Anshu Agarwal Transitions from Entrepreneur to Mentor

Longtime Silicon Valley entrepreneur Anshu Agarwal has decided it’s time to be a mentor rather than an operator.

In 2021, DigitalOcean Holdings Inc. acquired Agarwal’s cloud company, Nimbella, the fifth startup in her portfolio of nearly two decades. After serving as vice president and general manager of DigitalOcean’s Serverless & Kubernetes business unit, elevating DigitalOcean to more than 600,000 customers, she was ready for a change.

Transitioning to Venture Capital

“When I left DigitalOcean, I could have started another company or joined an established one,” Agarwal said in an interview. “I know what founders want after years as an operator.”

Investing in Promising Startups

Agarwal intends to bring the same team spirit and entrepreneurship skills to funding for startups in the following sectors:

1. Business-to-Business
2. AI-Software-Stack
3. Robotics-Hardware

She considered several offers from VC companies before selecting the Cambridge, Mass.-based Converge, which she worked with at Nimbella.

“When you have the opportunity to work with an A+ player and bring them to your team, you grab it,” Maia Heymann, also a general partner at Converge, said in a statement. “Anshu’s rare five-times successful startup-to-exit experience makes her a unique partner to the founders we back.”

Fostering Entrepreneurial Success

As a venture capitalist, Agarwal said, she wants to “let the founders do their magic.”

She added: “It’s about advice, not just dollars and connections. I’m done with my entrepreneur chapter. It keeps you young in helping people with great ideas.”