Gautam is a Senior Advisor at Norwest, providing guidance to portfolio company CEOs on leadership, strategy, and operational excellence.

Over the last 30 years, Gautam has been a five-time global CEO and has worked across industries spanning consumer tech, e-commerce, marketplaces, retail and CPG, sports media, and education. He has a track record of driving innovation and transformation across early-stage startups, PE-backed growth companies, turnaround situations, and global multinationals such as eBay, Disney, and P&G.

In his most recent role, he served on the global executive leadership team of the $150B Naspers Group, early investors in Tencent and more than 200 global tech companies. At Naspers, Gautam held multiple leadership roles, including CEO of OLX Autos, where he led 7,000 employees across 10 countries, and CEO of the edtech portfolio, where he managed $4B in investments across 12 companies. He also served as Global Operating Partner responsible for majority stake investments.

Gautam began his career at P&G as a brand manager in Asia and later became a founding management team member of Baazee.com, which pioneered e-commerce in India and was acquired by eBay. At eBay, he served as Country Manager for India, Senior Director of Marketing for eBay’s international markets based in the Bay Area, and CEO of the subsidiary Shopping.com, with operations across the US, Europe, and Australia. He also served as CEO of LivingSocial, a venture-backed local services business based in Washington, DC, which was acquired by Groupon.

Gautam later served as CEO of Star Sports, India’s largest sports media business, prior to its acquisition by Disney, before joining the Naspers Group. He enjoys mentoring and advising startup founders and has served as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Revolution Ventures and as a Venture Partner at NextGen Venture Partners.

Gautam holds a Bachelor of Commerce and Economics from Sydenham College and an MBA from IIM Lucknow.