Arunima Sharma

LinkedIn team (Juan Pablo Bottaro Karthik Ramgopal) shared a helpful deep dive into their deployment of an LLM-powered job search assistant. Highly recommend this read! Few highlights:  💡 Relatively easy to setup RAG-based pipeline. Achieved 80% of the basic experience in 1 month, then 4 more months to reach 95% mark. 💡 Evaluating the quality of application outputs is hard. I hear this from many enterprises developing LLM applications. (check out Okareo by Matthew Wyman Boris Selitser) 💡 Balancing latency with quality is important. While certain techniques like Chain of Thought could improve accuracy and reduce hallucinations, it will increase response times, which can affect user experience. https://lnkd.in/gtGGwf5P #largelanguagemodels #RAG #EBR #LLM #ml #ai #hallucinations #evaluations #

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🚨 Attention early-stage founders raising – excited to spread the word about open applications for PEERLESS 2025! Led by AlleyCorp and Management Leadership for Tomorrow, curated programming will culminate in 5 founders pitching at Google's NYC headquarters in April, where one winner will receive a $1M investment from AlleyCorp. This isn't only about creating a more equitable tech ecosystem, it's about backing the next generation of exceptional founders who are uniquely positioned to shape the future. Applications opened on October 15th and close on December 6th 2024. While they welcome all early-stage founders with exceptional ideas, AlleyCorp is encouraging applications from startups that: ✅ Have raised less than $2M ✅ Are technologically innovative ✅ Have a strong go-to-market advantage ✅ Have identified a large market opportunity ✅ Are led by Black, Latine, Native American, or female founders All applicants will be invited to various ecosystem events with top founders and VCs. Learn more and start your application at www.peerlesspitch.com. 💯 👏Desiree Almodovar + #alleycorp

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Achieving product-market fit (PMF) is the holy grail for early stage startups. But, how do you do that??? Where do you focus??? What should you do and when??? Most of the advice and commentary that I have seen is general, without specific recommendations. Todd Jackson (First Round Capital) presents a great framework for PMF with Lenny Rachitsky (Lenny's Podcast). Here are the three things that I really like about Todd's PMF framework. 1) Four stages. Todd breaks the broad PMF topic into bite-sized segments: nascent, developing, strong, and extreme. 2) Clear objectives. For each stage, Todd offers specific goals, metrics, timelines, etc. that are unique to that stage. 3) Four Ps. When a startup gets stuck at a stage, Todd recommends focusing on the 4 Ps (persona, problem, promise, product) to move forward. Super practical and REALLY helpful. Thanks. First Round Capital offers a ton a free and really helpful resources (including a 14-week PMF session) on their website (link in the comments below). Thanks so much!

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📈 Curious about the startup scene in Massachusetts? Explore our detailed funding list featuring startup names, HQ locations, and investor info. Perfect for investors and entrepreneurs alike! Check it out: https://lnkd.in/dAp3xj-Q #startup #startups #venturecapital #funding #vc #managementconsulting

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Connie Kwan 🎤 Story-led Leadership, Chief Product Officer at Nobody Studios, is joining Sejal Thakkar and I on tomorrow's Making of a Nobody podcast. Join us live at 10:00 am PST as we share how to take an idea to an early stage-product. Link is in the comments, see you there! #product #startup #tech #futureisnow #venturestudio

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Building enterprise generative AI — and winning results and ROI for customers — in a market as loud, confusing, and dynamic as this one requires more than strategy: you need a movement. Ours is built around scaling the three big mountains of generative AI: 1️⃣ Application quality Dumb AI apps are still the norm. From data, to context, to continuous data management, there are problems in generative AI that can get hairier the more capable the models get — it's a not a problem that's going away. 2️⃣ Enterprise adoption AI workflows require deep change adoption – not just tech. And most companies are not answering critical questions for their employees: Why are we doing this? What needs to change?  What skills do we need? 3️⃣ Value realization Having an application in production doesn't guarantee the value realization — there are a lot of entrenched factors that are limiting ROI realization for companies, including long-term contracts with contractors / agencies and the fear of restructuring. I talked to Aditya Kaul about some of this stuff a couple weeks back. Let me know what you think in the comments! https://lnkd.in/g-aErTq2

