He skipped college to intern with an ex-Sequoia director. Three years later, he's a cofounder.

• Raghav Saraf joined Zamp after high school after meeting a former Sequoia director at a hackathon.
• He started as an intern and decided to skip college to keep working at the company.
• After three years, Saraf's role evolved to cofounder.

This as-told-to essay is based on conversations with Amit Jain and Raghav Saraf, cofounders of Bengaluru-based agentic AI startup Zamp. It has been edited for length and clarity.

Raghav Saraf: I joined Zamp four days after my last high school exam ended in 2022. I met Amit at a blockchain hackathon I had participated in, where I built a payment gateway. My product was really similar to what Amit was trying to build at Zamp, and the hackathon organizer introduced us.

Amit Jain: Before I founded Zamp, I was a managing director at Sequoia India and Southeast Asia based in Singapore, and Uber's head of Asia Pacific prior to that. Venture capital was awesome, but I had an itch to get back into running a company. I wanted to start something of my own and spent six to nine months brainstorming startup ideas before coming up with the idea that led to Zamp.

Saraf: When I first spoke to Amit, the plan was to go to the US for my undergrad. I thought about how working with his team would be super fun and decided to try it out for a three-month summer internship.

Zamp had five to 10 employees at the time, and I was able to take on large projects and maximize my learning during those three months. At the end of the summer, I realized I was learning much faster than I would in college and was sold on the idea of staying at the company. But it took some time to convince my parents about the idea of skipping college.

Jain: I remember getting "interviewed" by Raghav's dad in a coffee shop under my office after he decided to join us. Very politely, his dad just wanted to do a pulse check on who I am and why his son wanted to join me before allowing him to work for us. I was lucky to have passed that interview and fortunate that Raghav could join us.

Saraf: I always knew that college was important, not for the actual textbook learning but because of the people and the environment I'd be in. I'm 21 now, and it's been almost four years since I decided to miss college, and friends from my cohort have started graduating. When I talk to them, I'm pretty happy with my decision. They say college was a good experience, but they don't feel prepared to apply what they learnt to the professional world.

Move to cofounder

Jain: Now, Zamp has about 80 employees and a fairly global customer base, including top banks.

Saraf: We don't have titles here, but I lead everything related to product at the company. Amit handles sales, customer relations, hiring, and everything else.

Jain: Our decision to promote Raghav to cofounder came gradually. He was a pleasure to work with from day one, and the critical thinking, judgment, and maturity he displayed were well beyond those of most leaders I've seen in my career. The cofounder potential had always been there, but it became evident over the course of a year or two. When we made the announcement in 2025, it wasn't a surprise to anyone because Raghav had been gradually taking on more responsibility.

Saraf: After we announced the change, my team was very supportive. They told me I was already a leader to them, and nothing has changed. My school classmates were very surprised but happy for me. More than anything, becoming a cofounder made the biggest difference to my parents, who went from saying, "We're not sure what this guy is building," to "He knows what he is doing."

Jain: Timing is a minor factor in deciding who becomes a cofounder, and it doesn't need to happen at the time a company is founded. I think a startup is a journey, and a cofounder is somebody who has played and will play or continues to play a critical role in that direction of that startup. So, looking back at the last four years, it was more about the role Raghav plays.

Working like peers

Saraf: I had to teach myself everything on the job. I didn't know how to build products, how to go to market, how to lead teams, or do most of what I know now. I'm sure that will continue to be the case a few years later as well. Learning to me is a very active process — understanding my gaps, reading books about it, and teaching myself.

I'm close with the people on my team, and we hang out often and spend weekends together. One of my colleagues is also my flatmate. But I maintain a balance: When we're at work, everyone recognizes that I'm leading the team.

Jain: Our relationship is 100% like peers, and we complement each other very well.

Saraf: What surprised me about working here was the level of trust and openness, and the ability to make my own decisions. If I were in Amit's position, I probably wouldn't have let a 17-year-old drive things.