Off to the Valley

Palash Soni: I don't subscribe
to the ideology that great

founders can make anything work.

I think that's like more of a Twitter
speak to just get people riled up.

But, I haven't seen that
actually working in practice.

So the market must be there and a tailwind
must be there for the founder to succeed.

Prateek Panda: Hello and welcome back
to Off To the Valley, the podcast

where we dive deep into the stories
of entrepreneurs who are shaping

industries and redefining success.

I'm your host Prateek Panda, and
today we have a truly inspiring

guest, Palash Soni, the
Co-founder and CEO of Goldcast.

Goldcast is an AI powered B2B
video campaign platform that is

transforming the marketing landscape
by putting video and events at

the heart of the customer journey.

Leading enterprise marketers from
companies like Six Sense, Zuora,

MailChimp, and many others rely on
Goldcast to amplify brand authority,

create engaging content, and
boost their marketing strategies.

So Palash's Journey started at a very
early age, and we were chatting a little

while ago and how he's also started,
this company when he was in college.

But some of his entrepreneurial
stints started much earlier, and

we'll talk a little bit about
that when he was still a kid.

But it's exciting to
have Palash here with us.

His story is one of relentless
ambition and a clear vision

for the future of marketing.

Palash, it's an absolute pleasure to
have you on the show today, and there

is so much I want to talk to you about.

Palash Soni: Thanks Prateek.

I'm very excited to be here.

Prateek Panda: Great.

So tell me about this, right?

In some research that we did, the
entrepreneurial bug bit you pretty early.

Tell me about your childhood
days and how you decided to

make money off of your friends.

Palash Soni: Yeah.

Prateek so.

I was born and brought up in India,
which I guess my accent tells that.

I was in the central part of
India, in MP, in a very small town,

you can not even call it a city.

And so that's where I was born.

And then around like 99, that year when
I was probably, yeah, I was 10 years old,

I got hands on a video game consoles
that was like eight bit, know,

consoles that I somehow found.

And I thought, okay, this
looks like a great opportunity

because no one has it here.

No one has seen it here.

And I got it luckily from someone.

So, I said, okay, let's
make a business out of it.

So I used to lend it for like Lend
Playtime, not the console itself

for like one rupees for 15 minutes.

That's one Rupees is probably like
a hundredth of a cent right now.

So that was my first business venture
that made me realize that I really like

the art of, you know, providing value
and building a business from there.

I think that some of that comes
from the DNA of my family, although

there's no, like my mom and dad
both are not businessmen, but

my mom is very entrepreneurial.

She tried a bunch of things in her
life, while she was a stay at home mom.

I think that comes from that lineage.

Prateek Panda: That is amazing
and such an interesting story.

I remember my childhood days from India
as well, where I would be the one paying

to use something like this because we used
to go to a lot of these video game parlors

back then because consoles were expensive.

It was just a lot more economical
to go play for an hour or two and

you know, pretty cheap that way.

So tell me a little bit
about Goldcast also, right?

You were studying at Harvard.

What happened?

How did Goldcast happen?

Palash Soni: Yeah definitely.

Prateek, so, I came to HBS to startup,
that I think is not why people

come to business school generally.

Before business school, I had almost
completed seven years of work experience.

It was not like a very obvious
choice for me to go to B school.

I was a PM at an ad tech company
out of India called InMobi.

So it's pretty big, not super well
known in the US but pretty big.

In that experience, I learned that
it is very hard to build a software

business that is at the cutting edge
of the technology landscape while

you are like 12 hours remote from
your customers Something similar to

what we were talking about, right?

You have to make so many trips.

So,

that motivated me to think about,
okay, if I really have to do it,

then I should be in the market.

And the ship had sailed for MS by then.

So I was like, okay,
MBA is the only option.

I don't wanna get stuck with
my company on their Visa.

So let me come for an MBA.

The founder of that company,
the CEO, was an alum of HBS.

He wrote a recommendation.

That's how I ended up at HBS,
but with a very single minded

intent that I wanted to start up.

So I met one of my Co-founders'
Kishore, a few months before business

school, in the context of business
school because only 30, 35 people

go to HBS every year from India.

