Subrahmanya Rao (Subu)

Founder @DiscoverDollar | Startup & Tech Enthusiast

[Subrahmanya Rao (Subu) @SubuRaoTalks]

I took a 24 hour flight to meet this person

In 2018, we were selected for the Creative Destruction Lab’s cohort in Canada, a significant achievement for us. But there was a catch.

The program required me to be in person once every two months. One full day of meetings. That meant flying 24 hours from Bangalore… just for that one day.

Exhausting. Expensive. Logically, it made no sense.

But emotionally? I knew I had to go.

Why? One name: @pichette , former CFO of @Google. Along with other mentors, he was part of the program.

I believed - no, knew - that one conversation with the right person could change everything for us.

But the universe had other plans.
My visa was rejected. Just days before the flight.

I could’ve backed out. Chalked it up to bad luck.
But instead, I showed up at the embassy. The guard at the gate didn’t even let me in.

So I pressed the intercom.

And I spoke not as a founder, but as a person with a dream.
I shared why this mattered. Why I needed to be on that flight.

A few hours before takeoff, I got my visa.

And those hours I spent with Patrick? They weren’t just about valuations or strategy.
We laughed about his love for India - especially auto-rickshaws. We talked about ambition, trade-offs, and staying grounded.

He challenged my thinking. Helped me zoom out.
Some of the decisions we made after that meeting shaped who we are today.

Sometimes, the most pivotal moments in your journey will demand everything from you time, energy, money, and grit.

But they also give you everything in return.

[Subrahmanya Rao (Subu) @SubuRaoTalks]

The campus looked almost the same as I remembered. The old classroom benches, the familiar corridors—everything carried echoes of my student days from fifteen years ago. I was back at @SDMIMD , this time to receive the Alumni Award for Entrepreneurial Success.

In 2010, I made a choice I’ve regretted ever since: I asked my parents not to attend my convocation. Due to the great recession, the job market was bleak, and I had not received any formal placement offer until the convocation day. It felt like I had nothing to show for all their sacrifices, so I chose to face it alone. In retrospect, it was a decision that left an ache in my heart. There is no bigger joy for Indian parents than witnessing their child’s convocation, and I had taken that away from them. Eventually, I did receive a campus placement offer after the convocation, but the celebrations were over.

So this time, I insisted my mom and the rest of my family join me for the award ceremony. I hoped my dad was watching from above. Seeing the pride in my mother’s eyes after all these years made me feel like I’d finally corrected a long-standing wrong.

After the ceremony, I took a walk down memory lane—literally. I peeked into my old hostel room, where countless late-night chats, pranks, and hasty exam preparations once took place. For a moment, it felt like I could hear the echoes of laughter from a younger version of myself and my friends.

Standing in that space, surrounded by so many recollections of a simpler time, I realized I wasn’t just here to accept an award. I was here to reclaim a piece of my past, to share it with the people who always deserved to be part of it. And somehow, it felt like closure—like a long-lost moment finally finding its way home.

[Subrahmanya Rao (Subu) @SubuRaoTalks]

@Twitter (now https://t.co/jzpZgUusHP )set me on an unexpected path that eventually led to @DiscoverDollar

Back in 2014, I was desperate to learn everything under the sun to prove myself. I became a Google Adwords Specialist and ran a Facebook campaign for a Member of Parliament, among other things. I also taught myself to code and learnt SQL. One of the boot camps I attended was from the SAP Startup Focus Program on SAP Hana (In-memory databases were just shaping up back then. Suneet Agera, was training us on SAP Hana in the boot camp (now a dear friend), said "Get two of your colleagues."

I had none. So I asked my friends and cousins. Sandesh Jain Kaajav and Pranav Bappanadu joined me for this training during the initial boot camp.

One of the assignments I worked on was Twitter sentiment analysis. 2014 was India's election year, and I was keen to know what people talked about Narendra Modi and Rahul Gandhi. Instead of reading every tweet about them, I used Twitter Dev Tools to access Tweets through API. I used sentiment analysis to identify the "Positive" and "Negative" tones associated with the tweets. I could quickly analyze thousands of tweets and understand the sentiment, which otherwise would have been manual and taken many hours.

This was my eureka moment!

I connected the dots. I knew companies had a lot of unstructured data, and I could use NLP (Natural Language Processing Techniques and Transformers, which powers the current AI revolution) to create real value for enterprises.

I took a week to build my initial prototype (Watch the working protype here: https://t.co/Ro7IsIWeYi ), which was awarded the Global Most Innovative Solution award by SAP in SAPPHIRE Orlando 2014.

