I invest in founders I get unreasonably excited by who are going to change the way we live and work. I invest globally and will aim to syndicate all deals I do in India. I'm an early investor in Clubhouse, Certn, Primer, Railway, Atlas Visa, and many more.
Background
A generalist who’s started and scaled startups. Previously, I helped start the delightful email client, Polymail (YC 16), then scaled Opendoor (here). Before that I ran hackathons.
Help
Founders have picked working with me for the following reasons:
- Trust: Being the first person you can call when something goes wrong
- Hiring: Helping introduce to first hires & closing candidates
- Customers: Finding some of your first 5 customers or 100 users.
- Fundraising: Bringing on other world-class investors
Feedback from founders on how I've been helpful:
"Helping us hire X [first engineer] and making customer intros" - Shrav Mehta, founder of Secure Frame
"Fundraising is the most obvious and tangible way — Varadh's help completely changed the course of the company / our lives." - Taimur Abdaal, founder of Causal.app
"Varadh's evangelized it, provided useful feedback on product, onboarding users, pricing." - Kishan Bagaria, founder of texts.com
Dealflow
I've been discovering talent for the last ten years via a combination of existing portfolio founders, alumni networks (UCLA, Y Combinator, and Opendoor), friends working at high growth companies in San Francisco, London, Bangalore, & more. Plus early-stage investors from across the world!
Co-investors
I’ve invested alongside the best investors in the world: Andreessen Horowirtz (a16z), Founders Fund, Tribe Capital, Kima Ventures, Craft Ventures, Shrug Capital, Naval Ravikant, Lachy Groom, Elad Gil, and many more