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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