Ajay Agarwal’s Post

For our inaugural 'In the Labs' interview series, we sat down with founder Amit Aggarwal to hear why he’s building an AI startup in BCV Labs after selling his company THE YES (acquired by Pinterest) . Amit is the type of founder who is as thoughtful about product as he is about the art of leadership, and he shared his hard-won lessons from both. As one example of conviction he developed from his time at Bloomreach, he believes that early-stage CTOs should be highly involved in non-engineering parts of the business, and this extends to the team. "I don’t like to hire engineers who say they don’t think about the product. If someone says, 'I’m going to build what you tell me to build,' I won’t hire them. Big companies are different, but a startup is a combination of technology, product and go-to-market. As an engineer, you cannot build a product without having a good understanding of the trade-offs involved in something like whether a product should be self-serve, for example. If you don’t understand the go-to-market implications and you don’t understand the fact that adding a certain config is going to add lots of work for the customer and the customer success teams, then you’re not doing your job."

Let's be blunt. "Founder-market/problem fit" beats "product-market fit" by many miles at the earliest stages of a startup. I've learned that lesson and have become wary of becoming a founder or joining the initial founding team (subtle yet significant difference between those two) unless I feel passionately confident about the idea and my ability to contribute to building traction. Never be a deadbeat "founder," especially when you're the only "business/finance guy" the founder(s) know, even trust. You might know a few investors, be connected with "potential partners," and be adept at "running a business." If that's the case, you and the startup are better off having you come on board as a "hired (executive) hand" after a sizeable funding round. Your skills may fit the company, but you don't fit the market/problem. If you're the non-technical "founder," you must roll up your sleeve and take part in identifying what makes people want the product and reaching out to them backed by a deep understanding of the problem (market) and the solution (tech/science). You might not be able to code or have an advanced technical degree. Still, you can be the one who can sell the company/product by being able to talk through what you're selling and why it's valuable to various audiences - in ways tailored to their understanding, motivations, and interests. Based on conviction, not blind faith. Being visionary, passionate, and driven is critical in getting a startup started. Nonetheless, someone on the team needs to be a level-headed person who can balance multiple perspectives, avoid confirmation bias, and cut through the chaos to drive action. You talk the talk and walk the walk - and get others to walk their talk. I say this as someone close to being a "deadbeat" and also as someone who strives to make a unique contribution to a startup as that level-headed one - regardless of the formal/legal relationship with the company.

I've been reflecting a lot on why our previous startup ideas were so bad, and what we could have done differently to realize they were bad much earlier. On the one hand, there are the tarpit ideas - these are classic BAD IDEAS™️ that almost everyone should avoid. But in most cases, ideas should be evaluated based on the founders who are proposing it. "AI copilot for lawyers" - fantastic idea for a CEO who spent 2 years at Goodwin Proctor before joining forces with an ML engineer at Google Brain. "AI copilot for lawyers" - awful idea for a team of 2 front-end engineers and a designer who all worked on the UX team at Instagram. Say what you want about VCs I think many of the ones we pitched for our previous idea could immediately tell were going to fail just based on the idea + our background.

𝗠𝘆 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗳𝗼𝗿 2025 (it's going to be a different game 👇) In the past decade, startups were raising big checks, hiring teams of engineers, and spending months building a product before even talking to customers. But now it's going to turn: ◇ 1-2 founders ◇ Bootstrapped ◇ Launching MVPs in weeks—without all the noise. Because let’s face it: 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗲𝗱 + 𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 > 𝗯𝗹𝗼𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗯𝘂𝗱𝗴𝗲𝘁𝘀 + 𝗳𝗮𝗻𝗰𝘆 𝗣𝗥. The smartest founders today? They’re 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗻, using AI to solve real problems, and quietly iterating with real customers. __ Enjoyed this? Repost♻️ if you find it useful Follow me, hit the 🔔 Ali Mukhtar You'll get notified on my next post.

Welcome to another edition of Growth Talks! 😊 Today, we spotlight Marin Smiljanic Co-Founder and CEO of Omnisearch. With a background as a software engineer at Amazon, Facebook, and SingleStore, Marin brings years of experience from both fast-growing startups and Big Tech. Key takeaways: 🔹 Partnering with established companies can help a startup gain credibility and early customers. 🔹Knowing what customers want, especially about data control, is important for product development. 🔹Moving from a technical role to running a business means learning new skills, especially in sales and marketing. 🔹Focusing on efficiency and performance can set a product apart in the market. 🔹Making quick changes and ensuring the business model works are crucial for growth. 🔗 Link to the interview: https://lnkd.in/d3BMDAUp

Founded by Joe Thomas, Vinay Hiremath, and Shahed Khan in 2015, Loom began as a simple idea. But the path to its establishment is rarely spoken about. Before the Loom we know today, Joe Thomas was a product manager at LinkedIn. He was intrigued by the idea of efficient communication and determined to solve the problem of long, unproductive meetings. Hiremath, with his technical prowess, was developing web apps and pondering on the future of digital communication. Khan, the wildcard, was a high school dropout turned Thiel Fellow, brimming with unconventional ideas. Their paths crossed and sparked the inception of Loom - a platform that would revolutionize digital communication. Did you know that the initial version of Loom was almost a learning management system? They pivoted to video messaging when they realized the potential it held. Also, Loom was not their first venture. They had created another startup, Opentest, which didn't fare well. But instead of giving up, they used the experience to fuel their next venture. In the face of failure, they chose resilience over despair. They chose innovation over stagnation. That is the story of Loom, a story of resilience and innovation.

