I first met Rajesh in Jan 2005, when I joined as the business head for the telecom vertical of Times Internet (Indiatimes), where he was the Chief Operating Officer. Even though it was a short stint that lasted only a year (I joined #Google to start their business development ops in India), but it was an awesome experience and a beginning of a long relationship that continues till date. Rajesh also moved on to be the founding President of Reliance Entertainment in Mumbai, but we kept in touch during our travels. He played a role of being my mentor when I left Google to begin my entrepreneurial journey. His farsightedness and ability to sense opportunities is something that I relied upon. Our relationship got stronger when Rajesh moved on from Reliance to launch Global Superangels Forum (GSF Accelerator). I was probably the first volunteer to come on board for managing events that GSF curated. I remember long full day meetings at his house as well as at DeGhent Cafe to plan the logistics, negotiating with hotels, following up to get the content for the event directory and startup presentations; following up with sponsors etc., it was one of the more enjoyable times. The best thing about him is that he will never say no to any good idea, his response is always “Karo… Kar ke dekho” (Do it… try it), and that too with a smile.
Rajesh is someone who always believes in giving a candid feedback to people who trust him for his knowledge. This is why so many startups seek to share their startups ideas with him. Also, he is a man of execution, a “doer”. He has the knack to execute the most complex ideas in a manner that appears extremely simple.
Few years ago, Rajesh founded India’s premier food tech startup called InnerChef. It started as ingredient boxes that soon moved to internet kitchens. But Rajesh identified opportunity in health food and soon started Healthie, a brand that offered “tasty health food”. His latest addition to the kitty is Bombay Sandwich Company, a brand that brings an element of #Mumbaifood to other parts of the country, with a mix of online and offline presence. Being an engineer with management background in academics, he understands the role of tech in business.
Not many people know that Rajesh has a critical role to play in launching India’s first FM radio – TimesFM.
This time I met Rajesh after a long gap (probably the longest since I have known him) of a few months and it was pleasure to enjoy some really nice #FilterCoffee at #BombaySandwichCo. Gurgaon. I have promised to be back at the cafe soon.
One thing I learnt from Rajesh: Fail fast, fail cheap. I personally learnt it the hard way, but he always advises startups to be passionate yet detached. If something is not working out, move on.
