Rob figured out the joys of virtual companies back in 1999. Today, he runs a 65-person virtual company that makes $20 million in revenue. Wonderful story. Sramana Mitra: Let's start at the very beginning of your journey. Where are you from? Where were you born, raised, and in what kind of background? Rob Cheng: I was born in New York City. When I was two years old, I moved to the Washington DC area. My father is a statistician and my mother is a computer programmer. I grew up in Bowie, Maryland and graduated from Bowie Senior High School. I did very well. At that time, there were a thousand kids in my senior class. I think I graduated at number four. I had always been very good at mathematics. From there, I went to Cornell University. I got a degree in Operations Research and Industrial Engineering. I had an internship with Xerox. That was my first working experience. I also worked for the Federal Government for one summer. Then I left. It was a really good time to be an