The text arrived as my car pulled away from the retreat venue. “Hey Avi, didn’t see you at breakfast. I hope you’re ok.”
I stared at the message from Shruti Kapoor as the countryside rolled past. In a room full of conversations the previous evening, she had noticed my discomfort, asked about it quietly, and now she was checking in. During these retreats, after a few drinks, friends and colleagues sometimes unknowingly overstep boundaries. Shruti picked up on it, pulled me aside and asked about it. And the next morning, she followed up.
Shruti is unique.
My mind drifted back to the Covid lockdowns, when Accel was running a mentoring programme, and Wingman was in the cohort. While others asked predictable questions, Shruti’s ideas would bring you pause.
I was impressed by her clarity and wanted to stay in touch, but sometimes life has other ideas.
Later, I joined Together whilst she continued building Wingman, and then came the news of the exit. She was the first woman founder in the SaaS community to sell. And sell well. At that moment, all her insightful questions came flooding back.
This time, I didn’t want to let someone so unique slip through the cracks.
Finally, through a few carefully placed messages and emails, we got her to attend Caravan. My friend Vinod Muthukrishnan gave a beautiful introduction. And as she and I spent time together, I began to understand the discipline behind her success and her unparalleled way of communicating.
We got her involved in SGX, brought her into Annual, and she made her way into the governing council as co-chair. She became a sounding board for everything from leading meetings to navigating difficult conversations.
Over the past five years, Shruti has become integral to how we plan our events and retreats, which are chaotic affairs with multiple tracks and hundreds of conversations, yet she manages to cut through the clutter.
Over time, I came to know her not only as a volunteer but also as a person. I mentioned earlier that Shruti was unique; let me explain a little more. I don’t often call people kind. But Shruti is kind and here’s why: she is kind to herself. I speak to plenty of founders and entrepreneurs; one commonality among them: they hold everyone else to the same high standards they hold themselves to. Shruti uses the same, but with kindness. She is deeply empathetic and mindful of people’s boundaries. Her kindness, combined with her candour, makes her a treasure. She’s not afraid to say, “I don’t know, but let’s figure this out together.” This honesty is very rare in people. It liberates people, helps them experiment, and leads them to solutions and answers that would not have been possible. But what really moved me was how she shrugged off challenges with a smile.
I always wondered how she learned that quality, and then I knew.
Her parents live near me in the NCR, and though she is based in Dubai, she visits often enough, so I’ve started catching up over coffee whenever she is in the neighbourhood. That is when I learnt about her roots in a village near Etawah, about the young girl who studied hard, built a company, and sold it! She was the only tech entrepreneur from her town, the only woman entrepreneur, and she had not forgotten where she came from. She has overcome deep prejudice and built herself up from the ground up.
But there was something else about her which I couldn’t put my finger on. But one day it became as clear as day.
During the scramble for the peace prize, a few stories popped up on my social media timeline of other Nobel winners. One story that stood out was Marie Curie’s.
The legendary scientist freely shared her discoveries with the world, refusing to patent her radium isolation process because she believed scientific knowledge belonged to humanity. She gave away her Nobel Prize money, worked through two world wars helping wounded soldiers, and trained nurses whilst her own health deteriorated.
Shruti reminds me of Curie in this spirit of giving. Despite achieving what many spend a lifetime chasing, she remains naturally unassuming and makes an effort to know people. She notices the smallest gestures, takes calls from Montenegro while hiking or at yoga retreats, and tells us she will always find time to show up.
She does this for no visibility or commercial gain. When a founder receives an M&A inbound, Shruti connects, advises, and walks them through the process so they can maximize their exit. She has opened her playbook to perhaps twenty founders, and companies in SGX have benefited from her mentorship in quiet conversations.
I still look back at that text and wonder how lucky SaaSBoomi has been to find people like Shruti who volunteer not just their time but their hearts.
From a village near Etawah to Dubai, from building to exiting, Shruti has travelled far. But like Curie, she has never forgotten to give back.
From the Author:
SaaSBoomi began in 2015 as a small gathering of ~50 founders, and today, with over 500 events across three countries and countless lives touched, we’ve only just scratched the surface.
None of this would have been possible without the unrelenting passion of our 125+ volunteers — the lifeblood of SaaSBoomi.
Their contributions go beyond effort; they’ve built a community bound by camaraderie, empathy, and a shared vision for a Product Nation.
Pay it FWD is my tribute to every pay-it-forward champion I’ve encountered on this incredible journey.
Their contributions to SaaSBoomi and the broader ecosystem have been immeasurable, yet there remains a story left to be told — one that echoes the impact they continue to create.