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Showing up even when we feel low I read a fellow founder’s story about receiving an award during a low point in his startup journey. The congratulatory notes skidding through the surface of how one truly feels. These moments of feeling low while expected to feel high happens so often in the founder journey, and reminded me of one stark moment for me. This was the day after I was given the decision to step down from my company. My head was not in the best place, lowest it would ever be. And I had to show up to pitch the company to a potential client. In my head, I thought to myself this could be the last time I would ever pitch about the company. It was painful, I wished I could have say hey I don't feel up for it, but no one else could have done this pitch. You continue to show up even though you are at the lowest, because you are expected to. Not by anyone else, but by yourself and the commitment you 100% want to give even though you are most down. As founders or solopreneurs, we can feel the lowest, no one might be there to pick us up, and we are faced with a situation where we have no choice but to put that feeling aside and show up. We pick ourselves up for the people around us. But we can't just put that feeling aside. It's not right. I allowed myself to feel the emotions. At that moment, we shelf them. But after, we take them out again and feel them. It’s ok not to be ok.  Find a truth, then ground yourself. Write that truth out, say it out, and feel it. Feel it settle into your body as you feel the ground at your feet. The emotions are temporary. You’ve overcome this before. Find support and talk it out. Remember, you are not alone. #MentalHealthAwareness #SelfCare #Resilience

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HOT TAKE: Early stage venture is doomed. 📉 Generative AI is commoditizing software. In this new reality, the venture landscape is facing a generational reckoning and must adapt in order to survive or risk radical disruption. How so, you might ask? Check out my thoughts in The GenAI Collective’s latest community newsletter! https://lnkd.in/gpTmePtn

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84% of customers want to be treated like a person, not a number. Yet most AI measurement systems ignore the human element. 🤖 Smart companies track these human-centric metrics: • Conversation complexity scores • Sentiment analysis trends • Personal touch indicators • Relationship depth metrics Stripe's approach: • Equal weight to efficiency AND effectiveness • Balanced scorecard methodology • Regular human interaction audits • Customer satisfaction correlation The best AI implementations enhance rather than replace human connection. Looking to balance AI efficiency with human touch? Let's discuss your strategy. #startups #founders #growth 🚀 🚀 🚀 Are you interested in the current state of AI in sales & marketing? I'm performing some research here at Mythmaker to better understand a problem I bet many of us have: measuring the impact of AI solutions in sales and marketing. And I need your help! What You Get: - Free personalized benchmark report compared to your peers - Early access to full research findings & potential spotlight features - Potential spotlight features to share what's working (and what's not) Quick Facts: - 5-10 minute survey - Focused on practical experiences - All responses confidential Help me out by clicking through & sharing this quick survey — https://lnkd.in/enKv52xT

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Google's first CEO, Eric Schmidt offers powerful advice to entrepreneurs on protecting equity and building successful businesses. He stresses the importance of frugality and resourcefulness, reminding us that founders must focus on spending money wisely and efficiently. Many of the best founders, like those of Google, started with no salary and minimal luxuries, using every dollar strategically to grow their venture. His own experience—working in shared office space and using a door as a desk—serves as a reminder that success comes from grit, sacrifice, and smart financial decisions. To all the entrepreneurs trained and mentored by the Centre for Entrepreneurship Development, BRAC University, remember that building a sustainable business means being resourceful, protecting your equity, and staying focused on the long game. Your hard work and sacrifices today will shape your success tomorrow. #CED-BRAC University, #Entrepreneurship #Frugality #FoundersJourney #BRAC #BRACUniversity #StartupSuccess #EquityProtection #Leadership #GrowthMindset #FounderSacrifice #BusinessBuilding #Startups

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Solid advice to founders from the co-founder and CEO of Databricks, Ali Ghodsi 👇 Target other startups first. Ali draws on Geoffrey Moore’s book Crossing the Chasm, which identifies five key groups in the tech adoption cycle: 1️⃣ Innovators 2️⃣ Early adopters 3️⃣ Early majority 4️⃣ Late majority 5️⃣ Laggards Ali’s advice is especially relevant for AI-focused founders, given the myriad of risks (security, privacy, explainability, and so on) that come with putting generative AI models into production. It is difficult to target established, traditional companies—the laggards—as an initial market. These large enterprises come with a labyrinth of security requirements, bureaucratic red tape, and drawn-out sales cycles. Beginning with other startups increases the likelihood that a product will be adopted and provides a powerful way to collect early user feedback. Establishing this data flywheel can help an AI startup differentiate their model and iterate their way to product-market fit. Salesforce and Dropbox used this particular playbook. Once you've proven your model with startups, then you can set your sights on enterprise 🚀

