Post-AI Entrepreneurship with Rahul Sonwalkar of Julius AI

There’s a section of our website that generates more reaction than any single piece of content I’ve ever written. It says:

We’re obsessed with the idea that someone is going to build a business doing $100M in revenue with less than 10 employees and see it as this generation of founders’ 4 min mile. Once someone shows it can be done, many more will follow. We want to partner with the one that does to help define a repeatable playbook for those that follow.

Whether the numbers are correct or simply guide posts, it’s undeniable that how and what we build in a post-AI world is changing by the day. (Maybe hour?) This theme has been a clear focus for our investing at indie and has shown up in the form of AI infrastructure, AI services, and new work modalities enabled by AI. 

This week, we sit down with a founder at the vanguard of post-AI entrepreneurship — Rahul Sonwalkar of Julius AI. One thing I was struck by in this conversation is not only the efficiency and speed that new AI tools unlock, but the ability to embed more of the humanity of the founders into the businesses they are building as both a competitive moat and differentiator. Rahul is the embodiment of this in ways that will become clear in the video.

The story of Julius begins after six pivots and countless experiments. Rahul and his team built Julius.AI by embracing a hacker mentality and following their instincts rather than conventional startup wisdom. Instead of building a massive sales organization or chasing traditional metrics, they focused on product-led growth and let users discover the value naturally. Today, Julius processes over two million lines of AI-generated code daily, helping knowledge workers analyze data without needing to code or relying on data analysts for their insights.

The funding landscape has shifted dramatically with AI-native startups. These companies can operate much more efficiently than their predecessors, giving them more optionality around fundraising. Rather than raising capital at predetermined milestones, Rahul has taken a more opportunistic approach, something we call “macrodosing capital”, raising smaller amounts when offered and focusing on infrastructure investments that will pay dividends long-term.

Looking ahead, Rahul believes the key to building in the AI-era is positioning your company to benefit from, not be threatened by, improving technology. While giants like ChatGPT attempt to replicate features, Julius has found that the large player’s marketing efforts actually educates the market and drives users to more specialized solutions. Rahul aims to go public eventually, seeing a massive opportunity in making AI-powered products accessible to everyone — not just developers.

This is a must watch for anyone curious about how AI is reshaping entrepreneurship and the opportunities it presents. 

That said, if you’re looking for actionable insights or a playbook here, you may find yourself frustrated. This is an emerging field where the landscape is shifting underneath us. Any tools or tactics mentioned here could be obsolete by the time you finish watching. The core ideas of being true to your instincts, staying lean, doing more with less, and delivering value for customer feel even more timeless in the context of this conversation. 

I hope you enjoy watching as much as we enjoyed making it. And if you do, please share widely. Like and subscribe. All that jazz. 

And, as always, if you're working on anything in these areas that could be a fit for an investment from indie, don’t hesitate to reach out.