Just listened to an insightful episode of the Lightcone Podcast featuring Bob McGrew on "The FDE Playbook for AI Startups." Here's a quick summary of the key strategies for AI founders navigating complex markets. Unlock Rapid Product Discovery: Embed Forward Deployed Engineers (FDEs) at customer sites to build custom "gravel roads" that evolve into scalable products—perfect for AI agents where no clear market exists, as seen in Palantir's intelligence work. Structure Your Team Effectively: Use "Echoes" (domain experts spotting 3x-10x improvements) and "Deltas" (prototyping engineers) to drive agile innovation, turning FDEs into potential founders while balancing specific solutions with general platforms. Master Outcome-Based Pricing: Shift from SaaS models to risk-absorbing, value-driven pricing that secures executive buy-in and grows contracts, like Castle AI and Happy Robot did with banks and logistics giants. Embrace Demo-Driven Development: Focus on customer pain points through compelling demos to foster a "learning company" culture, accelerating adaptation in fast-evolving AI landscapes. If you're an AI startup founder, this playbook could be a game-changer. What are your thoughts on implementing FDEs here in Asia or anywhere? Love to learn from you. #AIStartups #ProductDevelopment #Entrepreneurship

Freshima, LLC: Amit Rai’s First Startup Story In this reel, Amit Rai, GM of AI and Enterprise Cloud at Vultr, shares the story behind his very first startup — Freshima. He narrates how he spotted a real-world problem, built a tech-driven solution, and successfully ran the business in the San Diego area. While the model wasn’t scalable, Freshima became a valuable learning experience. Watch the Full Episode of Code Chaos Clarity here - https://lnkd.in/gVxd-jNp #AmitRai #Freshima #StartupStory #Entrepreneurship #CodeChaosClarity #LifeJourney #InspiringStories #TechLeadership #AI #CloudComputing #Innovation #StartupLife #podcast #ai #technology #farmers

🚀 From Explaining to Chasing—How Startup Pitches Flipped Overnight In this short, Sudarshan Chitre shares how the enterprise AI market has radically changed. Just a few years ago, startups had to spend meetings simply explaining what their technology was before a customer would even consider buying. Now? Customers are the ones pushing startups—demanding new AI capabilities and asking, “When is that coming on your roadmap?” This rapid shift in awareness has forced startups and enterprises alike to accelerate adoption and rethink how fast they build. Sudarshan Chitre leads the AI Product & Engineering team at iCertis, a leader in Contract Lifecycle Management. With 25+ years at companies like Microsoft, Amazon, Oracle, and several startups—and over 10 patents to his name—Sudarshan brings deep expertise in Data & AI products and how they can be deployed at scale to solve real business problems. 📺 Full episode: https://lnkd.in/gTuiQze7 🎧 Podcast: https://lnkd.in/g9SP24kv #startuptoexit #AI #enterpriseAI #GenAI #saas #innovation #futureofwork #startupsuccess #founderstory #techleaders #businessgrowth #contractmanagement

Is AI the secret ingredient to building your MVP, or a recipe for disaster? 🤖✨ In a recent episode of The Startup Podcast, tech luminaries Yaniv Bernstein and Chris Saad dive deep into the strategic use of AI in startup development, debunking the myth that faster always equals better. They emphasize the critical balance between speed and quality, cautioning against the "build fast, fail fast" approach that can jeopardize true product-market fit. At Nexto Labs, we resonate with this philosophy, especially when integrating AI to automate workflows and crafting impeccable UI/UX designs. How do you think AI can be best utilized to enhance not just efficiency but also the overall user experience in early-stage startups? #AIIntegration #StartupStrategy #TechInnovation #UserExperience #BusinessGrowth Source: https://lnkd.in/gnrWQ8Fb

Do you really need a special skill to build in Gen AI? In the latest episode of Startup Table with AJ S2, founders explain why success in Gen AI is not about mastering a single skill. It is about moving fast, staying flexible, and ensuring your creation reaches the right audience. 👉 How do you think adaptability defines success in AI-driven startups? Share your thoughts below.  🎥 Episode streaming now: http://bit.ly/46EcxBI Archana Jahagirdar Rahmat K Flik Rishab Sharma Personate.ai Mohit Walia hypergro Nearz app flickd Dr. Sanjeet Shanker Epikdoc AI opinium.ai Priyanka Gadi Stitch Magic  #StartupTableWithAJ #RukamCapital #GenAI #TechRevolution

