Saipriya Sarangan

My sister, who was born with severe down syndrome, shaped my outlook and character in many different ways. From a young age, I realized just how important it is to persevere, and to make the most out of what you’ve been given in life. How important it is to just seize the day!

That’s shaped my career, which has been extremely varied. When there’s an opportunity to try something new, I leap right in. I started off in finance in GE, then moved into a technology consulting role at McKinsey. Later, I was part of a founding team of an education startup that focused on employment and upskilling of underprivileged youth from rural communities. We spent three years at it, but eventually called it a day. Building a company is super hard and each day will have many highs and lows. You have to strongly believe that you’re going to change the world and build something really big if you want to pull through.

I returned to McKinsey to lead the education practice, and during that time helped incubate a non-profit that aims to achieve the goal I set out with my startup: to enable employment by upskilling youth from underprivileged communities. It’s been wonderful to see that dream come to life in another incarnation. In parallel, I moved into the People leader role in McKinsey, which I led for four years. When Sequoia India – now Peak XV – called, the entrepreneur in me knew it was the right move. It’s exciting to help founders think about how to build the team they need to achieve their vision and dreams.