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Sandeep Jain

Venture Partner & AI Expert

Sandeep Jain

Venture Partner & AI Expert

Experiment with truth

curious / interdisciplinary / do no harm / creative technologist / teacher

My backstory

I was fortunate to grow up in a family of Indian diplomats, which allowed me to experience diverse cultures across multiple countries. After completing my high school education in India, I embarked on my academic journey at Stanford University, where I discovered my passion for learning.

While earning a Bachelor’s and Master of Science in Computer Science and Human-Computer Interactions, curiosity and academic experience shaped my interdisciplinary thinking. I relished the liberal arts and dove into courses that brought marketing, technology entrepreneurship and design together at the Stanford Business School and in Art courses using Computer Graphics.

My professional journey of 25+ years has been primarily in Silicon Valley across a wide range of domains, including desktop systems, supply chain logistics, social media, enterprise mobility, IoT security, and AI. These domains were spread across startups primarily, including two self-funded ventures. Most recently, at Google, I moved to my 10th industry domain—eCommerce—in an interdisciplinary role to implement data science and UX experiments.

My inspiration stems from the remarkable women in my family. My mother, a self-taught artist, has earned recognition in Japanese art. My grandmother, a vivacious soul, instilled in me the invaluable lesson that ambition should never overshadow the joy of the journey. She emphasised that curiosity and playfulness should remain integral to one’s work.

My passion

As a child, I aspired to become a rock star, inspired by the song Brothers in Arms by Dire Straits. Later in life, I delved into jazz guitar and even contemplated a career in music at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, but eventually, I chose to return to my roots as a tech maker.

Deep exposure to new cultures and nature immersion are other passions from curiosity. Having travelled seven continents and recently relocating to Switzerland with Google, I was met with well-intentioned advice from colleagues who suggested I assimilate into the expat community, as they believed that the path to the Swiss heart remained veiled in an enigma. Leveraging my international upbringing, I have immersed myself in the local culture. I am actively learning German, and I feel fortunate to have made a few genuine Swiss friends through cooking for dinner parties at home.

I taught myself AI in 2016 and was deeply impressed by its potential. As a technologist, I am excited by its contrarian thinking vs. traditional software. As a human, I am drawn to the optimism that AI can help us to be more human and free up time to be better protectors of our world.

After completing my BS at Stanford and before my first job, I spent three months in a Buddhist monastery in Ladakh, Kashmir. I witnessed how the monks acted as sentinels of wisdom, showing a different way of life that influenced laypeople to change their habits positively. I, too, aspire to become a sentinel for change. I believe the future of AI will challenge each individual to re-discover what it means to be human and to seek out their spiritual journey actively.