So they get to know each other
before and we both shared this common

interest that we wanted to start up.

So, my first year was actually
spent largely like exploring

everything under the sun.

So I explored definitely SaaS because
that was familiar, the software landscape.

But I explored everything from blockchain,
the pre-web 3 world explored, like

cannabis, business, anything, right?

Every deep tech, everything.

And then finally, we arrived at Goldcast,
by the time the first year was ending.

So that's how we ended up here.

It was almost like a methodical
exploration of ideas and we had

a lot of learning while exploring
those ideas as to like, what

kind of ideas should we look for?

Prateek Panda: So let's dive a little
bit deeper into this, right, because

in my past also, two out of my last
three companies were when I was still in

either engineering school or B school.

And I want to know your thoughts
and opinion on, whether that's

really a good time to do a startup.

HBS is an intense program.

Even when I recall my business
school days, those were intense.

Like it's a lot to top
with the curriculum itself.

Palash Soni: True.

In

Prateek Panda: your recommendation for
all the people who are listening, what

do you suggest people do if they're still
in school and wanting to do a startup?

What do you prioritize and how?

Palash Soni: Yeah.

Great question Prateek.

So couple of points come to mind.

One is that yes, HBS was
very intense for sure.

It became more intense for
the average student because

not only just the curriculum, but
also the constant like socialization

that happens in the first year.

Right.

So because I was very intentional
that I wanted to start up, I was

cutting corners in both areas, right?

I was not the best student in the class.

I was socializing a lot and I have
made a lot of great friends there, but

not as much as the average student.

And I think that whoever I saw in
business school who was intentional,

who was actually making those sacrifices
were the ones who ended up with a real

startup because there were a lot of
people who, had the general ambition

to startup, but it did not probably
show up as much in, in the actions.

So having very strong intentionality
and then actually making those

trade-offs is important, but I think
MBA is a great place to start up.

I think it probably gets a little
bit of a bad rap for whatever reason.

But as we were discussing, right, you
meet so many great people with very

different thoughts and backgrounds.

It's the best time to find Co-founder.

It's also probably the only time you
get, as an adult like professional who

has work experience too to have just
the freedom to explore whatever, right?

You don't have job pressure.

You can just, like, the world
is your oyster of sorts.

So I think it was a very
great place to start up.

Prateek Panda: That's great.

Yeah.

I mean, in my experience also, I feel
like, I think a few years ago I wrote

a blog on why, like, when you are in
school, whether it's undergrad or grad

school, doesn't matter while you're
still in school, it's one of the best

time to, you know, toy around with
startup ideas and take it to a point

where you might get serious about it,

as you're about to end your education.

Let's talk a little bit about money
also, and I know that's a sensitive

topic, but the reason I'm asking you
this also is business schools and a

lot of engineering schools and so many
other, you know, education programs have

gotten a lot more expensive over time.

So, when I have interviewed a lot of
people who want to do a startup, one

of the top reasons for what's stopping
them is usually, an education loan.

In your experience, was
that a barrier for you?

Do you have any sort of tips or
some examples that you can share

on how to sort of navigate that?

Palash Soni: Great question Prateek,
and this is actually one of the reasons

that a lot of students probably don't
do it, or it just increases the stakes,

the risk, especially for immigrants.

So because I was an immigrant
student, my comp before to

B-School was like nothing, right?

So I had no reasonable savings as such.

The good thing, and this is also
dependent on the school, Harvard

has very good scholarships.

So I almost got 50% of my
entire tuition plus stay fee.

So I think the first year of HBS
is, I had a, I had my wife here.

I had a kid at the end of
the first semester, so my

expenses

probably projected to be like 1 37 k.

Of which I got, I think a
scholarship of almost 74 or 75.

That's,

Prateek Panda: That's amazing.

Palash Soni: I still had a,
sizable loan of like $68,000.

So, that matters a lot, right?

How much do you have, what your
previous financial situation

is, how much you have put in?

What it does do is that it probably
is a significantly harder to

build a bootstrap startup, right,

where you are probably not paying
yourself for the first one and two years.

