Activated Scale

In this episode, of How I'm Building This, Prateek interviews Nanda Kishore from Aitomatic who shares his extensive journey in the tech and AI industry, detailing his experiences from his early days in India to founding Aitomatic. He discusses the importance of adaptability, the lessons learned from both successes and failures, and the critical qualities to look for when hiring in a startup environment. Nanda also delves into the founding story of Aitomatic, the pain points they aim to solve in the industrial sector, and the strategies they employ for market engagement and customer education. He emphasizes the necessity of hands-on involvement for founders and debunks common myths surrounding startup leadership.

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Takeaways:

Founders should run lean until product-market fit is found.
Adaptability is crucial for startup success.
Hiring franchise players is essential for early-stage companies.
The cost of failure in industrial AI can be very high.
Educating the market is key to successful product adoption.
Hands-on involvement from founders is necessary for understanding the business.
Building awareness through brand-oriented marketing is effective.
The biggest BS advice is about surrounding yourself with professional managers.
Understanding customer pain points is critical for product development.

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Sound Bites:

"Don't be wedded to your idea."
"The cost of failure is very high."

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In this episode, we cover:

00:00 Introduction to Nanda Kishore and His Journey

05:53 Hiring Strategies and Qualities to Look For

12:11 Understanding the Pain Points in Industrial AI

17:54 Building Awareness and Customer Engagement

24:03 Debunking Common Startup Myths

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Where to find Nanda:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nkishore

Aitomatic: www.aitomatic.com

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Where to find Prateek:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/prateekmathur

Activated Scale: https://www.activatedscale.com

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For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email prateek@activatedscale.com

Prateek Mathur

Before founding Activated Scale, Prateek spent the last 20 years selling for and building sales teams at startups and public companies. He has won numerous awards and recognitions over his sales career. Over the last 5 years, he has advised a number of startups on their GTM, sales hiring etc. Prateek has intricately seen the pitfalls that startups face when scaling their business and hiring sales talent. With Activated Scale, he aims to make sales hiring easier by connecting companies with experienced US-based sales talent fractionally. Prateek is fascinated by the drive of a startup founder and loves their passion, vision and mission to reimagine our world.