IIMA Ventures | The Innovation Continuum | Icebreaker

Sign up or Log in

Teams

System

IIMA Ventures | The Innovation Continuum | Icebreaker

IIMA Ventures | The Innovation Continuum

IIMA Ventures is The Innovation Continuum. This continuum spreads from incubation, acceleration, seed & growth funding, and research

9 members

Contact info

Link

iimaventures.com

Members

•

Product person with 7 years of product management experience(total 8 yoe) in 0 to 1 and scaling products internationally across growth, data and platform in edtech, crypto and gaming. Long term bullish on crypto as demonstrated by the following: 1. Hands on - crypto/web3 power user. 2. Spent >1000 hours in discord servers engaging and understanding the motivations and challenges for users. 3. Serious about the web3 space and excited to work in it especially during this downturn. 4. I understand the motivations and speak the languages of most major crypto "tribes" which I have found to be rare and an asset.

Kaustubh Dhargalkar Ph.D (Innovation Mgt)

•

Design Thinking Trainer/Coach and an ‘Innovation & Strategy’ Consultant. Author of ‘It’s Logical: Innovating Profitable Business Models’ (Sage Publications) https://bit.ly/ItsLogical Serial entrepreneur since 1990. In 2006, sold commercial interests in his first 3 companies and plunged into academics and research. He calls himself ‘An Accidental Academic’ Kaustubh relishes the challenge of ‘Enhancing the Innovation Quotient’ of an organization, by helping create new offerings to tap existing as well as new markets . Visualising unique & sustainable Business Models is his forte. Associations: 1) Mercedes Benz 2) Daimler 3) Citibank 4) HP 5) Deloitte 6) Mahindra Group 7) YES Bank 8) Accenture 9) Amazon 10) L&T 11) ICICI bank 12) Syngenta 13) Eaton 14) CEAT 15) Honeywell 16) Shoppers Stop 17) IIT-Bombay, IIT-Mandi, ICT-Mumbai, Weschool-Mumbai etc. Awards/Honours: 1) Honoured as 'Entrepreneurship Educator & Mentor' Award by the Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship-Govt. of India, , INTEL, British Council, NEN, EDII. 2) Work in the field of ‘Unconventional User Research’ was acknowledged by The Wharton School of Business. Awarded the runner-up award in the global 'Wharton Innovation Tournament' in 2010 for an app for mining Consumer Pain Points 3) His proposal on clean energy integration with electric vehicles was adjudged as the top seven in the world at the Smart City World Expo Congress held in Barcelona, Spain. http://www.smartcityexpo.com/en/awards-2015 TEDx Events: 1) http://tedxtalks.ted.com/video/Entrepreneurship-Kaustubh-Dharg 2) TEDx-Sanofi 3) TEDx-NICMAR 4) Mentor with Stanford Seed, a worldwide outreach program of Stanford University for nurturing startups Conducts Innovation Hackathons/ Design Sprints across domains and specializes in bringing out the Creative force in organisations. An acclaimed professor of Innovation, Design Thinking & Entrepreneurship. Currently, the Dean-Business Design & Innovation at WeSchool and a visiting faculty @ IIT-Bombay, IIM-Sirmaur, ICT-Mumbai. Mentor at various startup incubators, active on various startup forums s.a. IIT-Mandi Catalyst, ET-Power of Ideas, WF Global etc. At WeSchool, he has been responsible for imbibing the practice of ‘Prototyping’ among the students. His philosophy with students is, “Don’t show me PowerPoint presentations, show me Prototypes. Seek user-feedback, tweak them & achieve Product-Market Fit ‘Contributor at Knowledge@Wharton, published by the Wharton School of Business.