Coincidentally, I met @jack (Founder of Twitter) in San Francisco and explained how Twitter inspired me to start Discover Dollar. Here's the small video from our conversation.

How did a simple moment change your path? I'd love to hear your stories.

[Subrahmanya Rao (Subu) @SubuRaoTalks]

Thank you for being part of our journey in 2019. We all Discover Dollar Inc wish that you Discover your "Best Self" in 2020. @dheemanth2 Amogh Jain Sambid Kumar Pradhan Manoranjan j Srikant Hiremath Surendra Kumar Faisal Baig Mirza Harshit Gohil Shantan…https://t.co/qq3NKuzq9A

[Subrahmanya Rao (Subu) @SubuRaoTalks]

Excited to be sharing our recent success with Anheuser-Busch InBev powered by Innovation Brewery. I'll be speaking on how Discover Dollar Inc was able to help Anheuser-Busch InBev to discover million dollars of leakages in a matter of a few weeks. If you…https://t.co/8UISqg9I3o

[Subrahmanya Rao (Subu) @SubuRaoTalks]

Last week, I had an opportunity to speak on how @DiscoverDollar immensely benefitted from the Canadian Startup Ecosystem at @blrtechsummit alongside great leaders from Canada like @NicoleGirardCG @mgeist @MarkCohon @raywalia & @TradeTeamIndia #investincanada #Canada4Startups

[Subrahmanya Rao (Subu) @SubuRaoTalks]

@kunalb11 One of the hacks I have used is to switch to Audible books to listen to it while driving and before going to sleep (using Alexa Echo). Not exactly as good as reading, but can make best use those 15-20 mins! I finished two books in last one month this way

[Subrahmanya Rao (Subu) @SubuRaoTalks]

#tweetpic with @Twitter Founder & CEO @jack. Last night had a chance to chat with @jack on how @Twitter inspired @discoverdollar to start using NLP for solving our customer problems. #TweetupSF #founderstories

[Subrahmanya Rao (Subu) @SubuRaoTalks]

Perfect start to #FounderCon with a selfie with Co-CEO of Techstars David Brown

[Subrahmanya Rao (Subu) @SubuRaoTalks]

Discover Dollar has come all the way from Bangalore to meet the 'Stars of Techstars'. See you all later today at #FounderCon

[Subrahmanya Rao (Subu) @SubuRaoTalks]

Interesting conversation with Brad Feld, co-founder of Techstars and Foundry group. 'Brutally honest delivered kindly' -One of his mantra which keeps the core… https://t.co/Dc5XcC4ROG

[Subrahmanya Rao (Subu) @SubuRaoTalks]

Trying out @theTunnelBear so I can browse privately from my ISP. https://t.co/sZRBdymXkL

[Elon Musk @elonmusk]

View from SpaceX Launch Control. Apparently, there is a car in orbit around Earth.

[omNovos @omNovos_Global]

Round 10 #RetailAgainstHumanity #NRF2018 @NRFBigShow #Booth946

[Subrahmanya Rao (Subu) @SubuRaoTalks]

Retweet below tweet and follow @omNovos_Global. Have a great chance to win #iphone8 https://t.co/qhBMGH9elX

[omNovos @omNovos_Global]

Round 10 #RetailAgainstHumanity #NRF2018 @NRFBigShow #Booth946

[Subrahmanya Rao (Subu) @SubuRaoTalks]

Amazing app @theTunnelBear helps me browse privately from my ISP. https://t.co/sZRBdyEycj

[Subrahmanya Rao (Subu) @SubuRaoTalks]

@narendramodi We @DiscoverDollar hv helpd co's 2 discover millions of $ lost. I'd b glad2 help @GovtOfIndia_ Discover Rupees frm TaxPayers using Analytics

[Subrahmanya Rao (Subu) @SubuRaoTalks]

Please expedite release of Yogendra Vasupal, Stayzilla. @narendramodi @nsitharaman @TiEBangalore @nasscom https://t.co/6GksM3TeHn

[Ravi Gururaj @ravigururaj]

@NASSCOMStartUps @nasscom @Product_Nation @FollowCII @IAMAIForum @TiEBangalore @TiEDelhi @ficci_india @TiEChennai @TiEHyderabad https://t.co/az2JUs8Ny6

[TiE Bangalore @TiEBangalore]

Kudos to all the TiE Bangalore #startups #accelerated! @Headout_App @DiscoverDollar @SastraRobotics @tricoghealth

https://t.co/dbkzzGwgyT

[nasscom startups @nasscomstartups]

Keep a track of every penny you make through our #Startup of the week @DiscoverDollar #SOTW