How Urvashi Barooah broke into enterprise after everybody advised her she couldn’t

When Urvashi Barooah utilized to MBA packages in 2015, she targeted her purposes round her dream of turning into a enterprise capitalist. She received rejected from each college, and was advised she was being unrealistic about her prospects within the enterprise trade, however she didn’t let that deter her.

Now, eight years later, Barooah, 33, is getting promoted to companion at Redpoint. She joined the agency as an affiliate 4 years in the past, and has served as a principal since late 2021. Silicon Valley-based Redpoint is presently investing out of it’s $650 million ninth fund. Barooah is now one of many agency’s three companions targeted on early stage.

Barooah advised starcrypto that whereas in some methods these enterprise faculties had been proper to inform her she was being unrealistic about her targets. She knew it could be onerous to interrupt into the comparatively small trade with no community or contacts in Silicon Valley, however she’s glad she didn’t hearken to them.

“I wasn’t deterred, nevertheless it did really feel form of unattainable at one level,” Barooah mentioned. “I used to be so faraway from it. I didn’t know the fact on the bottom. I simply knew what folks wrote about within the papers.”

Barooah grew up far-off from Silicon Valley in Guwahati, a small metropolis, by India’s requirements, sandwiched between Bhutan and Bangladesh. Each her dad and mom ran their very own companies. Her dad ran a chemical enterprise, whereas her mother designed and bought furnishings.

“My dad and mom, rising up, requested me, ‘what sort of enterprise do you wish to begin?’ That’s what essentially the most profitable folks in India did,” she mentioned. “They all the time inspired me to forge my very own path and begin my very own firm. I thought of that for a very long time however there was nothing that excited me. If there was no concept that I used to be keen about, the following neatest thing I might do was work with founders.”

In 2017, Barooah utilized to US enterprise faculties once more after working as a advisor and had higher luck. She landed a spot at Wharton and mentioned she catered all of her lessons and further cirriculars round studying all the things she might concerning the enterprise trade. She began speaking to entrepreneurs, creating an funding thesis and chilly calling VCs to pitch it.

After an estimated 50 chilly calls, she landed an internship at New York-based Main Enterprise Companions in 2019. She received one other at Redpoint shortly after and was capable of convert that right into a full-time position and has been there ever since.

Whereas rising up with entrepreneur dad and mom didn’t introduce Barooah to enterprise capital, she thinks her upbringing makes her a greater VC. She mentioned seeing their day-to-day triumphs and failures helped present her simply how onerous it’s to run a enterprise and methods to roll with the punches when issues do go mistaken.

“They all the time fought in opposition to the percentages and did what was essential to hold their enterprise going,” Barooah mentioned. “[They taught me] this concept that it’s important to hold transferring ahead regardless of all odds and that it was speculated to be onerous. If one in every of my firms has a set again, I do know that it’s simply par for the course and one thing that may be overcome.”

Barooah’s portfolio contains Dune Analytics, an ethereum-focused platform for making on-chain knowledge accessible, Offchain Labs, a startup that helps firms scale with ethereum, and The Rounds, a supply service targeted on sustainability, amongst others. She has two new investments which have but to be introduced the place she’ll be taking board seats too.

These first few years as an investor have taught her that the perfect VCs are versatile and keen to observe the place the market is telling them to go. She spent her first few years backing blockchain and crypto firms, however now she’s spending most of her time on vertical SaaS startups using AI.

Barooah mentioned she’s excited to maintain increasing her portfolio and appears ahead to this new position as companion and being their for the founders once they need assistance.

“I began my journey in enterprise 4 years in the past and knew nothing,” Barooah mentioned. ” Over these 4 years, I’ve formed my judgment on what firm is. It’s not one thing I’ve perfected by any means, however I’ve a number of extra successes than I did once I first joined. That provides me extra confidence to tackle extra contrarian bets, and in VC it’s about believing in issues nobody else believes and being proper.”