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<div class="span index">1</div> <span><a class="" data-remote="true" data-type="html" href="/series/via-podcast-3642589">Via Podcast</a></span>


Whether you’re just beginning to explore the Western United States or you’ve been living here since the day you were born, the Via Podcast will introduce you to new and unique adventures that will change your perspective. Hosts Mitti Hicks and Michelle Donati bring their travel expertise to interviews with some of the West’s most fascinating experts, residents, and adventurers. In each episode, you will discover deep conversations in the hopes of igniting a new interest—foraging anyone?—or planting the seeds of a new-to-you road trip. You might even learn something about a place you’ve explored dozens of times before.
Building a New Category of Applied AI: Bridgetown Research | Decoding AI Episode 7
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Content provided by SEED TO SCALE Podcast Series and Anand Daniel. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by SEED TO SCALE Podcast Series and Anand Daniel or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://ppacc.player.fm/legal.
AI is stepping into uncharted territory, assisting decision-makers with high-stakes, low-frequency calls that shape the future of enterprises. These decisions require more than historical data; they demand fresh insights, domain expertise, and a deep understanding of context. That’s where Bridgetown Research comes in. Bridgetown’s AI agents autonomously conduct deep research—interviewing experts, gathering proprietary insights, and identifying patterns to deliver real, actionable intelligence. In this episode of Decoding AI, Anagh Prasad, Investor at Accel, sits down with Harsh Sahai, Co-founder and CEO of Bridgetown Research, to discuss how AI is transforming decision-making at the board level. With a background spanning Amazon and McKinsey, Harsh shares his journey of bridging a career in AI and consulting to build an AI platform. The discussion explores how Bridgetown is tackling the complexities of high-stakes decision-making—leveraging AI to gather insights, enhance research depth, and improve judgment at scale. Harsh shares how AI agents can proactively collect and synthesize information, enabling decision-makers to act more confidently and clearly in an ever-changing business landscape.
…
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97 episodes
Manage episode 469801689 series 3242177
Content provided by SEED TO SCALE Podcast Series and Anand Daniel. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by SEED TO SCALE Podcast Series and Anand Daniel or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://ppacc.player.fm/legal.
AI is stepping into uncharted territory, assisting decision-makers with high-stakes, low-frequency calls that shape the future of enterprises. These decisions require more than historical data; they demand fresh insights, domain expertise, and a deep understanding of context. That’s where Bridgetown Research comes in. Bridgetown’s AI agents autonomously conduct deep research—interviewing experts, gathering proprietary insights, and identifying patterns to deliver real, actionable intelligence. In this episode of Decoding AI, Anagh Prasad, Investor at Accel, sits down with Harsh Sahai, Co-founder and CEO of Bridgetown Research, to discuss how AI is transforming decision-making at the board level. With a background spanning Amazon and McKinsey, Harsh shares his journey of bridging a career in AI and consulting to build an AI platform. The discussion explores how Bridgetown is tackling the complexities of high-stakes decision-making—leveraging AI to gather insights, enhance research depth, and improve judgment at scale. Harsh shares how AI agents can proactively collect and synthesize information, enabling decision-makers to act more confidently and clearly in an ever-changing business landscape.
