Exclusive: Global Superangel Forum’s (GSF) founder Rajesh Sawhney is an Innerchef at heart

Rajesh Sawhney has been an expert at building up businesses since the time he helped build Times Internet in 1999.
The famous angel investor is currently at the helm of GSF accelerator who he has been running while starting up on his own with a food start-up called Innerchef.
Quitting the man

Passionate about the internet space, Sawhney started GSF accelerator in 2012 after exiting from Reliance Entertainment as President.
“It started with a forum where angel investors were invited to discuss the rise of the internet companies. The forum was christened as Global Super angels Forum and I started curating that while I was still at Reliance and investing in my own capacity,” Sawhney told Business Insider.

In the past five years, Sawhney has learnt that Internet space is the fastest-growing and that’s where he wants to be, “In 2012, I knew that Internet will change the face of the country and improve infrastructure; technology changes, broadband growth and smartphones have fueled the growth of the economy and this trend will only accelerate further.” Sawhney believes that a well-established company doesn’t have the face-value of disruptive technology companies which are rapidly changing the world, in all sectors. “I knew I had to get out of the corporate life and get into this space which is exciting. Five years back, there were no unicorns, e-commerce was associated with swindling and funding for disruptive companies was scarce. A lot of people now claim to be an angel investor which is a sign of the ecosystem maturing,” says Sawhney who thinks that VCs are open to more risky ventures now.

Rajesh says that there was never a better time to be an entrepreneur as the infrastructure can support these companies, there is massive customer adoption and ability to pay online through smartphones has made the world into a well-connected market which only spells good news.
Innerchef at heart

Sawhney, who says that he couldn't wait to do something of his own as an entrepreneur has forayed into the food tech sector which is deemed risky by analysts. “In the world’s youngest democracy, food is difficult to execute but not impossible. With Innerchef, we want to target the people who are looking to eat better, eat different kinds of cuisines and want their food fast and at a reasonable cost. If we manage to stir the pot with people depending on us for their palette, we’d think we’ve succeeded,”says Rajesh, who’s food company is surviving despite many companies shutting shop in the recent years. In the past 24 months, Innerchef has pivoted into many models, but the food sector is tried and tested arena, just like entrepreneurship.