Akarsh Shrivastava retweeted
Deedy you are right about some aspects of the past, but its more nuanced then this, and likely different going forward. am sticking to the perspective of founders (vs employees & vcs).
If you were building for India consumer, the last 5 years have shown that you absolutely could have built significant cos and personal wealth by being in india (>$5b cos - flipkart, zomato, lenskart, meesho, groww, paytm, phonepe, swiggy, policybazaar, nykaa… ) and execs at these places also saw a lot of value being created. I was in a room of startup founders by @ETAwards on friday night and there were a lot of billionaires there! and 50+ other venture backed cos in the $500m-5b range, where also the outcomes have been significant for founders and execs.
if you were building for global software buyers, you need to be closer to the customers and the US is that. market insights matter more then cost of engineering. many global software cos have large india teams (zscaler! wealthiest indian american in the US) but the bulk of the value to founders and execs are in the market they serve. it still makes sense for most global founders to be in the US if thats what you are creating, and we have good examples like freshworks, postman and composio where cos started in india and migrated over various points in the past decade.
other areas like manufacturing/“deeptech”/atoms based businesses, India has significant advantages and we are just starting to see the outcomes. ather energy ($6b), skyroot ($3b), zetwerk (going public soon) are showing the way, and these cos have far lower costs to develop and manufacture vs other places.
finally, there is something to be said for patriotism or impact on soceity. zomato helps employ 1% of india (or something like that) and thats a stepping stone to a brighter future for many. skyroot inspired some young kid somewhere that said i’m gonna do that too. building a enterprise sw product in palo alto is awesome, but for some gives less intrinsic motivation.
building in india has many challenges (most self inclicted), but a good choice for many smart people vs a couple of decades ago! we do now have healthy capital markets, a better policy environment, and very smart young people (now enabled by AI!). we absolutely need more risk capital and some of us are working to do that!
The smartest Indians continue to come to build in the US for the simple reason that the economic incentives are far far better.
Perplexity ($20B), Skild ($14B+), Baseten ($13B), Together ($8B), Glean ($8B), Modal ($5B), Rubrik ($25B), Harness ($5B), Blacksmith, Parallel, Greptile, CodeRabbit, Composio, Distyl ($2B), Resolve, Luma, Cartesia, Wispr, dMatrix, Arize and many more - all started by at least one Indian-born founder.
The US is a far easier to raise capital in with far less dilution. Most Indian companies are switching where they're domiciled to get access to the US capital markets. Every single Indian venture firm is trying very hard to invest in the US or risk not participating in the AI race (ironically, the management fees of venture firms are so high in India relatively that this is the one group that net of carry actually has incentive to be in India because they take home well north of a living wage whether or not funds perform do)
While Zomato ($35B now, $8B at IPO) might be the biggest outcome in Indian venture, Cursor ($60B), Reflection (potentially $20B+), World Labs ($8B), OpenRouter ($8B), HuggingFace ($12B) and of course the $1T+ big labs quickly make those outcomes seem small and happen on a much smaller time scale, with much higher IRR.
Engineers at these startups regularly get paid $1M/yr, and make $10M+ on exit. Even in BigTech, it is trivial to pull up levels fyi and see that if you're L6/L7+ with ~10 years of experience, you're making $1M/yr there too. And of course, we all know the slew of Indian CEOs of companies here, not to mention a huge bench of lesser known executives across the board in public and private companies.
I say all this because every time there is a slight immigration hiccup in the US, I hear the online pleas to "build in India", I struggle to understand why most engineers, academics or founders would do that net of desire to be close to family, failure to obtain visa and devout patriotism.
This is not a superiority thing or a US v India thing. The economic incentives at least for technologists to being in the US outweigh India by at least an order of magnitude.
Akarsh Shrivastava retweeted
I dont usually like to comment on geopolitical events. But I am deeply anguished by what I have seen here in the last few days.
First, JD Vance’s blatantly racist comments around H-1B restrictions. When leaders talk this way, it legitimises similar behaviour by others. Then, unsurprisingly, the flood of racist comments on X about India’s 2036 Olympics bid. Then Elon’s attempt to undermine India’s PM (dare him to do that to China). And finally, Trump’s decision to allow Russian diesel imports - the exact same thing he was penalising India. Is this a fucking joke?
Sure, India has lots of flaws. But so does every other country. Things are improving every single day, and I am super optimistic that this century will witness the rise and rise of India. Maybe that’s what others are threatened by.
These events only strengthen my resolve to build in India, help solve some of the problems we face, and play my small role in unlocking our economic potential.
