MAYA BAKHAI OF SPICE CAPITAL
Maya Bakhai is the founder and general partner of Spice Capital, a venture firm built around a founder-first philosophy that promotes creativity, courage, and conviction. With a background spanning both investing and operations, Maya brings a unique empathy for the entrepreneurial journey. At Spice, she partners with bold early-stage founders redefining the consumer experience—from fintech to wellness—helping them scale with intention and authenticity. Her work is driven by the belief that the next generation of transformative companies will come from diverse voices unafraid to build differently.
What did you do in college to set you up for success?
When I moved to New York, my goal was to meet one new person a week. Looking back, it seems a little crazy, but it ended up being a great networking hack. You never know where someone will end up later in their life. Now, some people I met during college are super successful and great resources to have. Increasing your surface area increases your chances of luck and serendipity.
As a college student, take advantage of being young. Before your brain is fully developed, it is a sponge, so try everything new you can. When I was at NYU, I joined a Cheese Club and even tried improv. These things make me a more interesting person.
Finally, never forget the power of cold emailing! People are really willing to help out young people, and it is a great way to access people and opportunities that may seem impossible.
What drew you to venture capital initially?
I first got interested in venture capital while working on what started as a side project — that eventually became an amazing scheduling tool called Skej. My boss, Paul Kineti, took me to a pitch day, and it was just like Shark Tank. I was shocked at how many of the founders and investors were women. It broke my brain a little bit, and I wanted to learn more.
Later, I met Shauna Fisher, an early investor in Pinterest. She told me that being a VC is like being a mom because you have to help lead all these startups that are full of potential. I love helping and being at ground zero, where I can watch my friends blossom.
How did you want to make an impact with it?
I am very intentional about making an impact in the VC world at Spice. Today, VC is so democratized because anyone has access to information using the internet; however, 50% of VC funding went to the same five companies in 2025. If you are a certain archetype of founder, you get all the money, and everyone else is left behind. It is important to me to give people who would have never had an opportunity to do this a chance.
To do this, we have a reduced minimum investment of only $1,000. This allows people who have historically never participated in VC, like women and people of color, to learn about it. From what they learn at Spice, they can then go back to another marginalized founder. I want my firm to look different.
Day in the life working for yourself?
Look out for a day-in-the-life TikTok coming @spicecapital! This shows the truth: I wake up and am already stressed. I am constantly battling wanting to check my email and wanting to work out because I know self-care is so important. I am essentially a fly swatter. First is meetings; I am trying to balance four stakeholders: potential founders, founders I have already backed, current investors, and potential investors. Next is pitching, either me pitching to an investor or founders pitching to me. Then, I shift gears into operational work that is needed for a fund. It is work 24/7, but there is fun sprinkled in. Last week, I went to a movie premiere for a portfolio company!
Overall, it is my job to know what is going on everywhere at all times so I can be the best predictor. That means consuming a lot and scrolling through X, LinkedIn, Reddit, TikTok, Instagram, etc.
How did you go about making connections/networking in the VC world? How did you find valuable mentors, and how did they shape your career?
For mentors, I have found that your mentors find you when you are being yourself and performing at your best.
For VC networking, you must have some sort of valuable insight that others don’t have, so people will want to connect with you. For example, in 2021, I was one of the only VCs participating in the crypto space. I joined crypto Discord communities and got information at the bleeding edge. I could cold email anyone, and they would reply because I had access to information on an asset class that they did not understand.
You could be the smartest person ever, but if you have the general ChatGPT point of view, it is not useful to me. Take the time in college to cultivate your hobbies and extracurriculars because that is what makes you an interesting person.
Do what you are good at. Talk about your interests publicly so that other people interested can find you! Let the algorithm do the work.
How did you take the leap to work in VC? How did you convince people to have faith in your company?
I was working in consulting at PwC when I got the opportunity to work for a celebrity investor. I did it as a side hustle while I was at my main job. I didn’t care if I had to work two jobs or for free because I was young and wanted to optimize for new experiences over a cushy salary.
Honestly, I am still convincing people to believe in me. My best sales pitch is when I am true to myself. Given my background, I am an outsider in the VC industry, and have made my own investment philosophy around cultural arbitrage, given my personal experience. I convince people that what is different about me gives me an edge.
What do you envision for the future of Spice Capital?
My dream is to be the first believer in what grows into a generational company — to back ideas that seem crazy at first but eventually become part of everyday life. My goal is to help build a best-in-class early-stage venture capital firm that identifies these rare opportunities before anyone else does. In the long term, we aim to expand into later-stage investments and establish a growth fund, enabling us to collaborate with companies throughout their life cycle.
What qualities/characteristics do you look for in a start-up you are assessing?
We work with such early-stage companies, sometimes all the founders have is an idea. The most important thing to me is the founder’s “why.”: Why are they doing this? What is their calling? This could range from personal reasons to domain expertise.
Many people want to play the founder, but very few are willing to persevere for the long haul.
Another question I ask is if the idea is fit for VC. You can have a phenomenal business that may not scale big enough for VC investment. For example, if you bootstrap a company with your own funds and make 50 million dollars a year, that is a great outcome, but for a VC, that is a bad outcome. So it is my job to determine if venture capital is the proper way to finance that company.
QUICK TAKES:
Best advice you’ve received?
Firstly, cater to your strengths! My mom made me read a book called Find Your Strengths in middle school. I fund founders who are building to their strengths. If you are bad at math, don’t try to be an engineer. It won’t go well. It really helps to be good at what you are doing. That doesn’t mean don’t try different things, but find what you have an affinity for.
Secondly, especially for women, don’t be overly nice. Be ruthless with your time. You only have 24 hours in a day. Don’t be afraid to come off as not nice.
Female founder you look up to?
Ray Biebuyck, the founder of Girl Beer. She has faced so much rejection and just keeps going. I admire her resilience. Not only does she not give up, but she has continued to grow. She’s creating an industry out of thin air and has taught herself that she can take anything in the world and make people buy it.
Top rec in New York?
Assembly on the Lower East Side! I used to live right above it; it has the best clothes and accessories.
Company that got away?
I passed on Whatnot, a live shopping app, during COVID. The founders saw live shopping growing in Asia and wanted to bring it to the West. My mistake was going to the founders I thought were “smarter” or “more experienced” than me. I ignored my gut feeling and trusted other people’s opinions over my own.
Now, Whatnot is the fastest-growing company to come out of YC, and I could have invested in them in the seed round.
What I learned from this is that even if you are young, your perspective is valid, and you can have expertise on something that other, more experienced people may not.