•

As Director of Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) at the Gates Foundation, I lead efforts to advance inclusive digital systems that enable countries to transform lives, provide pathways out of poverty, and spur economic growth. At the Gates Foundation, we work in close partnership with governments, technical partners, and digital public goods communities to support countries to develop DPI that is safe, inclusive, and responsive to local needs. I am excited about the power of technological innovation to drive inclusion at scale and believe in robust policy, trusted institutions, and meaningful safeguards to ensure digital systems serve everyone, not just a few. Throughout my career, I’ve been a technologist, driven to build better products that scale. Over the last 20 years, this has translated to using technology to help people shape their own digital futures, working at the intersection of product innovation and public impact, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. Prior to joining the Gates Foundation in 2024, I worked with IIMA Ventures at the Bharat Innovation Fund to support innovation driven companies, and at the Bharat Inclusion Initiative focused on advancing digital inclusion. Before that, I helped design and scale Aadhaar as Chief Product Manager at the Unique Identification Authority of India. I was also a key part of the team that designed UPI. I was also a key contributor to the creation and promotion of the India Stack through the iSPIRT Foundation, and responsible for creating and launching Google Map Maker.

Deepak Asok Kumar

•

* Aspiring Patent/IP Consultant & Alternative Investment Management Professional with 5+ years of cross-functional experience across diverse industries. * Expertise in product management, innovative ideation, gamified business development, and market scaling. * Currently designing a crowdsourced DLT Patent Pool platform leveraging AI for IP generation, feasibility studies, and financial valuations. Professional Skills and Interests: • Product, Project & Portfolio Management • Entrepreneurship & Agribusiness Mgmt. • Social Media Analytics & Digital Marketing • Finance and Investment Management • Economics, Business Intel. and Data Science • Education & Research Gamification using AI

•

Essentially, a servant leader helping teams succeed!

•

Orangewood ( YC W18) - Hiring now!

Shashank Maheshwari

•

Sr. Product Manager, Software- Edge AI & Humanoids

Devpriy Chouhan

•

I currently work as an Analyst at the D. E. Shaw Group. My academic background includes a Gold Medal for all-round performance from IIM Indore, along with several national wins in strategic and finance case competitions. Prior to D. E. Shaw, I worked with CIIE, IIMA and Impact India Investment, conducting market research and supporting investment evaluations across early-stage ventures. I’ve cleared both Parts I and II of the FRM certification and have consistently gravitated toward high-stakes environments where structured thinking and analytical precision matter. My interests lie at the intersection of investment strategy, deal analysis, and market research—particularly in high-impact, intellectually rigorous settings.

•

I love working with entrepreneurs, building disruptive products through innovation and technology. I help startups to create a scalable business model and optimize operations. I have enjoyed working with hundreds of founders and my core expertise is in business strategy, team building, investments, and partnerships. I have been an entrepreneur myself and consider myself fortunate to have gained working experience in all the major business aspects from P&L to operations. I have worked with non-profit, corporate & government organizations one thing in common is being a part of the startup ecosystem I have always worked in a fast-paced environment with lean team structures. Having worked in a global environment, I have a good network of angel investors, VC’s, different communities and other stakeholders of the startup ecosystem. My personal and professional experience has taught me the following about myself: I love when I get to say ‘We” – I have worked with 180+ startups and global teams - I am a team player and like to brainstorm new ideas. - I like to work in a flat organization structure where everyone gets to put his or her views forward openly. - I like to create an environment of collaboration with “competitive” organizations. - I am good at making partnerships happen and converting them to long-term relations Learn-> build -> repeat - I can take products from concept to commercialization - My instincts are good but taking decisions on data give me more satisfaction - I put the customer in the center of all that I do. - I educate, refine and drive myself to be a better person I love watching National Geographic and recently have developed a taste for documentaries on online streaming platforms as well. I am not a sports fan (“yes not even cricket”) but like to play TT and swimming. I enjoy meeting new people especially those with very strong opinions and new perspectives, while I strongly believe in data, logic, however, while meeting someone, and during discussions, I keep a view of “anything is possible”. Reach out to me if you want to talk about emerging tech, market trends, product development, startups, fundraising or FOOD. Professional Skills Program Management | Partnerships | Team Development | Business Strategy | Go to market | Business Development | Marketing | Innovation | Product roadmap | Investments | Business modeling | Strategic Planning | Growth Hacking | Strategic Alliances | Startups | Entrepreneurship Domain Knowledge Ecommerce | Hyperlocal | Digital Marketing | Designing | Data analysis | Machine Learning | SaaS