Last week I posted a rant about Indian VCs. Specifically, a red-orange logo firm that passed on multiple research labs and then confidently told me the Chinese are winning in AI.
I felt it, a lot of you felt it. So here's what I'm doing about it - I am getting into the system.
Over the weekend I leased out a 3000+ sq ft space to convert into a deep AI research incubator in Indiranagar, Bangalore.
If you're a pre-seed founder with a deep tech or AI research idea - and you've been burnt by VCs who want traction before they'll give you the time of day - this is for you.
Here's what I'm putting on the table:
- A place to work, think, and build without distraction
- Introductions to investors who actually understand early stage
- The best research minds in the same room as you
- 3 months to prove your thesis (Important)
- And to promising projects - a stipend; so survival isn't the thing eating your focus
No pedigree filter. No "come back when you have PMF." No sitting across the table asking why you're doing too many things while doing nothing yourself.
My Creds?
- Raised $5M + from a16z and others for my first startup as a solo founder - before I turned 24
- Exited to build something meaningful in AI - now running Conscious Engines (@c_engines), focused on small models doing big things
- Helped 10+ teams with fundraising and operational mettle in their 0 to 1 journey
- I know what 'early' looks like, and I know what it needs.
What do I get in return? (candid)
- New Friends and mutual contacts
- Peer group to review our own work at Conscious Engines
- Maybe the ability to put some $ early in on promising projects
- Provenance
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To beat the system, sometimes you have to become the system. This will probably be hard. It might not work. But I have more risk appetite than the red-orange logo VCs who inspired this - so that's something.
Founders: Join the WhatsApp Community.
VCs: DM me.
I have privilege. I would like to share it.
Challenges faced while communicating with stakeholders
Keeping everyone aligned during incidents/updates
The DSA round was comparatively straightforward. Questions included:
Find Peak Element
Roman Numeral Conversion
Distinct Numbers
Just gave interviews for a role similar to FDE in an AI company โ sharing the experience in case it helps someone preparing ๐
The process had 4 rounds overall:
โข Screening round
โข DSA round
โข Customer/product support focused round
โข Final discussion
Handling challenges while coordinating with teams
Behavioral questions using the STAR format
Some example areas they explored:
How I documented and shared information across teams
Times I collaborated to resolve production-level issues
@HP@HPIndia To be honest, if I could give 0 stars, I would've given that. The service that I got from this centre is unbelievable. A company as famous as HP is harboring employees like Mr Ajit who asked us to "fuck off" today when we tried to seek help from him โฆ
Today, we're launching Nue Health, India's most affordable preventative healthcare membership.
This all first started when I heard Nithin Kamath had suffered a heart attack - someone who cared so much about health and fitness. How was this possible?
We're constantly told that we hit our "quarter life crisis" at 25 - which means we're all supposed to live till a 100 right?
Then why was I seeing so many people succumb to cancer and cardiac arrests in their 30's and 40's?
Something didn't add up.
I dug deep - there had to be a way to see this coming.
Why was everyone in the dark about what was happening inside their body?
This is when I realised that health is an extremely fragmented and uncertain experience in India.
People don't know what biomarkers to test, what to do with an 18 page blood test report, how to connect these results over time and exactly what they needed to do to improve their health.
They had the data, but they didn't know what to do with it.
We put our heads down and started building. We learnt every single thing there is to know about the space. Got engineers and researchers from Princeton onto the team - people who've been into biology since they were 14.
We're building a digital twin of the human body for every Indian - one single blood panel tested every 6 months, combined with your wearable and nutrition data, and a doctor verified action protocol so you know exactly what's happening inside your body at all times and what you need to do to improve it.
We're building a new kind of healthcare :
one that that doesn't wait for you to get sick before taking action.
one that helps you understand your unique biology.
one that India truly deserves.
Link in pinned tweet.