Our first-ever "Anybody Can AI Socials - Product Manager Edition" was a blast! We brought together brilliant minds from across industries, all eager to infuse AI magic into their products. The room buzzed with interactive discussions, groundbreaking ideas, and the shared excitement of shaping the future of tech.
From AI newbies to seasoned PMs, everyone left inspired and armed with practical knowledge to revolutionize their workflows. Who knew learning about AI could be this fun?
Missed out? Don't worry - this is just the beginning! Stay tuned for more Anybody Can AI Socials. Because in this AI revolution, everybody's invited to the party! ๐๐ค
All organisations aspire for customer-centricity as a culture but Amazon embraces it in everything that they do from A to Z.
Recently finished reading "Working Backwards" - a book written by former Amazon executives Colin Bryar and Bill Carr that offers insights, stories and secrets from inside Amazon. One of the frameworks that I got quite intrigued by was Amazon's unique approach to product development and innovation, known as "working backwards."
At its core, "working backwards" involves starting with the customer and working backwards to create the product. Instead of beginning with an idea and hoping customers will like it, Amazon reverses the process:
1. They imagine the finished product from the customer's perspective 2. Draft an internal press release announcing the product 3. Rigorously scrutinize and refine the concept 4. Only then begin development
This approach ensures that every product or service is truly customer-centric from inception. Sure, Amazon has had product failures but this forces teams to clearly articulate the customer benefit before investing significant resources and thus, saving time and money.
What impresses me most about this method is how it aligns entire organizations around customer needs rather than internal goals or competitor actions. It's a powerful reminder that in business, starting with the end user in mind can lead to breakthrough innovations.
Reflecting on the incredible journey of our ๐ฃ๐ฟ๐ถ๐๐ฎ๐๐ฒ ๐๐ฎ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐น ๐ฃ๐ฟ๐ผ๐ฑ๐๐ฐ๐ ๐ฏ๐๐๐ถ๐ป๐ฒ๐๐ this past year, I am beyond thrilled to announce that we have achieved a phenomenal ๐ญ๐ฌ๐ ๐ด๐ฟ๐ผ๐๐๐ต. This milestone is a testament to our unwavering commitment to our vision and mission.
At ย Univia , we have always aimed for excellence, and this achievement signifies that we are not just on the right path but also moving at top speed. Our teamโs relentless dedication, innovative strategies, and customer-centric approach have driven us to this remarkable success. As we continue to push boundaries and break new ground, I am confident that this is just the beginning. Hereโs to achieving greater heights together!
Excited to share that we have received a funding grant of $70,000 USD from Climate Policy Initiative! This support will significantly bolster our mission to transform our cities into Net Zero Cities. With our innovative Urban Photovoltaic solutions, we are empowering city corporations to achieve their solar goals without dedicating additional land resources.
Moreover, our Building Integrated Photovoltaic (BIPV) solutions are designed to help millions of people living in high-rise buildings adopt solar energy, even without rooftop access.
Together, we are paving the way for a sustainable and green future, ensuring clean energy is accessible to all. Letโs work towards a brighter, cleaner world!
I havenโt been in touch with Silicon Valley SFO in the last decade, primarily because I had nothing to do. Or rather, I got caught up in long bootstrapping cashflow woes.
Then I was building everything for India. To become 2nd largest player in event experience & entertainment ticketing in India. Up to 2015.
In US: ย Yes, much later, I did win big customers like TiE, Harvard business school entrepreneur network and a bunch of others to serve ExplaraX, but, with hundreds of fantastic friends and colleagues, I could never 10x from my network, that is changing definitely now in 2024 and then 2025 onwards, thanks to AI initiatives we are sketching Foundership - Web3 & AI Accelerator VC
Yesterday, I had the pleasure of meeting and engaging with incredible minds at the eChai Ventures Ahmedabad event at IIMA Ventures.
As a speaker, I had the opportunity to share my journey of building Cargar, diving into how and why weโre tackling the EV charging problem the way we are. We also explored the life of an entrepreneur, from day zero to the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.
Looking ahead to 2030, I envision standing in the same place, among the same brilliant individuals, and thanking them for switching to green mobility and thanking them for using Cargar services. The future of green mobility is bright, and together, weโre driving the change.
I would like to extend my heartfelt congratulations to Jatin Chaudhary for founding eChai Ventures and for the incredible work heโs doing. eChai has become a platform that amplifies voices, motivates individuals, and helps many make better career decisions. The impact of this initiative is truly inspiring, and Iโm excited to see how it will continue to empower and guide people in their journeys.
As a part of B2B Yatra, we're looking to screen our documentary to thousands of colleges in India!
