Sticking with Start-ups / DAVOS 2025

Summary

This panel discussion focused on the current state of startups and the impact of AI on the business landscape. The conversation began with an overview of recent trends in the startup ecosystem, highlighting the challenges of bringing companies to market and the shift towards global resilience and applied AI. Panelists discussed the growth of India’s startup scene and the increasing acceptance of startups in public markets.

The discussion delved into the transformative potential of AI across various industries, with examples from healthcare, enterprise software, and defense. Panelists emphasized the importance of AI integration for both established companies and startups, noting that AI is reshaping workforce dynamics and creating new business opportunities. They also addressed the challenges of valuation in the current market, where traditional metrics may not apply to AI-focused companies.

The conversation touched on regulatory considerations, particularly in light of potential changes in U.S. administration. Panelists advised founders to be adaptable and to build companies with both domestic and global perspectives. They also discussed fundraising challenges in the current economic climate and the importance of founder qualities in early-stage investments.

The panel concluded with insights on navigating the rapidly changing AI landscape, emphasizing the need for agility and constant adaptation in product development and organizational behavior. Overall, the discussion highlighted the exciting opportunities and complex challenges facing startups in an AI-driven world.

Keypoints

Major discussion points:

– The current state of the startup ecosystem, including challenges in getting companies to market

– The impact of AI on various industries and how startups are leveraging AI technology

– Staying private vs. going public as a startup, and the benefits/challenges of each

– How geopolitical factors and regulatory environments affect startups globally

– Fundraising and valuation trends in the current economic climate

Overall purpose:

The goal of this discussion was to provide insights into the current state of the startup ecosystem, exploring challenges and opportunities facing entrepreneurs and investors in today’s rapidly evolving technological and economic landscape.

Tone:

The overall tone was informative and optimistic. Panelists spoke candidly about challenges in the startup world but maintained an upbeat outlook on innovation and opportunities, particularly around AI. The tone became slightly more cautious when discussing economic uncertainties and geopolitical factors, but generally remained positive throughout the conversation.

Speakers

– Brian Sozzi: Moderator

– Hemant Taneja: Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director at General Catalyst USA

– Mohit Bhatnagar: Peak XV Partners India

– Arvind Jain: Co-Founder and CEO of Glean

– Kate Ryder: Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Maven Clinic

Additional speakers:

– Audience: Various audience members who asked questions

The State of Startups and AI: A Comprehensive Panel Discussion

This panel discussion brought together industry leaders to explore the current state of startups and the transformative impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on the business landscape. The panellists included Hemant Taneja, CEO and Managing Director at General Catalyst USA; Mohit Bhatnagar from Peak XV Partners India; Arvind Jain, Co-Founder and CEO of Glean; and Kate Ryder, Founder and CEO of Maven Clinic.

1. The Evolving Startup Ecosystem

The discussion highlighted both challenges and opportunities in the current startup ecosystem. Mohit Bhatnagar provided a global perspective, noting that India has emerged as the world’s third-largest startup ecosystem with about 110 unicorns, compared to just one in 2011. This growth reflects a significant shift in the global distribution of innovation and entrepreneurship.

Hemant Taneja emphasized how geopolitical factors and AI advancements are driving changes in capital allocation and talent mobilization. The panellists agreed that while the fundraising environment remains challenging, opportunities still exist, particularly in sectors like digital health and defense tech.

2. The Transformative Impact of AI

A central theme was the profound impact of AI across various industries. Hemant Taneja stressed that AI is transforming enterprises across sectors, with every CEO and boardroom considering how to leverage AI. Arvind Jain provided a concrete example, describing how his company, Glean, is essentially “the chat GPT, but inside your company.”

Looking ahead to 2025, Arvind Jain predicted that AI will become more deeply integrated into products, moving beyond simple chatbots to more sophisticated applications that can handle complex tasks and decision-making processes.

3. Challenges and Opportunities for Startups

Kate Ryder discussed the challenges of raising capital in the current environment, noting that while opportunities exist, startups need to be more strategic and efficient in their fundraising efforts. She also highlighted the benefits of staying private, including the ability to focus on longer-term product roadmaps and faster growth.

Hemant Taneja and Mohit Bhatnagar emphasized the impact of geopolitical factors on startups, particularly in the defense sector. They noted increased interest and investment in defense tech startups due to global security concerns.

Arvind Jain stressed the importance of adaptability in product development, given the rapidly changing AI landscape. He advised founders to be prepared to pivot and adjust their strategies as technology evolves.

4. Investment Trends and Valuation Challenges

Mohit Bhatnagar highlighted the importance of investing in founders rather than just startups, emphasizing the need for resilient and adaptable leadership. The panel also discussed the challenges of valuation in the current market, particularly for AI-focused companies where traditional metrics may not apply.

The discussion touched on the potential opening of IPO markets in the second half of the year, offering a possible exit route for some startups.

5. Global Perspectives and Regulatory Considerations

Mohit Bhatnagar’s comments on India’s startup scene highlighted the increasing importance of emerging markets in the global innovation landscape. The panellists advised founders to build companies with both domestic and global perspectives, emphasizing the importance of navigating varying regulatory environments.

Hemant Taneja mentioned the General Catalyst Institute’s focus on working with governments, underscoring the growing intersection between startups, technology, and public policy.

6. Sector-Specific Insights

Kate Ryder provided insights into the digital health sector, outlining Maven Clinic’s strategic focus on expanding services across the lifecycle, from fertility and pregnancy to pediatrics and menopause. She highlighted the significant growth potential in women’s health startups.

Mohit Bhatnagar identified defense tech and precision manufacturing as promising sectors, reflecting broader geopolitical trends and technological advancements.

Conclusion

The panel provided a comprehensive overview of the current state of startups and AI, offering valuable insights for entrepreneurs, investors, and industry observers. Key takeaways include the transformative potential of AI across industries, the evolving nature of the global startup ecosystem, and the critical importance of adaptability in the face of technological and geopolitical changes. The discussion underscored the need for startups to remain agile, innovative, and globally minded as they navigate the complex landscape of AI-driven innovation and shifting market dynamics.

