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.

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 […]

“What is your motivation?” That was one of the first questions Mohit Garg asked me in a brightly lit cafe in Pune. Mohit had a few hours before he had to board a flight that would take him to the US permanently.

My hunch proved accurate when I finally met her in Chennai at our volunteer lunch a few months later. She had instinctively taken up roles where she was helping people at the event. It may have been her first time at that meeting, but she glided effortlessly across the room when talking to people.

When I first met Sathya, he was a product manager at Chargebee. Krish spoke highly of Sathya. “Sathya is unique,” Krish told me. “He is a deep thinker and will obsess over details.”

Arvind’s ambition has been to scale his company and replicate his father’s impact on the lives of those he worked with. That was his true north star.

An exceptional designer, kind-hearted and generous with his time. His commitment to supporting founders in our community is unparalleled!

Vishal is all about hard work. While building his product, he reached out to people across the ecosystem for advice on raising capital. In that search, we connected. Our first call was striking.