Ctrl Alt Podcast With Vida Patil

Deep founder conversations.
Silicon Valley | Venture Capital | Founders
Product strategy. VC mechanics. Building companies.

[Vida Vidyangi Patil @Vidyangi520]

https://t.co/u4pYzHB8SI 🛑 The "Shadow" AI Perimeter: A 2010s Sequel We Can’t Afford to Repeat...At Google IO 2026, the tech world caught a glimpse of a highly autonomous future with Gemini Spark - showcasing how fast 24/7 personal AI agents are integrating into enterprise workflows. But with massive enterprise adoption comes an equally massive risk: #ShadowAI. If you feel like we’ve seen this movie before, you’re right.

In this exclusive Live from @OneRSAC Conference clip of the Ctrl Alt Podcast with Vida Patil I spoke with @ElyKahn , Chief Product Officer at @okta , to break down the enterprise identity crisis brewing in the shadows.

💡 Key Takeaways for Tech Leaders:

The 2010s #Cloud Parallel:

Just like the early days of unsecure AWS S3 buckets exposing millions of data records, we are at a critical juncture with identity security for AI agents.

#Permissionless Workflows:

Autonomous agents are increasingly using valuable, highly guarded credentials in the background without explicit oversight.

Securing the #Agentic Frontier:

The solution isn't entirely new tech—it’s applying tried-and-true identity management principles (Universal Directories, least-privilege scoping, and ephemeral, short-lived tokens) to agentic identities.

We can't let innovation outpace basic governance. We need to treat AI identities with the exact same lifecycle management rigor as human identities.

#Cybersecurity #GenerativeAI #IdentitySecurity #RSAC2026 #ZeroTrust #CtrlAltPodcast #EnterpriseTech @CtrlAltpod

[Vida Vidyangi Patil @Vidyangi520]

Podcast Studio transformation work for a client. Check out the "before" and "after" transformation pics/video .. https://t.co/xAaYXDZNaG @CtrlAltpod

[Vida Vidyangi Patil @Vidyangi520]

New #Podcast alert! #CxOSeries #CMO Most CMOs are obsessing over which AI model to pick. That's the wrong question entirely says our guest. They need to worry about the data and context around it, instead he adds. I sat down with Ravi Shankar, CMO at Denodo, who's spent 25 years at the intersection of enterprise data and go-to-market.

Here's what he taught me 🧵 on his podcast session over Ctrl Alt Podcast with Vida Patil

The new B2B buyer isn't always human.

A Chief Data Officer opens their AI assistant. Types: "best data management platform for agentic AI" If your brand doesn't appear in the answer - the evaluation is over before your sales team gets a call. Ravi called this out at a recent AI Executive Summit.

LLMs are now doing vendor research.
Your inbound strategy was built for humans.
You don't have an SEO problem.
You have an LLM visibility problem.

Most CMOs haven't realized the difference yet. Now here's where it gets dangerous.

Enterprises are racing to deploy AI agents. Gartner says 40% of enterprise apps will embed agents by end of 2026. But 66% of orgs cite real-time data as a critical barrier to making those agents work.

Because AI doesn't fix bad data. It amplifies it. An agent pulling from a stale warehouse doesn't know what it doesn't know. It acts. Confidently. On outdated context. The failure isn't loud. It's silent, incremental - and almost always caught too late.

3 things every agent needs before going live:

① Live, real-time data access
(not a snapshot from last night's batch job)

② Business context and semantics
(so it interprets what it sees correctly)

③ Governance guardrails — built in, not bolted on

Miss any one of these. The agent goes rogue quietly.

Ravi also introduced me to a failure mode nobody talks about:
Sycophancy.
Hallucination = the agent is confidently wrong.
Sycophancy = the agent tells you what you want to hear.
Hallucination gets all the press.
Sycophancy is harder to catch. And it's already inside your production systems.

The framework that stuck with me most:
Ravi wrote "Synergy: How AI Agents and Humans Can Play Together in the Same Sandbox" (IT Brief, Feb 2026).

The idea: agents can be conversational or fully autonomous — but the trigger for human escalation must be defined before the agent touches production.

Not after.

Full episode available on Ctrl Alt Podcast with Vida Patil - link in comments.

Also, featured in: The Agile Brand (Ep. 779), CMO Unplugged, Enterprise Radio
Speaker: Gartner D&A Summit, Denodo x AWS Agentic AI Summit, Google AI Executive Summit

@ravishankardevaraj is one of the sharpest minds on agentic AI right now.

