STARTUPS · ADVISORY · MENTORSHIP

Venture & Velocity: Building and Advising Startups.

Navigating the journey from zero to one—from founding a food-tech marketplace in Mumbai to advising the next generation of startups at Oxford and Techstars.

Prajakta Kalmegh as Oxford Saïd Entrepreneur-in-Residence
TENURE
2 years · Saïd Entrepreneurship Center
CHAPTER 01 · ADVISOR

Tech Entrepreneur-in-Residence
Saïd Entrepreneurship Center, University of Oxford

Following my experience founding Tazzho, I joined Oxford as a Tech EiR to mentor high-potential startups. I focused on the intersection of technical strategy and market positioning, helping founders navigate the transition from prototype to scale.

Over two years, I advised dozens of founders, identifying recurring patterns in product-market fit and operational strategy. My role centered on providing clarity through data-driven decision-making and rigorous strategic frameworks.

"The trap for technical founders isn't a lack of engineering skill—it's falling in love with the product rather than the customer's problem."

EiRGo-to-MarketTechnical StrategySaïd Entrepreneurship CenterFounder Advisor
READ THE OXFORD OSEC IMPACT REPORT →See Pages 10-11 for details on my role & impact
Techstars Berlin accelerator logo
LOCATION
Techstars Berlin · Europe
CHAPTER 02 · MENTOR

The Reflection Loop
Techstars · Berlin

As a mentor for Techstars Berlin, I worked with ambitious software startups across Europe. In high-velocity environments, I helped founders implement strategic reflection—ensuring that rapid execution was balanced with rigorous validation.

"Troubleshooting product-market fit is a constant cycle of learning that ensures strategic intuition stays sharp."

Techstars BerlinProduct StrategyPMF CoachingVenture Mentorship
Tazzho food-tech marketplace logo
ACCELERATOR
CreateX · Georgia Tech
CHAPTER 03 · FOUNDER

The Tazzho Experiment

Tazzho was a food-tech marketplace designed to empower independent chefs in Mumbai. Selected for the CreateX accelerator at Georgia Tech, we built a platform focused on operational intelligence. By implementing custom AI-driven risk scoring, we achieved a 73% improvement in fulfillment efficiency and scaled to 4 cities with 300+ onboarded chefs.

MARKET DYNAMICS

Despite strong technical performance, we encountered high marketplace friction. Trust dynamics and intense competition from well-funded incumbents shifted the unit economics. We chose to wind down operations transparently, preserving stakeholder value and applying these critical marketplace lessons to future ventures.

FounderB2C MarketplaceOperational IntelligenceCreateX AcceleratorMumbai Food-Tech

The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek.

JOSEPH CAMPBELL

EXPLORE WHAT KEEPS ME GROUNDED