Sort of off topic, but I bet a number of other people were wondering about the apparent mismatch between the Anglo name and Middle Eastern/South Asian appearance of Andrew Warner. I thought at first he was adopted or something.
But seems like he made a business move -- real name Shuki Khalili. Which is likely Iranian or Arabic. This also explains why he mispronounced Chandrasekar Rathakrishnan's Tamil name, which is what initially aroused my curiosity.
Anyway, I totally understand, I have my Starbucks name too, and this is why that James Chartrand story posted recently rang true to me.
Here's the article that discusses it. Actually makes me think about going with something like "Steve Jones" when initiating outbound. Any bites to "Steve Jones" then cc'd to a polysyllabic ethnic -- who happens to be me.
Throughout Shuki Khalili’s career, he suspected his name might be holding him back. When he worked for a Wall Street headhunter, he felt potential clients would blow him off when they heard his name. When he started his own business selling greeting cards, phones sales were initially a bust at first.
“I tried using an American name, ‘Andrew Warner,’ and suddenly I could at least engage them in conversation and sell them some ads so I could build my business,” he said. He now goes by Andrew Warner and runs a successful entrepreneurial resource site called Mixergy.com in Santa Monica, Calif.
If you're going to make that move in the tech industry, go with a name that could reasonably be mistaken for a jewish name, but could also be anglo-saxon when neccessary. It makes a huge difference.
Wow, I am really impressed by the well-researched and well thought out tough questions you asked without being disrespectful (have you guy seen interviews conducted by Arrington for techcrunch? Total dickish questions all around).
This is my first time watching your interview videos. Even though I have seen links to your site here in HN many times, I ignored them mostly because I am not much of a video guy, I like texts.
I see myself watching more of your interviews. Keep it up.
But seems like he made a business move -- real name Shuki Khalili. Which is likely Iranian or Arabic. This also explains why he mispronounced Chandrasekar Rathakrishnan's Tamil name, which is what initially aroused my curiosity.
Anyway, I totally understand, I have my Starbucks name too, and this is why that James Chartrand story posted recently rang true to me.
Here's the article that discusses it. Actually makes me think about going with something like "Steve Jones" when initiating outbound. Any bites to "Steve Jones" then cc'd to a polysyllabic ethnic -- who happens to be me.
http://newsone.com/nation/job-hunters-with-ethnic-names-face...
Throughout Shuki Khalili’s career, he suspected his name might be holding him back. When he worked for a Wall Street headhunter, he felt potential clients would blow him off when they heard his name. When he started his own business selling greeting cards, phones sales were initially a bust at first.
“I tried using an American name, ‘Andrew Warner,’ and suddenly I could at least engage them in conversation and sell them some ads so I could build my business,” he said. He now goes by Andrew Warner and runs a successful entrepreneurial resource site called Mixergy.com in Santa Monica, Calif.