How to Go From Employee to Venture Capitalist with Ashu Garg

Ashu Garg was born in India and has lived in India, Nigeria, and the Sudan, and today makes his home in California with his wife, Pooja (an entrepreneur as well), and their two sons. Ashu has a bachelor’s degree from the Indian Institute of Technology in New Delhi and an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management at Bangalore, where he received the President's Gold Medal.

Visionary Leaders will put you in charge before you are ready for the task! Ashu works with startups in sectors as varied as marketing technology (MarTech), big data, analytics, online financial services, and education. Before joining Foundation Capital in 2008, Ashu was the General Manager for Microsoft's online advertising business. Previously, Ashu worked at McKinsey & Company with early and growth-stage companies in digital media, software, and consumer services. Earlier in his career, Ashu started TringTring.com, one of the first search engines in Asia, set up Unilever’s Nepal operations, and led the marketing and pre-sales teams at Cadence Design Systems. Listen to this episode to learn:

Why is takes 5-10 years of network building for an immigrant to catch up with someone from the US.
Why he wants to help people who have only been in the US for 5-10 years.
How he scored a job at UniLever even though he was the only one without an MBA
What the Unilever model for leadership success is and why it works
How he was able to help his company build out a local presence in India
The random way that Ashu ended up moving to the US
Why he left a great job at Microsoft so he could look for a “great ride” on his next job
Why leaving a job without having a new job doesn’t scare Ashu
How he got involved in VC from scratch
What he learned in his first few years as a VC
Some of the big failures that he had as a VC
Why he chooses not to invest in certain companies
What made him want to invest in What’s App
Ashu reveals one of his biggest lessons learned as a VC
The problems he helps companies solve…HINT: he likes disruption
How Ashu contributes to a company as a VC
The 2 parts of his job he loves the most!

Ashu would love to hear from you! Start a dialog with Ashu on Twitter! @ashugarg

You can also check out the Foundation Capital website.