Global decarbonization efforts over the next three decades will require a $100tn investment, generating a massive opportunity for private capital to deploy and drive the energy transition. And Monica Varman sits at the forefront of this. Monica is a Partner at G2 Venture Partners. She was most recently a core member of the sustainability practice at McKinsey & Company, where she advised senior executives in the energy and infrastructure sectors on decarbonization and growth strategies. At G2...
Jul 25, 2022•45 min•Season 3Ep. 2
Over the last two seasons of Women who Build and two waves of the pandemic, we know when it comes to company building, a few things matters for sure - Building for the long-term from early on Learning from what is happening around the world, sectors, and stages Focusing on personal lives and how that influences who we are as a leader So in the third season of Women who Build, we have something special for you - We will learn about new business models, cultures, and sectors in a new geography - t...
Jul 12, 2022•3 min•Season 3Ep. 1
We are often asked by our dear ones to build a career around what we “love” doing. What is not talked about is how to find what we love, and this process requires a LOT of reflection. Abhilasha Sinha is one of the few individuals who have done the hard work to ultimately find what she loves and been transparent about it! In this episode of Women who Build, Abhilasha talks about how she was fortunate to have been admitted to Harvard Business School’s 2+2 program, as that equipped her with the ris...
Apr 11, 2022•1 hr 4 min•Season 2Ep. 11
Many of us who start our careers in investment banking get drawn towards startup investing. But there are several stages to this investing - early, growth, and late. Kanika Mayar brings her unique experience of investment banking at Goldman Sachs and startup investing across all stages at IFC and now at Vertex Ventures. Some of her notable investments include Proactive for Her, Karkhana.io , and Kapiva, amongst others. Kanika is a Senior Executive Director at Vertex. Prior to this, at IFC, she f...
Mar 20, 2022•41 min•Season 2Ep. 10
Whenever we think of startup financing, venture capital comes to mind. Coming from investment banking, I realize that there are other ways to fund your company based on your goals and situations. Venture debt is one such instrument and Tarana Lalwani is leading the way in India when it comes to that. It is a special episode for me as I have been fortunate to get to know her closely in the past few months and I only realized recently that our journies are very similar. I am yet to raise a fund on...
Feb 15, 2022•40 min
If schools, a disproportionate amount of focus is put into cognitive skills. A high achiever is defined as the person scoring the “highest” in Math and Science. But as we grow up, we realize that the most successful people possess strong non-cognitive skills like confidence and collaboration and are able to connect the dots amongst several disciplines. But make no mistake, building these skills takes time! Through Early Steps Academy, Sneha Biswas wants kids aged 8-18 years to build exactly thes...
Jan 26, 2022•39 min•Season 2Ep. 8
As consumers, we always see finished products - from our favourite cars to favourite soaps. One of the most important sectors that impacts what we get in our hands is the manufacturing sector. This episode of Women who Build is extremely special for me as Sonam is probably the only startup founder I know from my hometown Gwalior. Also, she has a way of always following very “different” paths and is an incredible human being. Sonam Motwani is the founder of Karkhana.io, a digital platform that si...
Dec 28, 2021•48 min•Season 2Ep. 7
As Indians, most of us have had this day where we decided to buy an insurance plan and by the end of the exercise, felt hopeless and clueless. Some of us have had to pay extraordinarily large sums for ourselves or our family members, which has often left us wondering why we did not avail healthcare service in time! Infact, India has one-of-the highest levels of Out-Of-Pocket Expenditures (OOPE) on health - of about 65%! This is exactly what Matilde Giglio found during her research about the Indi...
Dec 13, 2021•32 min
Neuroscience confirms that to be truly happy, human beings will always need something more. To seek this “more”, we must ensure that our bodies and brains exhibit their peak performance, and what we eat clearly defines this performance. In India, while we like our Samosas and Chola Bhaturas, we have now acquired a taste for health and wellness. And COVID has only accelerated the trend. Jo Pattabiraman, CEO and Founder of Grow Fit recognized the potential of healthy foods in India early on, as sh...
Oct 18, 2021•49 min•Season 2Ep. 5
Most of us look forward to the wedding of a relative or a friend where we can dance and eat! For some of us, our weddings got planned by our parents and relatives right after we entered college. Because apparently, it takes a LOT of time and effort to organize one. In this episode of Women who Build, I talk to Sanna Vohra who is making it easier to plan weddings through her company, The Wedding Brigade. The Wedding Brigade is an online portal where users can discover the best wedding content and...
Sep 23, 2021•25 min•Season 2Ep. 4
We have seen 2, 3, 4, 5 women investment partners at venture capital firms. Have we seen firms where all three investment partners are women? Not too many! I am so excited about today’s podcast with Enzia Ventures. The team at Enzia has been an early supporter of Women who Build. Enzia is an early-stage investment firm in India that invests in education, health, and the environment. So let us get to know them - Namita is one of the most empathetic people I know in startups :) Namita pursued her ...
Sep 10, 2021•36 min•Season 2Ep. 2
Whenever I complained about “bad luck”, my mom always said that success is about what you make out of a situation, good or bad. Shruti, Founder and CEO of ApnaKlub is a true personification of this. I am so happy to do this episode of Women who Build with her, as I have personally followed her journey and am so proud of how she is impacting the lives of thousands of small businessmen/women through her company. She is also one of the very few founders who practices spirituality in her day-to-day,...
