She became Facebook’s first employee in India and Broke Barriers at SoftBank
In 2010, Facebook opened its first office in India, four years after it went online.
It had managed to onboard 8 million Indians onto its platform by then.
Back then, Orkut was the major player in social media, and Facebook had just 8 million Indian users.
They needed someone bold to lead their journey in India which had a major customer base potential.
That someone was Kirthiga Reddy.
With an MBA from Stanford and years of experience at Motorola and startups, she had seen India’s tech boom firsthand.
When she heard about Facebook’s plans, she knew she wanted to be part of it.
Through a Stanford connection, she reached out to the chief operating officer of Facebook, Sheryl Sandberg.
While their first conversation didn’t lead to a job, Kirthiga didn’t give up.
When Facebook decided to open its India office, she tried again—and got in.
She became Facebook India’s very first employee and Managing Director.
Her timing was Perfect.
By 2012, Facebook had crossed a billion users globally, with India racing ahead at 65 million.
Under Kirthiga’s leadership, Facebook not only grew its user base but also planted deep roots in a complex and rapidly evolving digital ecosystem.
Today, India has the most Facebook users with over 448 million, followed by the US (258 million).
After six years of phenomenal growth at Facebook, Kirthiga decided it was time for a new challenge.
In 2018, she became the first female partner at SoftBank Vision Fund, managing over $5 billion in investments.
From quantum computing to Web3 and mental wellness, she worked on industries that were shaping the future.
Today, Kirthiga leads her own venture, Verix, focusing on trust, transparency, and community-driven solutions.
In this episode of the NEON Show, Kirthiga Reddy, Facebook India’s first employee and SoftBank Vision Fund’s first female partner, shares her inspiring journey. From a small-town upbringing in India to building Facebook’s presence during the Orkut era, Kirthiga takes us through the challenges of scaling operations, transforming workplace culture, and driving growth in one of Facebook’s most important markets. She also opens up about her transition to SoftBank. From leading the fund’s first investments in quantum computing and additive manufacturing, Kirthiga shares how she worked closely with founders to shape strategies and scale businesses.
Timestamp
00:00 - Trailer
01:51 - Intro
02:09 - Kirthiga’s career from Facebook India to SoftBank
03:17 - Childhood in Nanded Shaping values
04:46 - Early career programming for Let Us C
06:20 - Masters in the US and arranged marriage
08:33 - Syracuse University and joining its Board
09:30 - Silicon Graphics high-tech projects
12:20 - Stanford MBA and transition to business
17:58 - Startup role in product management
21:20 - Motorola acquisition and return to India
23:08 - Meeting Sheryl Sandberg
27:32 - Joining Facebook as its first Indian employee
28:50 - Facebook’s 100-100-100 strategy
30:40 - Building a Facebook culture
35:30 - Personally hiring Facebook India’s first 100 employees
36:45 - Success stories of early hires
37:50 - Leaving Facebook to balance family and career
45:20 - Joining SoftBank & managing $5B in investments
47:19 - Key investments in IonQ and 8fold.ai
52:38 - Transition from SoftBank to new ventures
56:14 - Founding Verix and Virtualness
57:00 - AI-first companies and tech vision
01:00:28 - India’s thriving tech ecosystem
01:03:51 - Vision for Verix, Virtualness, and social impact
Hi, I am your host Siddhartha! I have been an entrepreneur from 2012-2017 building two products AddoDoc and Babygogo. After selling my company to SHEROES, I and my partner Nansi decided to start up again. But we felt unequipped in our skillset in 2018 to build a large company. We had known 0-1 journeys from our startups but lacked the experience of building 1-10 journeys.
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This video is for informational purposes only. The views expressed are those of the individuals quoted and do not constitute professional advice