PM Modi was right when he called for an Atmanirbhar Bharat in 2020. We should all take it upon ourselves to make India more self-reliant and get there faster.
Long India! 🇮🇳
Akarsh Shrivastava retweeted
Indian banks get millions of customer queries a day. Routing them - which queue does this message belong to - is one of the oldest ML problems around.
An open 0.5B decision model, fine-tuned on Hinglish bank messages, beats both Claude Sonnet and TypeSafe's closed decision model Jev - on accuracy, cost, and latency.
64x cheaper, 32x faster than Sonnet.
5.3x cheaper, 2.9x faster than Jev.
Models should get better as you use them, not just bigger. Continuously learning, customized models are the future of enterprise AI.
Akarsh Shrivastava retweeted
The obvious is missing.
So we built Sol - hellosol.app
Sol finds the work itself, does it, and comes back for your approval.
Every day in our emails we say "I’ll share”, "I'll review”, "I'll get back" - then repeat the exact same thing to an AI. Why?
Sol finds everything you said you’d do & gets them started for you.
It does the research, creates the doc, builds the slides, finds the time, connects the dots across multiple emails, doing everything it takes to get the job done - but doesn’t send, schedule, or share anything until you approve.
Sol runs on its own computer, uses a browser, and has a library of skills that automatically get assigned to the work that needs to get done. No setup. It just starts working.
We've raised $4M from General Catalyst, Nexus Venture Partners, DeVC, PeerCheque, Kunal Shah, and a few others.
Extending early access now.
@generalcatalyst @nexusvp @DeVC_Global @peercheque
@neerajarora @b_jishnu @kunalb11 @miten @RTinkslinger @Rahul_J_Mathur @AkarshS27 @SiddhantD06 @RajatAgarwal167
This was actually a treatise on stage and evolution of warfare. Must for any aspiring founder to watch (and why defense tech is the place to build next). @HQ_IDS_India
LIVE| आजतक सुरक्षा सभा 2026 का आगाज़ CDS जनरल एन. एस. राजा सुब्रमणि, वाइस चीफ ऑफ एयर स्टाफ एयर मार्शल आशुतोष दीक्षित और इंडिया टुडे ग्रुप की वाइस चेयरपर्सन एवं एग्जीक्यूटिव एडिटर-इन-चीफ कली पुरी ने आज आजतक सुरक्षा सभा का आगाज़ किया। #AajTakSurakshaSabha
xitter.cf/i/broadcasts/1dxYladpa…
Unfortunate that such pieces are picked up with little to no nuance. While on surface nos seem correct - Skyroot and Falcon9 cater to different markets. There is a large enough market which needs exclusive launches and not ride share and doesnt want to book a full Falcon9 (1/2)
India is most expensive country to launch satellites, at $13,302 per kg
USA is cheapest at $3,225 per kg thanks to SpaceX Falcon 9. India costs 4x more. Study published in Economics Letters by Cambridge and Turin researchers compared 6 countries with launch capability.
ISRO rockets are not reusable. SpaceX reuses its rocket boosters 25+ times. That is why costs differ so much. India is building NGLV Project Soorya, its first partially reusable rocket, targeting $1,900 per kg.
But it will not fly for several years
Skyroot Aerospace became first Indian private company to reach orbit on July 18, 2026. Its Vikram-1 rocket carried 350 kg into 450 km low Earth orbit. Impressive milestone.
But each Vikram-1 launch will cost about $4M, which works out to $11,000 per kg. SpaceX Falcon 9 charges $3,225 per kg and carries 22,800 kg per launch. Skyroot plans commercial operations from 2027 with monthly launches.
India now has private and government rockets. Neither matches SpaceX on cost per kg yet. Closing that gap requires reusability and it will be really hard to achieve by the way
India wants to earn $3.5B per year from launching foreign satellites by 2033. Right now, India is most expensive launch market among 6 space-capable nations at $13,302 per kg.
SpaceX charges $3,225 - Gap is 4x. ISRO launched roughly 60 missions over 30 years. SpaceX launched 165 in 2025 alone.
Volume brings cost down. Low cost brings more customers. More customers fund more launches. India has not entered this cycle yet. NGLV with reusable stages could change this but remains in development.
lets hope >>>
India's space story is far more optimistic. And the current supply crunch will allow us to ramp up the revenue (which will be considerable) till we get to reusability. @INSPACeIND @PMOIndia
Akarsh Shrivastava retweeted
"It's not about preserving a little bit of early success."
@myspinny was scaling as a consumer-to-consumer managed marketplace. Nothing in the numbers said stop.
Hear @niraj001s on why he killed it anyway, flipped to full-stack, and lost a signed Series A term sheet for disclosing it.