Sep 07, 2021•32 min•Season 2Ep. 3
Most of you who know me, know that my niece inspired me to start Women who Build. She is a 14-year-old baker who wants to launch her bakery business and wants to learn how. And now, my listeners encourage me to keep it going (see image). In the first edition of Women who Build, we launched >10 episodes, talked to women worldwide, and were fortunate to have been called the “Best Podcast” by a few. Then, the second wave of COVID hit India and I took what I thought was the scariest decision of m...
Aug 15, 2021•5 min•Season 2Ep. 1
I was in middle school when Paula Mariwala gauged the potential of the Indian startup ecosystem and started investing through Seedfund. Paula is the Managing Director of Seedfund Advisors, a venture capital firm, which invests in early-stage companies in India, and the Co-Founder and President of Stanford Angels & Entrepreneurs India. Some of her key investments include Unacademy, redBus, and CarWale. She has decades of entrepreneurial and operating experience in the technology sectors of bo...
Feb 06, 2021•40 min
I still remember how my sister and I used to play Mario Bros and the Jungle Book as kids. The thing that fascinated us the most about these games was discovering the unknown with every new level we entered. Storytelling was important to us. 20 years later, my nieces seek the same stories. I went a step ahead to figure out how many games in the market actually cater to their needs. I spoke to Salone Sehgal, General Partner, Lumikai Fund. Salone has over a decade of cross-sector experience in advi...
Jan 27, 2021•38 min
I am so excited to launch today’s episode as it speaks to the core of Women who Build, which is to encourage women founders and investors to take that one leap of faith that can make all the difference!I spoke to some of my favorite people from the startup world around ‘Women as an Opportunity’ from their experiences in both India and the US -Jesse Draper, Founding Partner, Halogen VC and Host and Creator of Valley Girl ShowManish Kheterpal, Founding Partner, WaterBridge Ventures Ankur Goyal, Fo...
Nov 29, 2020•37 min
“I think we are all inquisitive, but I just took a step further”. Listen to Shakun Sethi, Founder and CEO of Tickle.Life, which is the world’s first Discovery Platform based out of San Francisco. The platform helps folks in their sexual journey through wellbeing products and professionals. Fun fact: On its first launch, it had 5,000 user sign-ups on the first day!Shakun has over a decade of experience and specialization in Community Management, International Communications, Brand Management, and...
Nov 18, 2020•29 min
I had a great time chatting with my friend Tanvi Bikhchandani on the latest episode of the Women who build Podcast!Tanvi is the Co-founder of Tamarind Chutney. Tamarind Chutney is a social enterprise that aims to improve artisan livelihoods and promote textile waste in India. Previously, Tanvi worked at Central Square Foundation (where she was also my colleague), an education philanthropy fund where she was Chief of Staff to the Managing Directors. She holds a BA in Economics & South Asian S...
Oct 25, 2020•39 min
I have met many bold people but nobody compares the energy of Anisha!In my 6th episode of the Women who Build Podcast, meet Anisha Singh, a mother of two and Founding Partner at She Capital where she invests in high growth female-led companies in the pre-series A and Series A stages. She holds a Master’s degree in Political Communication and an MBA in Information Systems from American University. She began her career with the Clinton administration at Capitol Hill, helping women entrepreneurs ra...
Oct 14, 2020•32 min
Now things have gone West for the Women who Build podcast, and what better way than to start with one of the best female-focused funds, Halogen Ventures?For the 5th episode of The Women who Build Podcast, I spoke to Ashley Ramirez, an investor and Chief of Staff at Halogen, which invests in early-stage consumer tech startups founded by female founders. Started by Jesse Draper, a 4th generation VC and Founding Partner, the fund currently has 62 startups in its portfolio.Ashley has a knack for spo...
Oct 04, 2020•29 min
On special demand, I have another D2C founder for you all! Mayura Rao is the Founder and CEO of Ausum Food & Beverages. Ausum creates wholesome beverages to tackle lifestyle and serious health issues such as Obesity, Heart Health, Diabetes, Stress. Its ready to drink beverages are such tasty ways of tackling chronic problems that can have serious economic and physical consequences for adults aged 25 to 45 years! Mayura Rao is an engineer and a business major from the London Business School. ...
Sep 21, 2020•44 min
Rashie Jain is the Co-Founder and CEO at Onco.com, world's first integrated tech platform for cancer-related needs of patients and caregivers. In late 2019, Onco.com raised $7mm from some of the best in business, including Accel Partners, Chiratae Ventures, and Dream Incubator. Rashie is an engineer from IIT Kanpur and a business major from the Wharton School. Her professional experiences have mainly centered around the healthcare industry. She has worked at the likes of JP Morgan, Accel Partner...
Sep 13, 2020•32 min
Hi everyone, my first guest on The Women who Build Podcast is Sheta Mittal, Co-founder &Me - Solving Women's Health Needs. &Me is India’s first women’s health brand which through its amazing products, makes menstruation, beauty, and fitness fun and easy for women!Sheta Mittal is an Aerospace Engineer from IIT Bombay and a Harvard Business School Alumnus. She started her career as a Management Consultant with BCG, worked as a Marketing Manager with Future Group, and then spent 5 years wit...
Sep 09, 2020•42 min