…
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97 episodes
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SeedToScale | Curated by Accel

1 Building a New Category of Applied AI: Bridgetown Research | Decoding AI Episode 7 48:50
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AI is stepping into uncharted territory, assisting decision-makers with high-stakes, low-frequency calls that shape the future of enterprises. These decisions require more than historical data; they demand fresh insights, domain expertise, and a deep understanding of context. That’s where Bridgetown Research comes in. Bridgetown’s AI agents autonomously conduct deep research—interviewing experts, gathering proprietary insights, and identifying patterns to deliver real, actionable intelligence. In this episode of Decoding AI, Anagh Prasad, Investor at Accel, sits down with Harsh Sahai, Co-founder and CEO of Bridgetown Research, to discuss how AI is transforming decision-making at the board level. With a background spanning Amazon and McKinsey, Harsh shares his journey of bridging a career in AI and consulting to build an AI platform. The discussion explores how Bridgetown is tackling the complexities of high-stakes decision-making—leveraging AI to gather insights, enhance research depth, and improve judgment at scale. Harsh shares how AI agents can proactively collect and synthesize information, enabling decision-makers to act more confidently and clearly in an ever-changing business landscape.…
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1 AI for E-commerce: Insights from Meesho | Decoding AI Episode 6 41:38
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Meesho is redefining the role of AI in e-commerce, driving innovations that scale to meet the demands of millions. From handling over 60,000 voice bot calls daily to managing 'trillions' of features, AI is embedded in every facet of Meesho’s operations. In this episode of Decoding AI, Anagh Prasad, Investor at Accel, sits down with Debdoot Mukherjee, Chief Data Scientist and Head of AI at Meesho, to explore the transformative impact of AI on one of India’s largest online marketplaces. Debdoot shares learnings from his early days of machine learning at Myntra to shaping Meesho’s AI-first marketplace. The discussion dives into Meesho’s use of AI for solving complex challenges, such as optimizing matchmaking between users and products, and developing scalable machine learning platforms. Debdoot also shares how open-source frameworks drive innovation at the company. This episode offers a compelling look at how AI is transforming industries and presents invaluable lessons for anyone looking to build and scale AI-driven solutions at large.…
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1 Google DeepMind's Manish Gupta on Opportunities for AI Startups in India | Decoding AI Episode 5 30:41
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Google DeepMind stands at the cutting edge of AI innovation, solving some of the most intricate scientific and engineering challenges. From protein structure prediction through AlphaFold to enhancing energy efficiency in data centers and advancing robotics for real-world applications, DeepMind is shaping the future of technology. But how can AI startups in India leverage DeepMind's insights? In this episode of Decoding AI, Prayank Swaroop, Partner at Accel, speaks to Dr. Manish Gupta, Senior Director at Google DeepMind, APAC to find out. Dr. Manish shares insights into the current landscape of language models, spotlighting groundbreaking work like the IndicGenBench project. The conversation dives into how Google DeepMind focuses on foundational technologies while empowering startups to create transformative solutions in sectors like healthcare and education. Dr. Manish also offers valuable guidance for startups, elaborating on Google's Trusted Tester Program and its collaborative approach to IP sharing. Dr. Manish also reflects on India’s distinct position within the global AI ecosystem, emphasizing the country's unique opportunities and challenges, and the potential of AI in scientific breakthroughs, including its role in advancing fusion energy.…
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1 Inside IIT Madras: India's AI Research Powerhouse | Decoding AI 24:55
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India is making strides in artificial intelligence, blending academic rigor with real-world applications. In Episode 4 of Decoding AI, Prayank Swaroop, Partner at Accel, is joined by Professor Balaraman Ravindran of IIT Madras, a pioneering figure in Indian AI research and application. As the founding head of several prestigious AI-focused centers, including Wadhwani School of Data Science and AI, the Robert Bosch Centre for Data Science & AI, and the Centre for Responsible AI at IIT Madras, Professor Balaraman discusses how IIT Madras is driving innovation in AI research, language models, healthcare, and more. Key highlights include IIT Madras's work on Indian-language AI systems, such as translating NPTEL (National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning) videos into multiple languages and collaborating with the Supreme Court to make legal documents accessible in regional languages. On the healthcare front, groundbreaking initiatives like Garbhini tackle maternal and fetal health challenges unique to India. Professor Balaraman also provides insights into how startups can engage with IIT Madras's vibrant research ecosystem. Looking ahead, he emphasizes the importance of solving uniquely Indian problems, urging startups and investors to focus on creating value within the country instead of catering to first-world markets.…
