What was planned as two neat panels turned into a whirlwind of ideas, discussions, and insights. The air was buzzing with more energy than a Friday night concert.

The conversations went way beyond slides and soundbites. Speakers opened up about what’s really working in GTM and CX and how AI is shaking things up from the inside out. It felt less like a panel discussion and more like a backstage pass into the playbooks of builders, innovators, and leaders who are shaping this shift in real time.

A massive thank you to every speaker who brought their A-game on stage.

AI × CX Panel:
Harshita Banka - VP of Customer Experience Transformation, Infor
Rafael Godinez - Senior Manager of Customer Success, Zoom
Sangita Ray - Director of Customer Success, WRITER
Gaby Moran - VP of Cutomer Success Management and Experience, Workato

AI × GTM Panel:
Aquibur Rahman - CEO, Mailmodo
Jen Cheng - Founder, Arc and Amplify
Hitesh A. - Co-Founder, Breakout
Nalin Senthamil - Founder & CEO, Storylane

You all made the night unforgettable and left the room smarter, sharper, and hungry for more. And of course, a huge shoutout to everyone who showed up. You’re the heartbeat of this community and the reason it’s growing faster than we ever imagined. Gratitude also to Zoom (Ojus Save) for giving us the perfect stage and to eChai Ventures (Jatin Chaudhary) for always being the strong support behind the community.

If you weren’t in the room you missed the vibe, the rawness, the laughter, and the moments of “aha” that no LinkedIn carousel can truly capture. But don’t worry… this is just the beginning. The AI Shift has momentum and the next one will be even bigger.

At eChai Ventures, our Unforgettable Lessons series captures the stories founders carry with them — the moments of rejection, resilience, and realization that change how they build and grow.

For Ishani Upadhyay Dave, Co-Founder & CEO of ShaadiVibe, one such lesson unfolded in a café in Ahmedabad, just weeks before her official launch.

Here’s how she tells it:

My path to building this platform has been filled with unexpected twists, but one story from early on taught me a lesson I'll never forget: the importance of community over competition. It unfolded in a bustling Ahmedabad café in March 2025, just weeks before our official launch.

I was there to meet a potential investor, a well-known name in Gujarat's startup scene, hoping to secure funding to scale ShaadiVibe. ShaadiVibe was still a bootstrap operation, and I had sunk my personal savings into developing the website and onboarding our first 100 verified vendors.

The meeting started promisingly; he praised our focus on Tier 1 and 2 cities, where 55% of Gujarat's weddings happen. But then he leaned in and said, "This is great, but you're too small. WedMeGood and WeddingWire dominate, why not sell your tech to them instead?"

It felt like a gut punch. I'd quit my corporate job to build something that empowered offline vendors, not to hand it over. My face burned with a mix of anger and disappointment as I shook his hand and left, wondering if I was naive to think we could compete.

That rejection lingered for days, making me question everything. But it also sparked an idea: instead of chasing big money, why not lean into the local network?

I reached out to a small group of vendors we'd already connected with, florists and decorators who had shared their pain points about 10–40% middlemen fees. I talked to vendors not to pitch or sell our subscription plan, but to listen and collaborate.

To my surprise, one vendor, a young photographer named Aarav, offered to introduce us to his network in Surat. "We're all in this together," he said. That single gesture snowballed: within a month, we onboarded 200 more vendors through word-of-mouth, and our site traffic hit 1,500 couples.

It wasn't investor cash that fueled our growth. It was genuine relationships.

The lesson hit hard: in a cutthroat market, building a community of allies beats going it alone. That investor's “no” pushed me to prioritize trust and collaboration, which has grown ShaadiVibe to 490+ vendors today, saving couples 20–35% on planning costs.

At eChai Ventures, our Unforgettable Lessons series brings forward the defining truths founders learn on their journeys. These are not just stories of success, but of survival, resilience, and the inner conviction that keeps entrepreneurs moving through uncertainty.

For Priyanka Sachdeva, Founder of Core & Pure – Essential Oils, the most powerful lesson has been about passion, purpose, and the responsibility to keep going even when no one else can step in.

Here’s how she tells it:

From the outside, entrepreneurship often looks like a straight path to success, freedom, innovation, and growth. In reality, it is a relentless journey filled with volatility, setbacks, and constant recalibration. The lesson I’ve learned is simple yet profound: unless you are building something you truly believe in and are deeply passionate about, you won’t have the resilience to navigate the inevitable ups and downs.

I’ve seen days in business where survival itself was in question, when money was scarce, both personally and professionally. In those moments, one truth became crystal clear: no one else will step in to rescue you. You are the one who has to find the ways and means to move forward.

As the first Shiva Sutra says, “Only you are your own.” That wisdom holds 100% true in entrepreneurship. Only you can make it possible, no one else.

At eChai Ventures, our Unforgettable Lessons series captures the moments that shape how founders and leaders build, lead, and grow. These are not always stories of success but of the doubts, risks, and decisions that define the journey.