And so most founders I have seen who
have gone on, especially if you're an

immigrant, they have raised venture money.

The venture capital landscape has
become significantly more friendly

with founders' drawing salary.

I think there was a time when the VCs
expected founders to just like, take it in

Prateek Panda: Yeah.

Palash Soni: and be super
hardcore, not anymore, right?

If you have to pay your loans
and live a livable life, you

have to pay yourself some comp.

And so when you raise money
that's understood that you'll

be paying yourself some salary.

Yeah, I still found it, honestly,
hard to pay loans still.

We were like, a seed stage company
had raised almost 10, 11 million

because the comp was still not enough.

It was like five figures, right?

So was still not enough to be
like, live a super comfortable

life, but it was not bad.

Like, I couldn't complain.

Prateek Panda: Great.

Are you aware of any programs that
provide some sort of a relief or

assistance if people are opting
for an entrepreneurial path?

Palash Soni: Yes, great question Prateek.

So a lot of schools have that actually.

So Harvard, for example, if I had fully
graduated right after two years, then

I would have gotten some loan relief,
which they have for people who are

starting up or are joining non-profit.

So they do have it.

They're also very flexible
in terms of just, like being

a little flexible on loans.

So for example, I defaulted on my
first five payments because we were

not able to draw a comp at that time.

My credit score went for a toss, but
I was able to call them and say, Hey,

I was starting up and this is my case.

And they took that off.

Prateek Panda: That's amazing.

Palash Soni: It's very good.

Lots of schools are very flexible,
especially in the US when you are

starting

up, it's just probably not as apparent.

But if you try to find your
way, you will find something.

Prateek Panda: Right.

Great.

Thanks for sharing that Palash.

So lesson here is that, yes, while
money might be like one of the biggest

constraints that's stopping you from
doing a startup right after school.

There are a lot of programs like the
ones Palash just shared, that can

actually make life a little bit easier.

So don't lose out on that dream
or wait on the dream, go for it.

Great.

Let's talk a little bit
about Goldcast, about AI.

You are trying to provide this
platform that enables marketers and

B2B marketers, especially like myself,
drive engagement using video content.

Can you tell us a little bit more about
Goldcast and especially with AI, what

are you trying to do within the product?

Palash Soni: Absolutely Prateek.

So let me set the context of like, why
we think Goldcast is important right now.

So in the last, I think 10, 15 years, you
would know this better than anyone, right?

That buying cycles have changed.

Right?

So when I was at InMobi,

just discovering products
was so hard, right?

The world of SaaS was so behind.

We were using Excel for, for running
like a 300 million revenue business.

We didn't have Salesforce, so
it was that bad, right, in 2016.

Now, I think the level of awareness that
a customer has is, has increased a lot.

What that really means is that
when someone actually shows intent

and has started giving out intent
signals they already probably

know what they're going to buy.

They have a short list.

So the battle for pipeline has
to happen before someone actually

becomes pipeline, when their
dollars are not up for grabs, right.

That's where their mind share is
up for grabs that's the term we

use and video, all marketers know,
you are a living example of that

is the best way to get mind share.

Right.

The challenge is that scaling video,
especially as the company becomes

bigger is hard because it's a
supply chain of sorts of different

people doing different specialized
things, with different tools, right?

So there's a workflow challenge there,
there's a cost challenge there, and that's

what we are trying to solve with Goldcast.

We are building a video content
platform that helps B2B marketers

and their video content supply chain.

In simple words, what it does is we
help marketers create video content.

So we have a tool like this, which
helps you record high quality

video content with your branding,
local recording, all of that.

We have a great product to run
very nice, engaging, scaled up

events and webinars, programs.

You can also put content from outside, so
if you're doing in-person conferences, et

cetra, and then we help you amplify that.

Amplification means taking one long
form content and extracting social

worthy clips from it, editing them so
that they're ready to post on social.

That's a simple use case.

A more complicated use case is that,
for example, one of our customers,

it's a public hack company.

They just did their customer conference
in SF and they had 200 hours of content

from that in person events, they uploaded
it on our platform and they can prompt

it to say, Hey, give me all the times

I talked about AI in cybersecurity,
and we find all those key moments that

you can put together in a blog post.

