E128: Prayank Swaroop (Partner, Accel)

The Desi VC: Indian Venture Capital | Angel Investors | Startups | VC

Prayank Swaroop is a Partner at Accel, and joined the firm in 2011.

He focuses on cybersecurity, developer tools, marketplaces, and SaaS investments. Some of the investments led by him are - Aavenir, Bizongo, Maverix, OnsiteGo, Securden, Slintel, Skeps, and Zetwerk.

Prior to Accel, he worked at Adobe and Standard Chartered Bank in India and Singapore. He held positions across engineering, product marketing, pre-sales, and product management.

He has an integrated master's degree in Mathematics and Computing from IIT Delhi and an MBA from the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad.

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Episode Notes:

1. What made Prayank take a bet on venture as a career path (3:38)
2. Naivety in venture capital (7:10)
3. Where is venture as of October 2023, post the global slow down (9:50)
4. Sectors that have shown massive potential in spite of it being a dull year in terms of venture activity (18:18)
5. Insights gained by Prayank over the course of his ten years of investment experience (22:15)
6. How to evaluate people as an investor (27:38)
7. How would Prayank rebuild his career as an investor if given a chance to restart (38:37)
8. Advice to founders (48:15)

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Social Links:

1. Follow Prayank on Twitter
2. Follow ⁠Prayank on LinkedIn⁠
3. Follow ⁠The Desi VC on LinkedIn⁠
4. Follow ⁠Akash Bhat on Twitter⁠
5. Follow ⁠Akash Bhat on LinkedIn