🎙️ From Citibank to Venture Capital: Sunil Rao's Journey Building Purpose-Driven Investments

Sunil Rao, Managing Partner at Plum Alley Ventures in New York, shares his remarkable journey from growing up in India with a bureaucrat father and teacher mother, through prestigious roles at Citibank, KPMG, and Barclays, to building four businesses across multiple countries before founding a venture capital firm focused on technologies that empower, protect, and extend human capability.

✨ Key Insights You'll Learn:

• Building businesses across 10 countries in Middle East and North Africa while still in twenties

• Investment thesis focused on technologies that support human endeavor through empowerment and protection

• Why growth mindset matters more than past experience in hiring and founder evaluation

• Assessing founders who think in decades but execute on 90-day scientific milestones

• Creating membership model with 200+ investors accessing venture capital opportunities

• Portfolio companies developing cancer detection AI identifying signs five years earlier

• Robots helping nurses reduce physical strain and workplace safety hardware solutions

• Membership tiers starting at $2,500 annually with $20,000 minimum check sizes

• Importance of short learning loops and emotional resilience in successful founders

• Learning Spanish to connect with people at deeper level through their native language

🌟 Sunil's Key Mentors:

• Parents in India: Father as bureaucrat and mother as teacher sacrificed significantly to provide quality education, shaping his approach to learning and choices

• Citibank Culture: Taught fundamental belief that capability in one area translates to capability in others, launching his journey as internal founder building multiple businesses

• Barclays Boss at Age 27-28: Trusted him to build financial institutions group business from scratch across 10 countries, providing phenomenal learning opportunity

• Growth Mindset Philosophy: Early exposure to growth mindset concepts shaped career decisions, hiring practices, and personal development approach

• Banking Career Experiences: Four businesses built across different countries taught lessons about good culture, good people, and good work

• Family Office Members: 200+ paying members who became advisors, referral sources, and supporters creating family ecosystem around shared purpose

👉 Don't miss this powerful conversation about building businesses internationally, evaluating founders scientifically, democratizing venture capital access, and investing in technologies that enhance human capability.

🔗 Connect with Sunil Rao:

Website: plumalley.co 

Email: [email protected]

Location: 345 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10010

📄 Transcript Available: Sunil Rao's Purpose-Driven VC Approach: Investing in Technologies That Empower Humans

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