The Shift From Building Products to Building Businesses - from AI x SaaS Founders Meetup in Surat

Had the opportunity to attend and speak at the AI × SaaS Founders Meetup in Surat, and it turned out to be a very meaningful evening.

What made this event special was the audience - largely first-time founders, aspiring entrepreneurs, and strong tech professionals who are at the idea or early execution stage. Their questions reflected curiosity, honesty, and a real desire to understand how AI and SaaS move beyond code into sustainable businesses.

The conversation was enriched by a diverse set of perspectives from the speakers.

Chirag Lathiya brought in a solid builder’s mindset.
Drawing from his journey of building remote-first teams and SaaS platforms, he spoke about execution discipline, long-term thinking, and the realities founders often underestimate - especially when transitioning from engineering roles into leadership and entrepreneurship.

Chintan Papaiya shared a very grounded perspective on applying AI to real-world problems. His insights made AI feel practical and purposeful, particularly for founders who are still figuring out how to align technology with impact, use cases, and market needs.

From my own journey as a founder, I focused on something I see many tech founders struggle with - the shift from building products to building businesses. AI and SaaS are powerful tools, but without clarity on customers, positioning, and execution, even great technology fails to scale. The discussion around this resonated strongly with early-stage founders in the room.

A special mention to Manoj Adwani Advani, who moderated the session beautifully - keeping the discussion structured, inclusive, and engaging while ensuring the audience felt comfortable asking beginner-level yet critical questions.

Kudos to eChai Ventures and Narola Infotech for creating a space where learning felt approachable and conversations were honest.

Events like these remind me that strong startup ecosystems are built not just by success stories - but by shared learning, openness, and community support, especially for founders just starting out.