Infinite Curiosity Pod with Prateek Joshi

Anant Bhardwaj is the founder and CEO of Instabase, an AI-native unstructured data platform. They've raised $322M in funding to date from NEA, Andreessen Horowitz, Greylock, and Index Ventures. He did his masters from Stanford and PhD from MIT. Anant's favorite book: The Singularity Is Near (Author: Ray Kurzweil)(00:07) Defining Unstructured Data(01:18) The Growth of Unstructured Data and Its Challenges(02:05) Evolution of Tools for Analyzing Unstructured Data(04:25) How Large Language Models (LLMs) Changed Data Processing(05:27) Do We Still Need ETL in the LLM Era?(06:05) Structured Queries vs. Direct Unstructured Querying(08:22) Applying LLMs in Enterprise Settings(09:34) Ensuring Accuracy in AI-Driven Data Analysis(11:29) SQL vs. AI-Driven Queries in Business Use Cases(13:48) Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) for Enterprise AI(15:02) The Founding of Instabase and Its Early Vision(19:03) Building the MVP of Instabase(22:52) First 10 Customers: Lessons from Early Sales(26:01) Scaling Customer Acquisition: Experiments and Failures(30:35) When to Hire a Sales Team: Key Lessons(33:52) AI Adoption at Instabase for Internal Productivity(37:48) The Technology Stack Behind Instabase(42:36) Transition from OS-Based Architecture to LLM-Based System(43:45) Rapid Fire Questions--------Where to find Anant Bhardwaj: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anantpb/--------Where to find Prateek Joshi: Newsletter: https://prateekjoshi.substack.com Website: https://prateekj.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/prateek-joshi-91047b19 X: https://x.com/prateekvjoshi 

Malte Kosub is the cofounder and CEO of Parloa, an AI agent platform for customer service. They raised their $66M Series B led by Altimeter.Malte's favorite book: The Qualified Sales Leader (Author: John McMahon)(00:01) Introduction(00:26) Overview of AI in Customer Support(01:33) The Current Landscape of AI Agents(02:46) Enterprise Adoption of AI Agents(04:16) The Founding Story of Parloa(06:25) Deciding What Goes into V1 of a Product(07:56) Achieving 99.9999% Accuracy in AI Agents(09:29) How to Identify Customer Needs for AI Products(10:55) Scaling from Early Customers to the Next 10(12:41) Growth Experiments: What Worked and What Didn’t(14:42) Current State of Parloa: Capabilities and Scale(16:36) Structuring Teams for AI-First Companies(18:49) Technology Stack and Internal AI Use Cases(21:29) How to Pitch an AI Product to Enterprises(23:32) Essential Tools Used Inside the Company(25:41) AI’s Role in Daily Life and Workflows(27:54) The Future of AI Agents in Customer Support(28:37) Can AI Agents Fully Replace Human Agents?(29:05) Exciting AI Advancements Impacting Parloa(30:06) Rapid Fire Round--------Where to find Malte Kosub: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maltekosub/--------Where to find Prateek Joshi: Newsletter: https://prateekjoshi.substack.com Website: https://prateekj.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/prateek-joshi-infiniteX: https://x.com/prateekvjoshi 

Scott Stevenson is the cofounder and CEO of Spellbook. They launched the first generative AI copilot for lawyers. It's used by more than 3,000 law firms and are growing really fast. They most recently raised $20M Series A from investors such as Inovia, Bling, and Moxxie. Scott's favorite book: Zero to One (Author: Peter Thiel)(00:01) Introduction(00:06) The basics of legal AI and its applications(02:57) How lawyers use AI for contract review and drafting(03:22) Inspiration from GitHub Copilot and AI’s role in legal work(04:19) AI in litigation vs. transactional legal work(06:37) Why AI adoption in legal work accelerated(07:07) The launch story of Spellbook(07:45) Finding the right problem to solve in legal tech(10:11) How GitHub Copilot influenced Spellbook’s early direction(11:42) Spellbook’s first prototype and early traction(13:11) The moment Spellbook realized it had product-market fit(14:31) Measuring actual product usage and customer adoption(15:27) Early learnings from new customers(17:59) Growth experiments: what worked and what failed(20:48) Discovering unexpected customer segments(22:50) Company building philosophy and structuring Spellbook(26:18) Avoiding over-optimization for structure in startups(30:21) How to decide what to ship in a startup(32:21) Pattern-matching vs. narrative reasoning in product development(35:39) Lessons from AI contract review and LLM usage(36:14) Rapid-fire round

