Zishaan Hayath

Zishaan Hayath grew up in Hyderabad, the son of a Deccan Chronicle journalist and Urdu poet, and moved to Mumbai in 2000 to attend IIT Bombay. He completed a dual B.Tech + M.Tech in Civil Engineering, graduating in 2005, and was decorated at the institute with an Organizational Citation and two Institute Colors for his organizational and cultural contributions. IIT Bombay later named him a Young Alumni Achiever in 2015. After graduating he joined ITC Limited and then Opera Solutions, where he was the first hire in the firm's India office and worked on strategy and operations projects for Fortune 100 clients across North America, Europe and Asia.

He turned entrepreneur in 2008, co-founding Chaupaati Bazaar, an early Indian e-commerce business that let customers order electronics and other goods over an interactive voice-response phone line. The company was acquired by the Future Group in 2010, after which Hayath served as Vice-President of Product at Futurebazaar. In 2013 he co-founded Toppr with fellow IIT Bombay alumnus Hemanth Goteti — an after-school personalized learning app for K-12 students preparing for boards, Olympiads and engineering/medical entrance exams, backed by SAIF Partners, Helion Ventures and Fidelity. Toppr was acquired by BYJU'S in July 2021 in a deal reported at roughly $150 million.

In parallel with operating Toppr, Hayath became one of India's most active angel investors. His investing began in 2011 when he was among the small group of individual angels who put early money into Ola Cabs. He founded Powai Lake Ventures, an angel collective made up largely of IIT Bombay friends, and is described across investor databases as having backed dozens of startups (his tracked portfolio runs to ~33–34 companies). He has also taken on venture-partner roles, including with Bharat Founders Fund and TDV Partners.

• Invests primarily at pre-seed and seed with small, founder-friendly angel cheques.
• Powai Lake Ventures backs companies across Consumer Internet, B2B SaaS, Solar, Wearables and QSR; the group is known for deliberately lightweight diligence and founder-friendly terms.
• Decides fast and informally — the group reportedly invests "with no presentations, spreadsheets or business plans," prioritizing the founder over the deck.
• In his own words on how he makes decisions: *"The only way to take an investment decision—super quick. There is no other way."*
• Strong affinity for technical founders and the IIT Bombay network; bias toward EdTech and consumer/SaaS reflects his own operating experience.