#12 Hitha Palepu: Pharma CEO and Investor on doing it all authentically
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Welcome to Trailblazers! I’m Simi Shah, the founder of Trailblazers and the author of this newsletter. Along with my team of 7, we bring you trailblazing by and for South Asians here every other Tuesday and on our website, IG, LinkedIn, and archives.
From HQ: Catch me, Trisha Batra of South Asian Productions, and Aashka Pipprotar of Boss Betis on Clubhouse 🏡 tonight, talking about South Asian side hustling.
Hot off the Pod 🔥🎙️ Hitha Palepu: CEO @ Rhoshan Pharma, Investor, Author
Listen to our latest episode, my conversation with Hitha Palepu — CEO of Rhoshan Pharmaceuticals, investor, and author.
With a background in pharma, Hitha currently serves as CEO of Rhoshan Pharmaceuticals. Rhoshan Pharma is an early stage life sciences company creating enhanced versions of existing drugs to provide essential early treatment to the acute leading causes of death. She also doubles as a startup investor and advisor, having invested in primarily in female-founded companies like MM.LaFleur and The Juggernaut. In addition, Hitha runs a blog, Hitha On The Go, which has gained a significant following and paved the path to her first book.
In this episode, Hitha delves deep into why she believes in the future of pharma and what it's like to wear the hat of operator as a seasoned investor. She gets candid about "doing it all," and offers advice for young South Asians who aspire to do the same.
Read on for excerpts from the podcast!
You said that having been an operator and entrepreneur has made you a better investor. Why is that?
You know, for all the reasons for Bridge2Act — my former charity giving startup — didn’t work out, going through it helped me become a stronger investor. I have a much deeper appreciation of product-market fit, unit economics, customer acquisition, and storytelling in a way that I wouldn’t have had. I don't think I would have actually appreciated, or understood the importance of those things other than just paying lip service. I learned what drives a company's success, so I’m really glad I went through that.
But also it spurred a pretty aggressive investing spree for my husband and I. We established a family office and invested in about 15 companies to date over the past five years. They’re mostly women-founded, women-focused simply because most of the deal flow has come through me. I'm very lucky to be a part of the New York entrepreneurial investor ecosystem where my friends or friends of friends know of incredible companies that are starting up that I feel very gravitated towards. And I'm happy to invest in their success.
Your entrance into the world of pharma is partially because of your father. And as in all cultures, within South Asian families, there is a natural trend around multi generational businesses and working with family members. What has been your experience working with your dad?
You know, I don't think I had an option with Rhoshan Pharma. My dad signed over that over 50% of the equity to me and he said, ‘It's up to you to decide if this is going to be 50% of something big or 50% of nothing.’
I grew up going to the office with my dad a couple Saturdays a month. I watched him set up experiments and do them, and my six year old self was far more interested in raiding the supply cabinet and playing on his whiteboard. It planted a seed. As I got older I would ask questions like ‘What medicine are you working on?’ and he would explain it in a way that a a seven year old could understand. Also, he had a very unique punishment for me whenever I was out of line that I'm going to have to use for my own kids. If I ever did something that he was displeased by I got handed the medical dictionary and assigned me words and I had to write a report using them. And that was a big part of it because a it wasn't much of a punishment for me because I found it really interesting. As a child, it fostered this idea that I wanted to go into healthcare pharma in some capacity in my future.
Catching Fire 🚀 your news roundup
📱On Socials
Rihanna’s tweet calls attention to the farmer’s protest. Two South Asians are dominating the hot new social audio app, Clubhouse, with celebrity guests like Elon Musk and Zuck.
🇺🇸 In Politics
FiveThirtyEight did it’s first-ever breakdown on South Asian voters and candidates.
🌎 Scenes from South Asia
A glacier disaster in the Himalayas has left countless missing and dead.
👩🏽💻 What’s trending 🔥 Robinhood rumblings
Unless you live under a rock, you’ve heard of the GameStop histrionics by now. At worst, you’re invested and doom scrolling on Reddit, and at best, you’re devouring “Stock Markets for Dummies.” Despite your newfound market expertise, you might not know that Robinhood, the disruptive, new-age brokerage currently under fire was actually co-founded by a South Asian — dare I say, trailblazer — by the name of Baiju Bhatt.
Though Co-CEOs Vlad Tenev and Baiju Bhatt are navigating a PR crisis brought on by trading restrictions that seemingly favored Wall Street, the old adage “all publicity is good publicity” seems to be proving out. The app has seen 600K in new downloads in the last few weeks, continuing to catapult its billionaire founders, Bhatt included.
Where do you stand on the whole thing? Drop them in the comments below!⬇️
Shop South Asian 🛍️ Spotlight
We’ll be sharing businesses from @shopsouthasian, our premier platform where we’re connecting you to South Asian businesses around the globe. This week, check out ArtsWrk, a professional network for artists and creatives seeking opportunities. It was co-founded by Ramita Ravi in 2020.
Stream South Asian 🎵
Our Spotify playlist featuring emerging South Asian artists.