Brian Sozzi: Fabulous session here, amazing room, holy cow, I need my house to look like this, guys. This is amazing. Sticking with startups, really excited to talk to this really esteemed panel of guests. Mohit Patnegar, or Mohit, as you told me off camera. Totally. Just Mohit for this session. Kate Ryder, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Maven Clinic, good to see you, I should mention Mohit. Peak XV Partners India. Hemant Taneha, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director at General Catalyst USA, good to see you. And Arvind Jain, Co-Founder and CEO of Glean, good to be following you on X, I appreciate the follows. Maybe we could start this off, I’ll start with you, Hemant. Level set for this room, what has been going on the past 12 months on the startup scene? Why has it been so hard to get companies to market?

Hemant Taneja: I think, first of all, if you think about overall innovation and what’s happening in the world, there are two mega trends. One, what we call global resilience, that’s a big overarching theme here at WEF right now. It’s entirely focused on the fact that the geopolitics is driving every country to think about resiliency of their industries. Defense, healthcare, energy, industrials, financial services, it’s all how do we rethink making them resilient for our own countries first and foremost, that’s a mega theme. Second thing is, the applied AI theme is becoming more and more real, you now have use cases that are starting to show the ROI of the application of AI into enterprises, I think that’s a mega theme. So, these things are mobilizing capital and talent in a fundamentally different way from before. Before, in the app store economy in the last 15 years, everything was about how do we build new distribution models, new sort of cloud-based business models, now it’s about how do we transform industries and the underlying substrate we’re doing it on is technology and AI. But every three months, the capabilities of that substrate actually keeps changing and so the peak uncertainty around the politics and the evolution of technology makes it different to say what companies are going to be around and be aligned with where the world’s going and so that’s why I think, for a lot of ideas, we end up saying, maybe we wait and see how the world becomes clear and then some that are also very clear that are attracting a lot of capital as well. So, it’s a mixed bag at the moment. Mohit, how urbansome has the regulatory framework been on the startup scene?

Mohit Bhatnagar: First, before I get to regulatory, let me give you a sense because India, I think, has bucked the trend on your first question. India today is perhaps the world’s third largest startup ecosystem. In 2011, and some of us were around then, we probably had one company that had crossed a billion dollars in valuation. Today, India has about 110 of these companies, so-called unicorns. China just as a reference point has about 240 of these unicorns. So, in the last 15 years, India has really exploded in terms of value creation of companies. Now, interestingly, as just a side, when China crossed the same milestone for 100 unicorns, it was already at about $8,000 GDP per capita. India’s at about only $2,700. So, we really do think over the next decade, India will probably just have a more thriving and a very vibrant startup ecosystem to actually have more unicorns than even perhaps China over the next decade. Last year was actually a wonderful year for the startup ecosystem. Since the pandemic, India now has 35 companies that have gone public. In that sense, it’s bucked the trend of lack of liquidity over this last year or two. India today has about four companies that have crossed $10 billion in valuation and another 20 that are somewhere between $1 to $10 billion. So, we actually are in a different cycle versus many others in the world where we have a lot of companies re-domiciling back into India to try and enjoy what the public markets are

Brian Sozzi: offering them as an exit opportunity. I’ll get back on the regulatory front, but you had experience at Google India. What are you seeing in that market right now and how are their entrepreneurs different than maybe when you were running Google India?

Arvind Jain: Well, India has fundamentally changed in the last two decades. When I went there to start Google India in 2005, the industry was largely the services industry, some of the big names like Infosys and Wipro and TCS, but there were hardly any product companies. There were almost no startups. A bunch of my friends who wanted to start companies, their mindset was always start a services company, get projects from the US, from Europe, and execute on them. So, we moved from that world to now, where I think, as Mohit mentioned, graduates from engineering colleges, when they have that confidence, they have the belief in themselves that they can actually go and start new product companies, product companies that are both global in nature as well as products that are built to serve the market in India, which is also fairly large. So, it’s a night and day when you think about what has happened in the last two decades. Is it a bit easier to get companies to market in India? Well, I mean, I think, like, first, I think the funding ecosystem also has significantly improved. I mean, access to capital has never been easier. Capital is more available than ever before. I remember in 2005, it was a big challenge, a big challenge to actually raise capital. A lot of folks who were actually trying to start companies in India, they had to actually come to the US to actually seek funding. Domestic funding was not actually that prevalent. So, all of that has changed. So, I think, overall, I think the market in India is actually as friendly as, I would say, is in the Bay Area. Kate, I want to get over to you.

Brian Sozzi: I’ve been trying to come up with the perfect questions. As a former journalist, I’m like, I realize I’m just not going to nail it. Take us through your startup journey. Sure. Well, nice question. Not bad, right? Like, open-ended. It’s cool. It gets the convo going. I started Maven 10 years ago.

Kate Ryder: So, Maven is the largest virtual clinic in women’s and family health. Hamam’s an investor, one of our biggest ones. So, we’re thrilled to partner. I actually started in London and then moved to New York pretty quickly afterwards. And so, we are global. We serve about 17 million lives. We cover fertility benefits, maternity benefits, about 10% of our users are global. And so, I think I couldn’t agree more on some of the points on kind of that shift from growth at all costs and how do you innovate to resilience, and then how do you use, I mean, particularly being a 10-year-old company in a highly regulated industry, how do we use our distribution and data advantage to really kind of harness a lot of the new technology with AI and then just continue to accelerate growth? Because I think it has been over the last few years, obviously, a tougher funding market. Valuations have come massively down on the public markets, but I think we are in this exciting moment where a lot of private companies such as ourselves, we’re really kind of heads down and how do we show up when we eventually do show up in the public markets with a really big AI story, even though we started 10 years ago, right? And again, in highly regulated healthcare industries like healthcare or education or whatnot, if you do have that distribution advantage and the data advantage, you can

Brian Sozzi: actually continue to do a lot and make a lot of progress. Do you want to be a public company CEO? Does that still hold, I guess, the allure that it would five years ago?

Kate Ryder: I mean, it very much depends on the business. I was actually talking to the founder of another GC company and they’re in dental implants and they don’t have to be a public company and I’m like so jealous of that, right? Because they don’t have, they have a very targeted customer, they don’t need to kind of prove to huge buyers that their product is the right one. But I think for us in women’s health, which is an underfunded and underserved category, it’s a huge validation moment for the sector as well as a lot of our large customers to be a public company. So I think it would help us grow even though I know it would be very tough.

Brian Sozzi: What type of guidance do you give, Kate?

