Varun Jain

Commander
DISC Type : D

Staff Engineer at GatewayAI

Bengaluru, Karnataka, India

Overview

Varun Jain is the CEO of Default, where he specializes in product engineering for startups. A serial entrepreneur with an engineering degree from Delhi College of Engineering, he previously co-founded and sold the EdTech platform AcadView. Colleagues describe him as having a great mix of technical expertise and leadership skills.

Deeply immersed in the startup world, Varun follows the work of prominent venture capital firms like Y Combinator and Nexus Venture Partners. He is fascinated by the origin stories of new companies and the innovative tools that help them grow, often sharing these narratives with his network.

He successfully built and sold his EdTech startup, AcadView, to UpGrad, a leading unicorn in the Indian education sector.

Personality Overview

Decisive

Very Quick

Risk-Taker

They like to move fast and expect the same from others.  They are not always relationship oriented. They take a lot of pride in personal achievements.

Topics They Care About

Product Engineering
As the CEO of Default, his primary focus is helping startups build high-quality, scalable products by providing expert product and project management.
Startup Founder Stories
His social media activity shows a strong interest in the journeys of entrepreneurs, frequently highlighting stories of startups from their earliest, challenging days.
EdTech Platforms
He has direct experience in this space, having co-founded, scaled, and successfully exited AcadView, a platform that skilled over 5,000 engineering students.

Media Appearances

Varun has no verified media appearances

Work History

11-2025
Staff Engineer at GatewayAI
4-2020
Founder at Default
5-2018 - 4-2019
Technical Lead at Level AI
1-2016 - 4-2018
CTO (Acquired by UpGrad) at AcadView
10-2014 - 4-2015
Software Engineer at Frankly.me

Education

2007 - 2011
B.E. from Delhi College of Engineering

More Information

Social Presence :

Prographics :

Exp : 13 Location : Bengaluru, Karnataka, India Job Level : Middle Designation : Staff Engineer at GatewayAI
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Insights For Selling To Varun

During A Call Or A Meeting

DO's

  • Be respectful but crisp
  • Objectively showcase the impact that your product creates
  • When negotiating terms, help them build an impression that they are the ones calling the shots

DONT's

  • Avoid being too verbose
  • Don’t take too much time in sending them information if they ask for any
  • Don’t focus on process and rules, give the impression of being a ‘gets it done’ person

When Cold Calling

When Writing An Email

While Negotiating & Closing

    The secret to closing fast with Varun is

  • Confidence in impact is paramount to them, followed by a sense of achievement and ROI.
  • Will you ever get a clear answer from Varun

  • If they are not convinced, they will have no hesitation in telling you the same.

Insights For Deal Planning

    How fast (or slow) will Varun move?

  • They can reach decisions fairly quickly if they are convinced.
  • Can Varun take some risk or not?

  • They don’t mind risks but can be quite binary about them.

You And Varun

Personality Compatibility


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