It takes a village to raise a child. And it certainly takes a whole lot of people to help a small business become a better business.
Angad and I have been fortunate in being helped formally and informally by many, many people over the last 2 years. So many of these people have given selflessly and continue to do so. We are pleased to welcome an amazing crew on our advisory board of key village elders to help us do things better (and potentially bigger). Here they are, in no particular order.
Radhika Malpani. 20 Year Google veteran. Radhika is an engineer who built and oversaw many of the things we use as consumers such as Google Ads, Image Search, and Travel Search. She now spends a ton of time on the edge of philanthropy and technology. Over a deep interrogation over coffee at London, Radhika decided that we would be interesting people.
Deepa Mehta. An Oscar-nominated filmmaker. Angad has known Deepa for a couple of decades now. We look forward to her helping us tell better humanitarian stories with technology. We hope some of her courage in challenging stereotypes rubs off on us.
Vishnu Mohan. He is the Chairman and CEO of Havas for India and South East Asia. Vishnu recognized the potential of what we were trying to build well before we ourselves had figured it out. He has been a relentless champion, an objective assessor of our capabilities, and a downright decent human being (and has fed us more times than we can remember).
Lizi Hamer. The Co-Founder of Sisu Girls and the Regional Creative Director of Octagon. Lizi is a massive sports fan. She was instrumental in my daughter becoming a sports junkie. Arguably the best creative person I know, she also happens to be effortlessly kind, laughs often, and has helped us with thinking through how we tell the story.
Debra Langley. Venture Partner with Lyra Ventures. Given Angad and my lack of sartorial sense, it has been wonderful to have Debra navigate us in the world of fashion. We share her sentiments on many things ranging from real-time data to sustainability in fashion. Master-Class time.
Sarah Kambou. CEO of the International Center for Research for Women (ICRW). Through a partnership via a common funder, we got to know Sarah and are so taken up by her ridiculous energy and continued optimism. Gender Equality is one of the three core causes at Quilt AI and we are pleased to partner and fund some of our common work. We are grateful to have her on our side to guide us.
While the mistakes we make will always be ours, the things we build will be shaped and built better because of all of them. We feel a lot less blind with all of these fine people to support us. Get to know them better!
Talk soon.
Anurag
