Rajesh Gundeti — Associate Partner
‼️I watched a car crash when I was 8 and that made me fall in love with cars! Before you imagine headlines, let me clarify - it wasn’t life size. It was my favorite red toy car, testing gravity on a 2 floor staircase. It didn’t survive the fall unfortunately and at that time, my heartbreak felt real! Amid the wreckage though, I noticed something fascinating - a tiny DC motor quietly powering it all. That little thing had been running the entire show. I ran to my dad, "Dad, what is this? How does it work?" He said, "It’s a DC motor, buddy. It runs on these batteries and powers the car." I blinked, "Huh? Like my heart?" He smiled, "Exactly. Your food is like batteries for your heart. The DC motor is like the heart for the car - it makes it run." "So batteries are food for cars?" I asked, trying to smell one of the batteries. "Not for kids...or any humans, OK?" he grabbed it from my hand. "And let’s not tell your mom about this analogy either ok?" "Ana...what??" I quipped. "Just don't mention about the batteries being food to your mom, ok?" he made me pinky promise. Then he connected a few wires, placed the batteries back and said, "Now press the button." I did. And the motor roared back to life! That was the moment I fell in love with cars - not the speed, not the design, but the system behind it. After that, I dismantled more DC motors than I can count. Our wall clocks never fully recovered from the lack of batteries after this incident. Years later, mechanical engineering felt inevitable. And for the last 14 years I’ve been in automotive R&D and innovation project management with OEMs like Tesla, bmw, Porsche, Tata & Mahindra, turning complex ideas into real world products. Along the way, I realized a frustrating truth, brilliant automotive founders often build amazing tech but struggle to make the market, investors or partners understand it. That’s where I come in. I work with (not help) automotive founders to translate engineering choices into compelling narratives that attract capital, partnerships and talent - without oversimplifying or adding fluff. Curious how this works in practice? DM me, and let’s make your tech impossible to ignore!
Stackforce AI infers this person is a leader in automotive innovation and strategic partnerships.
Location: Pune, Maharashtra, India
Experience: 13 yrs 9 mos
Skills
- Strategic Partnerships
- Open Innovation
- Project Management
- Innovation Consulting
Career Highlights
- 14 years in automotive R&D and innovation management
- Expert in translating engineering choices into compelling narratives
- Leader in global technology scouting and startup collaboration
Work Experience
Faurecia
Global Technology Scouting Leader | Strategic Partnerships | Open Innovation (3 yrs 4 mos)
Senior Technical Project Leader | Innovations | Automotive (3 yrs 6 mos)
Assistant Manager (2 yrs 6 mos)
Product Design Engineer (1 yr 3 mos)
Product And Process Development Leader (PPDL) (11 mos)
Senior Design Engineer (1 yr 10 mos)
Design Engineer (1 yr 11 mos)
Cad engineer (1 yr 5 mos)
Graduate Engineering Trainee (5 mos)
Education
Master of Business Administration - MBA at Liverpool Business School
Post Gradate Program in Management at Institute of Management Technology, Ghaziabad
Bachelor of Engineering (BE) at Savitribai Phule Pune University
HSC at Walchand college of arts & science
