Mala Ramakrishnan is the founder and managing partner of Progressive Ventures. A Stanford-trained computer scientist, she brings over two decades of experience as a technologist, entrepreneur, and venture capitalist. With multiple startup exits and a background as head of privacy at WhatsApp, Mala offers rare insight into B2B AI SaaS, privacy, and inclusive investing.

In this episode, she shares her journey from founding startups in grad school to launching a mission-driven VC fund focused on empowering women and underrepresented founders. Her approach combines deep technical fluency with a bold vision for building a more equitable AI-powered future.

In Today’s Episode We Discuss:

00:01 Launching a startup with $50K and a vision

01:45 Imposter syndrome and the path to technical confidence

03:00 From engineering to product marketing and back

04:15 Exiting two startups and learning through failure

06:00 Leading privacy at WhatsApp and scaling trust

07:10 The founder's obsession: problem over product

08:00 Becoming a VC with purpose and legacy in mind

10:30 Venture capital's power—and its double standards

12:00 Role models, risk aversion, and the wealth gap

14:00 The “three-mile circle” strategy for impact

15:40 Why B2B AI is her investment sweet spot

17:40 What she looks for in early-stage startups

19:00 Product-first investing and founder conversations

20:00 Founders Creative and community-driven deal flow

21:30 Pre-seed is post-launch: the new founder reality

23:00 Access over algorithms in the AI gold rush

24:40 Building privacy into AI from day one

27:30 Automating developer workflows with AI

28:20 Persistence: the underrated founder superpower

29:15 Red flags and non-negotiables in early-stage deals

30:00 Gross margins, credit burn, and financial clarity

31:30 AI-first as the new cloud-first

32:45 A0Dev: democratizing mobile app development

34:00 The AGI era and solo GPs of the future

35:45 Why co-founders matter—and how she chooses them

38:17 End

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