Gaurav Bhattacharya - From Saving Lives to 5M ARR - AI Sales, Founder Psychology and the Dark Side of Speed with Gaurav Bhattacharya

Unlock the secrets of hypergrowth in SaaS with Gaurav Bhattacharya in this electrifying kickoff of our podcast series, hosted by Lauren Hawker Zafer.

🧠 Dive deep as we go beyond shortcuts to reveal what actually drives scale: from battling Silicon Valley’s “optimism vs. paranoia,” tackling burnout at $5M ARR in nine months, and founder pivots when product-market fit fails, to using AI for good and transforming social impact into B2B SaaS excellence. If you’re a founder, leader, or builder hungry for actionable psychology and raw founder stories, this episode is your new blueprint.

What you’ll learn in this episode:

• SaaS Growth Secrets, and why hacks aren’t enough (00:00)

• Silicon Valley Mindset: Harnessing optimism without falling into the ‘golden cage’ (01:30–06:00)

• The truth behind founder burnout and chasing ARR milestones (15:00–18:00)

• Using AI for social impact: The fight against sex-selective abortions (09:00)

• Founder pivots, rapid scaling, and what happens when product–market fit fails (15:00)

• Sales psychology: How FOMO and urgency close B2B deals (21:00–24:00)

• Final takeaways—how to channel action bias and optimism in high-growth journeys (25:30)

🎙️ Guest: Gaurav Bhattacharya

🎧 Host: Lauren Hawker Zafer

00:00 SaaS Growth Secrets: Beyond Growth Hacks

01:30 Silicon Valley Mindset: Optimism vs. Paranoia

04:30 The Golden Cage: False Optimism in Startup Culture

06:00 Impact Driven Innovation: Early Founder Story

09:00 AI for Good: Fighting Sex-Selective Abortions

12:00 From Social Impact to B2B SaaS

15:00 Founder Pivots: When Product-Market Fit Fails

18:00 Fast Growth: ARR Milestones and Burnout

21:00 Sales Psychology: FOMO in B2B Outreach

24:00 Action Bias: How Urgency Drives Decisions

25:30 Final Reflections: Action and Optimism

Who is Gaurav?

Gaurav Bhattacharya is a repeat B2B SaaS founder and Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree who’s built, scaled, and exited startups before most founders finish their MVP.

Currently the CEO of Jeeva.ai, he’s leading the charge in automating outbound AI-powered SDR agents — helping B2B teams 2x their pipeline in half the time (and cost).

Before Jeeva, he co-founded involve.ai, a customer intelligence platform that grew to 500+ companies and 1.1M users globally. He raised over $20M from top investors like Sapphire Ventures, Stanford University, and Gokul Rajaram — and hit $5M ARR in under 9 months with just 11 people.

Gaurav’s story starts even earlier, at 17, he co-built a radiology tool that the Indian government adopted nationwide to fight sex-selective abortions.

He’s been featured in Forbes, Business Insider, LA Business Journal, and top startup podcasts — and he’s not here to preach theory. Gaurav brings real-world operator lessons, raw founder stories, and tactical GTM frameworks that listeners can steal and ship the same day.

When he’s not building, he’s probably over-caffeinating, mentoring founders, or geeking out on outbound psychology.

#techpodcast #ai #redefiningai #laurenhawkerzafer

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