Rashmi Guptey
1st February 2022
Harish Talreja
25th January 2022
Sid Talwar
31st December 2021
Ankit Moorjani
30th June 2021
20th January 2024
Sandeep Murthy
17th March 2022
1st January 2020
20th November 2017
7th June 2022
15th May 2022
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28th November 2023
Prashant Mehta
2nd February 2022
22nd September 2021
30th August 2021
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14th January 2022
5th November 2024
Monish Pathare
28th October 2024
4th October 2024
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Akshat Jain
12th February 2021
31st May 2020
Tanya Rohatgi
19th August 2024
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Siddhant Ahuja
25th April 2022
14th February 2022
2nd June 2018
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9th February 2024
26th May 2022
1st February 2024
20th November 2020
Shivani Daiya
20th February 2020
17th August 2014
17th October 2024
18th July 2019
17th September 2021
15th September 2021
Maansi Vohra
28th January 2021
Atharva Purandare
10th January 2021
Tanvi Ghate
23rd January 2024
Ahan Rajgor
12th May 2022
8th March 2022
22nd February 2022
22nd August 2024
29th July 2024
5th June 2022
5th May 2022
16th April 2021
15th November 2014
25th October 2021
8th March 2020
7th August 2018
27th December 2016
17th February 2021
29th September 2020
24th September 2020
26th July 2020
20th January 2020
15th October 2018
26th June 2018
13th June 2017
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13th February 2024
15th July 2024
10th April 2024
20th February 2024
15th November 2024
The first thing which comes to my mind about this internship is – Couchez moins bete chaque soir. Sleep a bit more intelligent every night.
Even though it is a little late, I feel that spending one week at Wharton allows me to put things in better perspective, and provide a review which might be more useful, specially for other pre-MBA interns. Anything that could go wrong will. Murphy's timeless law is particularly true in India where chaos seems to be the norm rather than the exception: power cuts, traffic jams, pollution, corruption, you name it – are present in copious measures. It is remarkable that our country has managed to hold its act together. And I feel that this achievement - and the reason why I hold India in awe - is due to the entrepreneurial spirit and venturesome outlook which are so deep-rooted in our country. I wanted to gain a deeper understanding of these attributes and hence, started searching for a summer internship just prior to my MBA. Enter Lightbox. Lightbox – an India-focused VC firm – provided me with the perfect settings to not just understand these attributes, but also gain valuable learnings for my MBA and post-MBA life. But to explain their impact, first a bit of background: I have an engineering background and have worked in oil and gas operations for 7 years in international settings – sufficient to have lost touch with India. Further, things like balance sheets, market sizing, GMV, CAC, deal multiples, etc. were Greek to me.
The first thing which comes to my mind about this internship is – Couchez moins bete chaque soir (Sleep a bit more intelligent every night). It felt like my business education had already begun figuring out the cost of capital for a fintech startup, mapping Blue Apron’s IPO against its comps, or drafting a case study for Furlenco. Having now spent a week at Wharton, I could vouch for how invaluable these skills are.
Which brings me to my second and perhaps the most important point – people.
I found the team at Lightbox to be very friendly and helpful. I feel that I learnt something from everyone: be it Prashant and Sandeep’s intelligent insights, Siddharth’s humorous ways (and Bhavana’s funnier rebuttals), Khushnum’s and Garima’s scheduling acumen, Ronak’s superpowers with Microsoft, Anshul’s restaurant recommendations, Harish’s poker face and financial prowess, Krishna’s fast-as-lightning analysis and insanely-sharp-wits, or Tina’s ability-to-articulate-anything. Loved the coffee chats and the post-6 PM humor sessions. Additionally, a large part of the team has been in the US and interacting with them gave me a first sense of what the US culture is like. This is proving to be quite helpful in integrating at Wharton. Going beyond the internal team, I also met a lot of entrepreneurs which gave me a better understanding of the attributes that I was seeking in the first place.
All-in-all, the internship was largely illuminating and fun. However, I did feel that the fast-paced and dynamic nature of work at Lightbox could have been better addressed by proceeding in a more structured fashion. Perhaps, the silver lining is that it teaches one to prioritize efficiently, which is must-have skill for a B-school. To conclude, while nothing is perfect, Lightbox provided me with an amazing learning experience which was as human as it was professional. I was overwhelmed with the chaos in Mumbai, and even fell sick a couple of times. But the team at Lightbox helped me smoothen the sail. And they have done that not just for me, but for everyone on the team and for all of their portfolio companies. Had Murphy known, he could have revised to Anything that could go wrong will, unless you are at Lightbox.
June – August 2017
What are you doing now?Interning at Lightbox! :)
What is venture capital about according to you? Weaving dreams into reality, and creating the future.
How do you see technology changing India in the next 10 years?This is an exciting time to be in India. A lot of people will switch to digital, which will hopefully reduce corruption. Also, I feel that healthcare will leapfrog in India with mass-adoption of personalized care techniques. Finally, the energy mix of India would change drastically from coal to include renewable sources, and this would be reflected in the transportation sector as well.
What’s the best insider tip you would give to a new intern?Do seek for what the other person might be interested in, and be proactive in trying to align interests.
What’s the wisest thing anyone has ever said to you?From my father: Learning never stops.
Mathematician and magician in equal parts. Now conjuring tricks at Harvard. A quote he lives by: "Magic is believing in yourself, if you can do that, you can make anything happen.
Born in Bombay and fashion-schooled in London, she switched to the other side to build Down to Dash, an activity based network for college students.
Every bit the New Yorker she is. A Yale graduate, bulletproofed at McKinsey, now in her second year at Harvard Business School. Bedazzled by Bollywood, she spend the summer with us in Mumbai to understand what's next in content and media.
Not yet a high school graduate but eager to make bigger and better things. Now back at school in New Jersey.
The phenomenal team, amazing office and interesting, changing work keeps are only a few things on a very long list of why my summer at Lightbox made interns everywhere jealous!
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