Mar 2023 – Present · 3 yrs · Goa, India

• Leap 300 uses technology to measurably alleviate poverty in 300 Days for the most marginalized Indians (widowed, laborers, landless) in the poorest districts of India. The core intervention of milestone-based lump-sum cash grants for micro-entrepreneurship + fully technology-based skilling has shown strong interim results: a +222% income increase, transformed education and health outcomes, 85%+ projected poverty graduation rates in BITS Pilani RCT.
• With 70 Million+ people living in extreme poverty in India alone and millions globally, it's a complex, multi-layered problem-and we're making some progress. Do drop by https://leap300.org/ and send me a note if using tech for population-scale impact speaks to you.

Sep 2021 – Dec 2022 · 1 yr 3 mos · Costa Rica

• Wrote THE FREEDOM MANIFESTO (HarperCollins India, 2022) with accompanying blog/You-Tube channel to catalog the ups/downs of one startup journey and hopefully make it a bit easier to navigate for other entrepreneurs. Also, walked the 800- kilometer Camino De Santiago pilgrimage and completed a couple of silent Vipassana meditation courses.
• Mostly though, caught up on the missed time with my daughters from the CEO & startup founding years as they attended a forest school in the Costa Rica mountains.

Feb 2019 – Aug 2021 · 2 yrs 6 mos · Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

• I founded WhiteHat Jr, later BYJU's FutureSchool, with a very personal mission of enabling kids to express their natural destiny as creators versus consumers. Building things was the one thing that opened my world and I always felt it happened too late for me when I discovered writing at age 28.
• The founding team was also very impacted by research indicating that kids peak in creativity at age 5, followed by a dramatic decline after, as more and more systems/rules enter their lives. So we wanted them to be builders forever with creative curriculum in coding, maths, music, art, and warm, compassionate live teaching to create things in this world.

Jul 2016 – Feb 2019 · 2 yrs 7 mos · Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

• I led Discovery Networks (Discovery Channel, TLC, Animal Planet, Discovery Kids etc.) in South Asia. It was a memorable, experimentative period, where we tried a lot of stuff to transform the footprint of the company in the sub-continent, some of which worked, most didn't, as is the nature of big, creative bets.

Jan 2015 – Jul 2016 · 1 yr 6 mos · New York City Metropolitan Area

• I lived my dream of being a full-time writer in New York City for a couple of years. My first worldwide novel, THE YOGA OF MAX'S DISCONTENT, published as THE SEEKER in India, by Penguin Random House, came out of this intensely creative period--it didn't do well but taught me a lot!
• http://amzn.to/1U0yJZW

Aug 2013 – Dec 2014 · 1 yr 4 mos · New York City Metropolitan Area

• I came back after my yoga and writing hiatus to become the Senior Director and franchise equity lead for $3 Billion+ Global Gum (Trident, Stride, Clorets, Dentyne) business across key markets: US, Brazil, Mexico, China, France, Russia, Turkey etc. Kraft was a great organisation but I started to feel a disconnect with consumerism and my nascent spiritual interests so I decided to leave everything to write for a bit.

Jan 2010 – Sep 2012 · 2 yrs 8 mos · New York City Metropolitan Area

• I led P&L of $1.6 Billion Kraft North America Kids Juice business(Key brands: Capri Sun, Kool Aid) and helped grow the business ~2x in my tenure. Received Kraft Values-in-action award for <1% of employees both years.

Sep 2012 – Aug 2013 · 11 mos

• I traveled from Europe to India by road, and become a yoga teacher in Sivananda Ashram in South India, and subsequently learnt meditation in the Himalayas. On return, I lived in a village in Portugal for 2 months to work on my 3rd novel.

Nov 2009 – Jan 2010 · 2 mos

• I took a few months off to finish Johnny Gone Down ("A taut, gripping saga"--Hindustan Times), my 2nd novel published by Harper Collins India. Ronnie Screwvala Productions acquired the film rights and I hope to see the film soon. This novel is particularly close to me as I wrote it when I was kind of down and out--helped me accept the ups and downs in following your own path.

Sep 2008 – Nov 2009 · 1 yr 2 mos

• I was too much of an owner to enjoy consulting for long but I learnt a lot and left with an enduring respect for Mckinsey/BCG/Bain folks.

Aug 2008 – Aug 2008 · 0 mo

• Keep off the Grass was my 1st novel published by HarperCollins India. Film Rights were acquired by Mosaic Media Group, the producing partners of Get Shorty, Talladega Nights, Batman and The Dark Knight.
• "Wild, witty and wicked.. a racy and entertaining account of a romp through timeless India"-- Ruskin Bond.

Mar 2008 – Aug 2008 · 5 mos

• I solo-backpacked through South America and Eastern Europe for a couple of months each in between P&G and BCG. Was a very formative experience as it started to cement my views of a boundary-less world which influenced both my writing and later, my life (partner!).

Jun 2002 – Mar 2008 · 5 yrs 9 mos · India & North America

• A very formative part of my life, P&G meant a lot to me with its deep foundation in ethics and values and for giving me an opportunity to live in India, Philippines, Singapore and subsequently, the US. In 2008, I was Selected "Top 40 Under 40 US Exec" by Advertising Age US and received P&G Recognition Shares for Top 0.1% Employees in 2003 and 2006.
• 2006-2008: Brand Manager, US Retail.
• 2005-2006: Assistant Brand Manager, US Hair Care
• 2003-2005: Assistant Brand Manager, India Laundry.
• 2002-2003: Assistant Brand Manager, Philippines Laundry.