Why I moved from the world’s largest asset manager to an early-stage startup
Playing it safe is the riskiest choice of all
Around four months ago, I made the leap from a Senior Manager role at BlackRock to heading technology at Grip. Moving from the world’s largest asset manager to a seed-funded fintech startup was probably seen as a crazy decision by a lot of people.
Here are a few things which made me take that plunge
Believing in the mission. Grip is an alternative investments platform that offers unique investment products to Indian investors. Investing is still at a very nascent stage in India let alone alternative investments. There are people out there who will benefit from non-market-linked investment vehicles.
Opportunity to wear many hats. You might have heard this many times about joining early-stage companies. But trust me, the option for the same is exciting and scary at the same! I have been a technologist for all my career and the idea of being a product/marketing/salesperson along with building tech was something that excited me a lot.
Learning by doing. In startups, especially the early-stage ones, you pull up your sleeves and get to experimentation. Small projects have the potential to become game-changers not only for your organisation but sometimes the industry.
Building an amazing team and tech. This was one of the biggest reasons for me to take the plunge. The idea of building a team and culture of tech from scratch and watching it grow has always excited me. Not saying it wasn’t possible in a big company, but the charm of your team growing along with the organisation itself is a different learning experience.
Getting to know about the fundraising game. Though VP Engineering is not someone you would associate with fundraising, there is a lot to learn in terms of what goes on. The amount of effort that goes into the process can only be understood by watching it up close.
Looking back at the last four months, I would say it has been a hell of a ride and has been worth it. Yes, there is an element of risk ( and a big one I must say ) but as the saying goes, “Playing it safe is the riskiest choice of all”.
We are hiring for a lot of tech roles at Grip. If you are interested, please reach us at varun@gripinvest.in or people@gripinvest.in
