There’s something truly special about hosting eChai Ventures Social meetups on the AllEvents terrace. With a stunning view and a relaxed, welcoming vibe, it’s the perfect setting to unwind and connect with fellow entrepreneurs.
These gatherings are agenda-free, allowing ideas to flow naturally. Conversations range from the latest AI trends and innovative marketing strategies to the challenges of running a business. The insights shared are always refreshing, and the atmosphere on the terrace adds an extra layer of inspiration.
It’s always a pleasure to welcome our eChai friends to AllEvents. The combination of great company, stimulating discussions, and that unbeatable terrace vibe makes each meetup memorable. Looking forward to many more inspiring evenings ahead.
At Momentum91, we've been hard at work understanding AI and their use-cases for mid-market and large firms. Late last week, I had the opportunity to share everything we've learnt so far with eChai Ventures at GVFL Limited.
Here are some notes:
👉 𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐭 Other people also have AI. A lot of folks are building on top of AI and so there is increased competition in almost every vertical. Every niche software has like 3 bootstrapped competitors who are going to market via SEO. Also, product differentiators are difficult to communicate in the age of low attention spans. If you are starting distribution today, it needs a thorough re-imagination.
👉 𝐀𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐍𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐰/𝐖𝐞𝐚𝐤 𝐀𝐈 Instead of building systems that are kind of smarter at doing a lot of things, you might want to consider building multiple and separate systems that are very smart at doing a few things extremely well. Enterprises/companies will separately pay for solving specific problem areas and addressing their use-cases. The game is depth, not breadth.
👉 𝐍𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐀𝐈 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬 Companies like ClickUp and Notion have done an amazing job at bringing AI within their products. But they are still not AI native. They were conceptualised when AI was not around. They have fit AI retrospectively. There is a large opportunity for building Native AI experiences. Platforms and products that are conceptualised from ground-up in the age of AI. An example of this is a project management system where I can assign tasks to both humans and agents. It will demand a lot of capital and ingenuity but it can be done. Here's a good question to ask: What other 'systems of records' exist that can be made AI native?
👉 𝐒𝐨𝐥𝐯𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐚 AI will solve for analysis, predictions, pattern recognition etc. Most firms do not have accurate data. If you can figure out a way for a business to collect accurate data about their prospects, customers, employees, products, sales, etc - using AI, you can do anything and everything. Figure out a way as to how you will solve for collection, storage and organisation of accurate data.
There were a few other things that we discussed.
👉 Co-pilot and Autopilots 👉 AI wrappers 👉 AI & Funding 👉 Verticalising LLMs 👉 AI Safety 👉 Real-life implementations of AI by companies we have not heard about
This conversation was meant to be a starting point for folks thinking about building in the AI space. It was by no means exhaustive - but sort of a summary of all the research Harsh, Jay, Koushikram and I have been doing for the past few months.
If you want the deck, let me know in the comments and I'll send it over 😇
I attended several meet-ups organized by eChai Ventures, and it was such a cool experience. As a teenager who's just starting out in the world of startups and AI, getting the chance to meet new people and hear their stories was eye-opening.
Every conversation helped me see things from different angles and broadened my perspective. Networking isn’t just for seasoned professionals it's for anyone who's eager to learn, share ideas, and grow.
I'm grateful for these opportunities to connect with others who are as passionate as I am about innovation and creativity. Thank you eChai Ventures & Jatin Chaudhary for creating such a welcoming space for young minds to explore and engage!
🚀 I am sure you missed this in #Mumbai.. . I was honored to have been the speaker along with Rajendra Lora at the recent eChai Ventures community meetup at DevX, Andheri
🌟 Moderated by Shubham Dumbre, I shared my raw startup journey and it was an absolute thrill, especially with such an inspiring audience of young founders and top voice like Dr. Hashim Adil 🏆, including many incredible female leaders like Aanchal Verma🏆 students, and passionate professionals.
