AI Agent Landscape I Pivoting Your US-India SaaS Startup Into The Age Of AI

This episode goes in-depth into the current state of the AI Agent landscape and how US-India SaaS founders should manage this AI transition. 

In the 1st half, we cover key facets of the agentic market, including horizontal and vertical use cases, how customers are adopting them, challenges in going from zero to demo to production, and what startups can do to stay relevant in this fast-evolving opportunity. 

In the 2nd half, we discuss how US-India SaaS startups can pivot and survive in the post-AI world, including thinking long-term while formulating AI strategy, leaning into trust with existing customers, leveraging data moats from existing product stack, iterating on AI-first business models, and finally, tips and advice for US GTM.

Joining me for this discussion is Karthik Suresh, Co-founder of DoubleO.ai. Karthik's diverse experience spans building products for consumer and enterprise markets, working with early-stage startups like Craft, and established firms like Facebook. His career journey has taken him from Wall Street to Silicon Valley, and he has had the privilege of working and living across multiple continents.

TIME STAMPS:

(00:52) Karthik’s founder backstory - Ignition & DoubleO.ai

(04:49) SaaS vs AI Agents 

(08:14) Agent use cases that are working well

(12:23) Challenges in getting AI from zero to demo to production

(15:00) Considerations for an India-based founder starting up in AI

(19:15) Does being physically present in Silicon Valley help in AI?

(24:59) MVPs in the age of AI

(28:46) Are AI tools going to replace technical co-founders?

(31:30) [CASE STUDY #1] SaaS to AI pivot: Early traction startups ($100k-$1Mn ARR)

(34:57) [CASE STUDY #2] SaaS to AI pivot: Growth stage startups ($10-50Mn ARR)

(38:43) AI-first business models

(42:37) US-India GTM playbooks

Connect with Karthik Suresh - https://www.linkedin.com/in/karthiksureshlbs/ and follow him on X - @karthiksuresh

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Check out "An Operator's Blog" (https://operator.blog/) for weekly posts on Startups, Investing, and Life.

I am a venture investor focused on the US-India corridor. Feel free to reach out on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/soumitrasharma5/) and follow me on X (@soumitra_sharma).