Rishika joined in 2022 and focuses on growth-stage investments. Prior to Accel, she worked at SoftBank’s Vision Fund in San Francisco, where she evaluated growth-stage enterprise and health tech investments. Earlier in her career, she spent time at McKinsey and the public health fund Gavi. She graduated from IIT Kanpur and Harvard.
Get to know Rishika
What was your first job?
My first job as a 13-year-old was creating question papers for different high school exams. I was a specialist at building tricky incorrect options for multiple-choice questions in science and mathematics!
What’s the most impactful piece of advice you’ve received?
I strive to find honesty and confidence within myself in most situations in life. Tara Westover helped me place this well via a quote in the book, Educated - "To admit uncertainty is to admit to weakness, to powerlessness, and to believe in yourself despite both. It is a frailty, but in this frailty, there is a strength: the conviction to live in your own mind and not in someone else’s."
What's something people are surprised to learn about you?
I am almost always up for an adventurous trip, whether it's a trek, dive, or camping.