Season 2 Episode 6: Nitin Rai – Managing Director, Elevate Capital

Many have watched the HBO comedy series “Silicon Valley,” but in Nitin Rai’s own words, he lived that life. After college, he moved to the tech capital of the world, sleeping on couches with $50 in his pocket. Years later, ...
Nitin Rai

You can listen to this episode using the player below or subscribe to ‘Leadership Is No Accident’ at wherever you get your podcasts.

Many have watched the HBO comedy series “Silicon Valley,” but in Nitin Rai’s own words, he lived that life. After college, he moved to the tech capital of the world, sleeping on couches with $50 in his pocket. Years later, Rai remains the CEO of First Insight, the company he started in 1994, as well as a major figure in Oregon’s investment landscape; as the President of TiE Oregon and a Founding Partner of Elevate Capital, Rai is one of the first people Oregon startups look to for getting their big ideas off the ground. In this episode, Rai recalls his rags-to-riches story, how his opinion of angel investing changed over time, and how being a person of color affected his ability to rise through the ranks of corporate America.

Episode notes:

2:00 – Nitin’s Purpose/Mission

5:00 – Living the “Silicon Valley” lifestyle

9:00 – Entering the startup space

15:00 – Becoming an angel investor

21:00 – Breaking the “very very rich” stereotype of Angel Investing

24:30 – Creating a relationship with the entrepreneur

27:00 – Democratized investments, rather than family investments

34:00 – Learning to not become the “bottleneck”

36:00 – Unconscious biases in corporate America

40:00 – Reckoning intentional bias in the workplace

43:00 – What Nitin is most proud of

LINKS

Nitin Rai on LinkedIn

Elevate Capital

TiE Oregon

CREDITS

Produced by Kai Hellberg

Music by Isaac Chambers – ‘Change’