Sandeep Kher

I spent most of my teenage years on the cricket field. There were a lot of loud debates at our house about what I was going to do with my life. Finally, my father let me take up something of my own choice – and that moment it dawned upon me that conviction and clarity is important but along with that comes weight of responsibility. I chose finance, and went to being a topper in school and even outside. Things move easily when you put your mind to it and go all in.

I joined an insurance company as an early employee at a time when there were virtually no challenger brands in this sector, and helped scale the company to $3 billion in revenue. I spent five years there, and was super fortunate to learn about building from scratch.

Later, I moved into a strategic business role at a credit card company that was in rocketship mode. Just over a year later, the global financial crisis hit. It was a trial by fire. We had to cut burn, slash spends and get focussed on which type of customers we wanted to go after. The two-year journey back to profitability was a lesson in discipline and resilience.

After a few years I stepped off the beaten path once more, and moved into a Chief Risk Officer role. It was a little out of my wheelhouse, but I jumped at the chance to step outside my comfort zone and build a new area of expertise.

Later I joined Sequoia India, now Peak XV Partners. It’s turned into a dream role. We work closely with founders and advise them on everything in business, and finance, from compliance to corporate governance. It’s incredibly rewarding to help founders in their journey, and to contribute to their success.