1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator AI Investor Forum: Sandeep Sardana, BluePointe Ventures (Part 3)

Sramana Mitra: Now, what about human-in-the-loop? In this use case you’re talking about, what are you learning in terms of AI adoption? Human-in-the-loop is a key concern and a point of resistance from enterprises and businesses.

Sandeep Sardana: For the foreseeable future, human-in-the-loop is an important element in many cases. Agentic AI is not a full replacement yet—hallucinations still occur. You need humans for situations that agents can’t handle. However, things are progressing quickly. Agentic systems move faster, and automation speeds things up.

For example, we have a company called AI SDR. The SDR function is handled by AI—it can book meetings and personalize outreach. In most cases, it works autonomously, but when it can’t, a human steps in. Some companies have been very successful in combining automation with human oversight. Over time, as data improves, the need for human involvement will decrease.

Sramana Mitra: What are you learning about pricing and business models? We’re seeing some movement toward outcome-based pricing, but subscription remains the preferred model. Many AI companies still use subscriptions because buyers are familiar with it and comfortable purchasing that way. What are you seeing in your portfolio?

Sandeep Sardana: Software became essential because it offers incredible margins—the marginal cost of deployment is almost zero. Subscription models added predictability and recurring revenue, making them more appealing. You could price flexibly, maintain margins, and scale if you addressed the right problem.

The same logic applies to any pricing model—whether outcome-based or subscription. Over time, if outcome-based pricing provides comparable margins at scale, both startups and customers will adopt it. For now, subscription remains dominant because it’s familiar and reliable. Customers just want their problems solved, and subscription doesn’t pose a barrier. Outcome-based models may grow, but ultimately both will converge toward similar pricing levels because margins drive sustainability.

Sramana Mitra: There’s another reason subscriptions became standard: investors love the predictability. You can forecast subscription revenue far more accurately than outcome-based or license models. That repeatability and recurring factor made Wall Street fall in love with cloud companies—the model is predictable and easy to build financial projections around. That still holds true.

Sandeep Sardana: That’s a fair point. Predictability makes sense not just for Wall Street but for CFOs, VCs, and everyone involved.

Sramana Mitra: You wanted to talk about vibe coding. Many people are watching what’s happening in that space. The most visible story is Lovable, which went from zero to $200 million in recurring revenue in under a year. That’s a rare growth trajectory. But they raised $200 million at a high valuation, and now it seems their recurring revenue isn’t holding as expected. They may struggle to grow at that pace with such a burn rate. What are your thoughts on vibe coding?

Sandeep Sardana: It’s a fascinating use case that emerged rapidly. It’s probably the leading use case in the industry right now. And it’s not just about vibe coding itself—there’s an ecosystem of tools around it. For instance, we have a company called Codera that focuses on code reviews, and it’s growing very quickly. These tools are still maturing, and the market is adapting to them because they clearly provide real value.

This segment is part 3 in the series : 1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator AI Investor Forum: Sandeep Sardana, BluePointe Ventures
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