A bit about me: I’m the founder of a new company. I also invest in companies and founders I get unreasonably excited by. My (copt-ed) motto is small on check, big on mission. I’m 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.
I am personally interested in future of work, consumer, and atoms & bits do invest very broadly. I can invest globally and have invested in Brazil, Canada, UK, and India, and hope to make investments in East Africa and Southeast Asia soon. Invested personal capital 2019-2021 and now investing as scout.
Small(est) check investor in:
* 2021: Daze, Qrono, LCA, Lumen Energy, AirGarage, Airplane, RIFF, Atlys Visa, Secureframe, Even Health, Meticulous
* 2020: Railway, Teamflow, Uno, Table.ai, Clubhouse, Upflow, Confirm, Primer, Alka, Texts.com, VINN
* 2019: Certn, Compound, Flow Labs, Paragon, Causal,
Advisor: Certn, VINN, Causal
SPVs: Even Health, Causal
Help: I try to hit one of these metrics’ when I invest:
- Poweruser: Be the top user of your product
- Customers: Rounding up some of your first 10 customers or 100 users.
- Availability: the first person you can call when something goes wrong
- Fundraising: Introducing you to an investor who ends up leading or investing
- Varadh has been an incredible help to us in the short time we’ve known each other. A majority of our investors have come from introductions that Varadh made, and his advice + support has really helped us navigate the early stage that we’re at. – Taimur Abdaal (Co-founder, Causal)
- It is hard to stress how crucial Varadh was in raising our seed round. I consider an angel to be helpful if they make an intro or two. Varadh’s intros basically helped us put the entire round together.
Not only that, he was willing to roll up his sleeves and actually do the work to get us those commitments in the first place. From doing calls at 2am to literally helping to draft the right email responses Varadh was always there to support us, at a time when it was arguably not rational to do so. Even when things came together in a way that was beyond expectations, Varadh always put the companies interests above his and we couldn’t be more grateful.
This is a dude who is always willing to help and any founder would be lucky to work with him. I can guarantee that on a help/ dollar basis, he will be the highest value add on the cap table. He has an incredible network and just as importantly, will actually leverage it to help you. – Mayank Banerjee (CEO, Even Healthcare) - Varadh is one of the brightest, ambitious guys I’ve had the pleasure to work with. His unique product & strategic insight helped shaped many important decisions we made early on at Polymail! – Brandon Foo (Co-founder, Paragon & Polymail)
- We love co-investing with Varadh. He has a strong eye for promising, early stage companies and a global network to source from. As a founder, I’d want him on my cap table. His check size to value-add ratio is high. 🙂 – Ryan Hoover (Co-founder Product Hunt, GP Weekend Fund)
References at: angel.co/varadh
Network: 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.