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1 Building AI Infrastructure from India for the World: Insights from Simplismart | Decoding AI 40:49
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Simplismart is an AI infrastructure company building the critical platform-agnostic middleware to deploy, train/customize, and serve open-source AI models in production. With a very small team and under $1M in funding, these two Bengaluru-based founders built the world's fastest inference engine. In Episode 3 of our Decoding AI series, Amritanshu Jain, Co-founder and CEO of Simplismart, joins Anagh Prasad to discuss the startup's remarkable pivot. Initially built as an AutoML platform, Simplismart's breakthrough came when they happened to discover the speed of their inference engine after a conversation with a potential customer. In this episode, Amritanshu also elaborates on the open-source versus closed-source debate, noting that the comparison is complex and requires significant education. He emphasises that it is not simply about declaring one model superior to the other but understanding the broader context and specific advantages each model offers. While open-source solutions can offer high customization and cost efficiency, the choice between open-source and closed-source models ultimately depends on the unique needs and constraints of the enterprise.…
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1 Lessons on Product, Pricing, and Trust: Insights from ServiceNow | Decoding AI 40:32
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GenAI is growing rapidly, evolving from a mere tool into an intelligent partner that empowers businesses to scale with greater speed and efficiency. In Episode 2 of our Decoding AI series, Vishwesh Pai, Senior Director of Product Management for AI Platform at ServiceNow, and Anagh Prasad, Investor at Accel dive into how large companies are navigating the opportunities in enterprise software, especially with the rise of generative AI. Vishwesh reflects on his journey from leading AI initiatives at Amazon Alexa to spearheading AI development at ServiceNow, where he leads the company’s efforts from India. Vishwesh discusses how ServiceNow leverages generative AI to enhance customer productivity and agility while addressing legal, ethical, and security concerns. He emphasizes the company’s focus on AI safety and trust, which are critical in the enterprise space. According to him, generative AI presents a “golden opportunity” for ServiceNow to deliver more value to its customers and accelerate product development. Listen to this conversation for deeper insights into how large companies like ServiceNow are navigating the AI revolution and the challenges and opportunities for startups in the AI space.…
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1 Building Agentic AI for the Enterprise with Ema | Decoding AI 41:52
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With GenAI on the rise, software is evolving from a tool that needs constant supervision to an intelligent partner that handles tasks autonomously, similar to human assistants. This shift promises a future where enterprises are more efficient, with AI seamlessly integrating into daily operations. In Episode 1 of SeedToScale's Decoding AI series, Accel's Anagh Prasad explores the future of enterprise software with Surojit Chatterjee, Founder and CEO of Ema, a company which elevates Agentic AI to the enterprise level. Surojit explains how the next generation of enterprise software, driven by Gen AI, will be radically different from the current systems. These new applications will break down data silos and access information across the enterprise to create adaptive, real-time user interfaces that respond dynamically to user needs and roles. Watch the full episode as Surojit shares how Ema is designed to bridge the gap between AI capabilities and business needs, and how Gen AI, much like past technological revolutions, is poised to create more jobs and opportunities than we can currently imagine.…
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1 Timeless Lessons for the Future | SeedToScale Specials 29:57
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2023 is particularly momentous to Accel as we complete 40 years as a global fund and 15 years in India. As we celebrate this milestone, we hope to share insights from the firm’s shared history with you, in this riveting two-part podcast series. We begin with a look at the past, and how startups and investors evolved over the years; moving on to investing today, and why many call 2023 the year of reset in VC. Finally, we look to the future, with timeless lessons the next generation of investors must carry forward.…
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1 Learnings from 40 Years in VC | SeedToScale Specials 55:43
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2023 is particularly momentous to Accel as we complete 40 years as a global fund and 15 years in India. As we celebrate this milestone, we hope to share insights from the firm’s shared history with you, in this riveting two-part podcast series. We begin with a look at the past, and how startups and investors evolved over the years; moving on to investing today, and why many call 2023 the year of reset in VC. Finally, we look to the future, with timeless lessons the next generation of investors must carry forward.…
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SeedToScale | Curated by Accel

1 Masterclass #9 | How Urban Company created tech-led value in the at-home services space 46:59