The Goal? To inspire students in colleges across India to either build, or join B2B Startups as Interns, Full Timers.
And, here comes Anto, the super energetic soul - One of the few meetings I've had in quite some time where you lose the track of time! :)
Anto built Under 25 Universe for the last 11 years, to empower and celebrate hundreds of thousands of young people by giving them a voice and a space to connect, learn, and grow.
Under25 has it's wings spread across 4000 colleges in India, and aspires to be the largest platform for students where they can freely express themselves, connect with like-minded peers, and pursue their passions. Crazy!
MR Rangaswami Thanks for the connect, you're a rockstar! โค๏ธ
๐ฆ Thank you for joining us in the eChai Ventures Product Growth meetup at Urban Vault Headquarters in HSR, Bengaluru! ๐
Glimpses -
Aditya Agrawal is a product leader at Cuemath. He left no stone unturned to remind all of us in the room about our math marks and tuition classes from school days! There are over 4,000 tutors on the platform, largely women who consider Cuemath to be a source of income and identity. He believes that the two most important deliverables for a product manager are the value to the customer and the viability to the business. He recommends reading 'Escaping the Build Trap: How Effective Product Management Creates Real Value' by Melissa Perri. Shout out to Amal Mishra for the warm welcome extended to his college senior ๐
Ashish Singh is not just a product leader at Paytm, he is also certified to climb the Mount Everest! He shared titbits from his days at Swiggy sprinkled with buzzwords like customer lifetime value, churn score, priority support and the icing on the cake - customer satisfaction score which witnessed a massive jump during his tenure. He believes that 70% of product management is identifying the right problem and knowing when to solve it. His go-to book recommendations include 'The Power of Moments: Why Certain Experiences Have Extraordinary Impact' by Chip Heath, and 'Principles: Life and Work' by Ray Dalio.
Madhurita M. is a product leader at Meesho, a board games enthusiast, F1 fan and a globe trotter who has been to 35+ countries! She shared insights from building her favourite products and activating people on return. She believes it's important to understand your customer really well at the n-th level. The skill to ask the right questions to know what they truly want is critical. This will ensure that the need for iterations and pivots drastically reduces. Whether you are looking to break in to product or get better at it, what gets you anywhere is curiosity! Go through apps from start to finish. Think through why someone would add these features and how that impacts your experience.
Sameer Mandge is a product leader at GoKwik. Recalling his days from Amazon, he says when Amazon launched in India, the default check out option was COD. They went through a journey of introducing changes for the new users and the existing users to eventually reduce COD. While Cash On Delivery is a growth lever, they aimed at reducing it owing to higher return to origin, frequency of purchase and more reasons. Return To Origin is an important step as it adds to merchant cost and operations to bring the undelivered orders back. He believes that customer keeps evolving and so do their needs. It's important to do your customer research well and put a clear persona to your user. He recommends reading 'The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business' by Charles Duhigg and 'The Mom Test: How to talk to customers & learn if your business is a good idea when everyone is lying to you' by Rob Fitzpatrick.
At the eChai Ventures AI Day with GUSEC, one of the panellists, Chirag Patel, Chief Strategy Officer of Rysun Labs, emphasized the critical importance of embracing AI. He remarked, "In the future, there will only be two types of companies: those that embrace and adopt AI, and those that are shut down."
This resonates with the recent survey titled "Labour force perception about AI: A study on Indian white collar workers" done by Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad faculties & industry experts. It was released last day.
The survey reveals fascinating insights into AI adoption in India across industries like education, IT, manufacturing, and healthcare. โขโ โ ๐จ๐ข% ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฆ๐น๐ฆ๐ค๐ถ๐ต๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ด ๐ง๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ ๐๐ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐ค๐ฆ ๐ซ๐ฐ๐ฃ๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐บ, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ง๐ฅ% ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ช๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ ๐ช๐ต ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ธ ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ถ๐ฏ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฆ๐ด. โขโ โ ๐ฉ๐ข% ๐ด๐ข๐บ ๐ถ๐ฑ๐ด๐ฌ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐๐ ๐ช๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฆ๐ด๐ด๐ข๐ณ๐บ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ค๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐จ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ต๐ฉ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐จ๐จ% ๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ฏ ๐๐ ๐ด๐ฌ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ๐ด. โขโ โ ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ช๐ด ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐บ, ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฅ๐ค% ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ ๐ซ๐ฐ๐ฃ๐ด, ๐ง๐ฐ๐ญ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด๐ถ๐ญ๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ, ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐ถ๐ง๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ช๐ข.
