In addition to the references above, I’m sharing some notes I’ve received from coworkers below that are representative of what I hope to bring to any team I work on.
Many parts of my skillset don’t fit neatly on a resume, and I’ve been lucky to be part of thoughtful written feedback cultures. I’m happy to introduce you to the authors of any of these quotes — many are from my references above!
You build powerful products that are greater than the sum of their parts. This is clearly your biggest strength. You’ve made so much more possible in Runway today that wasn’t even on the table a while back. (Manager)
I truly dislike thinking about an On Deck without Rishi's contributions, which tie back to one main theme from my vantage point: translation from vision to implementation. (…) any product or process that was built from 0 to 1 at On Deck has Rishi's fingerprints on it. (Manager)
He’s a great partner to me. Feels like he was made in a lab for this partnership. (Eng counterpart)
One of your superpowers is to push conversations to the point where it becomes very clear exactly where the misalignment sits. (Peer)
Rishi is driving the team forward with a visionary mindset while getting things done across many areas of the company. His growth this past year has been incredible and his slope is very high. (Manager)
(He is the) ultimate source for engineers to go to get real and absorbable customer context when deciding what and how we should build something. (Peer)
He lets nothing be "someone else's problem." Not only is he himself skilled at multiple functions, he also excels at bringing people from different departments together to solve common problems, ensuring all perspectives are considered and integrated into our work. (Peer)
I would fight extremely, extremely hard to keep Rishi - he doesn't just make our product better, he makes me better, he makes the people he works with better, and he makes the way we operate better: though high standards, creating clarity, and high horsepower in his judgement and output.
He has performed and grown far more and far faster than I had expected (…) Rishi is a true leader on our team, and has earned a critical place on the leadership team to be delivering critical impact. (Founder/CEO)
On days when I'm tired and my TODO list is long, I will sometimes literally think to myself: "how much would Rishi accomplish today if he were in my shoes?" and it helps me stay hungry and keep pushing. I appreciate you raising the bar. (Peer)
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Rishi's ability to take in insane amounts of inputs and then resurface them at the right time, with the right people makes me question whether he is human or some more evolved species that we will discover soon. (Manager)
“It sets a high bar for us on the team (…) because we feel that we need to give just as many shits as he does.” (Peer)
In times of pressure Rishi knows how to remain calm and think fast. He is solution oriented and knows how to identify ways out of misery. (Peer)