Hemant Taneja: Look, I think the perspective on public versus private, you have to work backwards on what does a business need and how do you build an enduring company? And so all the guidance is in that context. I think as Kate said, women’s health is theoretically a massive category, right? It’s a huge percentage of our healthcare goes towards women by definition. And no one’s really cracked that as an end-to-end experience. So could you build a public company as a category defining one and draws investor attention and also customer attention towards, hey, we need to be structurally investing in this area? I do think there’s a lot of benefits. Does every company have to go public? There were investors in Stripe, they’ve been around for two decades, almost two decades now, and 17 years. They could have been public a long time ago, but they think they have access to the capital, their investors have access to liquidity, and they get to focus on their long-term bets without the pressures of a public company. So I think it’s a choice you have to make, and every company will make a different choice based on their own needs.

Brian Sozzi: How do you know the time is right, and is this year right for the many companies that you’re invested in?

Hemant Taneja: Yeah, so first thing is, I have forced companies in the past to go public because they thought they were not very financially disciplined, because the public market puts that pressure on you. Some companies are physically disciplined from the beginning, like you guys are, and so that pressure is not there to say, hey, you need to be in the public markets to be a more predictable business. Time ends up being right, first of all, when the market dictates it. You don’t get to decide when the time is right, and there is a theory that a lot of the investor sentiment is gonna be towards having these companies go public, especially with the AI trend and the enthusiasm behind that. So timing generally corresponds to the maturation of these technology cycles, where we feel like the category winners have been created, and that is starting to happen here. In health in particular, that just started five, six years ago, when these companies really got unleashed at scale. So a lot of that maturation, I do think, will lead to IPOs in the healthcare sector, because timing is, we now know what the winners are, and the markets wanna get behind them at scale. I had a great conversation with the CEO of Nasdaq, Idina Friedman, and she said the first half, okay for IPOs,

Brian Sozzi: second half is where things might pick up. Do you see that happening, and what does that, I guess, public market outlook look like in your view?

Mohit Bhatnagar: Heyman’s probably a better judge on the US markets. Like I said, in the India context, the Indian public markets have, probably the single biggest positive thing that’s happened in our part of the world is acceptance by the IPO markets for startups. Historically, our public markets used to be driven a lot by the foreign inflows and outflows, and they used to be deeply impacted by so. But one thing has changed in the last four or five years. India today has retail investors using something called SIPs, Systematic Investment Plan, and so there are 100 million households in India putting $30 a month, so that’s close to three to three and a half billion dollars of domestic money that’s coming into the public markets. Now this is important because this is not hot money that’ll flow in or out based on the world having a cold, and so we’re actually feeling pretty good about the long-term prospects of companies returning to India, re-domiciling in certain cases, and listing. Kate mentioned the AI story. What does the AI story for a company like Glean look like?

Brian Sozzi: Well, so we are AI native startup, started in 2019.

Arvind Jain: In fact, I think Glean is the first company to bring the new AI transformer space technology to the enterprise. I think from an AI perspective, I would say I think the opportunity for us, for our companies, is enormous. We are getting to tackle problems that were really not possible for technology to handle before, products that we built. So Glean, our company itself, think of us as the chat GPD, but inside your company. Glean connects with all of your enterprise data and information, and then it acts as an AI assistant that an employee can go to and ask for help. You can ask any questions, you can give a task, and it sort of looks and feels like a human. It’s able to actually answer those questions for you, perform those tasks using all of that institutional knowledge that it has about the company. Now a product like this could not have been built without these advances that we’ve seen from the large language models. And so it’s a great market to be in from that perspective. We’ve seen great demand. Our business is growing 3X year over year. And that’s the story with many AI companies. The appetite for the products that we are building is huge, like every large enterprise today. They want to actually drive transformation with AI. Everybody believes that if they don’t invest in AI today, that they’re going to be left behind. So it’s sort of like sets a really good platform and foundation for all AI native companies. What do you think the AI story of this year will be? So one of the things, so AI dollars today from enterprises are coming a lot from the point of view of experimentation. Nobody wants to be left behind, as I said, and so enterprises have been willing to invest dollars before they see returns. And I think ultimately those dollars run out and you need to generate value. And so we’re seeing that value creation start to happen. That journey started last year, but this year we will see significant value creation that happens through AI, which will then further allow these large enterprises to reinvest that money that you get from your current AI investments and be on that path to sort of continue to experiment and do more and more things with AI. So 2025 will be the year where we will see a lot of agents enter your sort of business processes and AI actually becoming a real line item when you think about your bottom line or top line. I will say, so we’re a customer,

Kate Ryder: I was telling Arvind of Glean, and a few months ago our head of product marketing was so excited, she found this new product. And one of the operational bottlenecks and pain points we have is when we’re selling to all of these diverse customers, our sales team, our marketing team, they’re constantly trying to keep up on how do we answer an RFP or what’s the latest in our product and in this very complex payments product, how do we answer this question? And so we’re now using Glean and it’s really cool. And it’s just an example where for us, not an AI native company, our job is to integrate as much AI as possible. We’ve kind of told all of our teams, you must be a big AI integrator this year. And so yeah, I couldn’t be more.

Hemant Taneja: AI started an economy-wide transformation of the enterprise. And so what happened was every CEO in every boardroom in every industry was thinking about how do we use AI. And that led to a lot of pilots. And you get to understand the art of the possible, and then a lot of these companies took a step back and said, now what? And I think that’s what 23 and 24 was. The story of 25 is really systemically thinking about what it takes to transform the enterprise with AI. And to us, that’s three things. One is having infrastructure that actually readies you to be able to take advantage of AI. And I think a lot of what you do, where you can actually see the use cases become clear, in Kate’s case, for example, that had to be built. And I think that’s becoming more mature. The second thing is the evolution of the AI infrastructure itself, all the technologies being built, the foundation models, I think they’re maturing with the right APIs on top to be usable. But then the third part, which is what Arvind was trying to mention, is you have to have this notion of AI agents. And think about having a human workforce and an AI workforce that has to now become a single workforce. So the transformation of the workforce itself is a big theme that has to be thought through. So I think in this year, I’m optimistic some of the larger companies are gonna be getting more sophisticated at solving all the problems,

Mohit Bhatnagar: which is what it’s gonna take to transform the enterprise. How is AI shaping the workforce in India? So it’s interesting. I would say the low-hanging fruit for us is think content, for example. The cost of creation of an episode or anything else like that has crashed. And you now can create new businesses, new business models where you can create content businesses based out of India and actually service the world. And we’ve seen a host of opportunities, whether it’s video or comic genres and so on and so forth. Think of all the prosumer applications around people who need to create videos, for example. Well, one of the biggest bottlenecks to create a video is writing out the script for a video. Well, integrating with ChatGPD gives you more than enough options. I write a good script, okay, for business news.

