E128: Prayank Swaroop (Partner, Accel)

Prayank Swaroop is a Partner at Accel, and joined the firm in 2011. He focuses on cybersecurity, developer tools, marketplaces, and SaaS investments. Some of the investments led by him are - Aavenir, Bizongo, Maverix, OnsiteGo, Securden, Slintel, Skeps, and Zetwerk. Prior to Accel, he worked at Adobe and Standard Chartered Bank in India and Singapore. He held positions across engineering, product marketing, pre-sales, and product management. He has an integrated master's degree in Mathematics and Computing from IIT Delhi and an MBA from the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad. . . . Episode Notes: What made Prayank take a bet on venture as a career path (3:38) Naivety in venture capital (7:10) Where is venture as of October 2023, post the global slow down (9:50)  Sectors that have shown massive potential in spite of it being a dull year in terms of venture activity (18:18) Insights gained by Prayank over the course of his ten years of investment experience (22:15) How to evaluate people as an investor (27:38) How would Prayank rebuild his career as an investor if given a chance to restart (38:37) Advice to founders (48:15) . . . Social Links: Follow Prayank on Twitter Follow ⁠Prayank on LinkedIn⁠ Follow ⁠The Desi VC on LinkedIn⁠ Follow ⁠Akash Bhat on Twitter⁠ Follow ⁠Akash Bhat on LinkedIn