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UCLA '26 · Economics & Cognitive Science · Delhi → LA

Nalin
Jayaswal.

Builder & writer. VC analyst & product operator.
India-raised & LA-based. The ampersand is the point.

I build things at the intersection of people, capital, and technology. Currently: co-founding Kolam Studio, running Bruin Finance Society, and figuring out what comes next.

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Two worlds.
One person.

Computer scientist dad
Therapist mom
Economics & Cognitive Science
VC analyst & product builder
Delhi & Los Angeles
Conrad Award winner

My dad is a computer scientist. My mom is a therapist. I grew up at that intersection — the builder and the understander, the system and the person inside it. I didn't choose to be an ampersand. It was just what was modeled for me at the dinner table every night.

"I stopped fighting the duality and achieved a stable and happy equilibrium."

At UCLA, I built Bruin Finance Society from scratch because every finance club took 10 people from 1,000 applicants and called it meritocracy. I disagreed. Two thousand members later, hundreds of students have gotten their first finance internship through something that didn't exist before we made it.

In India, I'm on the founding team of Kolam Studio — a venture studio backing early-stage founders in Bharat. Kolam is a traditional Indian art form: geometric patterns drawn from dots, connecting them with flowing lines. It's the most honest metaphor I've found for what I actually do.

I've evaluated 50+ AI startups as a VC analyst, shipped an AI product as VP of Product at Native Labs, and consulted for businesses ranging from LA nonprofits to UC campuses. The through-line is always the same: find the interesting problem at the intersection, then go deep.

Things I've Built

Kolam Studio
Founding Team
2025 →

Bharat-focused venture studio taking founders from idea to early validation. Sprint program, founder sourcing, investor readiness. Focus sectors: citizen services, MSME SaaS, deep tech.

Venture Studio India Early Stage
Bruin Finance Society
Co-President & Co-Founder
2022 →

UCLA's largest open-access finance club. Built from zero — no budget, no staff. 2,000+ members. Structured training pipeline for consulting, VC, and IB. Hundreds of students placed into their first finance role.

Community Finance UCLA
Native Labs
VP of Product
2024

AI business intelligence tool for SMBs, built on Codex. Led product from zero to one — roadmap, customer discovery, GTM. Built automation pipelines in Make and n8n to scale operations without headcount.

AI / Product SMBs Codex
LvlUp Ventures
VC Analyst
2023 – 2024

Evaluated 50+ AI startups across deal flow. Wrote investment memos, managed pipeline, and sat in on founder meetings. Built the judgment for early-stage investing that textbooks can't teach.

VC AI Deal Flow
Pet Peeves
Founder
2021 – 2022

Early startup that won the Conrad Award — a national innovation prize. The beginning of understanding what it actually means to build something from nothing and put it in front of real people.

Conrad Award Startup Innovation
Sarthy Venture Partners
LP Associate
2023 – 2024

Worked across 5 live US VC mandates. Built outbound LP pipelines and investor outreach campaigns from scratch. Learned the fundraising side of the table alongside the investing side.

VC LP Relations Fundraising

Essays & Ideas

On building, investing, identity, and what it means to connect worlds that don't usually talk to each other.

Something is being drawn.

Essays are coming. The blank page is just the first dot. Everything else follows.

Venture & India Community Building AI & Work Identity The Ampersand

What I'm Working On

Building
Kolam Studio

Running the sprint program in Delhi. Sourcing founders, building partnerships, supporting early-stage companies in the Bharat ecosystem.

Leading
Bruin Finance Society

Co-President of UCLA's largest open-access finance club. Running the Associates Program, hosting events, placing students into their first finance roles.

Finishing
UCLA — Class of 2026

Last quarter. BA Economics + BSc Cognitive Science. Graduating June 2026. Four years of building something new every semester.

Exploring
What's Next

Looking for the right first role after graduation — somewhere early-stage, high-ownership, at the intersection of AI, capital, and real-world impact.

Last updated: May 2026

Contact

Let's build
something real.

If you're working on something interesting — in India, in LA, in the space between — I want to hear about it.