Bio
Rahul Rana is an Associate & Chief of Staff at SALT Fund, a $200m AUM frontier tech venture capital firm spun out of SkyBridge Capital/SALT Conference. He currently writes for Not Boring, the 2nd largest business Substack with more than 200,000 subscribers. Previously, Rahul was a Summer Analyst at General Atlantic where he invested in growth equity with the BeyondNetZero climate and B2B Tech teams. Additionally, Rahul previously helped found Arcadia Science, a frontier biotech research lab for which he raised $500m and focused on commercialization strategy. He also spent a year as a Venture Associate at Lux Capital, a $5bn deeptech venture capital firm at which Rahul sourced & diligenced startups related to space, life sciences, climate, national security, and crypto.
Rahul is the author of Making Moonshots—a deep dive into the mindsets, philosophies, and strategies conducive to building moonshot companies. “Moonshot company” entails three things: taking an advanced science or deep technology and using it in a radical solution to solve a big problem in the world.
He became intrigued by deeptech at an early age when he explored his father’s laboratory at the legendary Bell Labs. Rana has discovered the “ecosystem” of what makes a great moonshot company. He has transferred his fascination with researchers and startups that make giant leaps in scientific and technological progress into a prescription. His call to action for entrepreneurs is to embrace what appears at first glance to be impossible, but is actually quite practical when following the best mindsets and strategies harnessed by those who have come before.
In the past, Rahul has held operational roles at
startups, venture partner/scout roles are top VC firms, and
also interned in the NJ-6 Congressional District Office
doing public policy work. Rahul graduated from Rutgers
University where he studied Finance and Astrophysics.
Content Library
Featured interviews:
Rutgers University: You Might Recognize This Senior as the
Face of Rutgers Business School (Rutgers)
Business Insider: GEN Z VCS: Meet the top 29
up-and-comers changing the world of venture capital (Business
Insider)
The Pomp Podcast: #480: Rahul Rana on Moonshot Ideas (Apple
Podcasts // YouTube)
Business Insider: These are the 13 best books written by
venture capitalists that every successful startup founder
needs to read (Business
Insider)
2023
The Fusion Race (Not
Boring)
You Might Recognize This Senior as the Face of Rutgers
Business School (Rutgers)
Tell Good Stories (Not
Boring)
2022
The Space Economy (Not
Boring)
Making Moonshots (Not
Boring)
Built In: I Pitched Jurassic Park to Investors. Here’s
What They Said. (BuiltIn)
2021
UC Berkeley MBA PE/VC
Club
Let’s Talk Venture: 0.5 - rahul rana (Spotify)
Deep Tech Insider: Deep Tech Dive #15 | Galvanizing
Moonshots (Medium)
Canadian Undergraduate Technology Conference (CUTC)
Speaker
Billion Moonshots Podcast
The Knowledge Society: Moonshot Hackathon judge
UC Berkeley Venture Capital Club: Fireside Chat
Creator Institute: Creators Fireside Chat
Sierra College: Young Investors Club chat
Undergraduate Venture Summit: panelist and host (Website)
The Knowledge Society: fireside chat (Website)
TEDxLakeManalapan: Unveiling Ignorance: Shedding Light On
The World (TEDx)
OnDeck Catalyst: Founding Fellow (OnDeck)
OurFuture: #125 Making Moonshots Author, Rahul Rana, on
Writing a Book and Landing his Dream Job at Age 19 (Apple
Podcasts // Spotify)
Business Insider: The future of NFTS: Gen Z VCs predict
which industries will be transformed by non-fungible tokens
(Business
Insider)
Member Almost Founders: MemberAF - Rahul Rana (Author
and Associate at 20!) (Spotify
// Apple
Podcasts)
Jag Of All Trades: Making Moonshots or Mars-shots? How
