The Exchanges

Q today, right? And this is like, this content is inspired by YC, right? How to build a company, right? So what we want to focus on is how to build a B to B either call it enterprise AI or a B to B software company, From day zero in an AI first world in 25. So, how would you have created Astra today if you were creating from scratch?

A Super interesting question, because I would have saved so many years. Of course, there was a lot of hit and trial, but had I started Astra in an AI first world, everything I would have done a little differently, and with a lot more time saved in the process. One example is, Let's say hiring. You can, if you've got the correct processes in place, you can actually get a half decent engineer and train them on your processes because AI is very great at even reviewing your entire code base and infrastructure and giving context to a new person and make them productive very quickly. So that's one thing where we probably would have had engineer, engineers, engineers is one of the top and the most Useful, uh, talent of any tech BDB company. So we would have had, uh, engineers who are able to contribute way quicker, and probably we wouldn't have had to spend a ton of, uh, money during early days because money, money comes difficult, uh, during early days. Same as with, uh, marketing. In AI first world, marketing is absolutely changed. It is a lot of storytelling around brand, around founders, on why you built it. It's not even brand. It's the why of why you exist in this world. What are you solving for? Because people relate to stories, and then you telling the world that why you are the expert at it. You have to really tell that brand story. And interestingly, that story is being picked…

AI assessment note: “had I started Astra in an AI first world, everything I would have done a little differently”

Q And, uh, for you, right? Uh, How do you think about your next 10 years, or maybe even five years, like what is the difference rather than saying X scale I want to achieve, but what is the difference that you want to create?

A One of the things that quotes that I really love is, success isn't bought, it's rented, and the rent is due every day. So that's something that I really believe in, and I feel that if you are paying that rent every day diligently, you'll end up creating something which is worthwhile when you are 70 and you look back and you say that, hey, I created something which made a difference in the world, and the people with whom I created, they also felt the same, and for whom I also created, really remembered you for it. It's not about making money and having all these, fulfilling these, uh, materialistic dreams, because I feel, uh, if you continue on that path, these things become byproduct. Even, uh, having, being remembered, I feel that's not something that I care about. Another quote that I really love is by novel, which says that you don't want to be poor and famous. You want to be rich and anonymous. So, that's, I feel what, ah, I really try to live by that, you know, you, what you created should be remembered, probably even if you are forgotten, it's fine. So, in the next five years, if you're saying, I'd love, really love to build something, which is, ah, Powering thousands and thousands of organization security, ensuring that their infrastructure and their customers, which would be billions in numbers, are sleeping better at night, knowing that there's Astra, which is, you kno…

AI assessment note: “So, in the next five years... really love to build something, which is... Powering thousands”

Q So wanted to share some perspective to our audience. Like two years ago, we, we discussed in a coffee shop that, you know, Um, the, the way to, to build a brand, uh, and these are the two channels, right? One is case studies and the other is, you know, doing a lot of customer events, right? How has been your journey experimenting with those two channels?

A Oh, yes. Uh, a huge shout out to you back at you again, because, uh, uh, we, as, as you were correctly mentioning, we were very marketing first, just opening up sales back then. We didn't really Know the value of in-person interactions or even these case studies. We used to have case studies, but then it used to be like just two, three case studies, which are very, like, as I was talking about standard, a SaaS website has very similar to that. But we realized that, you know, case studies are a gold mine when it comes to, uh, people themselves discovering people like, uh, uh, who are in the similar industry as theirs. Read, uh, reading and seeing their videos on your website and automatically making buying decisions. I've been a huge fan of putting pricing on the website always. It really acts as a great anchor and I just don't understand it. It's 2025. Why still B to B SaaS companies do not put any indicator of pricing on their website because I think it's much required. In a world where agent tech is taking decisions, or even AI is trying to, if someone's asking AI, boss, uh, please tell me some, uh, let's say pen testing tools which fit in this budget, then you have no indicator of pricing, neither to your customers, nor agent tech, which is trying to actually make decisions on, on the basis for your potential customers. Then you're automatically excluding yourself from that …

AI assessment note: “we realized that, you know, case studies are a gold mine”

Q you think, you know, now Google's own search is under threat with OpenAI. And other tools, right, because people are going to first chat GPT, and, and then may never go to Google, even for searching local, uh, stuff like for the people searching us, like local shops on perplexity, for example, right? So how does that, that change in the overall marketing for a B to B SaaS company?

A Well, it's changing left, right and center. Every day something new is happening. Google is really, really trying to, uh, reinvent itself. Uh, and, and they are in some areas, I believe they are succeeding also. Uh, but the way I see it, be it ads, I think the recent Google event, they clearly mentioned that there are very clear changes that are going to come, uh, on how ads are going to be displayed, uh, in, in Gemini or other platforms or even Google SERP. Uh, similarly with, like you mentioned, uh, OpenAI coming in and even other such tools. I think it's not even OpenAI. I feel, uh, any type of those chat interface, GPT interface is essentially, uh, it could be powered by anything in the backend, but that's becoming the first source of, uh, uh, search for, uh, a lot of people. And it doesn't have to be through browser either.

AI assessment note: “Well, it's changing left, right and center. Every day something new is happening.”