Go listen. 🎙️

Informatica University of California, Berkeley, Haas School of Business Siperian, Inc. Oracle
#AgenticAI · #B2BMarketing · #AEO · #DataGovernance · #TechLeadership · #CtrlAltPodcast

[Vida Vidyangi Patil @Vidyangi520]

https://t.co/b9vNG6y1IM 🚀 "AI Agents don't need your permission. They'll go and act." on @CtrlAltpod

The era of rigid APIs is dying. We’ve entered the age of Agentic Commerce, and my latest guest is pulling back the curtain on how it’s being built at scale.

In this episode of the Ctrl Alt Podcast with Vida Patil, I sit down with Seena Ganesh, VP of Engineering at Staples. From her beginnings in a small town in India to leading tech at eBay, Walmart Labs, Visa, and Nike, Seena’s journey is a masterclass in grit and reinvention.

We dive deep into why the "business of tech" is shifting from matching keywords to resolving intent.

The Highlights:
💀 The Death of APIs: Why conversational AI is replacing rigid programming.

🤖 Agentic Commerce: How "Smart Interns" are rewiring retail.

🐒 The Chaos Monkey: The brutal reality of testing AI in mission-critical systems.

🛡️ The Human Moat: What engineers do that AI agents simply cannot touch.

📈 Career Survival: Why building "tech for tech" is a career killer in 2026.

Whether you're a founder fixing your P&L or an engineer breaking the leadership ceiling, Seena’s "Think-Plan-Act-Observe" framework is your new blueprint.

Full episode link in the comments! ��

👇 What’s your biggest fear (or excitement) about autonomous AI agents? Let’s discuss!

#ArtificialIntelligence #AgenticAI #TechLeadership #SiliconValley #Ecommerce #FutureOfWork #CtrlAltPodcast #VidaPatil #SoftwareEngineering #Staples #WomenInTech

[Vida Vidyangi Patil @Vidyangi520]

@CtrlAltpod at #HumanX conference

[Vida Vidyangi Patil @Vidyangi520]

The #Identitypioneers It was such an honor podcasting with Ely Kahn, Chief Product Officer, Okta on Ctrl Alt Podcast with Vida Patil at RSA Conference! From the #WhiteHouse to Okta: Securing the Non-Human Frontier with Ely Kahn....stay tuned! 🎙️🎙️

The 2026 threat landscape has moved beyond humans. We are officially in the era of the Shadow Agent crisis, where autonomous AI agents — often unauthorized — are creating invisible data pipelines and persistent access points that legacy IAM was never built to govern.

From White House Cyber Director to Okta CPO, he has a 25-year career spanning federal policy, startup exits, and hyperscaler leadership. Co-founded Sqrrl (acquired by Amazon Web Services (AWS)) and built AWS Security Hub into the platform’s fastest-growing security service. Architected the US National Strategy for #TrustedIdentities and scaled SentinelOne’s Purple AI in redefining threat response. A Harvard University and The Wharton School graduate now pioneering identity governance for the era of autonomous AI and non-human agents.

In this #RSA special episode of Ctrl Alt Podcast with Vida Patil, we sit down with Ely Kahn, Chief Product Officer at Okta and former White House Cybersecurity Director. Ely has an unprecedented track record of building the "fastest-growing" security products in history, from AWS Security Hub to SentinelOne’s Purple AI.

We dive deep into the technical architecture of 2026 security:

1→ The Non-Human Identity (NHI) Gap:
Why API keys and OAuth tokens are the new primary attack vector and how to manage identities that never "log out."

2→ Autonomous Remediation:
The specific threshold for moving past AI-assisted detection to letting the system execute self-healing security actions.
3→ Shadow AI Discovery:
How to find and govern the "invisible workforce" of AI agents operating inside your enterprise without IT oversight.

Whether you’re a CISO re-architecting your stack for agentic AI or a founder looking for the next "whitespace" in the market, this conversation provides the blueprint for the next decade of #identity-centric security.
Thank you for making this happen Will Stickney Courtney Ingersoll!

#Cybersecurity #IAM #GenAI #CloudSecurity #Okta #CISO #IdentitySecurity #AI #TechPodcast

[Vida Vidyangi Patil @Vidyangi520]

#WomensHistoryMonth Rita Scroggin is changing the narrative for women on boards. Period! And I got to see it first hand at the first https://t.co/WfGy035Uml party! They are a powerhouse each, all these women Rita Scroggin Monica Nayar Devi Jarschel Avital Arora Paramita Bhattacharya Eleonora Yashiro Yvonne Wassenaar Kshama Swamy ✨Madhavi Rajan Ching-Yu Hu Prathiba David Sullivan and many more...
Anand Thangaraju

Thank you to sponsors! PwC Silicon Valley Bank Workiva RAPIDFORT Cerebras Eightfold AI and others

[Ctrl Alt Podcast With Vida Patil @CtrlAltpod]

