Varsha Venugopal

Yeah, and also just ideas around risk, right?

Because there is that, I mean, again, having worked with larger institutions, there is that perfect accounting system one could have.

So it's more a question of what is that MVP, that minimum risk?

allowable product, which we can use to get to the next level and then possibly design more efficient and robust systems, but may not want to start out with the perfect product from day one.

I think a lot of this has to do with real or perceived safety nets in my case, because I have done some of these things that people may have a vague list in their heads on, makes it easier.

So for instance, having a family or wanting to travel or make money, I think those are all sensible aspirations.

And it's harder to decide not to pursue any of those in favor of something like entrepreneurship, in which case you may need to make certain sacrifices.

So I think for me, it was just easier because I had checked some of those boxes and maybe had some ideas around how much I value them and what I was willing to let go.

Yes, that's true.

And also I have a partner who continues to make money.

And I think maybe there is something there in terms of choosing partners who may be broadly value aligned that does help in making decisions such as this.

joint optimization perhaps between you that allows you to like both have a good personal life and prudential considerations as well as as well as have more impact yes and ensure there is buying into each other's careers because in my case there is also you know me just dropping balls and going off to india and i need to make sure my partner steps in with child care so it's not just financial he has to buy into this model in more ways than one for us to make it work

So far, yes.

Well, this is fairly boring, I guess, but five months in having to face COVID, which was quite world altering, was quite huge in more ways than one.

One was, of course, like I mentioned, on government relations and staff motivation, but also we had plans to raise more funds in India and us globally.

not being physically there didn't allow me to build on some of those networks.

And the economy, the way it is, I'm not really sure it's an area we would be prioritizing anytime soon.

We definitely considered all alternatives because we managed to pivot to a remote version in response to COVID.

And we managed to hire teams on the ground.

We had certain colleagues already who we could trust to then hire additional team members.