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Know what is harder than pivoting when the going gets tough? Pivoting when the going is good. On the surface, most metrics were scaling efficiently for Urban Company (previously UrbanClap) at the end of 2015. The tech company mainly generated leads for at-home service providers. But founders Abhiraj Bhal, Varun Khaitan, Raghav Chandra recognized that improving the experience of suppliers and customers would require deeper involvement. They needed to build a full stack marketplace with trained professionals. Eight years later, the company is valued at $2.8 billion. After proving their chops by taking the beauty industry online, Urban Company went on to digitally connect customers with a range of professional services including cleaning, repairs, electrical works, plumbing, and carpentry. When they first looked into the space, at-home services in India had been full of holes. The founders, all three from IIT Kanpur, knew that the problem had the potential to keep them busy for a lifetime. So they joined hands in 2014 to bring in organization and digitization. *** Over the past decade and a half, new-age marketplaces in India have transformed how people buy and sell products and services. From Flipkart to Swiggy, Urban Company, and Zetwerk, each has reimagined "the bazaars," shaping the future of commerce and livelihood in India. Starting November 3rd, we will share stories from the trenches about building and scaling these marketplaces, along with foundational lessons from their journeys. Learn more: https://bit.ly/3UnptTO *** 0:00 - Introduction 1:20 - Origin story 4:10 - Early days 9:33 - Product-market fit 14:25 - Picking the right service 16:30 - Testbed 17:40 - Zero-to-one phase 21:15 - Scaling the company 24:30 - Key strategic decisions 27:40 - Value to service partners 32:40 - Disintermediation 34:10 - Creating value on both sides 36:30 - Navigating COVID 39:50 - Leadership and culture 43:20 - The future…
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SeedToScale | Curated by Accel

1 Masterclass #8 | How Infra.Market offers concrete solutions through its construction marketplace 47:21
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At their core, marketplaces are in the business of efficiency. Deeply optimized supply was the need of the hour in the world of construction, where access to materials was fragmented and unreliable. Souvik Sengupta of Infra.Market and Prashanth Prakash of Accel talk about transforming the manner in which real estate companies buy for their projects. *** Over the past decade and a half, new-age marketplaces in India have transformed how people buy and sell products and services. From Flipkart to Swiggy, Urban Company, and Zetwerk, each has reimagined "the bazaars," shaping the future of commerce and livelihood in India. Starting November 3rd, we will share stories from the trenches about building and scaling these marketplaces, along with foundational lessons from their journeys. Learn more: https://bit.ly/3UnptTO…
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SeedToScale | Curated by Accel

1 Masterclass #7: Lessons from Myntra on how to build a long-lasting marketplace 39:48
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What does it take to build a timeless marketplace? Time. Long-lasting marketplaces have little to do with restless hustling, and a lot to do with clear research and balancing gut calls with data calls. You can trust that bit of wisdom because it comes from Mukesh Bansal who knows the ups and downs of entrepreneurship in India more intimately than most. As founder of Myntra, head of commerce and advertising at Flipkart, and now as founder-CEO at Cult.fit, the relentless entrepreneur has sold fashion, fitness, and almost everything in between. Mukesh was one of the first startup folk to have brought the Bay Area ethos to the Bengaluru ecosystem. Over the last 15 years, he has steered companies through teething problems, pivoting and scaling missions, as well as acquisitions. In this part of a series of conversations sponsored by Accel, Mukesh shares his favourite entrepreneurial hits and misses. Joining him is Subrata Mitra of Accel who has been among Mukesh’s earliest backers. He shares wisdom not just for the benefit of founders but also for venture capitalists as they go from backing two to four to 20 companies. Over the course of chatting with Pankaj Mishra, the duo sum up their journey so far in many quotable quotes. *** Over the past decade and a half, new-age marketplaces in India have transformed how people buy and sell products and services. From Flipkart to Swiggy, Urban Company, and Zetwerk, each has reimagined "the bazaars," shaping the future of commerce and livelihood in India. Starting November 3rd, we will share stories from the trenches about building and scaling these marketplaces, along with foundational lessons from their journeys. Learn more: https://bit.ly/3DqT87o…
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1 Masterclass #6: Spinny’s Lessons on Winning Customer Trust In A Crowded Market 35:38
