Subham Kedia
Studied at The Wharton School (UPenn)
Works at Hilti Venture
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About Subham
I'm a deep tech venture investor who has spent a decade working across venture capital, private equity operations, and management consulting — and just as much time coaching and mentoring the people navigating the same path. My own journey went from IIT Kharagpur to Columbia to Wharton, where I pursued a triple major in Finance, Entrepreneurship & Innovation, and Management. At Wharton, I served as a Teaching Assistant, co-founded Alokya — recognized by Venture Lab and the Penn Wharton Innovation Fund — and mentored students and founders throughout. I know what the AdCom looks for, how the Team-Based Discussion actually works, and how to build a narrative that earns a read. Since graduating, I've coached MBA applicants through the full process: positioning strategy, essay development, and interview preparation. Beyond admissions, I mentor founders through Alchemist Accelerator, Draper University, Venture Forward/NVCA, and Outside the Box Ventures. I work best with engineers, STEM graduates, and candidates from VC, PE, consulting, or deep tech backgrounds — particularly international applicants who have strong profiles but struggle to translate them for US admissions committees. If your story is complex, multi-layered, or hard to categorize, that's exactly where I'm most useful. My approach is direct: find what's genuinely compelling, cut everything else, and say it with precision. No templates, no generic frameworks — just clear positioning and a story that gets you in the room.
Why do I coach?
When I was applying to business and graduate school, I was an engineer from India with experience across multiple industries and no real roadmap for how to turn any of that into a story an AdCom would act on. Strong credentials on paper. What I lacked was clarity — on positioning, on narrative, on what the process actually rewards. I figured it out. But I also saw — at Wharton, mentoring students, serving as a TA, co-founding a venture — how much faster people move when someone shortens the learning curve for them. That's what I'm here to do. The MBA and MS admissions process is genuinely opaque, and it disproportionately disadvantages the candidates with the most interesting profiles: engineers, international applicants, people doing work that doesn't fit neatly into a standard narrative arc. Those are the people I understand best, and the ones I most want to help.
Work Experience
Investor
Hilti Venture
2025 - Present
Making Construction Better. Focused on investments in construction technology, driving innovation that enhances safety, productivity, sustainability, and the future of the built environment.
Senior Investment Associate
Zacua Ventures
2024 - 2025
Focused on early-stage investments in the construction technology space. We aim to drive innovation in the built environment, addressing challenges related to sustainability, productivity, and urbanization. Primary investment areas include technologies that enhance construction efficiency, reduce carbon emissions, and contribute to the development of smart, resilient urban structures.
Associate
Starlight Ventures
2024 - 2024
Focused on early-stage investments in breakthrough science and technology aimed at addressing some of the world’s and humanity's most pressing challenges. Invests in companies at the pre-seed and seed stages, often being the first institutional check into a company. Focuses on sectors such as clean commodities, space technology, industrial decarbonization, electro- and green chemistry, next-generation computing, and new materials and production methods.
Private Equity Operator, Strategy & Value Creation
Alliance Technical Group
2023 - 2024
Alliance Technical Group specialises in a wide range of environmental testing, monitoring, and compliance services. Alliance provides solutions such as stack testing, leak detection and repair (LDAR), continuous emission monitoring systems (CEMS), analytical and laboratory services, ambient air monitoring, and environmental consulting.
Private Equity Operator, Value Creation
Thoma Bravo
2022 - 2023
Private Equity Operator, Strategy & Value Creation
ConnectWise
2022 - 2023
ConnectWise, a Thoma Bravo portco, is a globally leading software company that specializes in providing comprehensive solutions for technology solution providers (TSPs) and managed service providers (MSPs). Founded in 1982, ConnectWise offers a suite of tools designed to streamline business operations, enhance service delivery, and improve cybersecurity for IT service companies.
Co-Founder & Strategic Advisor
Alokya
2022 - 2025
• Awarded the Penn Wharton Innovation Fund (PWIF) Launch Award ($5K), Implementation Award ($2.5K), and Summer of Impact: Venture Award ($10K) by Venture Lab, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. Alokya is a 'functional art' company that bridges the gap between traditional heritage and modernity by creating sustainable, handcrafted household goods adorned with traditional South Asian art. Our mission is to empower rural artisans, preserve cultural heritage, and promote eco-friendly consumer practices. Project Management, Sales & Marketing and +4 skills
Senior Business Analyst
McKinsey & Company
2019 - 2022
Interviewer
McKinsey & Company is a global management consulting firm that advises organizations on strategic, operational, and technological issues.
Field Engineer
Schlumberger
2016 - 2016
Schlumberger, now branded as SLB, is a leading global technology company that originated as the world's largest oilfield services company. The rebranding to SLB underscores their commitment to energy innovation and a decarbonized future. The company provides a wide range of services and technologies to the energy industry, including digital solutions, wellbore analysis, and carbon capture and storage (CCS).
Education
The Wharton School (UPenn)
Master of Business Administration (MBA), Triple Major (Finance, Entrepreneurship & Innovation, Management)
• Edward B. Shils/Leonard L. Zeidman Fellowship • Wharton Student Experience Fund (WSEF) Award • Student Life Fellow (SLF) Connection Award
Columbia University
Master of Science (MS), Operations Research & Strategic Management
Toyota Motor Corporation Fund Scholarship
Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur
Bachelor of Science (BS), Chemical Engineering
Innovation in Science Pursuit for Inspired Research-Scholarship for Higher Education (INSPIRE-SHE)