AI startup

“Out of those 800 companies, around 70% of the companies had AI component in them and 30% for others.”

“I think most of the AI startups is eight out of 10 off from here or Chennai, right? Even though they may have a base in US, headquartered in US, I would say, 80% of the mindset is over here.”

“So I think probably for a few more months, we'll see this messy sort of situation where VCs are also not sure, Indian founders are also not sure, but a year from now, you'll suddenly find a wave of companies, because as Prateek said, finally Indians are very h…”

“So it was just, I think it will happen in AI as well, and that is okay. In fact, many companies that we have invested in US where there was limited India angle, There as well, ah, just helping them build the India team, helping them get India, ah, distribution…”

“So this one is putting a lot of pressure on the AI companies, the startup companies, then they have to keep up. Because it's very crowded, it's becoming very crowded, especially in the go-to marketing space and cybersecurity. It's super crowded, and so the ven…”

“Our belief is that the most successful AI startups of the future will be those that are able to build a moat by building a unique context graph.”

“And I've heard this in conversations where a VC would be like, do you, do I invest in startups, which is like a risky business and I'm still getting a 10 X return or do I just put my money in Anthropic and I'll just get a 10 X return without doing any work. So…”

“If you're a decent AI company with a good team and good funding, chances are pretty much every large enterprise will do a free POC or maybe even do a pilot, a paid pilot. But do not think that that means you landed.”

“92% are failing right now, and it is only going to get worse because more companies are getting founded, a rate of change is increasing, and frontier models are coming and just swallowing, and SaaS companies aren't going to lie down and take it, which means th…”

“Now, in the AI wave, I feel if you're heads down and you're focused, you don't know what's going to come hit you from the left or right. You are one anthropic press release away from not having a business ahead of you.”

“Because the traditional model of, like, enterprise reps doesn't get you to a hundred million ARR in two years. You have to do something drastically different for that, right? In fact, a lot of these hot AI startups aren't doing the traditional model. Be it for…”

“By being first, multi-party, highly complex data that that hidden from the outside world, those are three pretty good criteria for a starting point.”

“The number one thing before you know, you get into defensibilities, make sure that whatever it is you're building is is was impossible to build four years ago. Make sure, you know, it is a 10 X or a hundred X better than the status quo. Make sure that it has a…”

“Having having the need for a meaningful services component does, for example I mean, it serves a useful purpose also today, right? Like in a manner which might not have been valued as much a few years ago, which is that It absolutely gives you a certain moat a…”