How did your experience at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign shape your perspective and prepare you for your entrepreneurial journey ahead?

I would not have been an entrepreneur had it not been for my experience at UIUC. By junior year, I discovered the college’s rich legacy when it came to technology founders, starting from Siebel to Andreesen and then more recently the Paypal Mafia & Youtube. I would attend various entrepreneurship meetups & sessions hosted by the Department of Computer Science (now The Siebel School of Computing and Data Science), and realised this was the type of work I wanted to do. As a result, post graduation I moved out to the San Francisco Bay Area to start working in technology startups. 

The peer group at Illinois continually pushed one to new heights, it was fiercely competitive (in only the most positive way), which is what you need in the real world to succeed as an entrepreneur. 

What key lessons have you learned over time about scaling a startup, and how did that influence your approach with the companies you have led?

There was a famous talk many years back where the speaker (founder of a startup incubator in LA) asked the audience, what is the single biggest factor that determines startup success? Most people answered it’s the team or amount of capital they are able to raise or the idea itself. The correct answer based on studying data of more than 1,000 successful startups was: Timing.

Haptik built a personal assistant AI chatbot in 2014, 8 years before ChatGPT came out. We struggled to get our message across, the technology wasn’t quite ready, and eventually we pivoted to a different product.

So, for me, that’s the biggest lesson I have learnt building businesses, that timing is everything, and it’s as bad being early as it is being late.

What inspired you to venture into conversational AI with Haptik in 2013, and what was the initial vision for the company?

I was working in San Francisco at a startup that provided analytics tools to mobile app companies. One of our big customer segments ended up being messaging apps such as WhatsApp, WeChat, TextPlus, and so on. I noticed how in 2011-12, the engagement on these apps was off the charts and people really enjoyed the asynchronous nature of texting. So, that got me thinking, what if there was a product that enabled the same type of connectivity between people & businesses for topics such as customer service, sales inquiries, etc. And that was the trigger for the birth of Haptik - a conversational AI platform to enable meaningful engagement between consumers and businesses.

Haptik underwent several pivots before finding its niche. Can you share the challenges faced during those transitions and how you overcame them?

When we started Haptik in 2013, the most common question I’d get was, “Nobody else is doing this anywhere in the world — why do you think it’ll work?” By 2017, the question had flipped to, “There are so many players now — how will you stand out?” That arc really captures our journey. We were trying to build an AI chatbot company out of India at a time when the space was barely understood — it was truly ahead of its time. As a result, we struggled for a long time to find product-market fit. We didn’t have a clear answer to what exact customer problem we were solving, so we kept experimenting, iterating, and pivoting. But through it all, we stayed committed to our core mission: building an AI chat company. I’ve always believed that while it’s okay to fail, failure isn’t something to glorify — it’s not cool. So giving up was never on the table. Our approach was to keep learning from every failed experiment, stay close to our users, and continue pushing forward. That persistence is ultimately what helped Haptik break through.

The acquisition by Reliance Jio was a significant milestone. How did that partnership come about, and what impact did it have on Haptik's growth?

Once we pivoted to a B2B AI chatbot model, we were actively reaching out to large enterprises to adopt our platform. One such outreach led us to Reliance — naturally, we were eager to work with them given they’re India’s largest enterprise. Initially, we thought it would be a routine customer meeting with their digital or IT teams. But a day before, we received a call from the Chairman’s office to discuss the agenda — and we realized this was something bigger. When we walked into the room, we found ourselves across the table from two of the most senior executives in the entire Reliance Group. To our surprise, they had come with a pitch of their own — they weren’t just looking to be a customer, but a strategic partner. They asked about our long-term vision, and we shared that we wanted to build a large, lasting business. They responded by expressing interest in partnering at a much deeper level. Within 48 hours, we had a handshake on the deal.

It felt like one of those “overnight success” stories — except it was six years in the making. The impact was transformative. When Reliance invested, Haptik was doing under $1 million in revenue. Five years later, we’re a $40M+ business and a market leader in our space. The capital, credibility, and strategic support from Reliance played a defining role — it’s safe to say that without Jio, Haptik wouldn’t be where it is today.

Beyond Haptik, you've founded Interakt and co-founded Peerchque. What drives your passion for supporting startups, and how do you choose ventures to invest in?

I’ve always been drawn to the zero-to-one journey — the chaos, the creativity, the possibility. I’m someone who thrives on variety. Rather than going deep on one thing for years, I enjoy juggling multiple ideas and experiments. That’s what energizes me and gives me a sense of creative fulfillment, even if it goes against the conventional wisdom of “focus on one thing and do it well.”

Interakt was born out of that spirit. At Haptik, we had a special projects team exploring adjacent problems faced by our customers. One of those explorations uncovered a big opportunity for a very different segment — and that’s what led to Interakt. I spent a lot of time building it in the early days before passing it on to a team to scale.

Similarly, Peercheque came from years of angel investing. Friends would often ask if they could co-invest alongside me, which naturally evolved into a proper syndicate. Now, Peercheque backs promising early-stage startups in India with a growing network of like-minded investors.

Ultimately, this ecosystem-building — whether as a founder, investor, or mentor — is just a way of life for me. When choosing what to invest time or capital into, I look for two things: first, opportunities that have the potential for meaningfully large outcomes — what I like to call an “unbounded pursuit.” And second, I look to work with people I genuinely enjoy being around. If those two align, I’m all in.

You've built and led teams across multiple ventures. What's your philosophy on building strong, high-performing teams - from assembling the right people to fostering a culture of collaboration and growth?

My team-building formula is simple: Values 70 % | Aptitude 20 % | Skills 10 %.

Values (70 %) – Hire people whose principles align with ours: integrity, ownership, curiosity, collaboration. A values mismatch is the only true deal-breaker.

Aptitude (20 %) – Look for raw problem-solving and learning speed. Startups change daily; people who can grow with the role matter more than perfect résumés.

Skills (10 %) – Baseline competence is necessary but teachable. Only deep-tech roles flip the weighting and demand hard expertise up front.

We bring this to life with a rigorous hiring process and quick exits for values misfits, company-wide transparent Objectives and Key Results that kill silos, a “fail fast, learn faster” mindset to preserve psychological safety, quarterly stretch assignments with mentorship to compound growth, and open founder office hours that flatten hierarchy and surface fresh ideas.

How do you see India's AI ecosystem evolving in the coming decade and what role do you hope to play in shaping it?

Starting 2025, I believe India’s AI ecosystem is at a true inflection point. Historically, we’ve been 5–15 years behind the curve when it comes to major technology waves — largely because of where we are as a developing economy. But AI is different. We’re barely 1.5 to 2 years behind the global frontier, and already we’re seeing incredibly talented, young technical teams begin to build world-class AI companies — not just for India, but for the world.

This is just the beginning of India’s AI story. Over the next decade, I see it becoming one of the most vibrant ecosystems globally — a hub not just for talent and adoption, but for original AI innovation.

As for my role, I see myself as an enabler in every way I can be — as an entrepreneur, investor, mentor, and ecosystem builder. I’ve been fortunate to build and exit an AI company, invest in the next wave of founders, and contribute to national AI policy efforts. With that experience, I feel a deep sense of purpose — and privilege — to help shape the future of AI value creation from India over the next 20–30 years.