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Dham could have hewed to a safe course and stayed at Intel for the rest of his career.

But playing it safe has never been his style.

According to him, Intel could have been a comfortable place.

If he hadn't left then, he might never have.

When he joined Intel, it was then a mere $ 663 million revenue company.

By the time he left in 1995, Intel's revenues had soared to $ 16. 2 billion.

Dham says he was a keen observer of how Andy Grove built the strategy and the organisation for Intel ’ s success in the microprocessor business.

Even at Intel, Dham took chances, such as his prescient decision to work on processors when he was done with being in R & D. By the time Dham quit Intel, he had already built a tremendous brand for himself.

It was also the time when the entrepreneurial revolution in Silicon Valley was at its peak.

He came across a company called NexGen, a boutique processor design company that was about eight years old.

He joined the company as its chief operating officer.

Nexgen was the only company that was developing Intel compatible microprocessors at the time.

Having Dham on the board was coup for the small chip maker which has been looking to make a mark in the microprocessor world.

Nexgen ’ s founders were predictably jubilant about their big catch.

While Nexgen had been operating for several years, the company lacked strategic direction.