Brian Sozzi: There you go. I earn my pay.

Mohit Bhatnagar: So repeatedly, application after application, we’re seeing a host of companies just embrace AI and actually just get much faster, much cheaper at being able to create content which they can sell in new business models. For me, the one I’m looking forward to right now is actually consumer. We see a lot of wonderful companies like Glean and there’s a company called Perplexity that is doing quite well. But I really think there is a great opportunity to reimagine every consumer experience that we enjoy today. Think of your boring OTA experience that you’ve done for the last 10 years. Think of the way you buy products online. I think there’s an AI-first approach to each one of these that can be reimagined,

Brian Sozzi: and I’m really excited about that. I’m sure both of your companies have amazing valuations, but let me ask you this. What do the valuations feel like in terms of AI? Do they feel overheated? What’s your sense of things? Oh, well, we’re gonna exclude them. I mean, they’re doing great, I’m sure. They’re doing great. Well, those valuations are well-deserved. I would say, I think there are two things happening. One is, there’s a lot of companies that go. have funded in the last five, six years that have gotten

Hemant Taneja: to some scale, were very overpriced a few years ago, don’t have the growth rates that are really exciting, and so still feel overvalued. So I think there’s an overhang still from the COVID era on the valuations. But, and so you’ll see a hundred million dollar business growing 30% a year and no one wants to fund it. And then you’ll see an AI infrastructure company with some smart researchers, not even engineers perhaps, that can raise money at a billion dollar valuation on the promise of what it’s able to do. So I think you’re sort of seeing this fear and greed at the same time across the portfolio, and it’s in the brains of the same investors, right? And so everybody’s running towards the AI bubble, and I think bubbles are good, because it orchestrates capital and talent into an industry which leads to good things, even though there’s some carnage along the way. So you’re seeing that, but at the same time, we do have to figure out how to create value out of these companies that were funded and are decent businesses and can endure, but maybe won’t be the ones that are on the traditional parallel. So I think it’s a nuanced perspective on the companies from a valuation standpoint. What metrics are you looking for?

Brian Sozzi: How do you know that this might be the next big play in AI?

Hemant Taneja: Look, for us, AI is a transformation technology, right? So we look at it and say, if you were to build a certain business, how does it go and transform the workforce in its category? And that, to us, is a matrix. It’s sort of each of the verticals. So healthcare, you’re gonna have an industry model, media, industrials, you name it. And then for each department, there’s a transformation. What does a call center of the future look like? What does a legal department of the future look like? And so in each of those areas, when a company goes and tackles that to say, we will apply AI to it, the market sizes are actually massive. So if you think about the nursing resources on the phone in the United States, it’s bigger than the entire SaaS market, okay, in terms of what AI could do. So if you could have an AI nurse, the potential, if you could actually build it, be safe and be efficacious, is actually bigger than the biggest SaaS company that’s been built. So you think about that potential, and then you think about how much that could accompany tackling that cover. So these ideas are massive, and I think that’s why there’s enthusiasm to overpay. But most won’t get there, but the ones that will will be even more spectacular than the kinds of opportunities we’ve created in the last 15 years.

Brian Sozzi: Okay, what has been one of the, or a couple benefits of staying private for so long?

Kate Ryder: Well, I think we can have more of a longer term product roadmap. And so we just, as an example, built a huge new product in the last two years in fertility benefits where we’re now the payer. So we shifted from being purely virtual care into now we’re also the payer. I think doing that in the public markets at a time of consolidation and austerity would not have been as beneficial to us, and it probably, we would not have moved as fast. Actually, one of our biggest competitors is a public company, and we’ve just overtaken them in valuation, even though they- Congrats. Thanks. Not bad, right? Thanks. Both of you are doing a good job. It’s well deserved. Yeah, right? In the private markets, because we have been able to, I think, grow faster, and then, again, spend a little bit more. We’re not as constrained by getting profitable tomorrow. Of course, every business is focused on sustainability and profitability, but if you have a high gross margin product and you have fast growth, there’s still so much opportunity to be created. Just to give you an example, we’re the largest now women’s health company in digital health. We’re only valued at 1.7 billion, and I can tell you women are 50% of the population, and this industry is massive, and so it just allows us to take bigger bets and move faster and really play for the long term. What’s your biggest focal point this year for your team? Is it in terms of a new product? What are you trying to innovate on? In terms of a new product, I mean, I think it’s we cover fertility, pregnancy, pediatrics, and menopause, and so there’s one part of pediatrics we don’t cover yet, which is that 10 to 17, you know, teenagers, which is, there’s a lot to do there, so we’re focused on that. We’re also focused on doubling down on a lot of our clinical care model in fertility and maternity using AI, so some of our metrics, we usually launch a new product every 18 months, and so we launched a new product last year, so we will kind of be launching a new product at the end of this year, early next year, but our roadmap for the next nine months is honestly a lot of member experience, how to leverage AI to better personalize member journeys, because there’s just so much that we can do now. Like, if you think about, if I think about where our product was three years ago and where it’s gonna be in three years, it’s gonna be like a dinosaur product three years ago. Like, you know, like the segmentation that we were doing in personalization was like, you know, three cohorts of users. Now we can have millions of cohorts of users, and it’s gonna be so hyper-personalized, which drives engagement, which ultimately drives the clinical outcomes that I think everyone in healthcare, at least, you know, as a digital health company, really need to show. Of course, it’s early goings with the new administration, but as a founder and as a leader,

Brian Sozzi: I mean, have you thought about, I mean, do you have to pivot in any way? And how do you think the next four years will shape your business?

Kate Ryder: I think there’s the policy side in women’s health, which, that’s a whole nother session, and so, you know, there’s some unfortunate policy in women’s health in the United States right now that, at a state level, in terms of restrictions of access to care, I think some of the tailwinds that we see is actually in the fertility industry with this administration. Trump called himself, recently, the father of IVF, and Elon is very, very obsessed with the declining birth rates, and so fertility is something that isn’t accessible enough, and in the U.S., at least, there’s a lot of state mandates coming online where the states are saying you have to, if you’re a health plan, cover fertility benefits in our state, and this is the amount of coverage. California was the latest. By 2027, everyone that, every health plan has to cover up to $75,000 of IVF coverage. It’s a lot, and New York has that mandate. We’re also seeing, just globally, from a public health system standpoint, more and more fertility coverage. The NHS, we work a lot in London. We bought a company in London about a year and a half ago, and the NHS has expanded fertility coverage. I know, you know, there’s some questions right now on how the NHS is gonna manage budget going forward, but, you know, fertility, again, is here to stay, so there’s gonna be tailwinds there, which is positive, but I think on the maternal health side, any access to women’s health, at least with the new administration, we hope that there’ll just be continued data coming out of all of these states to really tell the story of what restricted access to care does to health outcomes.

