2: Prashant Mehta, Lightbox - Part 2/7 - Traversing the Endurance Journey with One's Tribe
In this latest edition of TalkCXOLife Sunayana Nair, Editor CXO Life interviews Prashant Mehta, Partner at Lightbox, a venture capital firm in Mumbai. Now Prashant is also known as the endurance man. Why you ask? Imagine pedaling from Mumbai to Pune and back, that is about 330km, for 13 hours, and (no don’t run out of breath as yet) then within the same week of pulling off that feat, trekking to the Everest basecamp! Well, that is Prashant Mehta for you ladies and gentlemen! Born in Mumbai, and having spent his growing years between India and Africa, Prashant studied biotechnology in the U.S. but ended up working for a bank, pursuing an MBA from Wharton School after which he headed straight to work for Lehman Brothers which helped him understand the art of investing in emerging markets. He subsequently moved to Silicon Valley to head Yahoo’s commercial operations for emerging markets. In this segment, Prashant shares how he began his endurance journey through biking with the help of his ex-boss, twenty years ago when he was coping to come to terms with life after battling a serious health scare that had him feeling overwhelmed. What began as an attempt to give his mind a fresh lease, soon graduated to pushing his limits gradually, as his ex-boss constantly motivated him to keep giving it his best shot. Together, they began participating in biking events and races across the US and then even across the world. Prashant believes cycling gave him an incredible opportunity to explore food culture and people around. He also speaks of the importance of the role of his ‘crazy bunch of friends’ in discovering his limits and pushing them. Constantly. Happy Listening!