One Student is Pioneering the GenZ Venture Capital Scene (Spotify)
The Change Alchemist: Rahul Rana, author of “Making
Moonshots” talks about moonshot mindsets, radical creativity
and strategies to build moonshot companies (Apple
Podcast
Driven By Doing: Creating the mindset and Making
Moonshots | Rahul Rana (YouTube)
Network Capital: The Most Unconventional Way of Breaking
Into Venture Capital with Rahul Rana (Website
// Apple
Podcasts // Spotify
// Google
Podcasts)
Gen Z Mafia Fireside Chat
Broken Bulbs: Intentionally Balanced (017) (Spotify)
Dipper Research Partners: fireside chat
GenZScouts: fireside chat
Rutgers Venture Capital Club: fireside chat
STEM Time With Navya and Aishwarya: Interview with Author
of Making Moonshots: Rahul Rana (Spotify)
2020
ITSP Magazine +
Elevate the Future: “Making Moonshots” And A Conversation
About Deep Tech With Rahul Rana | Elevate The Future With
Ellen Xu (Website)
Want Money Got Money with Sam Kamani: 50: What does it
take to build a Moonshot with guest - Rahul Rana (Spotify
// Apple
Podcasts)
Marlboro High School TEDx Talk: The Case for Moonshots
Contrary Capital: Deeptech Funding Guide (Contrary
Blog)
Build the Future Podcast: The Future of Moonshots,
Venture, and Technology (Spotify)
Master Plan Newsletter: Secret Master Plan - Rahul Rana,
Making Moonshots (Substack)
Rajit’s Show: Ep. #13 - Rahul Rana (Apple
Podcasts // Spotify)
Bexel FrontierTech Conference @ Northwestern University
Kellogg MBA
The FWD Podcast: 469 - An Early Bet On Rahul Rana, Author
of Making Moonshots (Webpage
// Apple
// Spotify
// Google
Podcasts)
Moonshot House: Gen Z’s Reinterpretation of VC, Episode 1
- The Case for Moonshots (Kapwing
// LinkedIn)
Heureka Group: Episode 22: An Exclusive Interview with
Rahul Rana on “Making Moonshots” (YouTube)
GenZ Launch: EP 41: Interviewing Billionaires and Making
Moonshots with Rahul Rana (Apple
Podcasts // Spotify)
The New York Times: Gen Zers Say Silicon Valley Is
Elitist and Exclusive. Can They Build a New System? (NY
Times)
Gritty & Curious: #21 - How to get an interview with
a billionaire & How to write a book - Rahul Rana (Apple
Podcasts // Spotify)
& talks at Lehigh University, Open Water Accelerator,
Northwestern University Kellogg School of Business (MBA),
etc.
Portfolio
64x Bio - Series A
Colossal - Series A
Anduril - Series E
Circa - Seed (Scout Investment)
Avro Life Science - Series A (Scout Investment)
Experience
Not Boring | Writer | June 2022 - Present
General Atlantic | Summer Analyst | June 2022 - August 2022
Arcadia Science | Translational Strategy (and founding intern!) | September 2021 - June 2022
Lux Capital | Venture Associate |
September 2020 - September 2021
Education
Rutgers University | New Brunswick, NJ
Finance & Astrophysics | September
2019 - January 2023
My book: Making Moonshots
In Making Moonshots, investor and operator Rahul Rana asks the question: Why should we live in a world of incremental scientific and technological progress when the human race has proven in past eras that we are capable of so much more?
The world faces major problems. It is time for conventional thinkers to stand aside and give way to the crazy ones, the contrarians, the radically creative geniuses who work outside the box to create massive breakthroughs. In what is both a prescription for building successful deeptech startups and a call to arms to generate highly moral, deeply influential solutions that will positively affect the lives of billions, this book will teach you:
- The mindsets and philosophies of the greatest
trailblazers of the past and present.
- Actionable strategies fueled by moonshot thinking.
- The complex ecosystem and all of its necessary moving
parts for creating environments conducive to deeptech
business operations.
