“I am in,” said Shashank Kumar, co-founder of Razorpay, leaning back on his chair. I hadn’t completed my pitch, but Shashank’s mind was made up. There wasn’t much to say, so I pocketed my iPhone, stood up, thanked him, and left. He had just agreed to sign a not-insignificant cheque for our efforts. 

Her Twitter persona was fierce, fearless, and formidable. She pulled no punches. I had found a line to connect with her. But I wasn’t convinced. I wanted to know more. So, I reached further into the ecosystem.

Before I move on, I want to introduce you to Mayank, founder of EPYC and one of the brightest minds I’ve met. Deeply rooted in the open-source and no-code world, Mayank brings a rare mix of hustle, heart, and humility.

It’s not often that I stumble across someone who is a natural giver. During these sessions, he would never hold back — that honesty and transparency hooked founders, who would speak about moments from the session for days. At that moment, I saw a genius in Kalyan… He reminds me of the famous Hindi proverb, ‘A tree laden with fruit bends low.’ Despite being a successful founder, Kalyan’s humility and empathy are visible

One summer morning in 2011, I was called into my senior’s office. “Rajan wants to meet you,” he said. An industry stalwart had explicitly asked for me, so I had to see him. At that meeting, my relationship with Rajan truly began.

“There is nothing he believes in more than India and her founders.” Raj Sheth’s journey has been one of relentless optimism, quiet generosity, and unwavering belief in India’s startup community, always giving, always returning, always paying it forward.

A few days ago, we had one of those rare pauses – an internal team session with Shekhar Kirani (Partner at Accel) that had us looking at our work through a new lens. And personally, it felt like someone had gently nudged me out of my comfort zone and asked: How am I really showing up in this role?

I heard him before I saw him. That’s the best way I can describe the first time I met Prasanna Krishnamoorthy. This story starts about a dozen years ago, when Prasanna was associated with Microsoft Accelerator. At the time, he was known to the startup community as a founder who had pivoted to nurturing startups […]

We often use the restaurant analogy to describe how SaaSBoomi functions. It borrows from my childhood memory and a dream to run a small, intimate restaurant in the hills. I will extend that metaphor further to describe each member of our community and the roles they play.