So, like a multimodal blog post.

Those kind of things are like
genuinely very hard to do manually.

And then you can distribute it, on social
media, you can host it on your website.

So it's an end-to-end platform.

Our value prop to marketers is that
wherever your video content ends up,

online events, websites, and social
media, we'll help you move metrics there

while reducing your cost, and help you
consolidate your tools and workflows.

So that's the high level of
what we are doing with Goldcast.

Final thing is, which, what makes this
school is that marketers do want to really

build in AI in their workflows, right?

So that's I think, a given, right?

And everyone wants to do that.

As the company becomes bigger, it's
insanely hard for them to keep up with

the pace at which AI is moving, right?

It like so many point
solutions coming out.

And that's the ultimate
problem we are solving.

We want to be the conduit of all AI for
them in video content and be the product

that through which they experience
AI in their video content workflows.

Prateek Panda: That's amazing.

Thanks for sharing that Palash.

I have a couple of follow up questions.

Two slightly different areas, but
the first part is more about creating

differentiation and value for yourself.

There are in today's date, so
many tools, we are recording

on a similar tool right now.

And as a marketer I also keep
getting bombarded with so many

tools that keep coming up.

Because it's so easy to build
something today, I'm not even

getting into, you know, what is
the quality of the product, but

with AI it's become so much easier
to build tools like this that,

it's hard to, you know, stand out
and create some, you know, top of

mind in the mind of your buyers.

What are you doing or what are
your learnings on how to create

true differentiation and value?

Palash Soni: Yeah, great.

Great question Prateek, and I'll give you
slightly longer ish answer, but that will

be the real answer, not the VC answer.

It's like a founder answer.

So the question we always ask is
like differentiation for whom, right?

And for us, we have a very clearly
defined ICP, which is B2B companies

with more than 500 employees.

That's the ICP.

We have many customers under 500, and
we have a criteria to go after them,

but that's like how we define ICP.

And when you get to that
scale, you are typically doing

something like this, right?

You're recording stuff in some
product, you are doing webinars

in some product, you're doing
virtual events in some product.

You are likely have a video editor or a
contractor agency who's using some tools.

Or maybe if you are slightly forward
looking, you are using one of the point

solutions that you were talking about
it, that do video repurposing and then

you have something like a Wistia or
a Brightcove or something to host.

That's the landscape we
end up in bigger companies.

And so there's automatically a desire
to consolidate and we can do all of it.

So I think the claim and also the risk
in our strategy is that we do all of it.

And we spent significant amount of
engineering and R&D resources to

do some of these things that are
not like really, AI first modern,

but they will give us the right to
innovate with AI over this because

now we have an end-to-end platform.

So, there are very few, like fully
end-to-end things in the video stack,

and Riverside is definitely one of them.

They're coming more
from the recording side.

We are coming more from the webinar side.

They are more stronger there.

We are more stronger here.

So that's one.

The second differentiation that
comes in Prateek in terms of just

the product itself is just because
we have the end to end, we will be

better in a lot of things versus say
someone who doesn't do end-to-end or

who's not, who's a point solution.

So there's a lot of innovation
happening in repurposing, right?

For example, Descript or there's
another product called Opus.

And the advantage that we do, we
have versus them is that A, we know

everything about what happened when
this content was getting created?

Right?

So for example, if you were doing this
on Goldcast, you would know like who

Palash is, who Prateek is, and we'll
have descriptions and everything.

And if it was a webinar, we know who
the attendees were and everything.

So our AI outputs are that much more
better because we have contexts.

And then you can also host it
on Goldcast versus, and then get

analytics and then feed that back
into your system to make it better.

So, now the challenge is
that consolidating everything

is also not something that
everyone wants to do, right?

Like some people are happy with
point solutions, and I think 500

is where the threshold comes in.

And above that, it's just too painful
for people to deal with all of this.

The second advantage is,
just go to market, right?

Like selling to companies with
more than 500 employees, especially

when you get into enterprises,
more than 2000 that they cannot use

point solutions.

