About
Hello and welcome to Lighthouse Ventures!
We have a keen interest in solving business challenges relating to Business Growth, Sales & Marketing, Strategic Planning, M&A, New products/services, Technology Adoption, and Org Structure improvement. Our work is backed by experience and a knowledge base of real-life business challenges and solutions.
As we work in a particular role for some time, we start making assumptions on what’s possible and what’s not, and we create our own list of business constraints, some real but some unreal.
Over time, without realizing, our “growth mindset” gets compromised, which prevents us from delivering our top performance.
It’s true, the quality of decisions improves with experience, but that also means making mistakes as you go along. With Lighthouse coaching, you can shave off some mistakes and add them to your list of successful decisions. For example, you can choose to take our specific help to increase sales, improve overall business performance, or improve team morale which has a direct bearing on productivity and profitability.
To help Founders, Business Owners, Executives, Managers, and Consultants, we have four coaching programs to achieve various kinds of business growth and career growth outcomes.
- Lighthouse Leadership Coaching “Navigator” (this is our flagship coaching program, and it can benefit every manager and business executive in achieving bigger goals, and also people who are in non-profit organizations)
- Lighthouse Sales Coaching (for everyone involved in sales, account growth, and business development)
- Lighthouse AI Coaching Program “Ellumenex” (this is a carefully designed coaching program using extensive inputs from AI industry professionals, to prepare business owners/executives/managers in various industries to understand AI and then leverage AI for your business growth)
- Lighthouse Executive Coaching “Elevator”(for Executive coaching, suitable for every business executive, to help you prepare for the next stage of career growth leading to CXO positions, and beyond)
Lighthouse Ventures Team
Shankar AVSB
Shankar is the Founder and Director of Lighthouse Ventures. He has 27 years of experience in different industries, including startups and large corporations, in various leadership roles including CXO and CEO roles, in Technology, Investments, and Private Equity companies.
He has been an Entrepreneur, Derivates Trader, Angel Investor, Equity Investor, Business Consultant, Leadership Coach and Executive Coach, helping Startup Founders, Business Owners, Business Executives, and other Consultants in their work, business, and career growth. He has been an equity investor since year 2000, and has advised multiple startups on their business plans and growth strategies.
Shankar is also the author the book titled “Bootstrapping: Think like a VC, Act like a Founder” and subtitle “Startup Success with Bootstrapping and Angel Investors”, to be published by Amazon in August 2025. This book is based on observations of 120+ startups over last 27 years, and will be a valuable resource for all startup founders in their early stages.
Shankar has a keen interest in AI software, knowledge management, and innovative systems that are useful to people in their lives, which has helped in creating the vision and roadmap for Green Earth Blockchain, to bring transparency in the global food supply chain, and promote genuine food producers worldwide.
Shankar has a global network of 1000+ CXOs across different industries, and acts as a business advisor to them. He has been involved in a wide range of software, blockchain, and biotech projects, and has experience in managing technology projects and taking them to successful completion. He has been involved in the blockchain industry since 2018, and regularly advises developers and investors on Blockchain, Crypto, Metaverse projects. He is also the author of the book “Beyond Human: Journey into Artificial Intelligence”, to be published by Amazon by August 2025 for educating people on AI concepts and long range AI industry trends and visible challenges.
Shankar is the Director of Jupiter Ventures, which develops AI Trading Systems for financial markets, mainly for Equity (S&P500 and Nasdaq100 futures/ETFs), and Energy (Crude Oil and Natural Gas futures). In the past, Shankar worked with Infosys Ltd in Bangalore, Boston, Palo Alto, and London, and received Awards of Excellence in both Innovation and Sales, based on direct recommendations of Infosys founders and CEOs NRN and Nandan Nilekani. He is also the founder of Infosys Alumni Network in 2007, which connects Infosys alumni worldwide in career progress. He started his career with ABB, the Swiss-Swedish multinational, and worked on power project management, contracts, and project finance. He has experience in Financial Markets and working with global Clients, Investors, Stakeholders, and Teams (in Asia, Europe, North America).
Shankar has studied Electrical Engineering (Honors with full scholarship) from NIT Jaipur, MBA from IIM Lucknow, and courses in Business Management and Biotechnology from Stanford University. He has experience in developing AI software, and in teaching computer science and business courses.
Over the last 27 years, he has regularly helped alumni and youth in their careers, and supported young entrepreneurs in different capacities as Startup Advisor, with business plan creation in the startup concept stage, to scale up and growth planning and execution, and connecting with Angel Investors. He has also helped military personnel /veterans in transitioning into corporate/commercial jobs. He also supports organizations that help girls who have faced abuse, and has trained girls with self defense techniques, and help rebuild their lives. Charitable and Social work is of high importance to him. He is also the author of the book “The Essence of Gita: Teachings of Shri Krishna with Timeless Wisdom of Gita Verses, Practical Insights and Examples” published by Amazon in Oct 2023.
Shankar has keen interest in Financial Markets, AI, Blockchain, Biotech, Renewable Energy, Farming, and History, and regularly shares his analysis and views on Twitter (X): https://x.com/shankx and LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/avsbs
Ravi Ayyala
Ravi has a keen interest in AI, software development, data analytics, and e-commerce, with 20+ years of experience in the software and technology industry. Ravi is passionate about using AI for data analytics towards improving the performance for e-commerce companies, and using the latest AI technologies in improving the KPIs of businesses. He advises on the AI Coaching Program of Lighthouse Ventures, and he also advises on topics related to tech Startups. Ravi is an alumnus of National University of Singapore (NUS) and Oxford University.
Ethan William
Ethan has a keen interest in software, blockchain, and e-commerce and financial markets. Ethan is very dedicated in financial markets research in new and innovative ways to discover new insights, which can be used in derivative trading. He has a deep understanding of the crypto and blockchain industry, including Bitcoin mining and blockchain and metaverse project development. Ethan advises on the technology related aspects of coaching and training programs of Lighthouse Ventures.
Kelly Stevens
Kelly has a keen interest in sales growth and business development, social media, retail, e-commerce, and real estate industries. Kelly is passionate about customer service and customer satisfaction as the key drivers of business growth. Kelly advises on Sales Coaching and Sales Training programs of Lighthouse Ventures.
Ryan Weber
Ryan has a keen interest in business consulting, angel investing, equity investments, and financial markets. Ryan advises on business plans of startups and their fund raising plans, based on his extensive experience as an Angel Investor and Equity Investor in many Nasdaq listed companies. Ryan advises on the Startup and Executive Coaching programs of Lighthouse Ventures.