75 cars/month sold then in 2018. ~14,000/month sold now in FY2025.
Watch Ep. 2 of Legendary Pivots, The Pivot That Rebuilt Spinny From Scratch. Out Now: bit.ly/45XxB4Y
Akarsh Shrivastava retweeted
Wasted 30 minutes talking to the pre-recorded customer care Voice AI agent of a large travel portal.
- Repeated sentences not allowing me to move forward with the conversation
- Long dialogues incapable of handling interruptions
- Of course, barely understood Hindi and replied similar to how the Brits sound in Lagaan
- Most importantly, didn't get the task done.
Poorly built "Voice AI agents" (though calling them AI is a stretch) set back the entire industry.
If you have been caught up in the Voice AI wave, rushed into implementing a solution, and seen a drop in CSAT / conversions, drop me (or anyone in the @bolna_dev team) a dm. We'd be happy to help 😀
Akarsh Shrivastava retweeted
India is one of the most important places in the world to build enduring, category-defining companies - and the next chapter will be shaped by two forces we care deeply about at @generalcatalyst: AI transformation and resilience. General Catalyst has announced a commitment to invest $5 billion in India over the next five years. Here's what that means in practice.
Path to India's AI transformation will be unique. India AIChampions Initiative is an attempt to chart this path. GC platform helps with global learnings & our presence gives the India nuance. @neerajarora & I will be at the AI summit. DM if u r building in AI, Defense, Mfg, fin
Akarsh Shrivastava retweeted
1/ We’ve been long India. Not as a side bet - but as a core market on a single global platform.
Akarsh Shrivastava retweeted
On popular request, here is the first confrontation of PARAM with Bengaluru street dogs 🐶
Akarsh Shrivastava retweeted
A new generation of Indian founders is building the path to defense and manufacturing sovereignty. This is critical, as India still imports 30% of its supply chain in automotive, electronics, pharma, and chemicals from China. GC-backed founders @Vikashmphysics and Vivek Mishra at @Raphe_mPhibr built a 650,000 square foot facility to produce autonomous systems for India's extreme conditions—high altitude, heat, and dust. @vishalsanghavi and Venkatesh Mudragalla at @jehaero pioneered a new manufacturing model that delivers high-precision components to U.S. clients faster than incumbents.
India transformed from fiscal crisis to economic powerhouse in three decades, building 28% of the world's STEM workforce and the third-largest startup ecosystem globally. The talent, scale, and policy are there. What's been missing is an innovation ecosystem that rewards founders tackling defense modernization and next-generation manufacturing.
In their latest piece, @neerajarora, Paul Kwan, @AkarshS27, Siddhi Kasliwal, and Abishek Chopra explain why resilience is India’s defining investment opportunity today → generalcatalyst.com/stories/…
Sources: IBEF, PIB
Akarsh Shrivastava retweeted
.@GeneralCatalyst has raised ~$8Bn of new capital, across core VC, Creation strategy, and SMAs, to invest in the most ambitious entrepreneurs driving transformation and resilience in AI, Defense, Climate & Energy, Industrials, Healthcare, and FinTech: generalcatalyst.com/stories/…
Akarsh Shrivastava retweeted
thanks for having me @ShrutiMishra_ @CNBCTV18News
#Sales performance mgmt software, @everstageinc raises $30M in #funding!
@siva_rajamani tells @ShrutiMishra_ how he plans to double down on product innovation and elevate customer experience.
Also talks about #ESOP buyback worth Rs 5 Cr.
@8roadsventures @3one4Capital @ElevCap
Akarsh Shrivastava retweeted
Big announcement! 🎉
We’ve raised $30M in Series B funding, led by Eight Roads, Elevation Capital and 3one4 Capital!
Since our inception, Siva and I have believed that innovation drives product value. We’ve worked on building an enterprise-level product that could integrate easily with our customers’ tech stack, handle complex compensation data and automate workflows intuitively.
We have come a long way. We are now a 200+ employee company, but it truly feels like we are just getting started 🚀
Looking ahead, we are set to launch our AI Agent Creation Studio, a feature that will empower RevOps professionals to build and customize their own AI assistants. These AI agents will be capable of performing tasks such as sales performance analysis, plan building, and modeling recommendations, further streamlining the sales operations process.
To the B-ginning of more! 🥂
Read the full article here: lnkd.in/gFsdYf2J
PS: We are hiring a high-performing engineering manager to lead the high-performing team at Everstage and drive innovation. DM me or Sriram if you are interested.
#Everstage #SeriesB #Funding #Innovation #Growth #Startup
