Mark Choudhari

Google is building its largest data center outside the United States — right here in Vizag, India. A $15-billion AI hub that promises to transform India’s digital future. But behind the shiny promise lies a serious question: What is the cost of this AI dream in terms of real-world resources? The intersection of AI and climate is a complex topic, no doubt. We have tried to unpack some parts of it in a video that looks at the environmental impact of this data center on the Vizag landscape and it's people. https://lnkd.in/g8aTXfJg

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This was an awesome chat with Deepak Chhugani where we did a deep dive into how Nuvocargo is leveraging AI. We also discussed lots of topics like how B2B marketplaces often start off looking more like brokerages, how operationally complex marketplaces can leverage AI, taking the "full-stack AI" vs. vertical agent approach, early GTM strategies for B2B marketplaces, and more. This is a must-watch (or listen) for B2B marketplace founders and get ready to take some notes!

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Agentic AI is no longer just a concept; it's the engine powering autonomous decision-making across complex workflows. At MMA Impact India 2025, I shared how this technology is transforming marketing by enabling virtual employees to take charge of entire funnels—from prospect research and ad creation to performance analysis and delivering measurable ROI. This marks a major shift in how businesses scale and operate, pushing precision and efficiency beyond what humans alone can achieve. Conversations with industry leaders made it clear: founders need to rethink their growth strategies with AI-native workflows at the core. Grateful to MMA Global India for fostering such a powerful discussion on the future of marketing. The revolution isn’t coming. It’s already here—and Agentic AI is leading the charge. #AgenticAI #SenseAI #MMAImpactIndia2025 #AILeadership #VirtualEmployees #FutureOfMarketing

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Most GTM playbooks were written for a world where humans did the drudgery and AI didn't exist. In my recent podcast with Saurabh Khadilkar at iTech Series, we dove into why those playbooks are breaking. We are moving from a "System of Record" to a "System of Action." In this new world, your GTM isn't a linear funnel; it’s an agentic engine. A few things we covered: + The merging of Product, UX, and Marketing roles. + Why the best storytellers are the ones who understand the data the best. + How to empower your team to build "Systems" instead of just checking "To-Do" lists. The tools have changed, and so have the rules of the game. Check out the full episode here: https://lnkd.in/gz7-c8pp #AgenticAI #GTM #Innovation

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Top takeaways from Karthik Chakkarapani, CIO at Zuora for founders selling to Enterprises 👇🏻 1. Startups founders must understand how enterprises actually work. Selling to large companies requires understanding their language and workflows, including things like performance management, compensation changes, and process complexity. 2. Enterprise adoption depends on ease of implementation, not just product speed. Startups often ship faster than enterprises can absorb. Karthik reminds founders that rollout, testing, and training take time and they must show how their product makes adoption easy. Founders pitching to enterprises must lead with the value, not the tech. Time-to-value is a major decision factor for enterprise buyers. 3. PLG is powerful, but post-sales success is what drives renewals. Product-led growth works best when a product solves a painful, persistent problem. But with more enterprise buyers signing short-term contracts, strong post-sales engagement is critical for retention. 4. The CIO role today is about business transformation, not just tech. The CIO’s job has shifted from managing systems to driving real business outcomes. Today’s CIO needs to be passionately curious, understand AI trends, and bring that insight back to the business to deliver tangible value. 5. We are moving towards a post-user-interface world. Karthik describes a future where people don’t click through software screens but simply give prompts to AI agents. From filing expenses to onboarding new employees, many workflows will be compressed into a single intelligent interaction. SaaS becomes the execution layer, while intelligence shifts to autonomous agents. 6. Bolt-on AI v/s Built-in AI. Established cloud companies often layer AI on top of existing systems, because ripping and rebuilding is hard. In contrast, newer AI-native startups are designing with AI embedded into every layer, not just the interface but also integrations, databases, and workflows. 7. Competitive advantage in AI is defined by end-to-end experience. The companies that will win in this new era are the ones that focus on experience,  for customers and employees alike. Personalization, configurability, and ease of use are now just as important as core features. 8. Success is measured by value created, not logins or usage. The number of users is not the right metric to evaluate any tool. What matters is whether people are able to get things done faster, better, and more efficiently. It's about the shift in how work happens and the use cases the tool enables. 9. AI productivity hack to build a library of prompts. Karthik stores his favorite ChatGPT prompts in Google Drive, organized by use case. His advice is to not rely on memory, instead create a personal prompt library to save time and think better. Check out the full episode on our Youtube channel.

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Just spent 45 minutes talking with Nilanjana Bhowmik on her Post Money Podcast — exploring all the nuances of “software beyond the screen” investing, the danger of going TOO deeptech, and some of the best Ubiquity Ventures companies. Check out the preview video below or (1) watch the full interview on YouTube: https://lnkd.in/gqUKpzP3 or (2) listen to the podcast: https://lnkd.in/gSi74wDZ — (And one clarification from this teaser because it sounds so terrible out of context: “these customers are so stupid they don’t know what they’re doing” — VERY importantly my quote starts with “I would NEVER back an entrepreneur who doesn’t empathize with customers and says ridiculous stuff like ‘these customers are so stupid…’)