Like oftentimes just a PLG motion
does not work for them if you're

especially consolidating so many
parts of the marketing workflow.

So we have built that machine to, to do
the go to market, right, of a classic

SaaS, get the product adopted and set up.

And I know that's not a
differentiation people like,

think about as a differentiation,
but it's, it takes time, right?

Look, it's buildable.

Everyone can build
this, but it takes time.

And we already have it in the
right moment in the market.

So those are two ways where we think
our competitive advantage lies.

Prateek Panda: That's great Palash.

So on that note itself, right, and I
know that I wanted to ask you a second

question also, which is more in line
with, you know, Gen AI has made it easier

to also build tools and many people
are, building tools that are sort of

hacked together over a weekend or two.

And some of them, you know,
they are making money great.

Nothing wrong in it , but some of them.

Are going to probably be very short-lived.

It's going to do well for a short
period of time and it's not going

to probably be a real company.

So

Palash Soni: Right.

Prateek Panda: from one founder
to others who are listening, are

there any signals or any advice
that you can share on, making sure

that you're building a real company.

Whereas in today's world, it might be very
easy to get distracted by, oh, let's build

this small thing or that small thing.

Palash Soni: Yeah, yeah, great question.

This is really a very unique
time in the world of startups.

I was actually, I'm going to
make a LinkedIn post about it.

It's already in my head
about this very same topic.

I think people think that building
startups has become easier, with

AI, but in my head it's almost
become a little harder because,

coding ceased to be a bottleneck
in building good startups way back.

I don't think I have met any legit
founders who were like, okay, I really

had this amazing idea, but I do not code
it unless you were building something

like really, really pathbreaking like
it, these things were already improving.

What was a bottleneck was like
finding good ideas, right?

Finding a market, a buyer who will
actually pay for a problem to be solved.

And I feel like because AI is becoming
so powerful, a lot of those things

are just getting like crunched.

Like a lot of people can just do
things on horizontal platforms,

like a chat GPT, right?

So the finding valuable problems
to solve is, in some ways

also becoming harder, right?

Right now there's a gold rush
going on with like some very

obvious problem to solve, right?

Like, coding was done by
people, now we have AI do it.

Very obvious problem statement.

It's all execution based, right?

And there's a lot in healthcare and,
and recruiting, et cetera, which are

just like automating manual workflows.

I think those ideas probably are
there for another one and a half

years and those, that pool of like
obvious ideas has not existed in SaaS.

I think for the last like 10 years.;

Very obvious ideas cease to exist in
SaaS, since like 2017, 18, I guess.

In that way, it's a good time, right?

That where even young founders with
less experience can just go and run

faster and, and they can execute
well and build great companies.

Beyond that pool of ideas, think it's
becoming a little harder to do it.

And the question people should
ask is like, whether like it's a

valuable problem to solve, right?

Is someone willing to pay for it?

And is someone willing to
sign an annual contract?

Like my BA parameter for for B2B SaaS
is like, is someone willing to sign

an annual or a biannual contract?

Because it's very easy to try
something right now with AI.

But we have a product that can actually
drive retention and usage is my parameter.

Prateek Panda: That's amazing.

And we talked a little bit about the whole
idea generation part, and you had also

shared early on, that in your days at
Harvard you were, you and your Co-founder

were literally, you were okay to
entertain every single idea that you had.

In your learning and experience,
have you developed some kind of a

model to test, a hypothesis or an
idea and that you can share with us?

Palash Soni: Yeah, definitely Prateek.

So, what I learned during my exploration
was that there are like probably two

or three things that matter the most.

That was because I was early on exploring
a bunch of things in, in HR tech.

Somehow we ended up there.

So we spent a bunch of time there.

And our realization was that
ultimately wherever we build, if we

have to build a really big company,
it has to be a big market, right?

So that's number one.

But there also has to be some tailwind
in that market for a startup to enter.

I don't subscribe to the ideology that
great founders can make anything work.

I think that's like more of a Twitter
speak to just get people riled up.

But, I haven't seen that, that
actually working in practice.

Right?

So the market must be there and a tailwind
must be there for the founder to succeed.

