An Operator's Blog Soumitra Sharma

This is an in-depth jamming session on how Indian startups should look at AI, including real addressable opportunities, how to differentiate and compete against global competitors, what pre-AI SaaS startups should do to stay relevant, the India domestic AI opportunity, and finally, operating learnings for US go-to-market.



Joining me for this discussion is Thiyagarajan Maruthavanan (Rajan) - Managing Partner at Upekkha, an AI SaaS Accelerator that has invested in over 100 early-stage startups founded by Indian founders building global software businesses. Prior to this, Rajan was a product leader at Intuit and previously also built a computer vision startup. One of his passion projects is the 'For Kids' series of booklets, which use interesting illustrations to present concepts and mental models from the likes of Naval Ravikant, Nassim Nicholas Taleb, and Morgan Housel.



TIME STAMPS:

(01:28) Distinction between Generative AI and Enterprise AI

(05:49) Where is the real opportunity for Indian startups - infrastructure, applications, or dev tools?

(10:56) How to differentiate as an AI startup

(11:59) Can an infra company like OpenAI be built out of India?

(13:43) Workflow compression to unlock huge TAMs - learning from Tobi Lütke (Shopify)

(19:03) The India domestic AI opportunity

(22:41) Should startups build for Indian enterprise customers first, or go global from Day 0?

(25:36) Post AI, is SaaS dead?

(29:55) Important for Indian cross-border startups to focus on differentiation and owning outcomes

(34:04) How should pre-ChatGPT startups manage this AI tsunami and stay relevant - specific approaches for each stage [0-$1Mn ARR, $1-10Mn ARR, and $10-100Mn ARR]

(40:07) What are Indian AI startups doing to drive US GTM - learnings from Upekkha



Connect with Rajan - https://www.linkedin.com/in/thiyagarajan/ and follow him on X - @mtrajan



*****



Check out "An Operator's Blog" (https://operator.blog/) for weekly posts on Startups, Investing, and Life.



I am a venture investor focused on the US-India corridor. Feel free to reach out on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/soumitrasharma5/) and follow me on X (@soumitra_sharma).

The first half of this episode covers best practices and frameworks used by best-in-class fintech companies like Square and Mercury to build products and drive go-to-market.  



In the second half, we discuss insights and learnings for PM career planning in fintech, including ways to prepare for the potential impact of AI on product jobs.



Joining me for this discussion is Rohini Pandhi - Product Lead at Mercury and ex-Product Lead at Square/ Block. She is also a prolific angel investor, and co-founder of both the SquareAngels alumni syndicate and Transparent Collective, a non-profit that supports underrepresented founders.



TIME STAMPS:

(01:08) Square’s product-building philosophy - “The Four Corners”

(03:46) Square’s framework for building MVPs - “Pioneers, Town Settlers, City Planners”

(11:02) Managing customer discovery and feedback while launching a product in 99 countries

(14:11) Building Block’s Bitcoin hardware wallet while FTX was imploding

(16:29) How to approach pricing - “Monetizing Innovation” by Madhavan Ramanujam

(21:05) Transitioning from a big company to a startup, a framework for choosing your next job

(25:08) Mercury's product philosophy and culture

(27:31) Dealing with change, career planning, and finding your next job as AI disrupts the PM function



Connect with Rohini - https://www.linkedin.com/in/rohinipandhi/ and follow her on X - @rohinip



*****

Check out "An Operator's Blog" (https://operator.blog/) for weekly posts on Startups, Investing, and Life.



I am a venture investor focused on the US-India corridor. Feel free to reach out on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/soumitrasharma5/) and follow me on X (@soumitra_sharma).

This episode covers the brass tacks of doing 0-to-1 as a cybersecurity startup. We are joined by two venture-backed founders in the space, both of whom are also experienced engineering leaders in the domain:

(1) Buchi Reddy (Founder and CEO, Levo.ai; ex-Traceable AI, ex-AppDynamics)

(2) Ruchir Patwa (Co-founder and CEO, SydeLabs; ex-Google, ex-Mobile Premier League)



TIME STAMPS:

(00:00) Intro

(02:05) Choosing whether to go enterprise or SMB

(06:04) Assembling the right initial team

(12:02) Thinking through MVPs

(17:50) Learnings from doing cybersecurity at Google

(22:05) GTM for enterprise customers

(27:28) Engaging with the developer ecosystem

(34:01) How is AI changing cybersecurity



Connect with Buchi - https://www.linkedin.com/in/buchireddy/

Connect with Ruchir - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ruchirpatwa/

*****

Check out "An Operator's Blog" (https://operator.blog/) for weekly posts on Startups, Investing, and Life.



I am a venture investor focused on the US-India corridor. Feel free to reach out on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/soumitrasharma5/) and follow me on X (@soumitra_sharma).