From practical startup-building advice to insights on hiring and achieving the extraordinary, our session was a heartwarming exchange of knowledge and motivation.
Remembering the words of Eleanor Roosevelt, "The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams."
We were thrilled to host the exclusive eChai Ventures Social. Engaging in small group candid conversations with innovative hardware founders about designing cutting-edge hardware products was truly inspiring.
Reflecting on the insightful panel discussion at E-Chai Ventures, where I had the privilege to speak alongside Pathik Patel from Fit & Flex, Sumit 'Curl' Karranji from Curlin Professional, and Kena Shah from Inara. The topic, "Insights from Scaling Up," sparked engaging conversations about the challenges and triumphs we’ve encountered on our journeys as D2C founders.
A special thank you to Jatin Chaudhary, Co-founder of eChai Ventures, for orchestrating this opportunity. Your platform continues to inspire and empower entrepreneurs to share their stories and grow together.
Scaling a business is never a linear path, but with shared experiences and collective wisdom, we can navigate it more effectively. Here’s to continuing the journey, learning from each other, and striving for greater heights.
If you are also a D2C founder, do share the challenges you face in your journey.
Yes, I'm discussing how important it is to develop an entrepreneurial mindset and not to limit your thoughts as an employee only.✅
Recently, I attended the 'Sales Masterclass for Startups' at IIMA Ventures which was organised by eChai Ventures and it gave me a new perspective.🎉
What it feels like to be in the shoes of an entrepreneur can be understood when the respected speakers : Mr.Pankaj Bhimani, Mr. Bhavin Bhagat and Mr. Pratik Patel gave their insights.👏👏👏
Thanks to eChai Ventures for organising the masterclass and providing a great network opportunity to us.
Attending the AI Innovations Meetup by eChai Ventures at GVFL Limited was nothing short of inspiring! 🚀 The energy in the room, the exchange of ideas, and the fascinating AI tools showcased made it a truly memorable experience.
Here are some key takeaways from the event:
1. AI in Hiring: Solutions like Veloxhire.AI are revolutionizing the screening process/pre-interviews, making bulk hiring more efficient and effective.
2. Market Analysis: Tools like Esri's ArcGIS AI are providing unparalleled insights through geographical data, helping businesses make informed decisions.
3. Creative AI: From Alphana AI's ability to generate social media marketing content from videos/podcasts to ImagineArt Midjourney's stunning image creation, the creative applications of AI are boundless.
4. Language and Learning: Chivox AI stands out as an incredible language tutor, while Riverside.fm AI and Tome AI offer unique community-building and storytelling capabilities.
5. Data Personalization: Clay AI and throxy AI are leading the way in personalized data analysis, offering deep insights into individual personas, and Smartly.AI helps businesses manage customer service as chatbot.
6. Developers' Heaven: With tools like GitHub and Character.AI AI, developers have powerful platforms to bring their AI ideas to life.
A huge shoutout to the speakers who shared their expertise Yash Shah, Tanmay Shanishchara, and Vinit B Yadav. This event was a great reminder of the transformative power of AI and its potential to reshape industries globally.
I recently had the pleasure of attending the eChai Ventures AI Day event in Surat, organised by Jatin Chaudhary and held at LOGICWIND. The event was an incredible opportunity to connect with some amazing founders and engage in insightful conversations. Traveling from Ahmedabad to Surat for this event was totally worth it!
Here are some of the fantastic startups and founders I had the chance to meet:
A big thank you to Maitri H. Modi for hosting such a fantastic event and to Nachiket P. for providing the venue. I look forward to staying connected with everyone I met and continuing these inspiring conversations.
Meeting people is my passion, and listening to their stories is my fuel.
Thanks Jatin bhai( eChai Ventures ) for building a platform to connect people at great places (GVFL Limited) to exchange notes, ideas & most important to help each other in anyway possible.
Christopher Fong: He is super smart & helpful guy. He is the founder of Xoogler (Ex-Google Community) , More than 33000 People community. He is Hiring for senior engineer, Growth Marketer, & Business Analyst - do connect with him.