And then it depends, like, and
the founder's job is then largely

like finding that, that's the most
important skill and then executing

on that, have a strategy to go after.

So we started just with
this checklist, right?

Is there a big market?

Is there a tailwind?

And tailwind is slightly more important
than the, the current market size.

So that's how we arrived at Goldcast
because the tailwind was clear, right

as Covid was getting more stranger
and there were lockdowns happening.

It was obvious, right, that everyone
needs an online events platform.

What we were asking ourselves at that
time was that, is that a big market?

And the answer to that
was not an obvious yes.

Even though people thought it was
an obvious as yes at that time

because we knew that this is not
going to last forever, right?

People are not going to be
doing online events forever.

We are humans ultimately.

But we did see a merit in using
this as a vedge to get into

a bigger problem statement.

And to do that we thought that
we'll have to be very verticalized.

We cannot be a super horizontal platform.

And also then build a lot more
things for a super big horizontal

that was just not going to happen.

So, that's why we focused
on B2B at the time.

So we were exploring three
or four segments, like

trade shows was one of them.

At the time, communities were hot at
the time, so we were exploring that.

And then we finally came to B2B because
we thought there's longevity in this.

And then the MarTech stack will
fundamentally change as, as

you know, as things progress.

So that's how we arrived at the idea
was it was kind of a circuitous journey.

Prateek Panda: That's interesting.

I'll ask you maybe one last
question and we were talking

about this before, sometime back.

Remote work and culture and I've had
my share of challenges, moving across

geographies, trying to manage the team.

You have a fair share of your team in the
US, a fair share of your team in India.

So how are you sort of defining
culture in the remote landscape so that

everybody continues to stay pumped and
excited about whatever you're building?

Palash Soni: Yeah, that's
a great question Prateek.

And I've made a lot of
mistakes here, lot of mistakes.

So, I am almost very open about my
philosophy on how a workplace should

be in today, and I think the best kind
of setup is remote but not distributed.

So you are probably in Bay
Area, let's say, right?

Or in Massachusetts and people can
be wherever but we have to be able to

come to office when there's a need.

So maybe you come two times a week, right?

And but if there's a QBR or
there's a fire, you should

be able to come every day.

So that's ideal.

For us, that was not possible
and we had very, very good

teammates across the globe.

So we chose to go towards the second
best option, which is, we'll keep this.

But we try to centralize in the
two hubs that we have, Bangalore

and Boston as much as possible, and
then get people to meet frequently.

So we earmarked a budget that we
were like, we will not touch this.

Even if the company achieves
no goals, it has set, we will

invest in team wise off site.

So we are saying, okay, every team
gets to meet the, the other team,

other teammates twice a year.

And you plan your offsites accordingly.

And we then mix and match with
that across teams can meet as well.

So that's expensive, but we are saving
money in office and everything else.

So we are doing that.

Now, coming to the culture part, what
I realized was happening, when people

were not meeting, is that there's a
cultural rift that starts happening

and there's almost some kind of
bitterness that starts developing in

people when they don't meet each other.

I think you, if you don't meet the
person who's you're talking with,

there's a high chance that you
might start assuming negative intent

instead of assuming positive
intent and, in like little things.

So there's that kind of very subtle
but long-term bitterness that starts

developing if you are too isolated.

So, that is one challenge.

The other thing which I have learnt
about culture, which is maybe somewhat

related to remote but is probably
applicable to, to every company and

maybe more applicable for remote because

it's hard to observe behaviors on a, on
a day-to-day basis is defining values.

And I got feedback on this from
every founder that I spoke with

before that, well, you should
have values in the company.

And I was like, yeah, I, I don't get it.

Why?

And so we had some values and we
realized that we do hold some values

there, but because we were, we did
not operationalize them at all.

They were of no use, so they were
just sitting in a dock that no

one looked at, no one referred to.

And the second thing was that
because we did not operationalize

them, we did not take action when
those values were not being met.

So that created a lot of like
little challenges over time that,

we are now correcting.

So now we have a set of values
that we are very, very in about.

We are bottom line, maniacal about it now.

And I have to drive that change with
the team and be serious about it.

