Lakshmi Balachandra

Lakshmi Balachandra is an Assistant Professor of Entrepreneurship at Babson College. her research examines the impact of trust, gender and other entrepreneurial characteristics in acquiring early-stage funding. She has been a Fellow in the Women and Public Policy Program at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government focusing on the impact of gender biases on women entrepreneurs. She was awarded fellowships for her research on VC decision-making from the Kauffman Foundation and the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School.

She was a co-author of the Diana Report, 2014, the 1st comprehensive analysis of venture capital investments in women entrepreneurs since 1999. Her research has been published in Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, The Journal of Business Ethics, and Negotiation Journal, and her work has received a wide range of press including the AP, USA Today, Harvard Business Review, Businessweek, the Financial Times, Entrepreneur Magazine, Inc. Magazine, and Reuters.

Dr. Balachandra has taught courses and international programs to students and executives on entrepreneurship, negotiation, improvisation, and leadership. She consults to a wide range of companies and organizations including the Angel Capital Association, Novartis, Shell and the CIA, and frequently guest lectures in several courses at the Harvard Business School. She taught a course she designed on improvisation and leadership at the MIT Sloan School of Management for 10 years.

In her professional career, she has been intimately acquainted in multiple aspects of entrepreneurship. She has been an entrepreneur she opened and operated a retail specialty toy store in California upon graduating from college. And she has worked in entrepreneurial finance as she spent seven years in venture capital and in mergers and acquisitions investment banking with firms in Boston, Massachusetts and San Diego, California.

While working for the largest women-owned, women-focused venture capital firm in the country, she founded the Women's Venture Capital Network, the first network of its kind in the country where she organized, created and managed numerous networking events and educational panels for women professionals in the industry. During (and in-between) her professional career in finance and entrepreneurship, Dr. Balachandra has also been a professional stand-up comedian and improvisational comedian performing in comedy clubs across the country.

Prior to joining Babson College, Dr. Balachandra was a Visiting Assistant Professor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Northeastern University in Boston, MA and a Lecturer at the MIT Sloan School of Management and the Harvard Extension School. She has also taught at Boston College and UCSD Rady's School of Management.

Academic Degrees

• Ph D, Boston College
• MBA, MIT Sloan
• BA, University of Chicago

Academic Interests

Entrepreneurship

Awards & Honors

2021 — AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellowship - Executive Branch, National Science Foundation

2021 — White House Fellow - Semi Finalist, White House

2018 — Research Fellow, International Diana Institute

2018 — Academic Excellence Award; Finalist, Woman of the Year , India New England News

2018 — Research Award, Babson Faculty Research Fund

2017 - Research Award, Babson Faculty Research Fund

2016 - Research Award, Babson Faculty Research Fund

2015 - Research Award , Babson Faculty Research Fund

2011 - Women and Public Policy Fellowship, Harvard Kennedy School of Government

2011 - Kauffman Foundation Dissertation Fellowship, Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation

2010 - Graduate Research Fellowship, Program of Negotiation at Harvard Law School

2009 - Next Generation Research Grant, Program of Negotiation at Harvard Law School

2008 - Barry Armandi Award, Academy of Management