4: Prashant Mehta - Part 4/7 Training to Stride, Stroke and Ride

Published: Dec. 10, 2019, 5:51 a.m.

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 touches upon his approach towards running, biking and swimming and how he has evolved with respect to each. We also converse about his training methodology – which comprises 5 to 6-day routines per week. Prior to an event, training is scheduled and worked backward, usually 2-3 months prior, with a minimum of 15-20 hours per week. The biggest challenge for Prashant is to get back to training after a break due to frequent travel since as per his admission, even a week’s break sets him back by a month. He also divulges how he stopped being obsessive about his diet once he realised that he and the people around him weren’t really having fun.