With investments including Bionaut Labs, Canvas Medical, Path, and Reveleer, Upfront's healthcare and life sciences practice (led by partner Kevin Zhang) is expanding. It's one of the many reasons we're excited to welcome Kesar Varma as the newest member of the investing team.

Read on for where he'll be focusing, what he thinks startups can get wrong, and his can't-miss Korean BBQ in LA.

Tell us about your journey prior to Upfront.

Before joining Upfront, I spent 5 years as a product lead at Akido Labs, a healthcare startup in Los Angeles. I joined as the 2nd product hire and was responsible for technology used by governments and enterprise health systems (you can read about some of my work here!). I've also spent time at seed funds like Necessary Ventures, Virtue, and MentorsFund, supporting their investments in healthcare.

As both an operator and an investor, it's incredible to meet people every day who have dedicated their lives to trying to change the world for the better. In my opinion, starting a company is one of the hardest things to do, so it's humbling to be able to be a small part of those indvidiuals' successes. And now in joining Upfront, I'm looking forward to learning from all the partners at the firm and being able to gain knowledge around their areas of expertise so I can help drive even more value to the founders we meet and invest in.

What will you be doing in your role at Upfront?

I'm excited to put my early-stage startup experience to work alongside Kevin Zhang and Upfront's healthcare portfolio, especially as we're committing earlier in founders' journeys. In addition to supporting our existing portfolio, we're on the hunt for the next great healthcare startup. If you're a healthcare founder and you're looking for a beta tester, my inbox is always open: kesar(at)upfront.com.

Are there areas of particular healthcare focus for you?

I want to leverage technology to improve access to healthcare services, especially for underserved populations. This has actually been a lifelong passion as I grew up seeing the clear disparities throughout LA when it comes to gaps in care. Technology isn't the only factor, but if we can make it easier for hospitals and healthcare systems to improve their access, I think it's an important place to start.

I'm also interested in how technology can support physicians in their ability to deliver care. Part of the reason I chose to get into healthcare technology rather than becoming a doctor was to build tools that would help practitioners. Healthcare has been historically reluctant to use technology in care, but this generation of physicians entering the workforce have grown up using technology in their everday lives and are more open to technology in their workplace. It's a golden opportunity to begin building the future tech stack for providers.

As a former operator and now an investor, what do you think is a big mistake that startups make?

Not spending enough time defining company culture and mission. I truly believe it will become increasingly difficult to retain employees without having a mission or culture that individuals buy into.

It's so important that founders create a workplace and environment where individuals love to work, especially at the early stage where it can be hard to attract talent and there may be fewer incentives for individuals to stay at the company. Often times as a founder, it's easy to focus more on building your company rather than looking at what you've built and continuing to make it better for the team who drives it everyday. But it's a balance.

What's a non-work passion?

I worked in a comic store growing up, and it's still something that I'm pretty passionate about. I love a good story and I still think comics and graphic novels get a bad rap. That's a reason that so many comic writers are starting to work on TV shows -- once you dig a little deeper you can find some really incredible narratives outside of the Marvel and DC worlds.

As a Southern California native, what is your go-to place for out-of-town vistors?

I love Leo's Tacos Truck, and I can't say enough about the Korean BBQ in Los Angeles. It's always a hit. If you want all you can eat KBBQ, then definitely either Oo-Kook or Hae Jang Chon. I think I've been to both so many times that I've memorized the menu at this point.

Also, Cinespia at the Hollywood Forever Cemetary is a quintessential "LA" event. Who can resist a movie in a cemetary?