- A tangible and reasonable course for entrepreneurs that
will result in sustainable profitability and extraordinary
global-changing results.
Rana predicts a new golden age is about to erupt in
modern times. Dare to dream bigger. Let’s make some
moonshots.
Praise for Making Moonshots:
“The outermost edges of science and technology
hold huge potential. In Making Moonshots Rana writes
inspiringly how our boldest, most necessary ideas are within
reach, and how anyone can be on the path to reducing human
suffering by way of entrepreneurial ventures. This book is a
toolkit on how to do just that.” — Josh Wolfe, Co-founder
and Managing Partner of Lux Capital
“By demystifying moonshots, Rahul puts them closer within
reach. He makes a clear and compelling case for
entrepreneurs to swing for the fences.” — Max Altman,
Co-founder of Apollo Projects
“Where is the frontier? In his Endless Frontier, Vannevar
Bush argued that scientific research alleviated ‘the burden
of the common man for ages past.’ But in our time, with all
the low-hanging fruit seemingly picked, where should society
look for new advancements? The answer, as it was in ages
past, is to invest in the bleeding edge of technology beyond
software. For those looking to make a dent in the universe,
Making Moonshots suggests that deep technology is our only
viable option of going back to our Star-Trek future.” —
Anirudh Pai, Partner at Dragonfly, a cross-border crypto
fund ($3.5B+ AUM)
“This is an impressive contribution to a neglected but
vital topic. Breakthrough technology holds the key to
humanity’s fate over the next century. Rahul’s book is an
illuminating guide for entrepreneurs who want to harness it
for good.” — Matt Clifford, Co-founder and CEO of
Entrepreneur First (EF) and Chair of ARIA, the UK’s Advanced
Research and Invention Agency.
“Deeptech is so misunderstood, Rahul introduces us to it
in a simpler sense. Making Moonshots covers what is commonly
left out in tech startup books, you’ll explore what it
really takes for a complicated organization to make it in a
way that is fun and interesting.” — Adam Arafat, Author
“Making Moonshots details the rise of some of the most
influential companies of our time, and perhaps of all time.
Rahul explores the marriage of science and technology to
create solutions that have altered the trajectory of
mankind.” — Josh Lasky, Author
“Rahul brings us a new perspective on moonshot companies
by exploring the ambition and mindset of prominent
entrepreneurs.” — Julie Willis, Author
“In reading Making Moonshots, this is the kind of mindset
we needed when addressing our recent global pandemic,
COVID-19. I look forward to the ripple effect of change
Rahul inspires through this book.” — Priyanka Surio, Author
“Making Moonshots makes deeptech accessible. If you’re
looking for insight into the journeys of some of the most
successful companies of the twenty-first century, and to
avoid being bored out of your mind by a economics textbook,
this is the perfect read for you and for anyone seeking
knowledge-filled entertainment.” — Mackenzie Finklea, Author
“By cutting through the buzzwords that we now take for
granted, Making Moonshots is a well-researched, articulate
work on the role of technology, innovation, and venture
capitalism in our 21st century society. Rana takes the
reader on an interesting journey by sharing best practices
and insights about an industry that can otherwise feel
mysterious.” — Anjana Sreedhar, Author
“Rahul Rana makes a strong case for the societal and
personal impacts of moonshot companies and radical creative
thinking. Making Moonshots embodies the message that ‘the
best way to predict the future is to create it,’ and the
book provides clear and actionable insights on how to apply
the moonshot mentality to one’s own dreams and ambitions,
making it a valuable read for everyone.” — Shobha Dasari,
Author of Hacking Healthcare
“If you have a moonshot in you, Rahul Rana will inspire
you to make it a reality. He does a great job of helping you
understand those intangibles of success, when beginning your
tech startup journey, that no one tells you about.” — Rahul
Prakash, Author of Unblocking Blockchain