A bit about me: I invest in companies and founders I get unreasonably excited by. small on check, big on mission.
I’m a generalist who’s started and scaled startups. Likely doing product, operations, and customer service. Previously, I helped start the delightful email client, Polymail (YC 16), then scaled Opendoor (here). Before that I ran hackathons. Founder references at the bottom of the page.
I am personally interested in future of work and atoms & bits, but can invest very broadly.
Help: I can help companies I invest in a few different ways: early customers, fundraising, and hiring the great talent. I try to hit one of these metrics’ when I invest:
- Availability: the first person you can call when something goes wrong
- Hiring: Helping you hire at least one person before your next round
- Customers: Rounding up some of your first 10 customers or 100 users.
- Fundraising: Introducing you to an investor who ends up leading or investing
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.
Global: I’m also interested in working with founders who’s companies can be globally relevant but are not US-based. Personally, I regularly spend time in Canada, the UK, the Nordics, India, and soon East Africa. If you’re based here, please don’t hesitate to reach out: me@varadhja.in
Founder SPV = min to no carry SPV to enable founders to collect small checks to keep their cap table clean + not need to manage the ops.
| Investments | About | Other Investors | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🚘 AirGarage | Modern parking operator | Floodgate, Founders Fund, Weekend Fund, + | Seed (2021) |
| 🛫 TBA | Developer platform for internal tools | Benchmark Capital | Seed (2021) |
| 🌐 Atlas Visa | Efficient Visas | SPC, + | Pre-seed (2021) |
| 🔓 Secureframe | KPCB, Gradient + | Series A (2021) +Founder SPV | |
| 🩺 Stealth | Fintech 🇮🇳 | Khosla, Founders Fund, Lachy, + | Seed (2021) +Founder SPV |
| Unified inbox | |||
| 🚂 Railway | Instant infrastructure | Angels | Pre-seed (2020) |
| 🎳 Teamflow | Remote collaboration | Menlo + | Seed (2020) +Founder SPV |
| 🔐 Stealth | Consumer cybersecurity | a16z+ | Seed (2020) |
| 🪑 Table.ai | Data analytics | 8VC + | Seed (2020) |
| 📞 Clubhouse | a16z + | Series A (2020) | |
| 🏎 Upflow | Helps you collect money from outstanding invoices faster 🇫🇷 | Kima Ventures + | Seed (2020) |
| ✅ ConfirmHR | Improves how you hire | — | |
| 👩🏽🏫 Primer | Building the future of education | Founders Fund, Naval R, patio11 + | Seed (2020) |
| 💸 Alka | Personal finance 🇮🇩 | Craft Ventures + | |
| 🔍 Certn | Gives you global background checks 🇨🇦 | Tribe Cap, Moxxie, Weekend Fund + | Seed (2020) Now: Series B |
| 💰 Compound | Wealth management | — | Seed (2019) Series A (2021) Now: Series A |
| 🚦Flow Labs | Gives everyone time back by eliminating traffic congestion | — | Pre-seed (2019) |
| ♻️ Paragon | Automating your API development | Village Global, Soma Capital + | |
| 📶 Causal | Giving you statistical and visualization superpowers 🇬🇧 | — | Pre-seed (2019) Now: Seed |
| ♾ SandboxVR | Full-body VR experience with friends (via Shrug Capital) | a16z, Shrug Capital + |
| Companies | |
| 📺 Reactive Streaming | advisor to founders |
| 📊 Index | advisor to founders |
| 🔍 Certn | advisor to founders |
| 💌 Polymail | advisor to founders |
| 📶 Causal | product + gtm |
References at: angel.co/varadh
- 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)
- Varadh is a trusted friend and I love spending time with him. Not only is he smart and ambitious, but he has a great heart and his energy is contagious. I’ve always counted on him for real talk and to constantly push me to improve as a person and leader. If you’re an early founder, I cannot recommend him enough as someone to share your journey with. – Patrick Lu (Co-founder, Playfull)
- 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)
Becoming an Angel Investor:
- Motivation
- Capital
- Access / Sourcing
- Diligence
- Securing Allocation
- Helping
