When Anu Duggal invested in one of her earliest portfolio companies, many in her network hesitated—there were concerns about the founder’s past that few wanted to investigate or understand. But Duggal went the other way, going beyond standard due diligence; she took the time to truly understand what happened and recognized that, under different circumstances, she could have been in the same position herself.
“If you do that to everyone,” she says, “you’re never going to give anyone a second chance.” She trusted her instincts and leaned into context over spreadsheets. That leap of faith paid off: The company went on to achieve a successful exit, and that founder is already on her way to her second venture.
What Duggal represents isn’t just a woman with a fund—it’s a different operating system for venture. The industry still privileges spin-outs, paper perfection and familiar faces. Duggal’s career shows why that lens is too narrow. Traits often coded as “soft”—intuition, nuance, second chances—can lead to transformative returns—and ripple through the entire ecosystem for women, creating role models, opportunities and capital for the next generation.
(This piece is part of an ongoing series, “Redefining Power: How Indian American Women Are Rewriting the Rules of Leadership, Identity and Care.” The series explores what it means to modernize without losing our roots—through candid conversations with Indian American women reshaping culture, power and possibility.)
