From Senior Corporate Employee to AI Startup Founder - Nilesh Ghai

In this episode of Next Big Wave, Tim Grassin interviews Nilesh Ghai, the co-founder and CEO of Levitate, an AI solution for HR teams. 

They discuss topics such as the Antler program, the challenges of selling to HR teams in Southeast Asia, and the potential of generative AI. Nilesh shares his experience with the Antler program and highlights the differences between Antler and other accelerators. 

They also talk about the slow adoption of new technologies in the Philippines and the importance of demonstrating tangible value to potential customers. Nilesh reflects on his experiences living in Southeast Asia, particularly in the Philippines and Singapore. 

Nilesh shares his journey from leaving his corporate job to becoming a startup founder. He discusses the differences in mindset and time allocation between the two roles. Nilesh also talks about the importance of delegating tasks as a founder and the need to prioritize key roles as the company scales. 

Nilesh and Tim highlight the emerging trends in AI, such as large language models and prompt engineering. He also discusses the challenges of measuring productivity in the age of AI and automation.

Here are the highlights for today's episode!
0:00 Intro
0:25 Getting to know Nilesh
3:05 The Antler Startup Program
6:02 Antler matchmaking process
8:30 Nilesh's Startup
11:51 Preselling using webinars?
15:07 Obstacles in Developing a Startup in the Philippines
19:32 The next stage for Nilesh's Startup
22:29 Using ChatGPT to build a persona
24:00 Nilesh's experiences living in South East Asia
28:25 What prompted Nilesh to become a founder
33:20 Corporate job vs founder
37:01 Delegating tasks as a founder
39:09 Life hacks
44:25 Using mentors
48:03 AI Trends in South East Asia
51:11 Elon Musk on AGI
55:25 Previous guest Q&A
57:39 Outro

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