Venkatesh Rao (writer)

Venkatesh Rao (born 1974) is an Indian-American author and consultant. He has previously worked as a researcher at Cornell University and Xerox.

Since resigning from Xerox in 2011, Rao has worked as an independent consultant in Seattle as well as publishing his popular Breaking Smart newsletter series and writing for Ribbonfarm.

Education

In his early teens Rao learned programming, but pursued a more traditional engineering route in high school. After graduating with a bachelor of technology degree in 1997 from The INDIAN Institute of Technology, Bombay, he secured an F1 visa to study in the United States. Rao received his PhD in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Michigan. His dissertation, Team Formation and Breakup in Multiagent Systems, drew from "control theory, scheduling theory, and artificial intelligence" in an attempt solve multiagent problems in relation to "unmanned vehicle systems" and "autonomous constellations of spacecraft."

Writing

Rao founded and regularly contributes to his blog Ribbonfarm. He's also written for Aeon, The Atlantic, Forbes, and been a guest on the Longform podcast. In 2011, Rao published Tempo, a book on strategy and decision-making.