Merrill Lutsky, co-founder and CEO of Graphite, shares insights from his journey in creating an AI-powered code review tool used by tens of thousands. He discusses the evolution of AI in coding, underscoring its transformative role in code reviews and development efficiency. Merrill dives into early user feedback that shaped Graphite, as well as the technological infrastructure that drives its success. He also touches on key trends in AI and impactful negotiation strategies from his favorite book, revealing valuable lessons for founders.

Amit Jain is the cofounder and CEO of Luma AI, an AI platform to create realistic looking videos. They're backed by Andreessen Horowitz, Amazon, and AMD. He was previously at Apple where he worked on VisionPro. Amit's favorite book: Skunk Works (Authors: Ben R. Rich, Leo Janos)(00:01) Introduction(00:26) How Can AI Models Generate Realistic Videos(02:38) The Current Landscape of Video Generation(06:16) Teaching AI Models the Laws of Physics(09:47) Founding Luma: Deciding on the First Product Version(12:56) Validating Market Need & User Feedback(16:42) Key Learnings from Ray 1 Before Launching Ray 2(21:24) Growth Hacks That Moved the Needle(24:27) From Zero Users to Today: The Growth Journey(27:53) Building a Community Around Luma(30:57) Luma’s Technology Stack & AI Infrastructure(36:42) Biggest Technical Challenges in Building Luma(39:24) The Future of Video Generation & AI's Role(41:54) Rapid Fire Round--------Where to find Amit Jain: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gravicle/--------Where to find Prateek Joshi: Newsletter: https://prateekjoshi.substack.com Website: https://prateekj.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/prateek-joshi-91047b19 X: https://x.com/prateekvjoshi 

Zach Lloyd is the cofounder and CEO of Warp, the intelligent terminal powered by AI. They recently raised their $50M Series B led by Sequoia Capital. He was previously the cofounder of SelfMade and the interim CTO of TIME. Zach's favorite book: The Death of Ivan Ilyich (Author: Leo Tolstoy)(00:01) Introduction(00:07) Basics of the Terminal: What It Does and Why Developers Use It(01:48) Foundation of Warp: Addressing Terminal Shortcomings(05:00) Initial Feature Set: Building Warp’s Early Product(07:19) Product Iteration and Retaining Early Users(10:15) AI Integration in Warp: Initial Use Cases and Evolution(14:00) Technical Challenges: Building Warp in Rust(16:25) Feature Prioritization: Balancing Feedback and Vision(18:26) Warp's Tech Stack: Languages, Frameworks, and Tools(22:22) Cross-Platform Development Challenges(23:07) Importance of Design: Competitive Advantage in Dev Tools(26:10) Hiring for Design in Early-Stage Startups(30:22) Warp’s Vision for the Next Five Years(32:15) Lessons from Scaling Warp: Advice to Younger Self(34:02) Rapid Fire Round--------Where to find Zach Lloyd: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zachlloyd/--------Where to find Prateek Joshi: Newsletter: https://prateekjoshi.substack.com Website: https://prateekj.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/prateek-joshi-91047b19 Twitter: https://twitter.com/prateekvjoshi 

