligence,” the Microsoft CEO said.

He made it clear that the company would not focus on matters that were not its core strengths. Responding to an observation about Google’s moves in life-sciences, he said: “We don’t do it. But what we do is we will empower firms working in areas such as energy, life-sciences by providing our technologies”.

Also at the venue were Nasscom Chairman BVR Mohan Reddy, Infosys CEO Vishal Sikka, Aruba Networks Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer Keerti Melkote and Dr Reddy’s CEO GV Prasad.

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