Brian Sozzi: Arvind, how does, you know, how does this administration change how you think about your business over the next four years?

Arvind Jain: So for us, like, you know, we’re focused on the enterprise, and the, I think, you know, with the lawn, with, you know, with the president, the AI is actually an important, you know, initiative, and in fact, you know, like, everybody seems to want to do more with it, so from that perspective, I think we don’t see any headwinds, like, you know, it’s all tailwinds in terms of, like, you know, us having access to more and more, you know, underlying AI technology that we can use to build great products. So it’s like, like, it doesn’t play a huge role one way or the other. We don’t see any hindrances, and, you know, we generally see things, you know, being, you know, positive for AI companies over the next few years. Mohit, we’ve heard President Trump talk about America first.

Brian Sozzi: What does that mean, or that mindset, or that new mindset in the US? What does that mean to startups overseas, and of course, in India? Yeah, we always tell our LPs, our investors, when you invest with us, you’re investing behind two twin engines.

Mohit Bhatnagar: One is the domestic consumption that is, you know, increasing quickly in our part of the world, and second is with the population of software developers that, you know, reside in India, semiconductor designers that have resided in India, we really are building products that are built in India, but really for the world. And so to that extent, you know, that’s an important thing, everything that Arvind said around AI being accepted more than before. You know, we have today over 100 cross-border companies. The Indian diaspora is very visibly present in the valley. It’s not uncommon for our startups to have one founder based in the valley, one based in Bangalore. And so that’s just the corridor that Indians have, you know, traversed way before this administration, and we think it’ll only deepen. Do you think innovation is stifled? Not at all, actually. To everybody’s point here, I think AI provides this one dislocation that you can almost reimagine every industry, both enterprise software as well as consumer businesses. So if anything, I think we’ve never been more excited to come to work, to really look at the raw energy, and you should see our offices. I mean, the founders are, you know, bubbling with excitement because there’s an opportunity now to sort of take on some of the incumbents. And it was mentioned here today, if you’re a software company and SaaS was your business model, well, it’s getting disrupted overnight, and unless you’re a software company. you really have a very strong AI product roadmap, it’ll be hard to see you a very successful company in the future. So it is a reset that I think allows for young entrepreneurs to really jump on.

Brian Sozzi: What’s your advice you’re giving to young entrepreneurs? Not only have, they’re building great businesses, thinking about the P&L, maybe going public, but now they’re having to deal with a whole new potentially regulatory backdrop. You know, what’s your advice to them?

Hemant Taneja: Yeah, so first thing is, as technology has gone mainstream and we’re touching industries like defense, industrials, energy, they are regulated industries for the most part. So the view in the valley in the tech industry used to be, we’re in the unregulated world and we wanna go as fast as possible. When we were touching these industries, it actually is a muscle we have to develop. So at GC, we actually launched a General Catalyst Institute and the whole focus is on how do we work effectively with governments, DC, Brussels, Delhi, London, and also help our founders become much more sophisticated at that. The tricky part for the founders in this world, where as we describe it as global resilience, where America first, and France first, and Europe first, and India first, as the markets are developing, I think the founders have to build in a way that they take advantage of the momentum to sort of get market share in their own industries, in their own countries first, but recognize that the pendulum spins at some point. And ultimately you wanna build market leaders. So how do you really culturally build companies where you’re an American company is serving the American market, where you’re thinking about the global market and building with those nuances and sort of cultural sensibilities. And that’s a, not losing sight of that is another place where we are guiding our founders

Brian Sozzi: to be smart about. How are you a different founder today compared to 10 years ago?

Kate Ryder: Oh, I knew nothing 10 years ago. So we talked about, I had been a journalist for a while and journalists, as we know, we know a lot. We know a certain amount, but yeah, it was, I’d never hired anyone before. So a lot, but I was reading something yesterday, this blur of all these newsletters we’re getting into, I was writing about it, that CEOs reach peak performance after 10 years, but so many CEOs get fired after three. So I don’t know, after 10 years in, I feel like there is, I’ve never been more motivated. And I think at least for me, that the mission is so important to what we do. And healthcare is one of those highly complicated, complex industries that as you peel back the onion, you realize there’s more dysfunction and yet there’s more opportunity to kind of fix that dysfunction. And so for me, I think I started the business with three engineers. So we’ve always been a tech company from day one. And so we’re all in on continuing to have the best product teams, the best engineering teams. And then, yeah, just continuing to motivate the team. I think maybe the difference is now I’ve hired a few people. And I know how to hire a little bit better than the early days. It’s like, ah, you care about women’s health? You went to a good college? Like, sure, come on, come on, work in it. So yeah, a little smarter on that front.

Brian Sozzi: Before we get to questions, is it hard to raise capital? And do you wanna raise capital? You’re in a good spot where you are.

Kate Ryder: We just raised a round last year. And so was it hard? Yes, I think that because there is such still a divergence on, of course, we’re not profitable yet, but we’re growing very fast. And in the public markets, when you look at the valuations of digital health companies the last few years, a lot of the growth has slowed. A lot of them weren’t profitable when they went public. And so there’s just a lot of kind of depressed valuations. And so there’s still a gap in what we’re doing as private companies and what’s happening in the public markets. And so that is challenging, I think, still for digital health founders. But at the end of the day, it just means you have to kiss a few more frogs until you find your prince or princess. And so it took a little bit longer, but we ended up where we needed to be. And I think hopefully with this next, with IPO markets opening up,

Brian Sozzi: and you’re gonna start to see a lot of true technology companies come to market in healthcare, then it won’t be as challenging. Are you being, I guess, last one before questions, are you being more as scrutinizing this year, giving money to startups as you were last year, or just your baseline is you have to scrutinize every deal and it’s deal by deal is very specific? Well, you always wanna look at each investment on its own merit.

