Sep 2024 – Jul 2025 · 10 mos · Greater Bengaluru Area · Remote

• Expert in Residence (India) for Climate Smart Agriculture Cohort. Supported Australian startups to do pilots in India, and expand in India. Worked with Australian Startups: Gaia Project, Novolo, Rainstick, & Virtual Irrigation Academy.
• RISE Accelerator is delivered by NITI Aayog & CSIRO – Australia’s national science agency, as part of India/Australia government collaboration.

May 2023 – Jun 2024 · 1 yr 1 mo · Bengaluru, Karnataka, India · On-site

• Transforming Agriculture for Smallholder Farmer - Scale impactful solutions through ecosystem approach to increase smallholder farmer income and reduce variability in income. Working with govt, and using data & technology first approach to scaling.
• Launched Agri-Ikigai report, which had solutions at the intersection of farmer income and environment. Action-oriented research & field trials, to generate learnings from farmers towards scaling practices.
• Signed MOU with state to launch AI & Emerging technology innovation cell.
• Published a detailed Field Study on DSR (Direct Seeded Rice), conducted in 4 states, and 8 districts.
• Published a detailed Field Study on Natural Farming, done with 5 partners, and in 7 districts.
• March 23 to April 2023 - Consultant on Water Use Efficiency in Agriculture for design of DCM Shriram Agwater Challenge by The Nudge Prize team
• July 23 - to Dec 2024- Mentor for The Nudge Prize contestants participating in DCM Shriram Agwater Challenge

Jul 2021 – Dec 2022 · 1 yr 5 mos · Bengaluru

• Worked with Govt of Karnataka, as OSD (Officer on Special Duty) to Additional Chief/Principal Secretary, Agriculture. Part of the Indian Administrative Fellowship, a program to stimulate systems change by driving large-scale government projects.
• 1) Lead AI Innovation Cell - Bring AI in Agriculture innovations to farmer's field through Pilots.
• Signed MOU with Wadhwani AI on February 14, 2023 for Cotton Early Pest Detection
• Bring AI in Agriculture innovations to farmer's field through Pilots. Signed MOU with Wadhwani AI on February 14, 2023 for Cotton Early Pest Detection
• Drove Pilots for Early Pest Detection using AI, and Carbon Credits for Organic Federations.
• Focussed on projects that increase the farmer income, especially for small and medium farmers.
• 2) Agriculture Policy for Karnataka
• 3) Increasing market access for farmers
• Articles Published -
• 1. Digital Agriculture - Catalysts and Challenges - LiveMint -
• 2. Monetizing Carbon Credits: How Indian farmers can benefit - IDR, Times of India Blog
• 3. Soil Carbon Incentives Through Carbon Credit Monetization - A nudge for soil health revival? - Outlook India

Dec 2015 – Dec 2020 · 5 yrs · Bangalore

• The company was acquired by the Awesome Motive in 2020.
• PushEngage is a leading platform for Browser Push Notifications with customers in 150+ countries. We are a scalable system that serves 5 Billion Notifications/month currently
• Web Push Notifications are great re-engagement channel and websites can drive an extra 10 to 30% traffic. E-commerce sites, Travel Sites, Content Sites, and SAAS companies can use Web Push to reach your consumer when they are not on your website on mobile and desktop browser.

Jul 2011 – Nov 2020 · 9 yrs 4 mos · Bengaluru, Karnataka, India · On-site

• Holding company for 2 startups that I built (& exited) - CouponRani, PushEngage.
• CouponRani - CouponRani.com was a leading coupon site in India. It is a go to destination for Exclusive Coupons for Online Shopping. It has over 3500+ stores on our website, and 300+ exclusive coupons. We have been featured as one of the best 60 startups in Bangalore by Inc42. Bootstrapped. Company shutdown in Sept 2022.
• Angel Investments (in a personal capacity) - Referens
• Exits - PushEngage, MechMocha, Skillenza, Tookitaki, Flomobility.
• Inactive - Explara, AceBot, Aurality, Yappily, CouponRani

Aug 2008 – Dec 2013 · 5 yrs 4 mos · Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina Area

• SEIT was an early stage $120M technology venture fund. Helped Portfolio companies in the trenches with product and marketing advisory. Worked with - Allconnect Online Division in operating role.
• Worked with portfolio companies - Mediaspan, VisionAir, Buildlinks.
• Areas of engagement involve - Growth Planning. Analytics & Data Driven process changes, and Product Strategy.
• Worked part-time from July 2011 to Dec 2013 as I moved to Bangalore

Jul 2006 – Jul 2008 · 2 yrs · Greater New York City Area

• Covered Media, Leisure & Entertainment sector, and was responsible for Powersports, Movies, Theaters, Music, Cruise lines and Video game stocks. Conducted proprietary research, using innovative techniques to track inventory, pricing and consumer sentiment, which formed the basis of several good stock calls.
• Also covered IT Hardware and IT Services companies.
• Part of runners up team in Alpha Hedge fund ranking.
• Summer Associate - June 2005, to Aug 2005
• Technology Sector, Covering Hardware stocks [ IBM, HPQ, DELL, AAPL, STX, EMC, NTAP etc.]
• Developed comprehensive financial models to initiate coverage on two big-cap companies.
• Initiated a sector-wide earnings quality report and identified earnings management issues with firms like Lexmark, influencing analyst opinions. Published Q2 earnings notes.
• Developed forecasting model for iPod sales and PC Sales, reducing the error to 5%.

Aug 2003 – Jun 2004 · 10 mos

• • Managed sales allocation, forecast and bid response as primary coordinator for America. Identified cross-selling opportunities, and actively tracked opportunities, making Americas the “star region” (120-150% of quota) in all the quarters. Led the Indian response team for the largest annuity contract worth $6 billion.
• • Selected for sales-support integration and business planning committee for the HP Compaq India merger. Devised an objective sales allocation plan to execute a successful on-time merger.
• • Formulated the worldwide unified pricing for integrated HP and Compaq India divisions for a key account worth $50 million. Maintained the profitability while accounting for varied cost structures from prior contracts done by HP and Compaq separately. Awarded the Employee Stock Performance award.

Aug 1998 – Jul 2003 · 4 yrs 11 mos

• •Conceived an innovative product promotion, which included free training seminars and publishing articles for developers.
• •Won organization wide premium innovation and contribution awards for the year 2002 and 2003.
• •Led a three member team to successfully manage two product releases and a pan-industry roll out with partners - IBM, Microsoft and SAP. This significantly improved the brand equity of Hewlett Packard Bangalore resulting in direct repeat business worth $500k.
• • Guided a ten member contingency team and successfully resolved crisis, preventing the loss of a key client while sustaining annual revenues of $2.5 million. Awarded accelerated promotion by HP Consulting.
• • Nominated by client as relationship owner with HP product divisions for project defect resolutions. Implemented a pro-active tracking process, which led to a timely resolution.
• • Resolved a mission critical project impasse in Korea by continuous interaction with client in a cross functional team.