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When Niraj Singh started up Spinny, the used-car market in India was already crowded with cash-rich competitors. More and more Indian buyers were leaning towards buying pre-owned cars because of the better value they offered but the landscape was still full of potholes and barriers. There were few trusted intermediaries, and no convenient way for buyers to go through the sea of options or for sellers to find the right price. That is where Spinny came in. Niraj Singh founded the full-stack platform for buying and selling used cars in 2015, together with friends Ramanshu Mahaur, a fellow alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Delhi, and Mohit Gupta, an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management Technology (IMT), Ghaziabad, who moved from Flipkart to join as operations head. A car lover himself, Singh wanted to address the pain points in the sale and purchase of a used car. “When you're buying your first car, it's a very important, very aspirational, very emotional purchase for you, and your entire family. It was very clear that we are not going just after the used-car market opportunity, but we are going to solve (an issue) of trust, experience and aspirations of people,” he said in an interview with Pankaj Mishra, co-founder of the digital media publication FactorDaily, a journalist tracking start-ups, with over two-and-a-half decades of professional experience. Sellers put in a request to sell their cars on the website. If it passes a 200-point test by an inspection team, Spinny sets a price, features the car on the site, and takes over the responsibility of selling the car. Buyers have the assurance of buying a Spinny-certified vehicle and the added benefit of a 1-year warranty. The company takes care of all the paperwork, from registration to title transfers. Among others, Spinny competes with OLX, Quikr and CarDekho in a market that was valued at $23 billion in the financial year 2021-2022 and is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 19.5 per cent until FY 2026-27, according to a report by IndianBlueBook, an auto technology platform, and Das WeltAuto, the pre-owned car business of Volkswagen India. After starting operations in the National Capital Region (NCR), centered on Delhi, Spinny has expanded into Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Chandigarh, Indore, Coimbatore, Lucknow and Kochi. It became a unicorn with a valuation of about $1.8 billion, when it raised $283 million last year from a consortium led by Abu Dhabi-based ADQ, Tiger Global and Avenir Growth. This interview is part of a special series brought to you by the Indian unit of Accel Partners, which has backed some of the most significant marketplaces that have come up in India including food delivery platform Swiggy, e-commerce company Flipkart, TaxiForSure, which offers ride-hailing services, and Urban Company, a provider of home cleaning, appliance repair, beauty treatment and handymen services to customers at their doorstep. Joining Pankaj Mishra in the chat is Niraj Singh, who at the time of founding Spinny, already had two start-ups behind him – TechMonkey, an Internet media company, and Locus Education, an IIT-JEE prep venture with offline and online presence. They dive into the details of going from a marketplace model to a direct full-stack model, the business of trust, and the basic rules of team building.…
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1 Masterclass #5: How BlackBuck drove digitization in the complex world of trucking 49:43
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Conversation Highlights In addition to asking if the sector is unorganized, ask whether it is inefficient. Know exactly what kind of a profit pool is available there. There are businesses where a tight testbed is not possible. So find your fulcrum. It takes trial and error but look for the side where your tech intervention as a marketplace will drive the most value. Fairness is an easy sell. Both sides of the marketplace appreciate fair policies and practices. Once built, marketplaces are not static. They are in dynamic equilibrium. Pay attention to both demand and supply and balance them. Unknown mistakes are okay. Don’t make known mistakes.…
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SeedToScale | Curated by Accel

1 Masterclass #4: How Zetwerk disrupted manufacturing by using technology to cut delays 49:45
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Cutting out the intermediary helps many industries. Not so in manufacturing. It needed a middle layer. Suppliers routinely failed to deliver on time, and customers failed to pay on time. To improve trust and speed, Amrit Acharya and Srinath Ramakkrushnan introduced Zetwerk as a B2B marketplace for manufacturing in 2018. Zetwerk began as a hub for steel fabrication. Within six months, its business went from a topline of ₹1 crore a month to ₹10 crore a month. Since then, the company has expanded into more than 10 categories and is valued at $2.7 billion today. The company has transformed the space with high-quality products, increased transparency, and fewer and shorter delays. The backbone of its operation is technology. It uses dashboards to track each order at various stages in real time so that suppliers can stay on schedule and customers can get regular updates. Manufacturing appealed to Amrit because he had dabbled in it fresh out of college. In several ways, it prepared him for starting up – because ‘building’ things from scratch is common to both worlds. In this part of a series of conversations sponsored by Accel, Zetwerk CEO Amrit Acharya participated along with Prayank Swaroop of Accel Partners, who has backed the company right from the early days. They discuss the brass tacks of setting up a B2B marketplace with Pankaj Mishra. * Over the past decade and a half, new-age marketplaces in India have transformed how people buy and sell products and services. From Flipkart to Swiggy, Urban Company, and Zetwerk, each has reimagined "the bazaars," shaping the future of commerce and livelihood in India. Starting November 3rd, we will share stories from the trenches about building and scaling these marketplaces, along with foundational lessons from their journeys. Learn more: https://bit.ly/3DqT87o…
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