
About Karan Mehandru
Canadian-Indian-American and father of three, Karan is a seasoned go-to-market-executive-turned-B2B-investor who fiercely advocates for his CEOs and supports both their professional and personal development.
I'm a company's war partner, actively fighting with the team to help them win. I work hard to earn their trust by inspiring them to go beyond their perceived limits, by being collaborative and intellectually honest, and by always being available anytime, any day.
What is your investment focus and why?
I take a thematic approach to investing. I'm excited by B2B companies that capitalize on secular trends like consumerization of the enterprise, Software-as-a-Service, AI/ML, and big data. Equally important are the founders themselves. I seek out founders who embody founder/market fit, whose intense, deep-seated understanding of and compassion for their end-users enable them to build products that delight users with superior functionality, usability, personality, and (ultimately) magic.
What unique contributions do you make to companies as a VC?
I seek to be the call CEOs want to make -- not the call they have to make. I consider it a signal of respect for the entrepreneurs and their missions to develop a deep contextual understanding of the company, the team, and the space in which they operate. I adapt to their needs, ranging from CEO counsel to “SaaS metrics expert,” also serving as a resource for hiring, product strategy, financing, marketing and sales. Before becoming a VC in 2007, I spent a decade in go-to-market roles. This background provides a unique lens into understanding the pain points being addressed by their products, as well as a visceral empathy for the challenges they face every day as entrepreneurs.
What is the most rewarding thing about being a VC?
Among the many things that I enjoy and find motivating in this profession, the vast majority tie back to my relationship with my portfolio CEOs. It's beyond gratifying to collaborate on solutions to complex problems in the face of ambiguous information, to work alongside the smartest minds, to share in founders' successes (and failures), and to support them, fight for them, inspire them and celebrate with them as they achieve their professional and personal goals. I'm inspired every day to give my all to my founders as we jointly ride the emotional startup roller coaster together.
Articles by Karan
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Worklete: Turbocharging a multi-generational quest for workplace safety
Mediumby
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Jama Software grabs $200 Million to Accelerate Predictive Product Development
Jama Softwarefeaturing
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Investor Q&A: How Cohesity’s Mohit Aron Embodies Founder/Market Fit
Cohesityfeaturing
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SoftBank leads $250 million investment in data storage startup Cohesity
VentureBeatfeaturing
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Outreach raises $65M on trajectory to Unicorn Status
Business Insiderfeaturing
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Beautiful.AI unleashes the storyteller in all of us
Mediumby
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Auth0 seeks international expansion with $55M Series D
TechCrunchfeaturing
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Why Startups Shouldn’t Spread Resources Evenly
Fast Companyby
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Investors Are Your War Partners, Not Your Beer Buddies
Entrepreneur.comby
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From skill set to mindset: why founder/market fit is a must-have entrepreneurial attribute
Mediumby
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Cohesity raises $90M+ Series C round for its hyperconverged data platform
Tech Crunchfeaturing
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Giving New Grads and Employers a WayUp
Mediumby
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WayUp gets $18.5 million more to help college grads find jobs
Tech Crunchfeaturing
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Webinar: The Ongoing Evolution of the Sales Tech Stack – What’s Next?
Openviewfeaturing
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A New Sales Technology Stack Is Coming
TechCrunchby
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When the road more traveled makes all the difference
Mediumby
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Our Investment in Cohesity
Mediumby
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The Customer Success Era
Mediumby
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Customer Success and the Evolution of SaaS Metrics: Churn, LTV, and CAC
RJMetricsby