Decacorns: The New Unicorns? On our first episode of the In Context Show, Sathya Nellore asked Vijay Rayapati (CEO, Atomicwork) about the rise of decacorns. Vijay’s take was both fun and sharp: “Unicorns are the new popcorn.” With the explosion of software, we’re heading into a new era. He predicts a future where a company with just 300 people could be running 3,000 software products, from agents to AI services to SaaS. The real explosion, he says, is yet to come, powered by AI. Watch the short clip here for his insights on why decacorns are the new unicorns, and for the Full Episode, Watch here: https://lnkd.in/gG4QXghS Sairam Krishnan · Siddharth Ram #AI #Startups #Unicorns #Decacorns #BoldCap #Atomicwork

The Rise of the One-Person Unicorn: Ilja Laurs on AI’s Next $100 Billion Opportunity What if the next $100 billion company isn’t built by a massive team—but by one person with an idea, a laptop, and AI? In this episode of Mork Unfiltered, I sit down with Ilja Laurs, founder of GetJar and MissionHires, to explore the coming wave of one-person unicorns and decacorns. Twenty years ago, building a company required teams of developers, marketers, and copywriters. Today, AI and powerful free tools give individuals the ability to design, code, market, and scale almost entirely on their own. What once took hundreds of people can now be done by a single creator. This conversation isn’t just about technology—it’s about the democratization of creation. A future where imagination, not infrastructure, is the primary driver of innovation. Could the age of big corporations be giving way to a generation of solo creators building billion-dollar enterprises? Listen to the full episode: YouTube: https://lnkd.in/eWwF9c_j Spotify: https://lnkd.in/exeF-rM3 Apple Podcast: https://lnkd.in/eZ2Dyi_B #entrepreneurship #startups #futureofwork #innovation #creator

AI isn’t about who launches first it’s about who survives after the demo. APIs alone don’t build moats. Costs don’t behave like SaaS. Growth doesn’t always mean profitability. The winners will be the ones who design for scale, sustainability, and moats from day one. What playbook do you think defines the next decade of AI companies? #AI #Startups #ProductStrategy

What happens when brilliant minds meet GenAI and a ticking clock? You get Nexus 2025, a GenAI Hackathon which was about turning bold ideas into real, impactful solutions in just 24 hours! 🚀 Highlights from the hackathon: AI-powered learning animations that make complex topics easier to understand Automated social media content creation for faster, smarter brand storytelling Next-generation hiring tools that reimagine how companies find talent A huge thank you to our incredible panel of judges for their expertise and insights: Gaurav Dadhich (Razorpay) – building one of India’s biggest fintech success stories Vijay Babu T S (xto10x) – enabling startups to scale smarter and faster Pallab Maji, Ph. D. (Ola Electric) – driving innovation in mobility Aadith Ramesh (PeakXV Ventures) – shaping India’s startup and VC ecosystem 🏆 Winners who made it happen: 🥇 Team Mavericks – Scaler Blitz: AI-Powered Learning Animations (Pratham Shukla | Shreyas Waghmare | S M Sudhanva Acharya | Surya Teja Reddy D. | Gauri Chakravarti) 🥈 Team TBD – End-to-End Social Media Content Automation (Priyansh Soni | Kishan Vagale | SAHIL SHARMA | Abhishek Sharma) 🥉 Team Winners – Next Generation ATS (Naman Bhalla | Saurabh Saxena | Shanmuga V. | Anshul Sharma | Kartik S H) Massive shoutout to our mentors and every participant for the passion, the all-nighters, and the boundary-breaking ideas. This is just the start. Let’s keep building. Life at Scaler #SCALER #GenAI #Hackathon #Innovation

A roadmap is useless if your team doesn’t understand it. Day 12 of my 30-day challenge. If you just drop a list of features on your teammates, it feels like tasks. But a roadmap isn’t just a to-do list — it’s the story of where the product is going. That’s why we frame every roadmap update with why each decision was made: ✅ What pain it solves ✅ Why it matters now ✅ How it ties into the bigger vision That way, it’s not just work — it’s mission. This is the unfiltered side of building in public 🚀 #buildinpublic #startup #founderjourney #AI