695th 1Mby1M Entrepreneurship Podcast with Vinit Bhansali, Takshil Venture Partners

Vinit Bhansali, Founder and General Partner at Takshil Venture Partners, discusses how his firm is investing in India.

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Best of Bootstrapping: Bootstrapped an AI Deep Learning Venture to $5M+

It is always thrilling for me to listen to 1Mby1M entrepreneurs achieving great things. This interview capture’s CEO Bharath Gaddam’s 6-year journey of bootstrapping to over $5M ARR. At this point, I am fairly confident that Data Poem can blitzscale to become a legitimate Unicorn. Not fluff, not fumes, clear, concrete ROI-driven revenue growth that is set up for repeatability and velocity. 

This is a text book case study of the 1Mby1M Bootstrap first, raise money to Blitzscale later philosophy. I have no doubt that VCs are going to salivate to get into this rocket.

Sramana Mitra: Bharath, let’s start at the very beginning of your journey. Where were you born? What were the circumstances and what kind of background did you come from?

Bharath Gaddam: I was born in a small town in Andhra Pradesh called Tenali. My father is a production manager in a large dairy farm, and my mother is a professor in a graduation college. I did my graduation from Osmania University in instrumentation. During that time, I realized that maybe I’m not cut out for hardcore engineering, but some of that still stays with you.

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1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator AI Investor Forum: Felix Hartmann, Hartmann Capital (Part 1)

Felix Hartmann, Managing Partner at Hartmann Capital, discusses his firm’s investment thesis. This segment triggered an excellent discussion on Human Augmentation.

694th 1Mby1M Entrepreneurship Podcast with Alex Benik, Encoded Ventures

Alex Benik, Partner / Founder at Encoded Ventures, discusses the fund’s investment thesis. Great discussion on how we each view the disruptions AI is causing on multiple fronts.

VCs investing today have to think about the next 5-7 year window and what changes are likely to come.

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Best of Bootstrapping: Bootstrapped an AI Security Startup to $10M+

Osprey Security Founder Rohit Anabheri had effectively used the Bootstrapping Using Services technique to bootstrap an AI-Powered Enterprise Security venture to mid eight figure revenues when we spoke in 2023. In that process, he had turned down offers for venture capital.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s start by introducing our audience to yourself and then we’ll come to the Osprey Security journey in a moment. You are a serial entrepreneur, yes?

Rohit Anabheri: That is correct.

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Building an AI Platform Company for Real-Time Applications: Vantiq CEO Marty Sprinzen (Part 1)

The world is severely short of AI talent to build complex solutions. It is essential that platforms offer layers of abstraction on top of which systems can be built without getting deep into the weeds. Vantiq is innovating with such a platform and offering excellent business model options including revenue sharing, outcome-based pricing, etc. Very cool company.

693rd 1Mby1M Entrepreneurship Podcast with Ray Wu, Alumni Ventures AI Fund

Ray Wu, Managing Partner at Alumni Ventures AI Fund, discusses the fund’s investment thesis.

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Best of Bootstrapping: AI Chatbot Startup Bootstrapped with a Paycheck

It took CoRover CEO Ankush Sabharwal and his co-founders two years to launch their first customer, The Indian Railways. During this time, the founders held on to their jobs, diligently fulfilling their responsibilities while also pursuing their dreams. Here is our conversation from 2023.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s go to the very beginning of your journey. Where are you from? Where were you born and raised? What kind of background?

Ankush Sabharwal: I come from a remote district in India in the extreme north – Rajouri. I was brought up there. My family moved to Jammu. I did schooling there. For Masters, I’ve done Software Engineering.

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