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In an era where innovation outpaces regulation, how can entrepreneurs embed social responsibility into the DNA of their startups? 🌐💡 Recent conversations and insightful pieces, particularly one by Lyel Resner and Dr. Wilneida Negrón, have sparked a profound consideration in my thinking: the imperative for responsible innovation in tech ventures. They posit a tantalizing question - what if the tech giants of tomorrow were built on the foundations of public interest and social responsibility today? Diving into this thought experiment reveals more than just an ethical proposition; it opens up a paradigm where businesses can be both profitable and purposeful. Embedding social responsibility from the outset could guide ventures to prioritize long-term societal well-being over short-term gains. Imagine a future where companies are not just evaluated by their financial performance but also by their contribution to solving societal issues. The notion is ambitious but certainly not unattainable. This approach challenges us as entrepreneurs, investors, and innovators to rethink our roles in shaping the future of technology. It's a call to action to pioneer a new wave of responsible businesses that are equipped to address, rather than exacerbate, global challenges. Let’s discuss: How can we as part of the startup ecosystem integrate these principles into our work from day zero? Your thoughts could light up paths not yet traveled. 🚀🌍

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#AI will replace #ProductManagers. That's my thought - with a caveat: It's not going to replace all Human PMs, but augment their abilities in such a way that the role of PM today will evolve into something else. Either 1 PM will do the work of 2-3 PMs today, or a PM will be a hybrid of what a PM is now + other skills. AI is what will help them do that - because you'll have much more time to focus on other (important) things. I practice what I preach: Try our AI-based toolset that gives you the power of a Virtual Product Team - cheaper than a ☕ https://lnkd.in/emaatThR

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Fantastic panel on GTM for Enterprise AI. Thanks to fellow panelists for a sharp discussion and to Emergent Ventures for hosting. Anupam Rastogi Ankur Jain Preethy Padmanabhan Chandini M Ammineni Jason Griggs Deb Bardhan #GTM #EnterpriseAI

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As a venture capitalist, one framework that consistently illuminates startup potential for me is the Gartner Hype Cycle. It offers invaluable insights into the trajectory of emerging technologies and helps assess their long-term viability. When evaluating startup pitches, I hone in on the Technology Trigger phase. The pivotal question I ask: Does this technology have the seed of a long-term, profitable, and defensible disruption? It is really important to note that assessing this potential isn't solely about the tech's claims. It's about market timing. If you’re looking at another framework that we rely on “Technology Readiness Level”, then this is where the word “Readiness” comes in. How does that translate for us? When we’re in due diligence at RiSC, we delve into recent trends and developments within the broader tech landscape to learn why now is the opportune moment for pre-seed investment in a particular venture because of its underlying technology. For startup founders in deeptech seeking VC backing, understanding our perspectives can be game-changing when it comes to developing a partnership with us through getting funded. When crafting your pitch, consider not only the promise of your technology but also why this moment is primed for its ascent. Investors are not just evaluating your tech; they're evaluating its timing. Aligning your narrative with the dynamics of the Gartner Hype Cycle can be the key to unlocking investment opportunities and propelling your startup to success: https://bit.ly/45YjETv #StartupInsights #GartnerHypeCycle #VentureCapital #TechInvesting #MarketTiming

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I’m honored to have been invited by The Wharton School's AI& Analytics to join an exclusive, closed-door discussion on Generative AI and Workforce with a select group of industry leaders, academic researchers, and executives last week. LEAD(https://www.lead.app), As one of the select few from 16 companies, I had the opportunity to engage with industry experts, including C-level leaders, senior directors from a global technology powerhouse, a leading management consulting firm, and a multinational consumer goods company. The discussion also featured valuable contributions from distinguished Wharton faculty, offering deep insights into the future of work, workforce innovation, and the evolving role of knowledge management in AI-driven organizations. ✨ With my background in Knowledge Management from Columbia University’s MS in Information & Knowledge Strategy (IKNS) program, I found the focus on leveraging Generative AI to enhance knowledge flow, collaboration, and decision-making within an organization particularly compelling. 👏 Key Discussion Highlights: 👏 Trends in GenAI Adoption: Companies are cautiously piloting GenAI for tasks like supply chain optimization and product planning, though concerns about ROI, privacy, and regulations slow scaling efforts. Barriers and Challenges: Privacy issues and data security concerns limit broader adoption, especially for customer-facing applications. A lack of ROI clarity and the rapid pace of AI development make scaling AI initiatives challenging. GenAI’s Workforce Impact: Entry-level and repetitive tasks are being automated, affecting skill-building opportunities for junior employees while senior roles adapt AI more effectively. Concerns around motivation and engagement in AI-driven workplaces were explored. Upskilling and Reskilling: Discussions emphasized the importance of prompt engineering, hands-on experimentation, and peer learning to align AI capabilities with business needs. It was a privilege to contribute alongside such esteemed individuals and organizations. Excited to continue exploring how Generative AI will shape the future of work!

