Remembering Priya

Last Monday, we at True experienced the type of unimaginable loss it is impossible to prepare for as Priya Haji, Co-Founder and CEO of our portfolio company SaveUp, died unexpectedly at her home in San Francisco.

Time flies when you’re having fun, as Priya always did, but it’s easy to remember the beginnings of our relationship with her. She happened accidentally upon one of our coffee hours at our old Pier 38 offices early in the fall of 2010, and she and I got chatting. Priya had recently sold World of Good to eBay and was beginning to consider her next move. We met a series of times over the next few months as she thought through a variety of ideas, carefully considering what she could do to continue her passion for helping others. It was clear even in these early interactions that Priya was a woman of considerable character and ability, and I was excited to learn more about what she would pursue.

Soon thereafter, she came up with the concept for SaveUp. It was early December and an email from Priya arrived early on a Sunday morning. She asked to see me as soon as possible so she could share her idea, saying, “My brain can’t let it go!” As we talked at Crossroads Café the next afternoon, it was clear that this idea was a perfect fit for her. Her research had led her to explore how the concept of prize-linked savings could be used to build a service to help consumers save money, reduce debt, and develop better financial habits overall. She saw the opportunity to build a really big business, but equally as important, to create a product that would have an incredibly beneficial impact on the lives of its users. She couldn’t stop thinking about it and neither could I.

Over the next three and a half years, I had the privilege of working closely with Priya as she and her team built SaveUp. Especially given the close proximity of our offices, our interactions were frequent, often coming on one of the benches around the South Park loop. There are many moments that I think of fondly, recalling conversations and interactions that showed Priya at her best: passionate, enthusiastic, and always believing that the best was yet to come. One stands out in my mind, though: as we sat in a SaveUp board meeting in October 2012, I vividly remember looking across the table watching her lead our discussion, one hand on her laptop to animatedly drive the presentation. The other hand reached back behind her to gently rock Zen’s stroller after her babysitter had canceled at the last minute, leaving her no choice but to bring her ten-month-old son with her to the office. It was, in a moment, a perfect encapsulation of all that mattered to Priya and how she lived her life. She ably and happily juggled the demands of building a rapidly growing startup and the joys of parenthood, doing each with boundless grace and exuberance.

And so, on a personal level, I mourn the loss of a true and wonderful friend. But even more so, I feel on a higher level a deep and profound sadness that she shall not continue her mission of creating companies to improve the lives of others who need her help. Among Priya’s many positive qualities, absolutely none were more apparent and remarkable than her humanity. Like few others I have ever met, she exemplified a selflessness and devotion to service in all that she did that was an inspiration to me and to everyone she met.

It is impossible to ignore this sadness and sense of loss, but I know Priya would want us to focus on the positive and not the negative, and that we can joyfully do. We at True celebrate the chance we had to support her dream to create SaveUp and to learn from her as a Founder in our community. And, we rejoice in the celebration of a life lived so full of care, benevolence and impact. Her spirit lives on in all of us and we are honored to carry forward her mission to make the world a better place, both through SaveUp and through many other entrepreneurial ventures that begin in a very similar fashion to all that she did. A Founder, a vision, and a relentless desire to change the world. We hope to make her proud.

Thank you, Priya. We will miss you.