“You know what, you should speak to Suren?” she said. I hadn’t yet met Surendran Balchandran (or Suren, as everyone knows him). But when Prukalpa vouches for someone, you don’t question it. Almost the same day, I pinged her asking for an introduction. What followed was one of the most surprising experiences of my life. He was quiet in early meetings—attending, taking notes, nodding along. But then came event day, and it was like watching a submarine surface. Suren was on top of everything, executing flawlessly, spotting failure points, and quietly putting processes in place to avoid them.

“I am in,” said Shashank Kumar, co-founder of Razorpay, leaning back on his chair. I hadn’t completed my pitch, but Shashank’s mind was made up. There wasn’t much to say, so I pocketed my iPhone, stood up, thanked him, and left. He had just agreed to sign a not-insignificant cheque for our efforts. 

Her Twitter persona was fierce, fearless, and formidable. She pulled no punches. I had found a line to connect with her. But I wasn’t convinced. I wanted to know more. So, I reached further into the ecosystem.

Caravan 2025, a founder-first event packed with actionable insights, peer connections, and candid, hard-won wisdom you won’t find anywhere else. If you’re building or pivoting an AI-first company, you’ll feel right at home here.

It’s easy to get excited about ideas. We’ve all been there, heady with the thrill of a brilliant concept that sounds great on paper. However, there’s a certain satisfaction that comes from transforming those concepts into tangible realities. That’s the true test – the moment an abstract vision takes on a life of its own.

Before I move on, I want to introduce you to Mayank, founder of EPYC and one of the brightest minds I’ve met. Deeply rooted in the open-source and no-code world, Mayank brings a rare mix of hustle, heart, and humility.

Building something of your own is deeply personal. The Jagah study gently uncovers what founders often find hard to share.

It’s not often that I stumble across someone who is a natural giver. During these sessions, he would never hold back — that honesty and transparency hooked founders, who would speak about moments from the session for days. At that moment, I saw a genius in Kalyan… He reminds me of the famous Hindi proverb, ‘A tree laden with fruit bends low.’ Despite being a successful founder, Kalyan’s humility and empathy are visible

Sometimes the most important conversations happen in the most unexpected ways. Ashwin from Moative and I were talking a few weeks ago about India’s AI moment when we realized something profound: we’re sitting on a $100 billion opportunity that could reshape how the world thinks about enterprise software.