Hemant Taneja: I think this year is gonna be interesting because the economic policies that get set with the new administration, particularly in the U.S. and the repercussions around the world, we have to see what those are gonna be. And so for a lot of companies, there’s gonna be uncertainty around if they have a business model in one of these industries, what does the opportunity really look like? It’s actually the same reason why I think the IPOs will be slower in the first half versus the second half is because everyone wants to understand what environment are we gonna be operating in from a policy standpoint, from a tariff standpoint. And so that scrutiny is probably heightened for a few months, and maybe it sort of settles down in the back of the half of the year, but I really, we’re in the business of investing for the long duration, so at the same time, we also do lose sight of the fact that these founders are working on very, very long-term problems, and these short-term issues are only temporary

Brian Sozzi: in how they impact the value creation. Well, I’d love to open it up for questions if we can here. I’ve got a packed house.

Audience: Hello, this is Nathan from Leap Ventures, and thank you very much for the amazing conversation. And the question is, with the actual geopolitical landscape, and especially the military spend, how will that transform or not the startup scene in the next 10 to 15 years compared to the previous 10 to 15 years? And if you, how would you look at those startups? What KPIs would you look? Because strategic versus, I mean, how they could fill up this strategic, from a strategic standpoint, could be completely different in terms of sales cycle, growth, revenues, et cetera. So. Mohit, do you want to take that one? Yeah, let me take a shot.

Mohit Bhatnagar: We’re not large investors in the defense tech yet, but it’s certainly a space that we’re trying to understand better, and I think it’s important to understand the defense tech yet, but it’s certainly a space that we’re trying to understand better. A few things we’ve done in this is precision manufacturing. This is something that is important for space technology, for medical devices, for defense components. We have a company that does five-axis CNC precision manufacturing in India. They’ve transformed from actually selling these machines as CapEx sales to more of a manufacturing as a service business model and servicing some of these needs. I think Hemant touched upon this earlier, whether we like it or not, in this current environment, each country is looking for domestic capability building in areas like defense, and I think precision managing for us sort of goes in that space. But we have not so far directly invested in defense contractors, more the enablers, the software, perhaps the night vision goggles, some of the AI technologies,

Hemant Taneja: but not really the defense contractors. So the defense is a very interesting area right now. So we’ve been investing, we’re investors in companies like Helsing in Europe, Anduril in the US, and probably about 15 companies or so. There are two big problems. One is that lead to the need for the modernization of the defense. One is technologies have changed so much that the nature of war is changing. Everybody’s watching that in Ukraine. So everyone’s saying, oh, a lot of our capabilities as nations aren’t suited for any foreign war, so how do we adapt? So the implementation of technologies, new technologies and industries is going to happen. It is happening. That’s leading to building next generation primes. So Anduril and Helsing are the first ones that have shown it. I think India’s gonna have its own prime. So that’s one, which is a lot of companies are starting to start by trying to get a programmer record in a certain product area, but then they use their capabilities to see if they can be multi-product companies that can be enduring. Second issue is, well, you’re not gonna transform the defense sector by just creating one or two new primes because these are massive. These are, you know, defense is a $800 billion spend or something in the US. So when you think about it that way, you have to transform the existing companies, the existing Lockheed Martins and the Boeings, which spend a lot. And there, there’s a business model misalignment because they’re time and materials based. They’re always over budget over time because that’s frankly how to make money and they need to go through their own AI transformation. So overall, the opportunity is pretty significant for companies to either come and help the existing defense companies transform or to get in the business of selling new products and becoming primes themselves. So when we talk about the investment plans in India,

Audience: I come from India, a young global shaper and also a budding. Startup entrepreneur, I would say so when we go for the seed fundings we always hear that funders now look for people to invest in people rather than the startup because The founder can actually get the money back or you know, get the right ROI Maybe not late maybe not today, but later by pivoting their models. Do you actually look for the same? Model now as well that you know investing in people rather than the startups, you know When we look at the today’s current trends of money

Mohit Bhatnagar: So would you still want to invest in the person rather than the startup or how it goes Yeah, look the earlier you invest the more the investment is based on The the founder and the founder capability it is, you know You just don’t have the data around you for a later stage investor You would you would be able to do customer calls would be able to see engagement data You’d be able to look at cohort data and so on so forth But when you invest at the seed stage, it’s a lot about you know Sitting in the room understanding the motivations of the team in front of you seeing if they have the resilience to go through a 10-year journey and more Inevitably, I have never been in a company that is successful that hasn’t had two or three near-death experiences has had to shift and change You know what it did We for fun pull out the investment memos that we’ve showed our investment committees 10 years back and they’re hilarious When you look at what’s happened in the companies and that’s just the nature of the startup beast Now having said all of that, I would say one one thing that I look for in addition to motivation is the founder just needs to have a very nuanced sense of the problem that he or she is solving and Oftentimes, you know, it’s unreasonable for us to expect a young founder or a young company to have the answers for a very complex But we should entirely expect them to have a very nuanced a very very deep understanding of the root cause of what the problem Is stemming from and I think that in my mind at least motivates a lot of investors to go bet and work with that

Audience: Hi, can you hear me? All right, so good morning My name is Anulika and I’m from the United Kingdom. I work within private equity venture capital I sit on the board of harbor vest, which is an a global asset manager. So we do see capital allocation across the spectrum. So The world has changed and we’ve come out of an incessant season of low interest rates and Kate you astutely mentioned suppressed valuations What would you say we would expect when we think about fundraising for startups in the coming 12 24 months? Giving the changes and interest rates given the changes in sort of what you’re seeing with dry powder Valuations and where founders think the valuation should be and what? Sort of funds are able to to match given what’s happening with the global economy at the moment Thank you. You’re about to do a huge raise right? All right, we just did

Kate Ryder: But no, I mean, I I think we don’t even know what’s gonna happen with interest rates let alone inflation Let alone the markets, right? And so I think I mean you guys can answer this. I would hope that The one kind of thing I’ve heard one of our board members is actually going to work in the administration and You know this administration they’re moving fast and they really care about the markets and approval ratings And they have lots of very lofty goals for approval ratings And so if that’s the case hopefully some of I think what people are afraid of on what could happen with inflation which would of course roil the markets and and Hurt, well, I think a lot of the private capital going in and keep things constrained Hopefully that won’t happen. I know a lot of people are thinking about recession Who knows everyone’s been calling recession or no recession for the last few years and a lot of people often aren’t right So I think that the weirdest thing about this environment is that predictions, you know, you can read them all day long But there’s so much uncertain in the world at a macro level as him out was talking about on the global stage And then there’s also a lot of uncertainty in Washington with what’s going on in the background You know a lot of times when you’re looking at how policy is made and you said wow I never would have expected that appointment or that policy is because so much horse trading goes on in the background of like Oh, if you if you put this person here, then then that means this person, you know You have to put this person here and there’s no necessarily logic to it and we don’t have as much visibility into that And so I think really it’s just how can companies play deep like the best defense Right is is where you’re ready for all scenarios But you know, I hope I hope that it’s it’s a bit more of an open environment over the next 12 to 24 months It would benefit everyone. All right, maybe we have time for one more good

