Director at Innosight Ventures, Co-Founder and COO at Guaranteach Inc.
Washington D.C. Metro Area
Director at Innosight Ventures, Co-Founder and COO at Guaranteach Inc.
Washington D.C. Metro Area
I lead Innosight Ventures' activities in the United States - sourcing and screening potential investments, managing strategy, operations and sales and marketing for one of the startups in our incubator.
I also work closely with Innosight Ventures' India and Singapore offices on developing innovative sustainable business models to create economic growth at the 'bottom of the pyramid' across Asia as well as some consulting work with clients focused on innovation.
My primary industry expertise is in the for-profit education sector, where I have recently spent several years launching and growing Guaranteach, a startup focused on developing a math tutor for the masses.
Prior to joining Innosight, I spent five years as a Business Manager with Capital One in both the United Kingdom and the United States.
I hold undergraduate and masters degrees in Physics from Oxford University, and an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth.
• Innovation strategy - Disruptive Innovation, Emergent strategy & JOBS
• New product development
• Integrated Marketing strategy (online, retail, print, guerilla)
• Analytical Marketing
• New venture and business plan development
• Startups
(Privately Held; Management Consulting industry)
June 2008 — Present (1 year 6 months)
Innosight Ventures is a venture capital firm founded by Harvard Business School’s Clayton Christensen. Innosight Ventures makes seed and pre-seed investments in disruptive opportunities via funds focused on India and Singapore. Additionally, the firm has an incubator in which it funds and actively manages a series of startups focused on a variety of industries ranging from online education to medical tourism.
(Privately Held; E-Learning industry)
April 2008 — Present (1 year 8 months)
Guaranteach is an online video tutor which adapts to each student's learning style - changing the way it teaches in response to the user's behavior. Powered by a deep library of user-generated videos, and a set of sophisticated algorithms that match students to videos and tutors who suit them best.
I founded Guaranteach in mid 2008, raised seed funding from Innosight Ventures and recruited a CEO. I set company strategy and run marketing and operations. During the past year, I have grown Guaranteach from an idea to a company with 8 full-time employees and over 100 contract staff, and with a video library of over 20,000 tutoring videos, all created, reviewed and approved by professional teachers. I have taken the company from inception to early revenues and am now raising capital for further growth.
(Venture Capital & Private Equity industry)
June 2007 — June 2008 (1 year 1 month)
(Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; COF; Financial Services industry)
May 2004 — July 2005 (1 year 3 months)
Managed project to introduce new IT infrastructure across three departments to design and deliver next-generation analytical marketing capabilities leading to $10 million in cost savings
Led cross-functional rapid response team to identify, prioritize and pursue projects worth $20 million in innovation-related investment opportunities, allowing division to meet financial targets
Supervised four analysts, structuring and guiding their analysis to ensure successful completion of team goals; managed their professional development
(Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; COF; Financial Services industry)
December 2002 — May 2004 (1 year 6 months)
Led cross-functional team of IT, legal and operations personnel to implement automated quality control systems for critical marketing processes, leading to cost-savings of $2 million annually
Twice awarded 'Circle of Excellence' (annually awarded by the CEO directly to the top 1% of employees) for leading various projects and designing new strategies with significant impact to the business.
Leveraged Information based strategy (IBS) and data mining techniques to design and implement new marketing strategies for the Affinity markets division of Capital One
(Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; COF; Financial Services industry)
October 2001 — December 2002 (1 year 3 months)
Managed projects within Capital One's Credit Card Rewards and Affinity Markets divisions to reduce costs and enhance operational efficiency.
Led team of marketing analysts to develop new rewards & loyalty programs for key market segments
MBA , General Management , 2005 — 2007
• Graduated with Distinction and elected as an Edward Tuck Scholar
• Awarded Tuck Merit Scholarship
• Booz Allen CEO Challenge; Winner - Best Presentation
Master of Physics (MPHYS) , (Astrophysics & Particle Physics) , 1997 — 2001
• Awarded commendation (8 students from 250) for experimental work
• Awarded Anna Haxworth Prize for music
Greater Richmond Pipes & Drums, Oxford Business Association, Oxford Guild Society, Institute of Physics,
• Edward Tuck Scholar (2007)
• Capital One's Circle of Excellence (Awarded twice - in 2002 & 2003)
• Oxford University Physics - Coursework Commendation (2001)
• Anna Haxworth Prize for Music (1999)
• Duke of Edinburgh's Gold Award (1996)