Amias Gerety is a partner at QED Investors, a fintech-focused VC firm with $3.8 Billion under management. He was previously the Assistant Secretary at the US Department of Treasury. And he graduated from Harvard. Amias's favorite finance book: Lombard Street: A Description of the Money Market (Author: Walter Bagehot)(00:01) Introduction(00:46) Why Do Robots Need Insurance?(03:04) Challenges for Insurance Companies with Robot Liability(07:34) Risks of Autonomous Robots in Industrial vs. Domestic Settings(12:22) Cybersecurity and Hacking Risks in Robotics(15:41) Importance and Challenge of Historical Data in Robotics Insurance(18:52) Leveraging Telemetry Data for Risk Modeling(22:09) Creating a Functional Insurance Market for Robotics(26:42) Should Robots Be Independent Legal Entities?(28:34) Should Robots Buy Their Own Insurance?(32:30) Partnerships Between Insurers and Robotics Companies(37:11) Regulatory Framework for Robotics Insurance(38:57) Advice for Founders in Robotics Insurance(40:07) Rapid Fire Round--------Where to find Amias Gerety: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amias-gerety/--------Where to find Prateek Joshi: Newsletter: https://prateekjoshi.substack.com Website: https://prateekj.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/prateek-joshi-91047b19 Twitter: https://twitter.com/prateekvjoshi 

Jordan Tigani is the cofounder and CEO of MotherDuck, a data warehouse platform based on open source database DuckDB. They've raised $100M in funding from amazing investors like Andreessen Horowitz, Felicis, Madrona, and Altimeter. He was previously the CPO at SingleStore and spent 11 years at Google before that. He has a degree in electrical engineering from Harvard.  Jordan's favorite book: The Master and Margarita (Author: Mikhail Bulgakov)(00:01) Introduction(00:08) Founding of MotherDuck(01:12) The Philosophy of Shipping Products at MotherDuck(05:02) Founding Story and Identifying the Market Opportunity(10:57) Building the First Version and Overcoming Early Challenges(12:23) Validating Customer Needs and Asking the Right Questions(18:24) Deciding What Features to Prioritize and Exclude(21:30) Positioning a New Product in a Mature Market(27:36) Overcoming Challenges in Scaling MotherDuck(32:29) Measuring Success of New Features in Enterprise Products(36:20) Structuring the Organization for Effective Execution(41:09) Preparing MotherDuck for the AI Native Era(43:28) Rapid Fire Round --------Where to find Jordan Tigani: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordantigani/--------Where to find Prateek Joshi: Newsletter: https://prateekjoshi.substack.com Website: https://prateekj.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/prateek-joshi-91047b19 Twitter: https://twitter.com/prateekvjoshi 

Amias Gerety, partner at QED Investors and former Assistant Secretary at the US Treasury, dives into the challenges AI agents face in online purchases. He discusses the need for a dedicated financial infrastructure for these agents and highlights lessons learned from historical events like the Knight Capital disaster. Gerety also explores the evolving role of payment processors like Stripe, the risks of chargebacks, and the future of agentic commerce. With insights on trust, identity verification, and the transformative potential of AI in finance, it's a fascinating conversation.

Cody Coleman is the cofounder and CEO of Coactive AI, a multimodal AI platform to accelerate metadata generation. They recently raised their $30M Series B co-led by Cherryrock Capital and Emerson Collective along with participation from Greycroft, Andreessen Horowitz, and Bessemer Venture Partners. He has a masters degree from MIT and a PhD from Stanford. Cody's favorite books: - The Inner Game of Tennis (Author: W. Timonthy Gallwey) - Gettine More (Author: Stuart Diamond)(00:01) Introduction: Setting the Stage for Metadata(00:21) What is Metadata? Structure in Unstructured Data(01:37) Metadata in Real-World Visual Data Analysis(03:01) Automating Metadata Generation: Challenges and Approaches(06:57) Introduction to Multimodal AI: What and Why(11:25) Managing Trade-Offs in Multimodal AI Systems(13:31) Labeling Challenges in Multimodal Datasets(16:23) Characteristics of an Ideal Metadata Language(18:22) Linking Metadata Quality to Model Effectiveness(20:56) Measuring Efficiency of Metadata Extraction Engines(22:55) Role of Synthetic Data in Metadata and AI(25:30) Evolution of Data Labeling and Future of Metadata(27:27) Exciting Technological Advancements in AI(29:29) Rapid Fire Round--------Where to find Prateek Joshi: Newsletter: https://prateekjoshi.substack.com Website: https://prateekj.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/prateek-joshi-91047b19 Twitter: https://twitter.com/prateekvjoshi