Kanwal has always been passionate about mentoring and helping build consumer brands in India, and has been involved as an investor with brands like Paper Boat, ID Fresh, Epigamia, and Licious, before starting Fireside. He has been investing in the early stage ecosystem in India for the past 17 years, first as a Director at Carlyle Group, India, and later as a Co-Founder and Senior Managing Director of Helion Venture Partners. Prior to his investing career, Kanwal spent over 13 years in consumer marketing with Hindustan Unilever, and Intel India.

Vinay has a unique perspective on the intersection between consumer brands and technology, across a career of over 15 years at Hindustan Unilever as Marketing Manager for a multi-crore brand, as well as developing expertise in digital marketing at McKinsey & Co., and Bankbazaar.com. He was founder and CEO of Stepni.com, which was later acquired by Quikr. Vinay holds an MBA from IIM Bangalore, and a B Tech from Cochin University.

Kannan has spent over three decades in the field of Sales, Marketing, and Strategy, during which he has been associated with Unilever, both, in India, and overseas. He has also been COO of Dabur India, and CEO of Innovative Foods. His ability to understand the finer nuances of brand-building at different stages of the brand evolution makes him ideally suited to the role of partner and mentor to young entrepreneurs and brand champions.

Dipanjan has spent over two decades in Investing, E-commerce, Consumer brands, M&A and Digital Consulting in addition to his deep expertise in Finance and Operations. At Fireside, he works closely with disruptive brands such as The Sleep Company, Fable Street, Sarva Yoga, and Nat Habit. He is a mentor to several entrepreneurs, and loves jamming with founders on growth hacking. He has been CFO, Myntra, and part of the Flipkart leadership. He has also played different roles in Finance, M&A, Digital Consulting and Corporate Venture at Wipro, where he headed Corporate Finance, and was part of Wipro Ventures.

Prayag is passionate about investing and scaling consumer businesses. He has been investing in the early stage ecosystem since 2013, and been involved as an investor with BiryaniByKilo, Bluestone, and Vinculum. He has been a Principal at IvyCap Ventures where he focused on consumer and enterprise technology startups. He has been an Investment Banker with SBI Capital Markets, as well as a software developer for Infosys Technologies. Prayag holds an MBA from XIMB and a BE(Computer) from Pune University.

With over eight years’ experience in statutory audit and corporate finance, Amit has worked with a variety of clients, including listed IT companies, startups, and retail majors. He has gained extensive knowledge in financial accounting/ reporting at EY Statutory Audit. As AGM, Corporate Finance, at Manipal Health Enterprises, in addition to his Corporate Finance responsibilities, he participated in Project Dhrishti, focusing on finance automation. Amit is also a Chartered Accountant.

Shreyans is passionate about investing in and scaling digital-first consumer businesses. Over the last 9 years, he has invested in and advised multiple companies across Private Equity Investing and Investment Banking. He has been at Avendus Capital and Citigroup India, helping companies raise capital in excess of $1.3bn, as well as led investments in consumer tech, healthtech and fintech domains at Creaegis. Shreyans holds a BTech from VIT and an MBA from MDI Gurgaon.

With over 7 years’ experience in social impact consulting, Reemsha brings with her a deep understanding of organization development, portfolio management and public policy. Prior to Fireside, Reemsha was at Dasra, where she managed the portfolio of Gates Foundation, Azim Premji Philanthropic Initiative, Forbes Foundation, and the Nilekanis. She provided strategic and operational support across areas of fundraising, talent management, impact evaluation, and internal governance processes to Founders and CXOs of leading social enterprises. Reemsha has a Masters in Local Economic Development from LSE UK and a BA in Economics from Mumbai University.

Ankita enjoys working with founders and helping them unlock their vision. She previously invested in multiple consumer tech companies (Meragi, Ivy Homes, Loopin, Cure.Link, Swiflearn) during her stint at Venture Highway. Before embarking on the investing journey, Ankita spent 5+ years in consulting helping clients in consumer tech, telecom, real-estate and healthcare space at Bain & Co and Strategy& (Erstwhile Booz&Co.). Ankita graduated from IIT Delhi, majoring in Computer Science and did her MBA from IIM-Ahmedabad.