How to Actually Get a VC's Attention: @priyasaiprasad Three Rules for AI Founders on Pitching Problems Not Tech and Why $100M Seed Rounds Are Questionable | Touring Capital GP on Ctrl Alt Podcast with @Vidyangi520

[Ctrl Alt Podcast With Vida Patil @CtrlAltpod]

AI is Replacing Hard Skills Faster Than You Think: Why Your Thought Process, Logic, and Business Fundamentals Are Your Only Real Moat | @FluidCloud_ Co-Founders on Ctrl Alt with @Vidyangi520

[Ctrl Alt Podcast With Vida Patil @CtrlAltpod]

AI Is Shattering the 80% Gross Margin SaaS Model: @priyasaiprasad on Per-Seat Pricing Death, True Operating Leverage, and Where the Real Money Is | Touring Capital GP on Ctrl Alt Podcast with @Vidyangi520

[Vida Vidyangi Patil @Vidyangi520]

🎧 New #Podcast Alert! https://t.co/vUSJXbAEnn Infrastructure Teleportation is Here! - The "Death of Cloud Lock-In"“Generally, the answer would come in 3 to 4 months. We can take that whole session and actually complete it in less than an hour.” Only on
@CtrlAltpod

1-> If you’ve ever felt held hostage by your cloud bill, this one’s for you - only on Ctrl Alt Podcast with Vida Patil. That’s the reality Sharad Kumar and Harshit Omar are building at FluidCloud.
2 -> While the “Big Three” (@awscloud , @GooglecloudPL , @MicrosoftAzure ) have spent years building high walls around their ecosystems, Sharad and Harshit are building the door.
3 -> They’re not just talking about multi-cloud — they’re teleporting entire infrastructures (security policies, firewalls, and all) in minutes.

In this episode of Ctrl Alt Podcast, we break down: 📷 Large Infrastructure Models - Move over LLMs, LIMs are the new brain of the enterprise.

The $8.1M Sprint - How FluidCloud went from founding to a massive seed round with @UnusualVentures in just 11 months.

#FluidCloud #FounderStory #VC #MultiCloud #TechDisruption

[Ctrl Alt Podcast With Vida Patil @CtrlAltpod]

How to Build a Moat When OpenAI Has the Distribution Advantage: Yousuf Khan on Founder Frustration, Deep Problem Discovery, and Surviving Big Tech | @ridgevc GP on Ctrl Alt Podcast with @Vidyangi520

[Ctrl Alt Podcast With Vida Patil @CtrlAltpod]

The Traditional Path into VC Is Being Disrupted: @priyasaiprasad on Why the Midas List Is All Outliers and How to Do the Job Before You Get It | Touring Capital GP on Ctrl Alt Podcast with @Vidyangi520

[Vida Vidyangi Patil @Vidyangi520]

#IWD #WomensDay Special! @PriyaSaiprasad @touringcapital She saw ChatGPT coming many months before it hit the market and backed context-based AI way before anyone else did. She made it to @UBS → @SaintsCapital → @Square → @M12, @MicrosoftVentureFund → @MayfieldFund → @SoftBank Investment Advisers / Vision Fund, all before she turned 30!

There are people who follow trends, and then there are people who possess a "People X-Ray" — the ability to see through the noise, identify real talent, and predict shifts years before they hit the headlines. Priya is the latter. Priya Saiprasad of Touring Capital joins us today on Ctrl Alt Podcast with Vida Patil! Watch the full episode here: [Link in comments 👇]

As we celebrate International Women's Day and Women's History Month, I couldn't think of a more perfect guest to feature on the podcast. Priya is a literal force of nature. By age 12, she had lived in 12 different countries - a foundation of adaptability that clearly fueled her move to walk away from the stability of giants like SoftBank and Microsoft to raise a staggering $330M for her own fund, Touring Capital, during one of the toughest markets in history.

She is one of the most formidable VCs in the Valley, and she didn’t hold back. We talked about why the old-school SaaS model is being shattered, why your tech stack is no longer a moat, and why the most “unsexy” industries are actually the next gold rush.

Priya isn't just participating in the AI revolution; she’s architecting it. We dive deep into: The Death of Traditional SaaS: Why 80% margins are disappearing. The $330M Leap: The grit required to build Touring Capital. The "People X-Ray": What she’s actually looking for when you pitch. Priya, thank you for the masterclass. You are a true trailblazer.

📷It was a fantastic experience working with you ladies Courtney Joslin and Carol Yi! Happy International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month!
#InternationalWomensDay #WomensHistoryMonth #VentureCapital #AI #SaaS #TouringCapital #WomenInTech #Entrepreneurship #CtrlAltPodcast

[Vida Vidyangi Patil @Vidyangi520]

https://t.co/rTZ83lUzYb What Do Jyoti Bansal, Varun Badhwar, Nir Zuk, And Lee Klarich Have In Common? Nishant Doshi worked closely with all of them. In this clip, he reveals the three leadership traits shared by every elite Silicon Valley founder he has ever studied, through acquisitions, board rooms, and Coldplay concerts.

