Rick Desai

Managing Partner at Listen Ventures and Adjunct Professor at Northwestern University

Rick Desai

Rick Desai is a Managing Partner at Listen Ventures, a consumer-focused venture capital firm based in Chicago. He leads the investment team at Listen, which has invested in companies like Factor, Calm, Kiwi Crate, Public Goods and Slumberkins.1 2

Prior to Listen, Rick co-founded Dashfire, a startup studio that built and invested in over 40 companies from 2009 to 2014.2 He was awarded a Clinton Fellowship in 2008 and spent a year leading social enterprise strategies in urban Indian slums for the NGO SAATH.3

Rick previously worked as an investor at Madison Dearborn Partners, a Chicago-based private equity firm.3 He is an Adjunct Entrepreneurship Lecturer at Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management, teaching New Venture Development, and was awarded a Faculty Impact award in 2018.1 3

Rick is a graduate of Georgetown University with a BSBA in Finance, International Business, and Psychology.3 His LinkedIn username is rickpdesai.3

Highlights

Oct 21 · PRNewswire

The Cumin Club Expands Indian Meal Kit Subscription Nationwide and Launches its First Virtual Restaurant in Chicago - PRNewswire

Oct 21 · Yahoo Finance

The Cumin Club Expands Indian Meal Kit Subscription Nationwide and Launches its First Virtual Restaurant in Chicago - Yahoo Finance

Experience

Managing Partner at Listen Ventures (January 2016 - Present)

Adjunct Professor at Northwestern University - Kellogg School of Management (January 2017 - Present), Managing Partner, Co-Founder at Dashfire (July 2009 - Present), William J. Clinton Fellow at SAATH (September 2008 - June 2009)