Audience: Yeah, my questions for a month and Irwin both him as you mentioned that in a building for AI is like the shifting substrate In that context, you know as a investor and board member what conversation will you have? You know with the portfolio companies because you are making plans based on two days What do you know today, but what is going to happen three or six months on no one really knows So you’re making assumption assumptions change and then you have to go back and change plans and same for everyone How are you doing product roadmaps have gleaned and you know All of us have limited visibility into what’s going to happen in six or twelve months from now Makes it a little hard for a startup to navigate especially have predictable plans for next 12 to 18 months. Yeah, it’s a great question you know, it’s actually having this exact conversation in a board meeting and it was like

Brian Sozzi: When you’re building in this kind of a peak uncertainty environment

Hemant Taneja: What does excellence mean for a founding team in terms of the way they’re making decisions? And I think I would have said three four years ago be very deliberate hire really really well and and think through your decisions in terms of what you’re launching and Be precise. So precision was sort of the measure of excellence for me now. It’s adaptation I think it’s sort of be agile, you know get out there learn See how technology is changing and how the input interplay of this technology with the workforce is changing and iterate So the teams that are just highly iterative right now And understand that you’re just gonna navigate ambiguity for a while and and not be scared of it and run to it are the ones That will have the best chance of coming out on the other side of this as you know Businesses that gets fully figured out Arvind bring us home here

Arvind Jain: Yeah The so one I think I would say that the the fast moving sort of nature of this AI industry There is some stabilization I would say compared to last year or or the year before where I think our teams were sort of like I felt like you Engineers were gonna have a nervous big breakdown like when they go build something and like, you know within a week You know that was obsolete and so like, you know There’s like this real issue about like, you know Like how do you I given live in this new world where things move so fast? I think that’s like I think that like, you know, it’s still very fast paced But there’s more stability and I think also Engineers have sort of figured out like, you know, how to actually survive in this world of constant change so that’s that’s that’s one thing that I’ve noticed, but I think the There’s also like as a as a CEO like, you know, one role that I think I have is Engineers get very attached to things that they build and they never never actually let it go and like, you know in this in this world You can’t afford that because AI models are you know? Are getting very very powerful very quickly Things that you build are not they’re not going to be state-of-the-art by definition within within six months and so you have to sort of come and think about how you change the organizational behavior and and stay agile and adapt like as Hema is saying and so we have some rules like one of the rules that I have is I’ve asked every Every one of our engineering leaders that they have to actually throw one thing that they build every three months and You know, that’s that’s the measure of that. Something is moving that they are not getting too attached to their system So that’s not like these are some of the new planning kind of things that you can add You know into into your operation to to make sure that you are adapting with times

Brian Sozzi: We’re out of time next year. We have to a budget about three hours This is awesome. Really? Thank you to our panelists This is a true master class on startups and really thank you to the audience to amazing questions. Appreciate have a great rest of day everyone You You

Agreement Points

AI is transforming businesses and creating new opportunities

speakers

– Mohit Bhatnagar
– Hemant Taneja
– Arvind Jain
– Kate Ryder

arguments

AI is enabling new business models and content creation opportunities

AI is transforming enterprises across industries

AI is enabling startups to tackle previously unsolvable problems

AI integration is becoming crucial for companies to stay competitive

summary

All speakers agree that AI is driving significant changes in various industries, enabling new business models, solving complex problems, and becoming essential for competitiveness.

The startup ecosystem is evolving and facing new challenges

speakers

– Mohit Bhatnagar
– Hemant Taneja
– Kate Ryder

arguments

India has become the world’s third largest startup ecosystem

Geopolitics and AI are driving changes in capital allocation and talent mobilization

Fundraising environment remains challenging but opportunities exist

summary

The speakers agree that the startup ecosystem is changing rapidly, influenced by factors such as geopolitics, AI advancements, and evolving market conditions, presenting both challenges and opportunities.

Similar Viewpoints

Both speakers emphasize the significant impact of AI on businesses and the high demand for AI-driven solutions across various industries.

speakers

– Hemant Taneja
– Arvind Jain

arguments

AI is transforming enterprises across industries

AI companies are seeing high demand and rapid growth

Both speakers discuss the pros and cons of public vs. private markets for startups, highlighting the evolving landscape and strategic considerations for companies.

speakers

– Mohit Bhatnagar
– Kate Ryder

arguments

Public markets in India have become more accepting of startups

Staying private allows for longer-term product roadmaps and faster growth

Unexpected Consensus

Importance of adaptability in the rapidly changing AI landscape

speakers

– Hemant Taneja
– Arvind Jain

arguments

Regulatory frameworks and geopolitical factors impact startup strategies

Founders need to be adaptable in the rapidly changing AI landscape

explanation

Despite coming from different perspectives (investor and founder), both speakers emphasize the critical need for adaptability in the face of rapid technological changes and shifting geopolitical landscapes.

Overall Assessment

Summary

The speakers generally agree on the transformative impact of AI on businesses, the evolving nature of the startup ecosystem, and the need for adaptability in the face of rapid technological and geopolitical changes.

Consensus level

High level of consensus on major trends, with some variations in specific focus areas. This consensus suggests a shared understanding of the current challenges and opportunities in the startup and AI landscape, which could lead to more aligned strategies and expectations in the industry.

Different Viewpoints

Fundraising environment for startups

speakers

– Mohit Bhatnagar
– Kate Ryder

arguments

Public markets in India have become more accepting of startups

Fundraising environment remains challenging but opportunities exist

summary

While Mohit Bhatnagar highlights the positive fundraising environment in India, particularly in public markets, Kate Ryder acknowledges ongoing challenges in fundraising for digital health companies in the broader market.