[Ctrl Alt Podcast With Vida Patil @CtrlAltpod]

From Palo Alto to @CyberhavenInc CEO: @nishantdoshi on Intellectual Curiosity, First Principles Thinking, and Why People, Process, Product Always Win | Ctrl Alt Podcast with @Vidyangi520

[Vida Vidyangi Patil @Vidyangi520]

@databricks @cohesity @FoundationCap
Here’s why I love podcasting with the #legends.
I had this “aha” moment while recording an episode of Ctrl Alt Podcast with Vida Patil with @ashugarg from @FoundationCap. #SiliconValley
Full clip: https://t.co/DNzPZQWZ8S We were talking about the heavy hitters – @alighodsi at @databricks and @mohitaron at @cohesity – and it finally clicked for me.

I used to think these massive AI breakthroughs were just about the best code or the smartest PhDs in the room.

But Ashu laid it out so simply: it’s not about being 10% better.
It’s about the 1000x leap.

Look at the news today – Apple’s M5 dropping, Samsung at #MobileWorldCongress going all‑in on “Agentic AI,” Amazon putting $50B behind @OpenAI.

It feels like the ground is shifting under our feet every hour.

But the real “aha” isn’t the hardware; it’s the clarity of vision.
Ali didn’t just build a better database; he saw a world where #data was fundamentally different.

Mohit didn’t just build #storage; he saw the end of data silos.

As a founder, you don’t have to be the one writing every line of code.

Your job is to be the translator.

To take that complex, world‑changing “why” and make it so clear that the 1000x upside becomes inevitable.

Clarity of purpose is a gift.

#AI #Innovation #Databricks #Cohesity #VentureCapital
#FounderLife #CtrlAltPodcast #TechTrends2026 #SiliconValleyPodcaster

[Ctrl Alt Podcast With Vida Patil @CtrlAltpod]

Silicon Valley Hype vs Founder Reality: Vinita Gupta (First Indian-American Woman to IPO) on Patient Capital, VC Psychology, and Building Without Giving Up | Ctrl Alt Podcast with @Vidyangi520

[Ctrl Alt Podcast With Vida Patil @CtrlAltpod]

The Next Big Industry Is Unstructured Data Cleanup: How to Move Past Failed AI Pilots, why enterprise AI fails? | Yousuf Khan (General Partner, Ridge Ventures) on Ctrl Alt Podcast @Vidyangi520

[Vida Vidyangi Patil @Vidyangi520]

New Podcast Alert! With #DataPioneer Nishant Doshi "80% of data theft happens in small snippets... and you can't see it." Traditional data loss prevention (DLP) is officially a #legacy solution. If you’re still trying to protect data by looking at snapshots, you’re already behind the breach. In our latest episode of @CtrlAltpod, I sit down with @nishantdoshi , CEO of the $1B unicorn @CyberhavenInc , to discuss the shift from "protecting data" to "protecting knowledge."

Listen to the full podcast episode with Nishant Doshi https://t.co/xFUOvnMaGZ

Most founders dream of one successful exit. Nishant Doshi has clocked two, and he’s currently scaling his third — a unicorn that grew its valuation 7x in just 12 months.

Nishant’s track record is a masterclass in Silicon Valley timing:
The Discovery: Uncovering the OAuth leak affecting 100k apps.
The Exits: Two successful acquisitions by Palo Alto Networks and Harness.
The Mission: Building the "Google Maps for Data" through Data Lineage.

In the podcast he shares about working with legends like Jyoti Bansal at Harness, Varun Badhwar (currently CEO Endor Labs), Nir Z., Lee Klarich at Palo Alto Networks, and much more about what it takes to sell great technology. We have also touched upon the context graph related predictions and the paper by Jaya Gupta and Ashu Garg of Foundation Capital https://t.co/6BNWwvio0E.
The "API Economy" Prophecy: Why predicting tech shifts 15 years early is the only way to build a moat.
Beyond the Perimeter: Why your most productive employees are often your biggest unintentional "Insider Risks" when using ChatGPT and Claude.
The Pitch Playbook: The 4 specific secrets Nishant used to scale Cyberhaven’s valuation 7x in just 12 months.

If you are a C-Suite executive or a founder, this isn't just about security - it’s about the strategic narrative of how your company’s "crown jewels" move in an AI-driven world.

It was great working with you Samantha Rotbart, Erik B., Cameron Galbraith on this project.

#Cybersecurity #DataLineage #VentureCapital #GenerativeAI #Leadership #SiliconValley #CtrlAltPodcast