Sri Chandrasekar joined Point72 from In-Q-Tel, the strategic investment arm of the CIA and the U.S. Intelligence Community. At In-Q-Tel, Sri led investments and built research teams to solve some of the intelligence community’s toughest problems. Prior to In-Q-Tel, Sri spent nearly a decade designing and building systems for the military at BAE Systems.

I think AI will be responsible for a second Industrial Revolution.

It’s going to increase efficiency for knowledge workers the way steam engines did for factory workers. I get excited about the potential of the technology to change dozens of industries and the way people interact with their jobs. 

I believe the next decade will see the U.S. government become an important customer for venture backed startups.

Historically, a tiny fraction of the technology spend of the government has gone to venture backed startups. This is starting to change and founders who know how to sell to this customer – the largest technology buyer in the world – could likely find themselves growing faster and more sustainably than those who don’t understand the government sales process.

Talking to people is the most important part of my research process.

I find that I learn a lot more in a 30–minute conversation than I can in weeks of reading. You get context and expertise you don’t get anywhere else. 

Learning is something that I never get tired of.

Being a VC is the ultimate career opportunity for me. It requires you to remain intellectually agile and enables you to constantly learn. I love hearing about new industries and ideas, and going down the rabbit hole of conversations, reading, and video watching that follows as I try to learn more.  

Small talk cheat sheet:

NBA Basketball (Go Cavs!), home coffee roasting, old world wine, deeply-researched gym equipment.