About this episode
What drives a founder to go back into the grind after a life-changing exit?In this episode, we sit down with Ganesh, a serial founder who bootstrapped his AI startup to millions in revenue, cracked the toughest enterprise clients like TCS and KPMG, and rebounded from losing 85% of revenue during COVID.We cover:- Why he didn’t raise VC early on- Building an assessment company without asking a single question- Selling into TCS, Indian Army & QSRs like Universal Studios- Losing millions in revenue overnight and still surviving- Exiting to a strategic buyer- Why he's back in stealth mode building a sales AI companyTimestamps:00:00 – Intro & how Ganesh and the host met00:21 – Why build another startup after a successful exit?01:06 – Spotting the opportunity with generative AI02:12 – Cisco days & the shift to entrepreneurship03:00 – Building culture at scale — the early inspiration04:29 – From network optimization to people analytics07:13 – Mistake: Building before validating10:03 – First break via Plug and Play, no customers yet11:08 – Breakthrough with DBS & positioning as a “cultural DNA” company12:13 – Landing TCS, Byju’s, KPMG for large-scale assessments13:25 – Pricing challenges in enterprise SaaS18:15 – First funding — how Mitsubishi Ventures found them20:32 – Crazy story of a 12-person Sunday 7AM investor meetingt26:00 – QSR boom: Universal Studios, restaurant chains, & rapid growth29:07 – COVID wiped out 85% of revenue overnight33:00 – Why founder salaries matters even in bootstrapped companies34:36 – Pivoting back to B2B — TCS saves the business38:48 – Rebuilding revenue, landing Byju’s, scaling again43:00 – Learn at Forbes, cultural learning styles, and the acquirer46:32 – Post-exit reflections on taxes, dilution & what he’d do differently51:10 – Starting again: the new stealth startup in AI Sales57:00 – Early adopters welcome: Join Ganesh’s next journey