With five years’ experience in M&A, Siddharth has worked across sectors on clients including listed IT companies, startups, and retail businesses. He has been at Ernst & Young LLP, where he advised corporates on M&A, and corporate development with a focus on tax and regulatory considerations particularly relevant in the context of inbound investments, acquisitions, divestitures and cross border reorganisations. Siddharth is a CA, and has also cleared two levels of CFA (US).

With 4+ years of experience, Shruti has worked with various law firms and as an in-house counsel for a unicorn company. Post her graduation from Gujarat National Law University in 2018, she immediately started her professional career as a transactional lawyer.

With over two years in consulting, Ishan has acquired experience across retail and consumer products – which enable him to understand and appreciate the intersection of brands, retailers and consumers. At Bain, he was one of the founding members of the Retail Centre of Excellence, a team that has since scaled 10x. Working closely with multiple global retailers, he has helped solve problems ranging from assortment and channel strategies to supplier negotiations. Ishan has a deferred MBA admit from a top US business school which he plans to pursue in a few years.

Jyotbir has over five years’ experience in management consulting in the Indian and Middle East markets, assisting consumers and internet businesses on corporate strategy and operational excellence solutions. Prior to Fireside, he was at KPMG, where he gained strong market and customer perspectives working with global brands in FMCG, retail, and automobiles, as well as several early-stage startups in the D2C and e-commerce space. Jyotbir is a BITS Pilani graduate, and a CFA level 2 candidate.

Vasudha started her career at Landmark, Halliburton where she revamped the UI-UX of a legacy software and helped Landmark’s software portfolio with budgeting and forecasting. She then worked with World V Fund, where she analysed investments in the deep tech space across industries and technologies like AI, Robotics, AR/VR and IoT, before joining Fireside. She has a Bachelor’s in Economics from Cornell University.

A Mathematics graduate from St. Stephen's Delhi University, Sonia worked in Strategy & Sales at the CP Group, Thailand, where she was involved in projects focused on enhancing profitability for their QSR and Consumer Products subsidiaries. She was an investment analyst at Kae Capital where she spent over two years evaluating early-stage startups in edtech, consumer tech, and D2C. She also supported the fundraise for their latest fund.

With 13+ years at large MNCs like LeEco, Mercedes-Benz R&D India, P&G, and HP, Ramya has supported global and national leadership teams in Administration, HR, Procurement, Events and Budget functions in diverse cross-cultural environments. Passionate, self-driven, and creative, she is an exceptional organiser. Ramya has a BSc in Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics.

With over 12 years of experience in Hospitality and HR at Jet Airways, JW Marriott, and the Essar Group, Richa is a reliable team member with a positive outlook towards life. Obsessed with the idea of never-ending learning journeys, she constantly seeks to challenge her capabilities. Richa has a BA in English Literature from Bhavan’s College, Mumbai and an MBA in Human Resources from Wellingkars, Mumbai.

With over 20 years of experience in the Private Equity sector, Andrea has managed offices and assisted Senior Management in companies like The Carlyle Group, Och-Ziff Capital Management, Omidyar Network and LGT Lightstone. During this span she has used her organisational skills to set up many offices, put systems and processes in place, and host events with seamless precision. Andrea has a Bachelor of Science degree from Mount Carmel College Bangalore.

Vani comes with a broad spectrum of knowledge and an experience of over a decade in the hospitality industry, where she has worked in both the Indian and International brands. Her passion and dedication towards client servicing have got her multiple accolades over a period. She has worked with reputed hospitality brands like, The Oberoi Hotels and Resorts, The Taj and The Leela. She has also worked with MTS and Edelman. A graduate in Arts from Rajasthan University, Vani has an ardent interest in painting and craft.

Rucha has spent around 9 years managing secretarial compliances for various public and private companies including Essel Infraprojects Limited. She brings with herself vast experience of structuring, managing and organizing compliances. Rucha holds a degree in B.B.A. from Nagpur and has pursued Company Secretary.

With over 20 years of experience in Capital Market, Merwin has worked with companies like CAMS, KARVY and IIFL.  He has handled multiple AMCs with a volume of 12k Investors with AUM of 100mm across 30+ Schemes in Alternate Investment Fund (AIF), Venture Capital (VCF) and Portfolio Management (PMS).  He has vast experience in Data Management, Client Relationship and Team Management.
Merwin has a B.Com degree from Mumbai University.