Rishabh Surendran (Gaingels) / VC Breakdown & Contact

About Rishabh Surendran

Rishabh Surendran is a deep tech investor who builds AI projects himself alongside investing, using hands-on technical experience to engage with founders on product and model questions rather than staying at the board level. He focuses specifically on frontier tech and AI companies that can materially improve the world through his work at Cornell Tech and the New York deep tech scene, drawing from foundational experience meeting 80 deep tech founders in a single summer at Draper Associates.

Where they've Worked

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Video Interview

On reaching out to junior investors instead of GPs

"A lot of founders actually neglect the junior people in the team, especially the associate levels, the senior associates and the principals. They manage a lot of the deal flow... try and reach out to the associates and the principals in the team who would actually be far more responsive to you."

Rishabh Surendran

Investor, Gaingels

On a non-lead investor's intros moving real money

"Most recently, in the last four months, I made introductions that led to about 1.25 million of investments for two companies... One of them got a 750K check. One of them got a 350K check. One of them is right now at a 250. So it was just emails I shot to people I knew saying you should speak to this founder. They're amazing. I personally recommend that."

Rishabh Surendran

Investor, Gaingels

On sending cryptic cold outreaches

"What I personally don't like is when founders try to keep a lot of suspense. They're like, hey, we're the cursor for defense, do you want to chat more?... That line really is so cryptic. You don't understand what they're trying to say. Is it even relevant?"

Rishabh Surendran

Investor, Gaingels

On lying about commitments or investor interest

"I had an example where a founder said we got a soft commitment from Draper, and I checked in with them. They said no, we've not given any soft commitment. And so there it goes... You lost your chance with both of them. Just be absolutely truthful about those numbers."

Rishabh Surendran

Investor, Gaingels

On oversubscribing the round

"A lot of times you feel like you shouldn't say no to capital, so you say yes to everybody. And then you realize you're doing a 2 million round, but you ended up doing like a three and a half... you raised a lot of capital which you actually didn't need and you diluted way more."

Rishabh Surendran

Investor, Gaingels

About their Fund

Gaingels

Sectors

Under-represented founders, Health, Fintech, AI, Consumer

Rounds

Pre-Seed - Series A

Avg Check Size

$200K - $500K

Notable Investments

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Gaingels is one of the world's largest LGBTQIA+/Allies venture syndicates with 4,000+ members that has deployed over $600M since 2019, operating as a community-first capital model where investors commit to hands-on portfolio support and recruiting underrepresented investors beyond just writing checks. The syndicate treats venture investing as a lever for civil-rights-style social change, running unique programs like the annual "Gaingels 100" showcase of venture-backed LGBTQIA+ founders and operating one of the largest diversity-aligned jobs boards in venture with 10,000+ live roles at portfolio companies.

Other partners at the fund