With AI making inroads across sectors, Indiaโs AI market is expected to grow from $4.2 billion in 2023 to $8.3 billion by 2025. While AI adoption is rapid, caution is advised as the workforce gears up to upskill and adapt.
Itโs clearโAI is transforming industries and creating both challenges and opportunities. Continuous learning and upskilling will be crucial to harnessing the potential of this AI-driven future.
Professionally, I have been using AI tools and it has enhanced my productivity and also helped in do mundane jobs while giving me extra time for creativity and complex problem-solving.
However, there can't be any replacement for Human Intelligence or maybe it is wishful thinking. Only AI can tell ๐.
Would love to hear your opinion & insights on this.
It was an absolute pleasure to meet you, Allan Koltin. I've been following your incredible journey since the start of my career in the US accounting industry, and your insights have always been invaluable to me. Truly humbled by your humility and generosity in taking the time to share your wisdom. Thank you for the great conversationโI'm grateful for the opportunity to learn from one of the best in the field!
As we are working on product development at Binary Infura. I always had questions related to "Selling the product before or while building it". I was fortunate to have the opportunity to discuss this with Panelists. Luckily panelists are also tech product founders and so, they shared valuable insights from their journey.
๐ Had a blast at the Startup Social in Bangalore organised by eChai Ventures & moderated by Chaitanya last Saturday, where the conversations were as energetic as a double-shot espresso! During one of the discussions, I casually mentioned "ICP," and someone in the audience asked, "What's that?" ๐ค
Well, ICP could stand for Ice Cream Party" ๐ฆ๐ but thatโs not quite right. ๐
ICP actually stands for ๐๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐น ๐๐๐๐๐ผ๐บ๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ฃ๐ฟ๐ผ๐ณ๐ถ๐น๐ฒโnot as fun as an Ice Cream Party but arguably just as essential. ๐
Let me break it down for you: (some gyanbaji ) ๐ฌ
Imagine you're in the business of selling custom superhero capes. You could try selling to everyone, but wouldnโt it be better to focus on those die-hard superhero fans who canโt wait to put on a cape and feel invincible? These are your ideal customersโthe ones who not only need your product but are also excited about it, ready to buy, and might even show up to work wearing one!
Your ICP is that dream crew for your product or serviceโthe people who need what you offer, will benefit from it, and will love you for it. When you know who they are, you can focus on speaking directly to them. No more guessing games, no more "shouting into the void."
Why is this crucial for product managers and founders?ย tโs like having a superheroโs map ๐บ๏ธ that guides you toward the right customers, knowing your ICP helps you avoid the classic startup trap of trying to be everything to everyone. ๐ฏ
Instead, you can zero in on those who truly need what youโre offering. This means better product-market fit, more effective marketing, and ultimately, a happier customer base.
In short: Know your ICP, and youโll spend less time chasing the wrong customersโand more time delivering value to the right ones. ๐ก
P.S. Still craving that Ice Cream Party though... ๐จ
Got an opportunity to reconnect with old & new US state alumni based in Ahmedabad. Attended the โAlumni Networking Event" hosted by the U.S. Consulate General Mumbai at the Centre for Environment Education (CEE), Ahmedabad.
As part of a Legislative Fellow way back in the Year 2016, I spent a month in the USA ( Washington DC & Reno) during the election time of Ex Prez Trump & Hillary Clinton and got first-hand experience of the US election frenzy. During the fellowship, the best part was meeting fellows from other parts of India & Pakistan who were working on sustainability, digital media, storytelling, social mobilisation & the political domain. Also, staying with host US families and getting first-hand experience of American culture.
As part of this meet-up, we exchanged ideas, experiences, and insights to see how each of us can partner in making a positive impact in our chosen area of work.
The breakout sessions on Climate Change, Womenโs Economic Empowerment, DEIA (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Accessibility), and Education led to thought-provoking discussions & collaborative opportunities.
A big thank you to Nerissa Castelino and the team for organizing such an enriching experience, and special thanks to Rob Anderson and Tejal Vasavada for hosting the event. Also, met Nayankumar Dave,a media veteran and former TOI colleague, after a long time.ย
Hope to have meaningful collaboration & partnerships on issues which are close to our hearts.ย
In case, you are a US state alumni based in Ahmedabad/ Gujarat and still not part of the community, do PM me to join the dedicated WhatsApp community.ย :)ย
eChai Ventures partners with select brands as their growth partner, helping them expand market reach, drive revenue growth, amplify brand visibility, and strengthen hiring efforts.
eChai Ventures is a global startup network connecting entrepreneurs through local meetups in 20+ cities worldwide, enabling cross-border collaborations via startup panels, demo days, cricket, and pickleball leagues.