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Excited to share this News, 888vc, Our Early-stage venture capital firm based in Bangalore, India has launched platfrom Gro8 backed by ₹175 crore (US$ 20M) fund to back startups focused on AI, deep tech, Enterprise SAAS and sustainability over the next three years. 💡 Key Focus Areas: 🔹 Average ticket size of ₹2–4 crores 🔹 Sector Agnostic Angel fund 🔹 Focus on globally scalable solutions 🔹 Launch of GRO8 angel platform for cross-border funding, mentorship & market access 📌 If you’re building in AI, deep-tech, or sustainability with ambitions to grow globally, let’s talk. Read more here: https://lnkd.in/gtUcYkrx #888vc #gro8 #venturecapital #angelinvestments #startups

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Thane-based marketing technology startup Grexa AI has raised INR 15.5 crore in a seed funding round. Grexa AI is on a mission to simplify marketing for India's small business sector. The company offers an all-in-one platform that automates digital marketing for SMBs like salons, clinics, and gyms. The platform handles social media, local SEO, advertisements, and website management without requiring technical expertise, aiming to empower one million small businesses over the next two years. The seed funding round was led by Utsav Somani, with participation from Bharat Founders Fund, DeVC, Vernalis Capital, and several angel investors. The newly secured funds will be used to accelerate product innovation and support go-to-market efforts as Grexa AI continues to develop its autonomous platform. Congratulations to co-founders Ashutosh Kumar, Ayush Varshney, Arpit Oswal, Narendra Agrawal, and the Grexa AI team. Entrepreneur India: https://lnkd.in/dNTMDFp7 #MarTech #AI #DigitalMarketing #SMB #Automation #SeedFunding #IndianTech

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The Age of AI-First Companies is Here. Navin Chaddha, Managing Partner at MAYFIELD FUND, L.L.C, laid out a compelling vision for the future of business in the AI era—and it’s all about reimagining from the ground up (and there will be major disruption of existing SaaS and Services Businesses). Read on.. 💬 What's your take on Navin's vision? Let us know in the comments In an interview with Derek Andersen at today's Startup Grind Conference. 🔑 Key takeaways from this clip as he dropped the mic and walked out: 🧠 AI-first mindset: Every business—law firms, IT services, consultancies—needs to rethink how it would be built today if it were AI-native from day one. 💼 Services disruption: Mayfield launched Gruve an AI-native IT services company aiming to upend the $1.5T services industry with outcome-based pricing models, not per-hour billing. 📉 SaaS is being disrupted: Just like SaaS disrupted enterprise software, AI is now disrupting SaaS—shifting pricing from monthly subscriptions to consumption-based models. 🌍 Professional services are next: Think leaner, AI-enabled McKinseys and Goldmans—small teams augmented by AI that scale faster and operate at lower cost. ⚖️ The great equalizer: AI is democratizing knowledge and capabilities. The barriers to entrepreneurship are falling, and the opportunities are bigger than ever. 🧳 “In 5 years, we’ll be running startups from Hawaii.” It's time to think big. Build smart. Rosemary Brisco, AI Consultant Rich Schwerin Laurie Kretchmar Dennis Shiao Christina Ellwood David Yakobovitch Paul Baier Bob Mitton Jeremiah Owyang Christopher Penn Eduardo Ordax #AI #Entrepreneurship #VentureCapital #Startups #FutureOfWork #Mayfield #NavinChaddha Vijay R. Karlie Valine Jamilah Tawfiq Morrar James Gee Eleanor Aldersley Ethan Mollick

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Agree with Mr. Rishabh Mariwala's framing here. The only nuance I’d add is that execution at this stage isn’t a people problem, it’s a systems problem. What’s happening in #India isn’t just 'more channels.' It’s a shift in where control sits. Earlier, growth was about adding distributors, stores, or platforms. Now it's about coordinating demand, supply, and pricing across all of them at once. That’s a very different muscle!! General trade shrinking as a share is real, but it’s still massive in absolute terms. Modern trade, ecommerce, and quick commerce aren’t replacing it; they’re compressing decision cycles. A brand now gets signals from kirana shelves, dark stores, apps, and its own D2C site simultaneously. The challenge isn’t fragmentation, it’s signal overload. Where I slightly diverge? Execution is necessary, but not sufficient. The real moat is who owns the operating system. Brands that treat channels as sales pipes struggle. Brands that treat them as data pipes start to win. Take a consumer brand selling on Zepto, Blinkit, #generaltrade, and #D2C. If quick commerce pushes discounting to drive speed, and general trade depends on MRP discipline, you can’t fix that with weekly reviews. You need real-time inventory visibility, channel-wise margin logic, and hard rules on when growth is allowed to hurt brand. Another example is beauty/personal care. Nykaa works not because it’s present everywhere, but because pricing, assortment, and launches are orchestrated. New products show up where discovery is strongest, not everywhere on day one. That’s orchestration! For legacy #FMCG players, this transition is even harder. Companies like Tata Consumer Products or Hindustan Unilever (HUL) already have distribution depth. The question is whether their systems and incentives are built for cross-channel coordination, or still optimised for volume push. From an investor POV, I now look less at 'how many channels are you in? and more at: - Can you turn off a channel without breaking the business? - Do you know your true margin by channel in real time? - Can you launch differently across channels without confusing the consumer? Presence is table stakes. Orchestration is the game. And the quiet winners will be the ones who look boring externally, but have terrifyingly good internal control. #VCinsights #SectorDeepDive #TheFirstBlock

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