“Design thinking isn’t a buzzword anymore. It’s becoming a core leadership skill.” 💡

Last month, I had the joy of speaking at the eChai Ventures Ahmedabad Design Meetup at the beautiful iHub premises in Ahmedabad. I must say this campus has a personality of itself. The aura of the space itself invites creativity and innovation. The audience had settled down and the speakers were just starting the introductions.

On stage with me were fellow women founders and designers, Kushboo Shah (Principal Designer, Studio Juxta), Drashti Vora (Partner at Studuo - Branding & UI/UX), Sheel Damani (Founder and Principal Strategist, Fruitfly Design), Isha Nadkarni Talsania (Co-founder Future Learning Circles), Rujuta Shah (Founder - Studio Oblique) who are quietly (and boldly) shaping the next wave of digital products.

Big credit to Jatin Chaudhary for putting together such a well-structured and purposeful meetup. Events like this only happen when there’s real intent and strong execution behind them.

We shared stories from nuances of real‑world projects: launches that created impact, projects that gave freedom to experiment, and moments where a single user interview or a question or the persistence to keep going changed the entire roadmap.

What stayed with me was the curiosity in the room.
“Where do you draw the line between business asks and user needs?”
“How do I find a way to express my creative way in my work which comes with constraints of its own?”
“What are the practical ways in which AI has helped you in your process?”
These weren’t theoretical questions; they came from product owners, founders, and designers wrestling with live products and real constraints.

The takeaways were crisp and actionable. It was inspiring to see design thinking applied across such a wide spectrum—healthcare, fintech, SaaS, education—and to feel how powerful it becomes when teams truly put humans at the center of every decision. 🧠✨

If you’re designing products today, design thinking isn’t a “nice to have” anymore—it’s your competitive edge.

Were you at the meetup, or have a story where design thinking changed your product’s direction?

👇 Share your experience in the comments, and if you’d like to swap notes or collaborate on human‑centered product journeys, let’s connect. 💬✨

“Coming together is a beginning, staying together is progress, and working together is success.” — Henry Ford

I met Haripriya Bhagat in the very early days of eChai, almost 11 years ago. What started as meeting a like-minded woman in the neighbourhood slowly turned into running marathons together, supporting and learning from each other, making business introductions, and, in the process, creating a strong support system.

And that’s exactly what Jatin Chaudhary has consistently done with eChai Ventures, and what Harsha Bhurani is doing so thoughtfully in creating space specifically for women, building a community where relationships don’t end with an event. They compound. That’s the long game.

This particular event, with a new generation of builders in the room, reinforced something important:

Some people already have a seat at the table.
Some are building the table itself.

But the real question isn’t how the seat was secured. It’s how you show up once you’re there, how you contribute, add perspective, and earn respect over time by consistently adding value with the content.

Excited to see what Ahmedabad is becoming, and a huge shout-out to eChai Ventures for quietly and consistently contributing to the ecosystem.

Last week’s eChai event was one of those rare, wholesome experiences where everything just comes together. Low effort, unplanned yet incredibly beautiful and festive ✨ These are the moments that truly feel worth it.

And it wasn’t just one or two things, it was actually few super cool, completely unplanned highlights that made the evening special.

First, we decided to bring in a panel to clarify all the common doubts founders have around compliance, accounting and legal. Even before the main event started, we hosted a free legal and compliance clinic for our in-house entrepreneurs. Huge shoutout to our partners at The Startup Zone. Sharath Shyamasunder and his team spent more than five hours patiently helping startups sharing expert opinions and answering questions non-stop. (If you’re looking for these services, we highly recommend Startup Zone). DM me and I’ll be happy to put you in touch.

Second, we tried a D2C pop-up stall by Jalsa Snacks. What began as simple sampling turned into actual sales. The audience absolutely loved it and we didn’t charge anything because this was purely about supporting an early-stage entrepreneur and helping bring something beautiful to life. If you’re building a D2C brand and want to put up a stall, DM us, we’ve got your back.

And my favorite part, the real rockstars are the ones who don’t wait for opportunities they seize them. Aditya Mittal from Christ University, Bangalore main campus stepped up and moderated the event. Total Draper material. We’re genuinely rooting for this new talent who is going to own this space 🚀

None of this would have happened without the support of Jatin Chaudhary and The Startup Zone. Grateful for partnerships that truly show up and make things happen.

Looking forward to many more imperfect but beautiful moments like this. Such a great way to end the year just kidding, we still have seven amazing days to go. Let’s end the year on a high note.

An interesting way to think about AEO 👇

What if you didn’t optimize just your brand - but each product or listing?

AI answers aren’t brand pages. They’re situational.

- “Best X for Y”
- “Affordable X with Z”
- “X vs Y”

Each product can win its own moment inside AI responses.

The future of AEO won’t be one homepage strategy.

It’ll look more like product-level visibility.

Anyone here experimenting with this? 
Let's connect. 


- Kalgi
"𝑂𝑝𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑖𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑡 𝑙𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑙 𝑣𝑖𝑠𝑖𝑏𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦"

Conversations matter as much as credentials.

Being in a room full of women founders is always powerful, but the eChai Ventures Women Founders Initiative was inspiring. 

What stood out this time wasn’t scale or success stories—but the quality of conversations. The discussions were thoughtful, grounded, and deeply founder-led.

Every conversation revolved around real journeys, business challenges, leadership doubts, financial pressures, team building, and the invisible load women often carry while growing a company. There was honesty, vulnerability, and strength in equal measure. 

As a founder, my key takeaways were: 

1. Leadership evolves through challenges, not titles 
Every woman in the room had her own version of struggle, yet leadership showed up in persistence, adaptability, and clarity. 

2. Decision-making defines leadership
Founders spoke about choices, when to push, when to pause, and when to say no. Leadership showed up less in authority and more in intentional decisions.

3. Founders need spaces to think, not just execute
These conversations allowed reflection, something founders rarely give themselves time for while running daily operations.

Grateful to be part of a community where conversations go beyond success stories and into real leadership. 

Grateful for spaces that foster thoughtful leadership.