Anuj Shankar

Builder.ai's $450M Collapse: The AI Unicorn That Was Actually "A Guy Instead" From $1.5B valuation to bankruptcy in months. Here's what every AI founder needs to know: The Deception Chain: → 700+ human developers in India manually coded apps → "Natasha AI" was just a chatbot collecting requirements → 300% revenue inflation through fake contracts with VerSe Innovation → $60M in circular invoicing without actual services The Warning Signs Timeline: 2019: Wall Street Journal exposes AI claims 2023: CFO position vacant during critical growth 2024: Whistleblower allegations surface 2025: Viola Credit seizes $37M, bankruptcy filed across 5 countries The Brutal Math: ↳ 90% of AI startups fail within 5 years ↳ 75% engage in revenue overstatement ↳ Only 3% achieve successful exits ↳ 1,000 employees lost jobs ↳ 500+ customers lost apps and data Critical Lessons for AI Founders: → Technology Transparency: Build real AI before claiming AI-powered solutions → Financial Integrity: Hire experienced CFOs early, not during crisis → Business Model Reality: Align pricing with operational costs → Governance Strength: Experienced leadership with proper oversight The Ripple Effect: Global AI investment declined 18-45% across regions post-collapse. The hype-driven era is ending. Swipe through our Global AI Forum breakdown → Research shows the AI industry needs substance over spectacle. Builder.ai's failure wasn't market rejection it was self-inflicted through systematic deception. Key Takeaway: Hype can fuel growth, but only substance sustains it.

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OpenAI just launched chatgpt go in india at ₹399/month 🙇🏻‍♂️ you get 10x higher message limits, 10x more image generations, 10x more file uploads, and double the memory compared to the free plan. plus, payments via UPI, no more USD conversion headaches. india’s the first country to get this tier, aimed at students, freelancers, and anyone who found the free limits too restrictive but didn’t want to pay for plus. the go plan bridges that gap, making advanced AI features way more accessible. feels like a smart move: affordable, local payments, and more power for everyday users. curious to see how this shapes ai adoption here 🙌

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An Indian AI company just raised $54M to kill the work nobody wants to do Not chatbots. Not hype. It’s automating the boring stuff and that’s where the real money is While most founders are chasing the next chatbot hype wave, this company is doing something far less glamorous automating the repetitive, unprofitable work that clogs IT service providers Founded in Chennai, they’ve built AI that runs behind the scenes: detecting problems before they happen and closing tickets automatically The result? 200+ customers in just a few years, a growing US presence, and a lean team of around 60 engineers building at Silicon Valley speed SuperOps isn’t trying to “replace” IT engineers. It’s making them more valuable by letting them do the work clients actually pay for The agentic AI marketplace autonomously fix IT issues, triage tickets, and onboard clients It’s the routine stuff nobody else wants to touch. Clients have already seen up to 40% reduction in manual workloads While most AI companies are burning cash chasing consumer hype, this one is quietly turning boring into billion-dollar potential

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We talk a lot about AI on Markets by Zerodha, almost to the point where I personally get overwhelmed by learning all the great and not-so-great things happening on the frontier. But besides just being geeks, we gotta make sure there are actionable outcomes (investing) to our geekiness (sometimes). One such was when I learnt how big of a beneficiary data centres are in this AI theme, and during our research this one heck of a chart came out that I couldn’t resist sharing. This is from a Jefferies report that I came across. This chart shows what layers of players exist in getting a data centre running along with the types of industries getting affected. From real estate to switches and even power systems all of that builds the data centre layer. But enterprises don’t just need data centre support; sometimes they need whole cloud support. So that adds more players to the layer. So if you are a company that can maintain all tech infra and build your own servers, just using the data centre layer is fine. But for others, the whole cloud server layer makes more sense. SOIC has some really cool videos on it. Even we did a story on data centres.

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Most trading apps talk about adding features. At Lemonn, we asked a simpler question: What if the same ₹10,000 could take you further? That’s where Boost comes in. Toggle it on > Your buying power multiplies. The same Rs 10,000 can get you up to Rs 40,000 worth stocks. No complicated steps. Just a way to do more with what you already have. Because sometimes the real edge in markets isn’t about adding more money. It’s about getting more out of the money you already put in. Note: Boost works on margin trading facility, so it carries an interest charge.

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In the early days of building Rocketlane, I was guilty of playing defense. If you’ve ever launched a new product, you know the playbook: → Overexplaining every feature → Giving away the product access for elongated trials till the prospect acknowledges fit and value → Offering discounts at the first sign of hesitation It’s all rooted in doubt - about the product, the timing, or sometimes your own journey. Then something shifts. For us, it was a straightforward conversation. The customer described their problems, saw our solution, fell in love instantly - then simply said “I’ll buy. How much does this cost?” No objections. No endless back-and-forth. That early (and unhesitating) yes wasn’t about the revenue. It was about the confidence it unlocked. We stopped being tentative. We stopped giving out vibes of being apologetic for being new / early. We started owning the real, immediate value we could deliver. That changed everything: → How we spoke about the product → How we priced (less discounting, more value) → How we qualified opportunities The lesson? When you approach customer conversations with confidence and clarity - not apology - your prospects can feel it too. Incidentally, this is also very true for onboarding, implementation, and professional services teams: the sooner you embrace where you are, the faster you unlock momentum. Don’t undersell what you’re building. Own the value. Customers will notice and buy in.

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