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Excited to announce the launch of Bracket by BoldCap 🚀 India's first Go-To-Market platform for entrepreneurs building global AI companies. For the past year, Bracket has been exclusively supporting our portfolio founders to tackle the complexities of scaling AI-native products in the global market, especially North America. Today, I am excited to launch Bracket; to provide all AI builders with the same GTM accessibility.. 🎯 The new landscape shift has made it absolutely clear that traditional SaaS playbooks no longer fit the bill for AI-native products. We are redefining this through Bracket – our closely curated community of 50+ GTM operators across North America and Europe who offer the resources, networks, and the new-age playbooks that founders need in their $0-$1M journey of building an AI company from India to the world. 🌍 We work with some of the smartest minds in GTM globally– from the Revenue director at Clari, Pricing leader at DocuSign, GTM leader at Databricks, Sales leader at Outreach to Growth Leader at Snowflake and many more– all exceptionally talented operators who have built multiple GTM motions from scratch and are now committed to support the upcoming generation of entrepreneurs along with us. We deeply believe this is what our ecosystem needs: accessibility to the right leaders in the global market, and we aim to bridge this for Indian founders. Thanks to our early GTM partners Jyoti Swarnkar Samuel Sunderaraj Kiran Surapaneni Merritt Baer Murali K Atul Sahai Ramana Narayanam Sara Archer Sara Jones Shiv Sundar Stan Rymkiewicz Andreas Drakos Andres Lozano Sanudo Ashwath M. Brant W. Cody Harris Connor Williams Daniil Krets Jake Haselden Jeff de Ruyter Karthik Ramamoorthy Kevin Flitcroft Laura Handy LeeRon Yahalomi Paul McGhee Shane O'Neill (and the list goes on.... unfortunately not able to tag more) who shaped Bracket into a powerful community along with us. Big shout out to Aditi Gera for all her effort on putting this together and to the rest of the BoldCap team Shiv Tayal Pratham Chadha Kevin D'Souza. Thank you Bhuvana Kamath and YourStory Media for this exclusive coverage - https://lnkd.in/gZBXTsmv If you're founder in the AI software space, we are excited to work with you! BoldCap

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Good read by Mark Minevich. The article discusses how we are beyond AI “awareness”, moving to “strategy”, and will reap the benefits as we “implement”. My own AI 4D approach, successfully tested across multiple implementations, includes: 1️⃣ Define: Use case, infra, platforms, xLMs, team 2️⃣ Develop: Focused pilot with one use case 3️⃣ Deploy: Implement, learn, iterate, promote 4️⃣ Double-up: Across use cases, teams, product lines Net/Net: We might be at the end of the beginning with Gen AI. We are going from infra to platforms to applied AI. The Real AI Revolution has just begun !!! #AIDecade #InvestorDecade #GlobalAI150

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Of the 89 companies in the Summer 2024 cohort on @YC’s website, just 5 have Black founders. Here are three things YC can do to lead the way in supporting Black founders: Y Combinator is the Harvard of accelerators for startup founders. But not for all of them. 1. Give clear explanations to rejected applicants. Nothing drives a founder forward like clear, actionable feedback. It helps them identify their company’s weaknesses and, thus, what to work on to improve. This type of transparency would build trust with Black founders and ultimately encourage more to apply. Even doing this for the top 10% of rejected applicants could make a big difference. 2. Partner with other organizations that already do an excellent job of supporting Black founders. There are many out there (my favorite being @goodienation),). Not only can these organizations offer diverse and innovative ideas, but collaborating with them would widen the pool of Black applicants. 3. Leverage the (albeit relatively small) network of YC-backed Black founders. Mentorship is a critical part of YC’s model, and I’d argue that the value of that mentorship increases when the mentor understands the additional challenges associated with being Black in that space. Black YC alumni can support new Black applicants on their journeys, and their referrals can help build a steady stream of Black applicants for future cohorts. I believe Y Combinator can uplift Black and underrepresented founders more broadly, but these three steps are a good start. Any other ideas? Let me know in the comments. Also, shout out to the five companies representing this year’s cohort! Rastro (YC S24) Zimi (YC S24) &AI Conductor Quantum AnswerGrid

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