Rajil Kapoor

Investor

I want to change the world.

too many to list!

frustrating - things never move as fast as you want. war for talent.

rewarding - so much....the excitement around the idea, hiring the team, selling the vision, building great products, watching users love it, and of course making money

Not to hire people better than themselves - especially filling in the skill gaps they have

1) Hire the best people always
2) Make decisions quickly but give enough time to test out your hypotheses
3) Cash is king - you can recover from timing mistakes if you have the cash

Raj is an entrepreneur , Internet industry pioneer and blogger (vcinme.typepad.com) . He invests in the online advertising, e-commerce, consumer internet/digital media and internet infrastructure services and software segments.

Prior to joining Mayfield, Raj was co-founder and CEO of Snapfish, a leading global online photo service. Raj orchestrated the sale of Snapfish to Hewlett-Packard in March 2005.

Prior to Snapfish, Raj was an executive at Excite@Home, where he led the company's e-commerce and broadband applications business, driving new music, entertainment and e-commerce initiatives. Raj also held positions in strategic planning, business development and product management in consumer interactive television services at Bell Atlantic Corporation, which is now Verizon.

Raj received an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and a B.S. with honors in mechanical/robotics engineering from Carnegie Mellon University.

He serves on the Carnegie Mellon Silicon Valley Advisory Council and Harvard Business School's California Research Center Advisory Board. He enjoys surfing, triathlons and family.

Fun Facts

• New media enthusiast (Twitter and blog)
• Music lover and former DJ, member of Indian Elvis band at HBS, and  Cover Flow right now
• Bethlehem, PA native and Triathlon participant