About

The most important thing to understand about me is that I’m obsessed with the idea of value creation through software. Not just any software, but software that scales globally and solves real problems.

I’ve been working on this idea for over two decades now. In 2007, I founded a computer vision startup. This was long before the current AI hype. We were hand-coding SIFT vectors, trying to make machines see. It was hard, and it taught me a lot about the gap between cutting-edge technology and practical applications.

Later, I joined Intuit and worked on QuickBooks Online. There, I learned how to take a product global. It’s not just about translating the UI. It’s about understanding different markets, different accounting systems, different ways of doing business. This experience was invaluable.

Now, I’m a co-founder and Managing Partner at Upekkha, an AI Accelerator. We’ve invested in over 150 startups founded by global Indian entrepreneurs. Why focus on Indian founders? Because I believe there’s an arbitrage opportunity here. Indian talent is world-class, but it’s often undervalued in the global market. We’re changing that.

One thing I’ve noticed is that many founders, especially in the AI space, focus too much on the technology and not enough on the problem they’re solving. I wrote an article about this called “Investors won’t fund your AI startup.” The title is provocative, but the point is simple: investors fund solutions to problems, not technologies in search of problems.

Another common mistake is trying to compete head-on with OpenAI or other AI giants. That’s usually a losing strategy. Instead, I advise founders to think about how they can use AI as a tool to solve specific problems in their domain. I wrote about this in “How to use OpenAI without getting disrupted: SaaS founders guide.”

If you’re building a AI business software company, especially if you’re an Indian founder looking to go global, I might be able to help. Not just with funding, but with the kind of advice that comes from having been in the trenches. I’ve made a lot of mistakes over the years, and I’ve seen even more. I can probably help you avoid some of them.

If you want to get a sense of how I think, you can find me on:

For what it’s worth, I have a Bachelor’s in Computer Science Engineering from IIIT-H. But in the world of startups, what you’ve built matters more than where you studied.