Jitendraa Lakhwani: A Dear friend & running a leading HR firm based in Ahmedabad serving the globe. The sky is the limit to what they can deliver in Hiring. Do reach out to him for hiring requirements, especially overseas hiring.
Anay Mashruwala: Promotor of M/s. Venus Engineering Works a company in field of Manufacturing and marketing of Industrial Valves. And A prof. In the field of Entrepreneurship.
Niraj Harlalka: Education is passion for all but few execute on his passion & Niraj bhai is one of them,ON a mission to help children to learn Decision Making as a skill.
Balkrishna Agarwal: Founder, Tezi App - Connecting Brands to Retailers. If you are building in Fashion Tech reach out to him.
Ketul Shah: Computer Vision and Machine Learning (MLOps Enthusiast), AI team lead at Groundup.ai .
👉 𝐙𝐞𝐫𝐨 𝐭𝐨 𝐎𝐧𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐎𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐇𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐝: One of the interesting conversations was around how to align/retrain people who have taken the company from zero to one and have them effectively contribute in the company's journey from one to hundred. This is required because it takes very different people to bring something to life vs people who take something that is alive and take it to scale. One of the things we do at Momentum91 is to build a 'New Initiatives' team. This is our 'zero to one' team and it always works on the frontier. Things that have not yet been figured out completely yet. This team builds solutions on those lines. This way, once they have charted the path, the rest of the team comes in and makes the path more 'followable' through processes, frameworks and templates.
👉 𝐎𝐧𝐞 𝐜𝐨-𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐯𝐬 𝐦𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐢𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐜𝐨-𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬: I am of the opinion that starting a company is like entering a haunted house that might have a treasure buried inside. I would not go in alone. I need someone to keep me honest, be sad when we have lost, share joy when we have won. I need someone to fight, debate and argue with. It's a personal and arguable choice. Some folks are comfortable going at it alone as well. If you are like me, consider finding a co-founder who has complimentary skill sets. A person whose thought process is different than yours and a person you fully trust.
👉 𝐄𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐯𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐩: Almost everyone on the panel had degrees in things that were drastically different from the nature of the company they were running, including myself. It's important to understand that half of running any company is the same - whatever one builds, they still have to build a team, figure out marketing, learn sales, read balance sheets and keep the company compliant - things that are not taught. A good way to look at education is to think of that as 'time allotted to build an approach' - an approach of problem solving. If one is able to build that approach, most things get easier.
It was fun listening to other people's stories around recruiting their first 5 team members, journey of meeting their co-founders and approach towards making difficult decisions under uncertain circumstances with less than accurate data.
Thank you Jatin for the opportunity. Until next time.
Had a fantastic experience at the Speaker Session hosted by Jatin Chaudhary and eChai Ventures on 12-7-2024 at GUSEC. The session was insightful and provided a #wealth of knowledge from industry #leaders, attracting numerous #entrepreneurs and young minds:
📌 Riddhi Sharma (BabyOrgano) emphasized the critical role of company culture in driving organizational success. She highlighted how a positive and inclusive culture can boost employee #morale, increase #productivity, and foster innovation.
📌 Gaurav Barot (Tridhya Tech Limited) shared an inspiring story about how he rewarded his employees by giving them cars. This gesture not only motivated his team but also demonstrated his commitment to #recognizing and appreciating their #hard work and dedication.
📌 Shrijay Sheth (LegalWiz.in) delved into the intricacies of Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs). He explained how offering stock options can align the interests of employees with those of the #company, creating a sense of ownership and #long-term commitment.
📌 Kuntal Shah (CricHeroes) discussed his company's progressive policy of offering unlimited leaves. He explained that this policy is based on trust and empowers employees to manage their #work-life balance, ultimately leading to higher job satisfaction and #productivity.
