I publicly rejected the myth that a million‑dollar ARR AI company cannot be built out of #chandigarh, stating “You can't build a million dollars ARR AI company sitting out of #chandigarh” (said 2+ years back) and “Even though we might not have achieved that yet, however we are fully on the path towards that milestone and break this myth!”
On 2024-07-19 12:00 UTC I met Sahil Kaushal at a networking meetup in Chandigarh and told him about Labellerr; he recalled his prior data‑annotation work as "one of the best times of his career".
On 2024-07-19 12:00 UTC I highlighted that Labellerr can "Build autonomy 10x faster by managing data generation."
On 2024-07-19 12:00 UTC Sahil recalled it as "one of the best times of his career, highlighting how human-in-the-loop powered data annotation is crucial for AI infrastructure."
I decided to publicly invite anyone in Chandigarh working on MEAN stack, AI development, B2B SaaS, or data engineering to come forward and connect, aiming to showcase groundbreaking work and build a vibrant community.
I argued that startups can be built from #chandigarh as effectively as from Bengaluru, citing Labellerr’s work on self‑driving vehicles, waste‑sorting robots, and tuberculosis treatment.
Date of post: 2024‑07‑02 11:30 UTC.
Strategic target: $100 million+ ARR.
Mentor Rajan advised a “10x US and 10x AI differentiator” focus.
I met Jashan Goyal at Tim Hortons to discuss capital raising, US market entry, early adopters, and agentic workflows.
I heard bright young minds say “Chandigarh has evolved!” after I shared event information.
I observed that “events are starting to clash in the same radius on the same day”.
I decided to proactively share upcoming and recent event info to reshape perceptions of the Chandigarh startup ecosystem and retain talent locally.
Its relatively hard but fun and not impossible to build a company from tier 2/3 ecosystems like Chandigarh and unlike Bengaluru.
He built out of Washington DC just when there was hardly any ecosystem including the challenges for finding the talent which is though changing now.
He took a decent exit building his company and scaling to 80 people.
I met him thanks to Innovation Mission Punjab; his Maker Bhavan Foundation mission aligns with my Eduwaive Foundation’s push for experiential learning, drawing on insights from his Stanford background.
Thapar Institute of Engineering & Technology is also actively bringing experiential learning into the Indian education system.
Higher risk appetite of the entrepreneur and from investors is required to do what #china has done and #unitedstates has been proving from decades.
I felt inspired by the contrast between "people like Vadluri in Telangana" and "people like us", seeing regional founders as a source of motivation.
There are people like Vadluri in Telangana and there are people like us! Inspiring!