And the way we operationalize
it is, we like every spotlight

that we give to others.

So we have a concept of spotlight
where people can highlight the

other person's contribution.

We ask them to like, call
out what value is it?

And we all hands, I talk about them.

We award people based on values.

We ask people to come to HR if
someone is not like behaving in, in

the right way with respect to value
or give them feedback directly.

So there's a lot of those kind of checks
and balances that we have built now.

And it's more important to
do in remote from day one.

Prateek Panda: Yeah.

Thank you for sharing that so candidly,
because that last part about values

really strikes well with me as well.

And I've done that mistake
in my last startup as well.

We had values defined but
never operationalized it,

so it didn't really matter.

It was something to put up on the about
page or careers page, and that's about it.

Right.

And when you are interviewing new
folks, you're talking about it a little

bit, but I you know, in day-to-day
activity, it never got operationalized.

And on the other spectrum, I have seen
and learned from companies like Amazon

who are also very maniacal about it.

And people live and breathe the values,
the entire interview processes based on

the values and so on, whereas I find that.

Maybe a little towards the other extreme,
but even then, I think they are a very

good example of how do you get people
to really imbibe the values because it's

been operationalized so well over the
years that you just cannot not witness it.

You will, get into it in your right.

So,

Palash Soni: 100% percent.

Amazon is such a great
example of, of that.

Prateek Panda: Yeah.

Any last pieces of advice for
founders, especially, you know,

folks who are trying to build with
AI integrations in their tools?

Palash Soni: Yeah, definitely Prateek.

So one, I talk to a lot of founders right,
who are, who want to start up, right.

So there's a big pool of people who
haven't started, who want to start up

with that pool is only growing with time.

And there are a few things,
which I always tell them that

there's never a good time, right?

When I was looking at, starting up
in 2020, there were a bunch of things

that were not conducive to starting
up, and so there's always something

that is not conducive to starting up.

I feel like this is despite of whatever,
one of the best times to start up, just

because there are so many obvious ideas
that have opened up because of AI.

But it's also challenging in the other
ways we were talking about, right?

That it might just be harder
to find that longevity.

So I think that the best time to start up
is now because, there's never a good time.

That's always my advice to people.

And the second thing that I would
say is, and which hasn't changed with

AI or with Covid or with nothing, is
having a great set of Co-founders.

Even I think a lot of people think
that we will explore ideas and then we

will bring someone on, which does work.

But it's always best to have
someone in that exploration phase.

Because that forges a bond
that is very likely to last.

Versus say making progress and then
bringing someone in as a Co-founder.

Prateek Panda: I know you found your
Co-founder, at business school, but

for folks who are looking, you know,
there's Y Combinator, has this whole

Co-founder matching program, which
is quite popular, but have you seen

or heard from others what's worked
for them in finding a Co-founder?

Palash Soni: Yeah, Prateek, so one thing,
the modalities that I've seen successful

is, one, obviously school friends.

Even if you're out of school,
like just connecting with,

old friends is always helpful.

Something like Y Combinator,
OnDeck is another one, right?

Or Antler.

Those are good places to find Co-founders.

Even workplace, right?

I think workplace is, is one
place where you've already

experimented working with someone.

You know if your bandwidth
matches with them or not.

So if I had been in India for example,
then I would probably have started

off with someone at InMobi because
I had built a lot of relationships.

I knew how to work with people there
and, and there was a lot of camaraderie

between me and a lot of other people.

So I guess that's it.

But it's also like a
process that takes time.

And the best way to find someone
is just to keep talking about

it a lot in every setting.

You'll al always find someone
who's who raise their hand.

Prateek Panda: Thank you so much,
Palash for taking out time and

sharing all of these amazing insights.

So much value in this entire conversation.

Thank you so much for joining.

Palash Soni: Thanks.

Thanks a lot.

Prateek Panda: And that
wraps up today's episode.

Before we sign off, I would like
to thank you for your support

and thanks for tuning in.

If you loved today's episode.

Then don't forget to subscribe to this
podcast and never miss an episode.

Be kind, be happy, challenge the norm.

I'll see you folks again for the next one.