Overall, the session was amazing and provided deep
#insights into innovative practices that can transform workplace dynamics. Kudos to eChai Ventures for organizing such an enlightening event!
Cracking the Code on AI in Business: What We Learned! 🔥
Yesterday’s meetup was a deep dive into how AI is reshaping the business landscape. Yash Shah broke down some fascinating insights that really got us thinking.
Key Takeaways:
- Autopilot vs. Copilot: AI is either doing the work for you or helping you do it better. Think Alexa vs. ChatGPT. Both are game-changers, but in different ways.
- Verticalized AI: It’s not just about having AI; it’s about fine-tuning it for specific industries or even individual clients. The days of generic solutions are fading fast.
- AI-Native Experiences: The real disruptors will be companies that build with AI from the ground up, not just retrofitting old systems.
- Data is King: Accurate data is the fuel for AI. If your data’s off, your AI won’t hit the mark either.
- Distribution Challenges: Even with AI, getting your product in front of the right audience is tougher than ever.
It’s clear—AI is here to stay, but the winners will be those who can think strategically about how to leverage it. Thanks to eChai Ventures and GVFL Limited for hosting the event.
While trying hands-on - Wow! I'm the God with AI super power... 😇
While fine-tuning prompts - **spends 3 hours** - is this really that good? 😱
Once the romance is over - It's good, not great.. HI will prevail over AI. 🤯
Well, some AI enthusiasts met at GVFL Limited yesterday as part of eChai Ventures' AI meet up yesterday. A big shoutout to Yash Shah for putting together his thoughts in a comprehensive deck. Quite insightful.
Happy to see the enthusiasm around AI and some folks doing really epic work in this space. Here's to you guys:
Vinit B Yadav showcased how Veloxhire.AI can solve bulk hiring problem. Ketul Shah at Groundup.ai is making a formidable use case for industry application of AI and Amit Tiwari at ATSN AI is creating awesome chat application using AI.
It was an interesting evening spent with services founders discussing about transitioning from services to SaaS at GVFL Limited. Here are some notes on what we discussed:
👉 𝐀𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐭𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 In my limited experience, doing both services business and a SaaS business together is extremely difficult. Both of them require more than your full time attention and come with very nuanced problems to be solved. Some founders are able to do it. Most companies that do this achieve a really large scale in one of those two and then start the second one. I wouldn't recommend.
👉 𝐀𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐠 As a service business, pricing is simpler. It is cost + margin. In SaaS however, it is difficult to arrive at a cost based pricing. Most folks recommend value based pricing but in early stages, it is unclear - the amount of value your SaaS will build for your customers. I'd recommend competitor benchmarking and then speaking to a lot of customers while running experiments. Pricing, much like user research, is an on-going exercise. It is never complete. Hubspot is $2B in ARR - changes pricing every 6 months.
👉 𝐀𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐭 I wrote a post about building trust as a SaaS company a while back. Here's the link --> https://lnkd.in/dTVuX_9F
👉 𝐀𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐥𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 At Clientjoy (Acquired by Synup), we tried over 10 GTM experiments. 3 of them worked. The one that worked best was building resources that answered our prospect's most difficult questions (not ebooks, not blogs - but spreadsheets or cheat-sheets). We got about 17K subscribers for these resources. 5K of them became our customers over next 18 months.
👉 𝐀𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐬𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐭 𝐩𝐚𝐲𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 As a services company, we are comfortable with monthly ticket sizes of $4K to $15K. SaaS most likely is 500 times less than that. Building comfort with small ticket recurring payments takes some adjustment. Having customers who you've never spoken to also takes some adjustment.
👉 𝐀𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐬𝐞𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐦 Services business has Clients and these Clients have requirements. SaaS companies have customer cohorts and these cohorts have problems. The mindset required to deal with clients vs customer cohorts is very different. Building that thought process within yourself and the team becomes important. The team will have to go from understanding requirements and giving quotes to listening to problems and identifying insights.
There were a couple more things discussed as well. Do join in the next time if you are around. Thank you Jatin and eChai Ventures for having me in this conversation.
