When Urvashi Barooah applied to the MBA program in 2015, she centered her applications around her dream of becoming a venture capitalist. She was rejected from all schools and told she was unrealistic about her prospects in the venture industry, but she didn’t let that discourage her.
Now, nine years later, Barooah, 33, has been promoted to partner at Redpoint. She joined the company as an associate 4 years ago and has served as a director since late 2021. Silicon Valley-based Redpoint is currently investing from its ninth $650 million fund. Barooah is currently one of the company’s three early-stage focused partners.
Barooah told TechCrunch that in some ways, these business schools were right when they told her she was unrealistic about her goals. She knew it will be difficult to interrupt into a relatively small industry without her Silicon Valley network and contacts, but she was glad she didn’t take heed to them.
“It didn’t discourage me, but at one point it seemed impossible,” Barooah said. “I used to be very removed from it. I didn’t know the reality on the ground. I just knew what people were writing about in the newspapers.
Barooah grew up far from Silicon Valley, in Guwahati, a small city by Indian standards, sandwiched between Bhutan and Bangladesh. Both her parents ran their very own businesses. Her dad ran a chemical company, and her mom designed and sold furniture.
“When I was growing up, my parents asked me, ‘What kind of company do you want to start?’ This is what the most successful people in India did,” she said. “They always encouraged me to forge my own path and start my own company. I thought about it for a long time, but nothing excited me. If I didn’t know what I was passionate about, the next best thing I could do would be to work with founders.”
In 2017, Barooah reapplied to US business schools after working as a consultant and had higher luck. She got into Wharton and said she was doing all her classes and extracurriculars, learning every little thing she could about the venture capital industry. She began talking to entrepreneurs, developing an investment thesis and calling VC investors to pitch it.
After about 50 phone interviews in 2019, she landed an internship at New York-based Primary Venture Partners. Shortly thereafter, she landed one other internship at Redpoint, which she managed to show into a full-time job and continues to work there today.
Although growing up in a family of entrepreneurs didn’t introduce Barooah to venture capital, she credits her upbringing with making her a higher VC. She said watching their day by day triumphs and failures helped show her how difficult it is to run a business and easy methods to survive when something goes mistaken.
“They always fought against the odds and did whatever it took to keep their business afloat,” Barooah said. “[They taught me] this thought that despite every little thing we had to maneuver forward and that it was going to be difficult. If one of my businesses fails, I know it’s just normal and something that may be overcome.”
Barooah’s portfolio includes Dune Analytics, an Ethereum-centric platform for on-chain data sharing; Offchain Labs, a startup that helps corporations scale with Ethereum; and The Rounds, a delivery service focused on, among other things, sustainability. He has two latest investments that have not yet been announced, in which he may even take board seats.
Her first few years as an investor taught her that the best VCs are flexible and willing to go where the market tells them. For the first few years, she supported blockchain and cryptocurrency corporations, but now she spends most of her time on vertical SaaS startups using artificial intelligence.
Barooah said she is excited to proceed expanding her portfolio and is looking forward to her latest role as a partner and supporting founders when they need assistance.
“I started my venture journey four years ago and I knew nothing,” Barooah said. “Over these four years, I have formed my judgment about a good company. It’s by no means something I’ve perfected, but I’ve had a few more successes than when I first joined. It gives me confidence and allows me to make more contrarian bets, and VC is about believing in things no one else believes in and being right.”