About
Business Faculty
Bio
Viraj Ramesh Phanse is an Adjunct Faculty member and industry practitioner with extensive experience spanning artificial intelligence, venture capital, business analytics, computer science, and go-to-market and product strategy. He currently serves as Adjunct Faculty in Business and Computer Science at San Jose City College, where he teaches and supports applied learning initiatives at the intersection of technology, analytics, and entrepreneurship. His academic interests include enterprise AI and AI-enabled products, data-driven decision-making, SaaS economics, GTM and pricing strategy, and digital transformation.
Mr. Phanse has held senior leadership roles across global technology firms, startups, and venture capital organizations. His professional experience includes serving as Partner at Arka Venture Labs, a BGV anchored early stage VC fund focused on enterprise AI, Co-Founder, and CEO of Blockfenders, Inc., a VC-backed startup in the Silicon Valley, Product Management roles at Amazon Web Services and Oracle Corporation, and senior strategy and digital transformation positions at Persistent Systems and Aerospike. He has successfully raised venture funding, advised and invested in startups, and led product strategy initiatives across AI, cloud computing, data analytics, and AI-driven platforms. In addition to his academic and industry work, Mr. Phanse serves on advisory boards, mentors product leaders, and contributes to professional communities focused on innovation, analytics, and venture development.
Degrees and Certifications:
- M.B.A.
University of California, Berkeley - M.S.
Computer Science, University of California, Los Angeles - B.Eng., Information Technology
University of Pune
Honors, Distinctions, & Professional Recognition:
- Fellow, Berkeley Angel Network
- TIE Charter Membership
- Member, San Francisco State University Big Data Advisory Board
- Member, Rutgers University Big Data Advisory Board
Courses Taught:
- AI520 - Building an AI Business: From Idea to VC Funded Startup Launch
Publications:
Academic Journal Articles
- Phanse, V. R. (2019). Profit Maximization, Monopoly and High Barrier of Entry for SaaS Products: An Application of the Golden Rule and the Optimal Pricing Strategy. Innovative Journal of Business and Management, 8(7), 101–109.
- Phanse, V., & Deorah, S. (2011). Evaluation and Extension to the Duckworth Lewis Method: A Dual Application of Data Mining Techniques. IEEE 11th International Conference on Data Mining Workshops. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICDMW.2011.79
Registered and Approved Patents
- U.S. Patent No. 10,402,455 — Location and Content-Based Search for a Mobile Device (Issued September 3, 2019)
Industry & Practitioner Publications
- Power data analytics, monitoring, and search use cases with the Open Distro for Elasticsearch SQL Engine on Amazon ES. Amazon Web Services Blog.
- Hybrid Approach to Data Management, Database Evolution. DZone.
- Open Distro for Elasticsearch Now Supports Integration with Tableau and Microsoft Excel.
- Dealing with Common User Testing Challenges. ProductCraft.
- Selecting the Right KPIs for Your Product Team. ProductCraft.
- Cloud Native Trend Report. DZone.
- The Three C’s of Putting the Customer First. ProductCraft.
- Sales and Marketing Metrics That Can Help Inform Your Roadmap. ProductCraft.
- Three Tools for Data-Driven Product Management. ProductCraft.
Bio
Viraj Ramesh Phanse is an Adjunct Faculty member and industry practitioner with extensive experience spanning artificial intelligence, venture capital, business analytics, computer science, and go-to-market and product strategy. He currently serves as Adjunct Faculty in Business and Computer Science at San Jose City College, where he teaches and supports applied learning initiatives at the intersection of technology, analytics, and entrepreneurship. His academic interests include enterprise AI and AI-enabled products, data-driven decision-making, SaaS economics, GTM and pricing strategy, and digital transformation.
Mr. Phanse has held senior leadership roles across global technology firms, startups, and venture capital organizations. His professional experience includes serving as Partner at Arka Venture Labs, a BGV anchored early stage VC fund focused on enterprise AI, Co-Founder, and CEO of Blockfenders, Inc., a VC-backed startup in the Silicon Valley, Product Management roles at Amazon Web Services and Oracle Corporation, and senior strategy and digital transformation positions at Persistent Systems and Aerospike. He has successfully raised venture funding, advised and invested in startups, and led product strategy initiatives across AI, cloud computing, data analytics, and AI-driven platforms. In addition to his academic and industry work, Mr. Phanse serves on advisory boards, mentors product leaders, and contributes to professional communities focused on innovation, analytics, and venture development.
Degrees and Certifications:
- M.B.A.
University of California, Berkeley - M.S.
Computer Science, University of California, Los Angeles - B.Eng., Information Technology
University of Pune
Honors, Distinctions, & Professional Recognition:
- Fellow, Berkeley Angel Network
- TIE Charter Membership
- Member, San Francisco State University Big Data Advisory Board
- Member, Rutgers University Big Data Advisory Board
Courses Taught:
- AI520 - Building an AI Business: From Idea to VC Funded Startup Launch
Publications:
Academic Journal Articles
- Phanse, V. R. (2019). Profit Maximization, Monopoly and High Barrier of Entry for SaaS Products: An Application of the Golden Rule and the Optimal Pricing Strategy. Innovative Journal of Business and Management, 8(7), 101–109.
- Phanse, V., & Deorah, S. (2011). Evaluation and Extension to the Duckworth Lewis Method: A Dual Application of Data Mining Techniques. IEEE 11th International Conference on Data Mining Workshops. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICDMW.2011.79
Registered and Approved Patents
- U.S. Patent No. 10,402,455 — Location and Content-Based Search for a Mobile Device (Issued September 3, 2019)
Industry & Practitioner Publications
- Power data analytics, monitoring, and search use cases with the Open Distro for Elasticsearch SQL Engine on Amazon ES. Amazon Web Services Blog.
- Hybrid Approach to Data Management, Database Evolution. DZone.
- Open Distro for Elasticsearch Now Supports Integration with Tableau and Microsoft Excel.
- Dealing with Common User Testing Challenges. ProductCraft.
- Selecting the Right KPIs for Your Product Team. ProductCraft.
- Cloud Native Trend Report. DZone.
- The Three C’s of Putting the Customer First. ProductCraft.
- Sales and Marketing Metrics That Can Help Inform Your Roadmap. ProductCraft.
- Three Tools for Data-Driven Product Management. ProductCraft.