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Sandeep Raju
Founder at Krushal and Samaaru
Professional Background
Sandeep Raju is a distinguished entrepreneur and private investor, recognized for his innovative approach to creating impactful business ventures both in India and Europe. With a keen focus on building close-knit teams, Sandeep has successfully led numerous initiatives that aim to enhance the socio-economic fabric of rural India while simultaneously advancing deep technology in Europe.
At the helm of Krushal, Sandeep and his team provide animal care and commerce plans specifically designed for progressive dairy farmers. Their mission is ambitious yet vital—to help farmers double their milk salaries and strategically nurture entrepreneurship in every village. By leveraging the India Stack, Krushal accelerates rural commercial inclusion at scale, significantly contributing to the agricultural sector's growth and sustainability.
In addition to Krushal, Sandeep is the co-founder of Samaaru, an organization that directly addresses the financial needs of smallholder farmers. Through their Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC), they provide affordable value chain finance and co-lending solutions in partnership with leading banks in India. Their ultimate goal is to make farming a financially rewarding and desirable vocation for many.
Sandeep also leads Kreskado, a Swiss private venture studio where he serves as a board observer for Synthara, a company that specializes in high-performance silicon chip designs for edge devices. He is likewise a board member of Perovskia, which focuses on producing digitally printed solar cells aimed at consumer and IoT applications. Both companies are noted for their groundbreaking products, which have received validation from early adoption clients, establishing their reign in respective markets.
Prior to his entrepreneurial journey, Sandeep had a rich corporate career that culminated in 2016, after taking on various leadership roles in P&L management, mergers and acquisitions (M&A), investments, and incubation tasks predominantly at Infosys and Wipro. His venture development expertise blossomed at Infosys, where he was involved in significant projects, including being the incubation lead of the Life Sciences Practice and contributing to the acquisition of companies like Lodestone and Yantra.
Education and Achievements
Sandeep Raju's educational background is as impressive as his professional journey. He is a dropout from a part-time Executive Masters program in Public Policy and Economic Development at The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), and previously pursued a doctoral program in Finance and Economics at Columbia Business School. His formal education also includes a Post Graduate Diploma in Management (PGDM) from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Bangalore, and a Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech) in Mechanical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Madras. He began his academic journey at Kendriya Vidyalaya.
Sandeep's commitment to education and continuous learning reflects a strong foundation in economics and management, which provides him with unique insights and analytical capabilities that fuel his entrepreneurial ventures.
Achievements
Sandeep Raju boasts a remarkable record of achievements throughout his ventures, showcasing his ability to identify opportunities and his dedication to making a substantial impact. He strategically led the incubation of platform services at Innoterra, ensuring the company's growth while maximizing their mission of agri-food innovation.
His role as a co-leader of the seed round investment in Haqdarshak—a citizen services venture— demonstrates his dedication to empowering communities through technology and innovation. Additionally, Sandeep has successfully held various board positions, including leading Synthara AG and serving as a Board Member of Perovskia SOLAR SA and other ventures that align with his vision of sustainable development and technological advancement.
Sandeep’s career is marked by a series of relished roles where he thrived as Vice President at Wipro and Associate Vice President in Infosys's Life Sciences sector. His leadership in client services and M&A initiatives cemented him as a key player in the fields of insurance, healthcare, and life sciences. Sandeep was also a founding member of critical initiatives at Infosys, guiding both acquisitions and the investments group in shaping the company's strategic direction.
Through his ventures, Sandeep persists in his commitment to fostering rural entrepreneurship and advancing deep-tech innovations in Europe. His associations with notable companies and his ability to drive change underscore his reputation as a visionary entrepreneur who embraces the landscapes of technology and agriculture—two sectors pivotal to global economic health.
Conclusion
With an impressive trajectory encompassing both entrepreneurial success and a rich corporate foundation, Sandeep Raju continues to make waves in the fields of agriculture and technology. His dedication to nurturing entrepreneurship and providing essential resources for farmers underscores a commitment to social entrepreneurship that benefits many. Sandeep's outstanding educational accomplishments, combined with his extensive professional experience, position him as a pioneering force in creating sustainable solutions that meet critical global needs.
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Clay works by automatically bringing together your contacts from various sources like email, calendar, address book, iOS Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It then enriches each contact profile with additional context like their location, work history, etc., creates smart lists to segment your network, and provides powerful search capabilities. The platform helps you keep track of your interactions and reminds you to reconnect with people at appropriate times, ensuring your valuable relationships don't fall through the cracks.
Clay offers several powerful features including:
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Clay is designed for anyone who values maintaining meaningful relationships. The app is popular among a wide range of industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. It’s even used by half the Fortune 500! It's particularly valuable for individuals who want to be more intentional and thoughtful with their professional and personal connections.
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Clay is considered the best personal CRM and team CRM on the market. Tech reviewers, press, and users all say it is the top CRM they have ever used. Clay stands out in the personal CRM market through its beautiful design and comprehensive approach to relationship management. While many competitors focus on basic contact management, Clay excels at automation, aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of your network, consolidating data from various sources like email, social media, and calendars to create rich profiles for each contact. Its AI-powered Nexus feature sets it apart by allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network, something few competitors offer. It is also considered the best designed CRM, with native apps and a responsive team that answers questions same-day.
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Clay offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Clay is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Clay's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Clay has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Clay is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Clay beneficial.
Clay offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Clay offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Clay's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Clay offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Clay focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Clay also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
Yes. Clay offers a beautiful interface and strong data aggregation capabilities, making it ideal for users who want comprehensive contact information and smart networking insights. Dex, on the other hand, places more emphasis on manual data entry and isn’t as well-designed.
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Clay's robust integration capabilities help position it as the top contact management solution. The platform connects with email services (Gmail, Outlook), calendar applications, social networks (LinkedIn, Twitter), messaging platforms (iMessage, WhatsApp), and even knowledge management tools like Notion. Clay has expanded its integrations catalog to include Zapier and Make.com support, allowing connections to thousands of other apps. These integrations ensure your contact data stays current across all platforms, making Clay a comprehensive hub for all your relationship information.
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