Unexpected Differences

Overall Assessment

summary

The main areas of disagreement were subtle and primarily focused on the current state of the startup ecosystem and fundraising environment in different regions.

difference_level

The level of disagreement among the speakers was relatively low. Most speakers shared similar views on the importance of AI, the challenges and opportunities in the startup ecosystem, and the need for adaptation in a rapidly changing environment. The differences in perspective were mainly due to the speakers’ focus on different geographical markets or specific sectors within the startup ecosystem.

Partial Agreements

Both speakers agree on the transformative potential of AI, but Hemant Taneja focuses on its broad impact across industries, while Arvind Jain emphasizes its role in enabling startups to solve complex problems.

speakers

– Hemant Taneja
– Arvind Jain

arguments

AI is transforming enterprises across industries

AI is enabling startups to tackle previously unsolvable problems

Similar Viewpoints

Both speakers emphasize the significant impact of AI on businesses and the high demand for AI-driven solutions across various industries.

speakers

– Hemant Taneja
– Arvind Jain

arguments

AI is transforming enterprises across industries

AI companies are seeing high demand and rapid growth

Both speakers discuss the pros and cons of public vs. private markets for startups, highlighting the evolving landscape and strategic considerations for companies.

speakers

– Mohit Bhatnagar
– Kate Ryder

arguments

Public markets in India have become more accepting of startups

Staying private allows for longer-term product roadmaps and faster growth

Key Takeaways

The startup ecosystem is evolving rapidly, with India emerging as a major player

AI is transforming businesses across industries and enabling new innovations

Geopolitical factors and regulatory changes are impacting startup strategies

Fundraising remains challenging but opportunities exist, especially for AI-driven companies

Adaptability and agility are crucial for startups in the fast-changing AI landscape

Healthcare, defense tech, and precision manufacturing present new opportunities for startups

Resolutions and Action Items

None identified

Unresolved Issues

Uncertainty around future interest rates and inflation impacts on startup funding

How startups can effectively navigate the rapidly changing AI technology landscape

The long-term effects of geopolitical tensions on global startup ecosystems

Balancing growth and profitability expectations for startups in the current economic climate

Suggested Compromises

Startups may need to balance precision in planning with adaptability to technological changes

Companies should consider integrating AI capabilities while maintaining their core business models

Investors may need to adjust valuation expectations in light of market uncertainties

Before, in the app store economy in the last 15 years, everything was about how do we build new distribution models, new sort of cloud-based business models, now it’s about how do we transform industries and the underlying substrate we’re doing it on is technology and AI.

speaker

Hemant Taneja

reason

This comment provides a insightful perspective on how the focus of innovation has shifted from distribution models to industry transformation using AI as the underlying technology.

impact

This comment set the tone for much of the subsequent discussion about AI’s transformative potential across industries and how companies are adapting to this shift.

India today is perhaps the world’s third largest startup ecosystem. In 2011, and some of us were around then, we probably had one company that had crossed a billion dollars in valuation. Today, India has about 110 of these companies, so-called unicorns.

speaker

Mohit Bhatnagar

reason

This comment provides valuable context on the rapid growth of India’s startup ecosystem, offering a global perspective on innovation and entrepreneurship.

impact

This comment shifted the conversation to include a more global perspective, particularly focusing on the growth and potential of the Indian market.

We are getting to tackle problems that were really not possible for technology to handle before, products that we built. So Glean, our company itself, think of us as the chat GPD, but inside your company.

speaker

Arvind Jain

reason

This comment provides a concrete example of how AI is being applied in enterprise settings, illustrating the practical implications of AI advancements.

impact

This comment grounded the discussion in real-world applications of AI, leading to more specific discussions about AI implementation and its impact on businesses.

AI started an economy-wide transformation of the enterprise. And so what happened was every CEO in every boardroom in every industry was thinking about how do we use AI.

speaker

Hemant Taneja

reason

This comment captures the widespread impact of AI across industries and highlights how it’s becoming a strategic priority for businesses.

impact

This comment broadened the discussion to consider the wider economic and strategic implications of AI adoption across various sectors.

We cover fertility, pregnancy, pediatrics, and menopause, and so there’s one part of pediatrics we don’t cover yet, which is that 10 to 17, you know, teenagers, which is, there’s a lot to do there, so we’re focused on that.

speaker

Kate Ryder

reason

This comment provides insight into how a specific company is strategically planning its growth and product development in the healthcare sector.

impact

This comment brought the discussion back to specific business strategies and product development in the context of digital health, providing a concrete example of how companies are navigating growth in emerging sectors.

Overall Assessment

These key comments shaped the discussion by providing a comprehensive view of the current startup and technology landscape. They highlighted the shift towards AI-driven transformation across industries, the global nature of innovation with a focus on India’s growth, and the practical applications and strategic implications of AI in various sectors. The discussion moved from broad trends to specific examples and strategies, offering a multi-faceted exploration of how businesses are adapting to and leveraging technological advancements, particularly in AI.

How will the AI story of 2025 unfold in terms of value creation and integration into business processes?

speaker

Arvind Jain

explanation

Understanding the future trajectory of AI implementation and its impact on businesses is crucial for strategic planning and investment decisions.

How can consumer experiences be reimagined using an AI-first approach?

speaker

Mohit Bhatnagar

explanation

Exploring AI’s potential to transform consumer-facing industries could lead to significant innovations and new business opportunities.

How will the new U.S. administration’s policies impact AI companies and the broader tech industry?

speaker

Arvind Jain

explanation

Understanding the regulatory and policy landscape is crucial for AI companies to navigate potential challenges and opportunities.

How will the IPO market for tech and healthcare companies evolve in the coming year?

speaker

Hemant Taneja

explanation

The state of the IPO market significantly impacts funding strategies and exit opportunities for startups and investors.

How will increased military spending transform the startup scene in the next 10 to 15 years?

speaker

Audience member (Nathan from Leap Ventures)

explanation

Understanding the impact of geopolitical trends on startup opportunities in defense and related technologies is important for investors and entrepreneurs.

How will fundraising for startups change in the coming 12-24 months given changes in interest rates and global economic conditions?

speaker

Audience member (Anulika from the UK)

explanation

Understanding the future funding landscape is crucial for startups planning their growth strategies and for investors making allocation decisions.

How can startups navigate the rapidly changing AI landscape when making product roadmaps and business plans?

speaker

Audience member (unnamed)

explanation

Developing strategies to adapt to the fast-paced changes in AI technology is crucial for startups to remain competitive and relevant.