Interview #1: Prianka Subhramanyam
Hungry, laid back, and “the life of the party”
are three attributes Prianka Subhramanyam, — freshman at UC Berkeley and venture partner at Contrary Capital — uses to describe herself. I had a chance to learn more about her background and experiences:
As an undergraduate at Berkeley that studies computer science (EECS) but also dabbles in non-technical involvements, tell me a little bit about where your interests lie.
My primary focus within venture capital right now is probably education and women’s lifestyle products.
You see a lot people in venture capital today that are coming from a background in technology, but more than anything I think it’s important to be a domain expert in a certain area or field, regardless of your major or discipline. Venture capital is more than just terms sheets and cap tables, to really be able to assess and understand a company, you need to be able to understand the technology being developed and be able to have an educated conversation with the founders.
Learning comes both by reading and keeping up to date with the latest trends, but also by doing.
Tell me a bit about your role as a partner within Contrary. What are the responsibilities you have, and what have you been able to accomplish so far?
A huge part of my responsibility includes being a good listener, being able to understand the problems and issues that entrepreneurs face and identify opportunities to help them. I think there is a pattern within venture capital where certain VC firms write companies checks and then disappear, and Contrary promotes thinking in a way that is completely opposite of this notion. We look to being good listeners to build relationships and consequently source/identify high potential startups.
Given that you have glimpse into the world of venture capital, I wanted to get your thoughts on diversity in this space?
I think there are two issues about diversity within venture capital that need to be discussed: representation in terms of age and representation in terms of domain. Most people have this perception that venture capital is this young, trendy, fast paced space, but from the VC related events that I’ve attended, most of the people there are significantly older. There are a lot of instances where the people writing the checks aren’t the ones who actually use the technology or product themselves, and I think this is something that people need to be mindful of.
Second, attending Berkeley and and being in the Bay Area, I see so many startup ideas that are purely tech focused, to a point where it’s over saturated. There are so many ideas and startups out there that aren’t tech focused, and people either overlook them or discount them simply for not being “a tech company”. As a result, I think so many VC firms miss out on some really great projects and opportunities simply because of this bubble. I think in this past semester, the only startup that met with that wasn’t a technology startup was COBA, which produces coffee bars.
I saw that you interned at Memeosis prior to beginning college, which I know is a startup that came out of Georgia Tech (Go Jackets!). What was it like working for a student run startup?
Working at Memeosis was something I did in the summer before beginning college. When you’re a high school student that wants to do a software project but doesn’t have a lot of experience, working at a startup is really the only type of environment where they can do some of the “hand-holding” necessary, get me up to speed, and be patient with any mistakes I make. Second, they are a lot more understanding in the case of any decision I may make, like if I were to hypothetically leave, for example. Third, I think the best way to bring value to a student run startup is to be another student yourself. Being someone who is a part of the company’s target demographic, and understands and uses the product themselves can be of immense help to the company,
Do you have your plans figured out for this summer?
I will be working at Deutsche Bank as a technology analyst intern (similar to a software engineering position), specifically working on their dashboards for trading.
While Deutsche Bank may not be a traditional technology company, I’m excited for the projects that I’ll be put on because I know that my efforts will have a real time impact and influence on trading.
What’s your goal post-graduation?
Given that I’m an early-graduate at Berkeley (meaning that I’ll be graduating in 2.5 or 3 years), graduation actually isn’t too far away for me! I may end up working for a tech company, but I know for sure that I’ve always enjoyed keeping myself busy with side projects and that’s something I hope to continue. One thing I know for sure, however, is that I will continue to be involved in venture capital.
One project I’m looking forward to pursuing is a means for providing education on venture capital at an age much earlier than post college graduation or an MBA program. I ran a program in high school called Little Bytes to teach kids coding, and I think developing a program similar to this in the VC space can potentially expose more people to this field and simultaneously curb some of the representation issues in the space.
What advice would you give to someone looking to break into venture capital?
Always be keeping an eye out on the startups at your school. When we interview for Contrary, one of the initial questions we ask is “What are the startups at your school that interest you?” Keeping up with the startup programs, accelerators and companies coming out of your school as well as who all are winning the startup competitions, helps keep you up to date with the latest buzz and can help foster meaningful connections in the space.
In fact, I had a friend who recommended me to Contrary even before I had even committed to Berkeley!
Learn more about Prianka!
