Prateek Sethi - Co-Founder, Shifu Ventures

Prateek Sethi

Co-Founder, Shifu Ventures

Building a Hands-on Accelerator for Services. AI companies

Ye meri kahaani hai! Definitely TL;DR, but here goes:

Ever since I was young, I knew I wasn't the smartest person in the room – but I always knew I’d outwork a lot of them!

At 19, while studying at BIT Mesra, I joined a startup at NSRCEL, IIM-B and climbed to the top in no time. No, we didn’t scale to hundreds of crores, but we hit a few crores – and I realized I love building things from scratch more than anything.

Another thing I figured out: I love giving back. Whether it was giving sessions at IIM-B on the magic of content writing, helping early-stage founders to build playbooks, or getting my alma-mater placed during the brutal Covid placement season – this stuff gives me life.

Life threw a curveball when I shifted to B2B SaaS, and once I worked with Almabase and Outplay, I knew this was my next big bet.

Since then, I’ve helped hundreds of founders build SDR teams and crack their US GTM – not the traditional way, but by really thinking out of the box. Oh, it's really out of the box. I honestly can’t remember a time when I shared my ideas with a team, and they weren’t surprised.

Life has gotten better always unexpectedly, which is how I met Sri – my co-founder at Shifu Ventures and former boss & Co-Founder of Almabase. A really nice vibe fit & I could see betting on B2B SaaS together with him for quite some time.

We’ve done quite some wild things together – like traveling across India to uncover the unheard B2B stories through B2B Yatra while also working with multiple Services.AI companies in Shifu.

---

I'm more from 'JUST WORK'.

Sports is my meditation. My goal is to take on a new sport every three years and crush it! This year, it’s all about Triathlons, and I'm on my way to completing an Ironman.

Before that? I’ve represented my college in badminton, been a district swimming champion, a table tennis school champ, and so much more.

The best bet to schedule a meeting with me? Find a sport, and we shall play together! :)

This is me, always pushing, always evolving – both in work and in life.

Signing up on our website is completely free! If you encounter any issues with profile or notice something unusual, please don't hesitate to report it to us. We're here to help ensure a smooth and secure experience.
Upcoming events in Bengaluru
Mar
07
Sat
eChai Women Founders Initiative in Bengaluru: March Edition
UrbanVault 477 HSR Layout
6:00pm — 08:00pm
Mar
07
Sat
Bengaluru Startup Meetup
Draper Startup House Koramangala
6:00pm — 08:00pm
Mar
08
Sun
eChai's Startup Open House in Bengaluru
Draper Startup House Koramangala
11:00am — 01:00pm
Mar
14
Sat
Product Growth Playbook: Insights from Top Product Leaders and Founders - Bengaluru Edition
UrbanVault 477 HSR Layout
6:00pm — 08:00pm
Mar
21
Sat
AI x SaaS Founders Meetup : Bengaluru Edition
UrbanVault 477 HSR Layout
6:00pm — 08:00pm
Mar
28
Sat
Product Growth Playbook: Insights from Top Product Leaders and Founders - Bengaluru Edition
UrbanVault 477 HSR Layout
6:00pm — 08:00pm
More stories on eChai

The eChai Effect - In Their Words

"The eChai platform has been super valuable for me - it has helped me gain a deeper understanding of domains in the startup and tech ecosystem. What stands out most is the celebration of knowledge, professional growth, and entrepreneurship - it’s one of the best for the Indian ecosystem. Along the way, I’ve also been fortunate to make some great friendships and connections too."
Shalin (Shawn) Parikh - Founder, MyCPE One
Shalin (Shawn) Parikh
Founder, MyCPE One
“You don’t plan to build a company via eChai. You just keep showing up … and one day, you realize you did.” I’ve known Jatin since 2012, when I was still deciding what kind of second innings I wanted to play as an entrepreneur. Over the years, through events, chai breaks, intros, and seemingly small conversations, eChai helped shape not just Upsquare but also refined the lens through which we see collaboration. At Upsquare, we’ve hired talent, met partners, discovered co-investors, and built lifelong friendships. One of our joint ventures exists today only because a casual eChai memory sparked a deeper trust. Now, as we build House of Starts — our venture builder — eChai continues to fuel our mission: co-creating a shared future. eChai isn’t just a startup network. It’s a trust network. And for business builders like me, that makes all the difference."
Utpal Vaishnav - Founder @ Upsquare & House of Starts • Angel Investor + LP
Utpal Vaishnav
Founder @ Upsquare & House of Starts • Angel Investor + LP
"eChai is playing biggest role in my personal and professional life together. Its a community where i meet like minded people to share idea and learn from their idea. Even while playing cricket i learn something and i implement something new from that learning. Its my entry point for building network in different countries where my base is not established yet. Personally my only fun activity day in a week is eChai cricket and social."
yash shah - Chairman, ES Group of Companies
yash shah
Chairman, ES Group of Companies

eChai Partner Brands

eChai Ventures partners with select brands as their growth partner - working together to explore new ideas, open doors, and build momentum across the startup ecosystem.

Digipple

Digipple

We drive growth for brands with strategic, creative, and tech-enabled solutions.