Manasi joined in 2019 and focuses on early-stage consumer and fintech companies. Prior to Accel, she worked at investment firms Learn Capital and Acumen, and held operational roles at EdTech startups Springboard and EduBridge. She started her career at Bain & Company and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania.
Get to know Manasi
If you could have any superpower what would it be?
It would be the ability to live a million lives in one. As an avid reader of fiction since childhood, I’ve always loved imagining what it would be like to experience the most diverse lives: from someone living in a remote village by the sea to a scientist discovering a groundbreaking theory in physics. In a small way, I get to live this dream today by stepping into the shoes of each entrepreneur I meet, viewing the world from their perspective.
What’s the most impactful piece of advice you’ve received?
The best advice I’ve ever received came from my father when I was in first grade. I came home in tears after a test, having misread the most important question and knowing I would lose a lot of points. He simply asked, “did you put in your best effort preparing for the test?”
He taught my sister and me to always focus on the effort we could control and trust that the results would follow. My father embodied this principle in everything he did, celebrating effort above all. This simple yet profound insight has shaped my approach to both life and work.
What was your first job?
My first job was as a teaching assistant for my undergraduate calculus class at Wharton. It taught me that explaining a concept simply is so much harder than just understanding it – just like creating something grounds up is a lot harder than investing in it :)