For Charu Mishra, CEO of AMRTM (Dholakia Foundation), that moment came when she stepped into an industry she knew little about and discovered that leadership is less about having ready answers and more about showing up with responsibility every single day.

Here’s how she tells it:

If you had asked me a few years ago whether I’d ever find myself leading a social enterprise in the water sector, I would’ve laughed. Water? It felt too simple, too basic, too ordinary. But the truth is, nothing about water is simple once you try to build a purpose-driven brand around it.

You must be wondering what AMRTM is? It started with a purpose. Dholakia Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Hari Krishna Exports Pvt. Ltd., has worked extensively on water conservation initiatives. We looked at the dry, cracked earth of rural Gujarat and chose action over apathy. With a deep commitment to water conservation, the foundation led the revival of over 160 water bodies and conserved over 36 billion liters of water, bringing life back to dying rivers, empowering farmers, and creating sustainable livelihoods for rural communities.

AMRTM was born from that mission. What if the water we worked so hard to conserve could reach people not just as hydration, but as a symbol of revival, sustainability, and hope? That’s the heart behind AMRTM.

My journey into AMRTM started without a blueprint. I had no prior experience in the industry, no ready answers, and no “playbook” to follow. What I did have was honesty towards my work and a belief that whatever role I take up, I must give it my all, never half-heartedly. Maybe that’s why, when the opportunity to lead AMRTM came, I didn’t step back despite not knowing everything. I trusted my ability to learn, to adapt, and to build from scratch.

And it wasn’t easy. There were days of doubt, when I wondered if we were even moving in the right direction. There were nights that stretched endlessly with discussions, planning, and re-planning. I never imagined that something as universal as water could demand so much, from quality checks to building trust with consumers, from understanding production processes to strategizing brand positioning. Every small decision carried weight.

But here’s the unforgettable lesson I carry from this journey: you don’t need to have all the answers on day one. What you need is the willingness to ask the right questions, to keep learning, and to show up with responsibility every single day.

Becoming a CEO may sound exotic from the outside, but in reality, it’s about accountability. It’s about ensuring that your team feels guided, supported, and trusted, while also keeping a close eye on quality, because ultimately, the responsibility is yours. And in my case, the responsibility became even greater because AMRTM is not my own venture. The trust placed in me to lead it, without gender bias and purely on merit, is something I deeply value. It makes me double the responsible and double the committed.

Building AMRTM wasn’t just about launching a water brand. It was about becoming a student again, learning a completely new industry, making mistakes, correcting them, and moving forward with resilience. It was about bringing together a team that shares the same heart and vision, and about holding myself to the highest standards of honesty and hard work.

Yes, challenges still lie ahead. Yes, mistakes will happen. But I am not afraid anymore. I feel prepared. Because this journey has already taught me the toughest and most beautiful lesson of all: with patience, intention, and belief, even the most complex journeys can be built step by step.

At eChai Ventures, our Unforgettable Lessons series brings together founders’ stories about the moments that shaped their journey. These are not just tales of wins or failures, but turning points that leave a lasting imprint on how they think and build.

For Dr. Trishala Punjabi, CEO of BharatMD, one such lesson came during her first venture, when she learned that traction alone does not equal success.

Here’s how she tells it:

When I started my first company, Medguru, I thought traction meant success. Within months, we had 20,000 medical students using our app across 300 colleges. I felt like I had cracked it. But as the months went by, the numbers told a harsher story: in two years, we had made just ₹2 lakhs.

I couldn’t understand it. Students said they loved the app. They told me it was useful, even essential. Yet when it came to paying, almost no one did. That disconnect frustrated me more than failure. It felt like I was running on a treadmill, moving hard but going nowhere.

It forced me to confront a truth I had overlooked: just because people need something doesn’t mean they will pay for it. True customer development is not about hearing “yes, this is great”, but about digging until you understand what they value enough to part with their money for.

When I carried this lesson into my second venture, everything changed. I approached customers differently, asking sharper questions, testing willingness to pay before building, and focusing only on what truly mattered to them. The result? I made the same ₹2 lakhs in just 15 days that had taken me two years before.

That contrast, two years versus fifteen days, is etched into my memory. It taught me customer development from the ground up. Along the way, I also realized how easy it is, when you’re just starting out, to be blinded by your own idea. You fall in love with it, assume others will too, and lose sight of reality.

I had to learn to be brutally honest with myself and test whether customers actually wanted what I was offering. I even rejected three ideas I was deeply in love with before I started BharatMD, because customer conversations showed me they wouldn’t work.

If you’re just starting your journey, I’d recommend reading The Mom Test. It helped me ask the right questions and separate real signals from polite encouragement.

The most unforgettable lesson I’ve learned is this: the strength of your startup doesn’t come from how much you believe in the idea, but from how clearly and honestly you understand your customer.