🎉 Bubble Date Gained 150+ users at Georgia Tech on Launch Day 🎉 www.bubble-date.com I haven't been posting about this, but just to make it official: Sugju Choi 🍋, Harsha Gaddipati🫧, and I have launched a startup this summer based on changing the dating scene. We had a few quiet Beta tests in Seattle 🌧️ and Richmond 🏙️, and we finally launched at Ga Tech! So far, we have had 150+ users in the first 24 hours. Basically, we use a super awesome top-secret 🤫 algorithm to match your bubble with the bubble most compatible with you. 150+ users on the first day of class is actually insane 😱—we coded a Slack bot that pings us with every new signup, and I had to turn off notifications because I couldn't take notes. 📚 But, that's not what this post is about. 📝 Some key pointers I learned over the summer: 1) The Mom Test 👩👧—who cares about what you're solving? If you're not talking to customers directly and reading between the lines, you're not learning. 🤔 2) Guerilla Marketing & Flyers 📢—you're probably not any more likely to sign up for my service than you were 20 ft ago. However, generating legitimacy for your brand is more important than signups. 🖼️ 3) Aura Debt 🌀—you're already not that cool. Try new things. Especially in public. 🙌 Super excited to see where Bubble Date goes next! 🚀 If you're at Georgia Institute of Technology, join the bubble and see who you're compatible with! 🥳 #startup #datingapp #techlaunch #GeorgiaTech #BubbleDate

Turns out Google doesn't just answer questions, it sparks them. As I reflect on a year as Google for Startups alum, I realized my brain's been rewired for marketing success. Here's how👇🏼 👑 Data is king (but not the only ruler): Data-driven decisions are important, but good marketing thrives on intuition. Don't be afraid to trust your gut on those "unmeasurable” brand-building bets. Data drives, gut decides, right Kendall Dufort (Bishop)?! 🤝 Stronger together: Bouncing ideas off a teammate (or in our case, Google mentors) nearly ALWAYS unlocks new insights that fine-tune your content. 🦸 Storytelling is a superpower: Unique brand = unique narrative. As Alex Gould from Long Story Short brilliantly shared, life’s a pitch! Make it unforgettable! PS - the program is now open for applications! Apply @ startup.google.com ⚡️

Story time. When I left Sequoia to start Quilt, my cofounder Michael and I were on a time crunch to pitch and needed to put together the quickest demo possible. The easiest way was to hack together a Chrome Extension plugin over the weekend. Afterwards, we sent a Loom video of the product to a handful of friends and investors. Lo and behold, the Loom ended up getting hundreds of views. We started hearing about competitors, which is not surprising — generative AI for RFP automation was already a well-known concept. The funny part was, the competitors were all building Chrome Extensions too (an odd choice for an RFP automation product)! We started locking down our product: We made sure every potential customer signed an NDA after the first meeting. We hid our product behind a wall. We banned signups from emails that seemed suspicious. When we soft-launched in March, we noticed something. We weren’t running into any of those competitors in deals. All customers cared about was how our product solved their problems. None of the paranoia ended up mattering. The moral of the story? Focus on your customers. Nothing else matters. The startup tech scene is a small place and many people will end up converging to the same ideas, often through pure chance. The only thing that matters is building what your customers want and out-executing the competition.

The road of an entrepreneur is intense, and demanding, yet incredibly rewarding. We're finding our footing one step at a time! We just started DevRelSquad and here’s what is going on “Behind the SCENES”: • Kickstarted collaboration with Lovely Professional University (LPU) GDSC on a Gen AI talk. • Building an engineering team - hiring talent to drive our product on automating DevRel and supplementing it with useful insights. • Building a DevRel network across 11 Indian cities. • Launched website on Wix in a record 2 days. Still building on it. • Juggling a tech project and completing the writing. • Collaborating and prepping for DevRelSquad’s first meetup at Microsoft. • Wearing multiple hats and loving the entrepreneurial hustle. Each day brings new challenges, learnings, and opportunities for personal and professional growth. To fellow dreamers and go-getters - take that leap, and embrace the roller-coaster. The journey is a priceless adventure! What challenge does a new business bring? #StartupLife #TechStartup #LPU #CollegeCollab #TechWriting #entrepreneurjourney