126: From a Parking Lot Pitch to Investing in ~7 Billion-Dollar Startups | Ashu Garg Story | 1947 Rise

Ashu Garg is a General Partner at Foundation Capital, where he leads early-stage investments in AI, enterprise software, and data infrastructure. Over his career, he has invested early in one decacorn (Databricks) and six unicorns (Cohesity, Eightfold, Amperity, Turing, Anyscale, and Alation) … so far. Before venture, Ashu held leadership roles at Microsoft and McKinsey, and earned the President’s Gold Medal at IIM Bangalore after graduating from IIT Delhi.00:00 - Highlights of key moments01:16 - Introduction02:18 - Formative experiences during early life in India04:24 - Journey to moving to the U.S.06:19 - Key individuals in the U.S. who were most influential11:11 - Path to Microsoft and proudest experiences there14:31 - Turning point from a startup pitch to a career in venture capital17:15 - Early VC challenges and realization that grit outweighs credentials21:35 - Identifying exceptional people with an example of a founder backed for grit25:54 - Founding of IIT Build, its purpose, and role in supporting large-scale founders28:32 - Common patterns observed among IIT founders backed32:17 - Overlooked aspects of AI deserving more attention34:45 - Use of AI in personal and professional life, including surprising moments37:29 - Evolution of the Indian tech ecosystem, current strengths, and areas for improvement43:07 - Current involvement in the Indian technology ecosystem46:21 - Personal traits or qualities recognized by friends🔗 CONNECT WITH https: Ashu Garg👥 Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashugargvc?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=android_app🔗 CONNECT WITH SHIVA💌 Sign up to my weekly email newsletter - https://1947tech.substack.com/🎥 YouTube Channel - / @1947rise 🐦 Twitter - / shivassangwan 🐦 Twitter - / 1947rise 👥 Linkedin - / shiva-singh-sangwan 🎙 ABOUT THE PODCASTOur purpose is to help startups go mainstream in 🇮🇳!1947 Rise Podcast is helping in accelerating the speed of reverse brain drainand 1947 Operators Podcast is helping in increasing the number of operator-angels in the startup ecosystem.🎧 LISTEN FOR FREE Apple Podcasts - https://apple.co/3KI3bZiSpotify - https://spoti.fi/3AEO5z5🙏 LEAVE A REVIEW.