Yesterday marked one of my first public appearances as a Co-Founder of AirX Innovations at the eChai Ventures event hosted at GUSEC (Gujarat University Startup and Entrepreneurship Council).
Sharing my journey as an entrepreneur and introducing AirX Innovations to the audience was an exhilarating experience. We are passionately committed to delivering clean air solutions, and it was incredible to see the spark in the eyes of the audience as we unveiled a pre-trailer of our product at end of the event. Their positive feedback and enthusiasm reaffirmed our mission to disrupt the market in both the D2C and B2B segments.
Stay tuned for more exciting updates as we gear up to launch our website soon! In the meantime, follow our journey and connect with us on social media:
Together, let’s breathe clean air and innovate for a sustainable future!
Para as autoridades chinesas, os cristãos são considerados um perigo para a nação. Chineses protestam contra o “Livro Branco”. (Captura de t...
👉 𝐀𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐟𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠: Couple of questions had an interesting undertone. A 'no' from an investor was being taken as a validation on whether or not their startup could work.
I think that an investor could say no for great many reasons. Ultimately, a founder should try to look at their startup as a financial product in an asset class. It will be difficult to do so - but it has to be done while pitching.
This financial product needs to be put in front of atleast 100 investors before we take their responses as a validation. It is a full time activity for 1 founder for 4 months.
👉 𝐀𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭𝐬: Some bits were being asked around 'how to get customers to change their habits/behaviour?'
An arguable opinion of mine about this is that we should not. Changing consumer/customer habits is extremely difficult and an expensive exercise. We must understand that we will have to learn to fall out of love for our idea and build what the market wants.
Atleast in B2B, more often than not, change management is a huge responsibility that no-one on the client side wants to take. As long as you are cheaper, better or faster at enabling them to save time, save money or make more money - that should do the trick.
👉 𝐀𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬: Couple of interesting hacks were being shared around handling and dealing with negative reviews. These ranged from 'responding to negative reviews quickly' to 'offering the reviewer something for free'.
While these are great for consumer brands, they don't work for B2B. For B2B SaaS, the customer doesn't leave a review. They just churn. At Clientjoy (Acquired by Synup), Anupama and I had a strict schedule of speaking to 1 churned customer every week and we invested significantly in ways to identify churn related behaviours to detect early signals.
After $100K in MRR, a SaaS company is more of a retention game than an acquisition game.
👉 𝐀𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐜𝐨-𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬: Everyone is looking for co-founders for their own business idea. People who have specific skills are also searching for problems to solve.
What I noticed interestingly is no one is saying that 'I am a great AI engineer - I am looking for a business person who has identified a problem, is trying to build a solution and join them as a co-founder.'
It seemed like people felt they should work only on their own ideas and in absence of that, look for ideas. In my opinion, and most other founders, ideas are dime a dozen. Look for people with complimentary skills and relentless persistence.
From the last meetup at GVFL Limited's swanky premise in Ahmedabad. A room full of energetic, curious and inspirational entrepreneurs...
This social happened to be one of the most interesting event I've been part of.
It was awesome meeting Kushagra Pandya, who is building vidyo.ai - an impressive AI based video editor & currently boasting of 2mn+ users. Deep insights & candid conversations.
It's heartening to see some interesting work happening in the area of AI, Web 3.0, Content & Marketing space from Ahmedabad.
Shreyans Panchal's YOMO is another promising tool to drive AI powered users insights.
Met Rohan Patel, who is building Ariso - an AI driven personal nutrition platform.
Bhavesh Patel has already revolutionized how social media marketing happens! His Brands.live is a global venture now.
Ekta Shah is building Biziverse - an enterprise ERP loved by thousands of organizations.
Meeting entrepreneurs from similar businesses always stirs interesting conversations. Met Viraj Rajani and Dipti Parmar - who are doing some really good stuff in area of digital marketing.
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.
