Saravana Kumar from Kovai on Bootstrapping Success and the Future of AI
Lifeselfmastery's podcast I Startups I Venture Capital
Release Date: 02/06/2025
Palash Soni on Building Goldcast and the Future of AI Video Marketing
Lifeselfmastery's podcast I Startups I Venture Capital
I am thrilled to have Palash Soni, the CEO of , an AI-powered B2B Video Campaign Platform that transforms marketing by putting video and events at the heart of the customer journey. In this episode, Palash Soni, CEO and Co-founder of Goldcast, shares how dropping out of Harvard Business School during the pandemic led to building an AI-powered B2B video marketing platform. Palash walks us through his early failures, the moment he saw the COVID tailwind, and how Goldcast scaled from zero to $1M ARR with Drift as an early customer. He also explains the future of AI-powered video content, why...
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How Kishore Ravichandran from Plug and Play Backs Deep Tech and the Next $100M Startups
Lifeselfmastery's podcast I Startups I Venture Capital
Kishore Ravichandran is the investor at , the ultimate innovation platform. Over the past 15 years, PnP has brought together 35,000+ startups, 500+ world-leading corporations, and hundreds of venture capital firms, universities, and government agencies across 20+ industries In this episode, Kishore Ravichandran, Investor at Plug and Play Tech Center shares how a university program in Singapore sparked his passion for startups and led to a career in venture capital. Kishore explains Plug and Play’s global model—investing in over 2,000 startups, supporting them with a 550+ strong...
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Redefining Luxury Fintech with Hugo Gomez from Bobo
Lifeselfmastery's podcast I Startups I Venture Capital
is the co-founder and CEO of , a fintech that caters to the unique needs of (U)HNWIs. Hugo has over 15 years of experience in traditional banking, including roles at HSBC and Banistmo In this episode, Hugo Gomez, Co-founder and CEO of Bobo Fintech, shares how his background in traditional banking led him to build a luxury fintech platform tailored for high-net-worth individuals. Hugo discusses how Bobo offers customizable financial experiences—from wearable payment devices to accounts for private staff—and why legacy banks are unprepared for the $84 trillion generational wealth...
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Ilya Drozdov from Dwelly on AI in Lettings and Building High-Margin Businesses
Lifeselfmastery's podcast I Startups I Venture Capital
the CEO at , an AI-enabled Lettings & Property Management Marketplace, that boosts 3x margins of the letting agency in 2 months only. He previously co-founded the largest tech-enabled letting company in Eastern Europe that managed 10,000+ properties and reached $50M GMV in three years. In this episode, Ilya Drozdov, former Uber GM and CEO of Dwelly shares his journey from scaling Uber Russia to building tech-enabled property management platforms. He dives into lessons from managing fierce competition with Yandex, what made Uber’s playbook effective, and how Dwelly uses AI to transform...
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The Super Upside Factor with Daniel Kang
Lifeselfmastery's podcast I Startups I Venture Capital
is the CEO & co-founder of Y-Combinator-backed startup , a marketplace that provides financing to influencers and allows fans to share in their success. He is the author of his new book - In this episode, Daniel Kang, author of The Super Upside Factor, shares his journey from consulting at BCG to venture capital at SoftBank and ultimately founding Flowbo, a Y Combinator-backed marketplace that helps creators access capital. He discusses the challenges of building Flowbo during COVID-19, securing early customers, and the importance of asymmetric bets in life and business. Daniel also...
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Kartik Dabiru on Building Complystream, AI in Financial Crime, and Startup Success
Lifeselfmastery's podcast I Startups I Venture Capital
is the founder and CEO of , an innovative regulatory tech start-up venture dedicated to simplifying and unifying fragmented tools and compliance processes. In this episode, Karthik Dabiru, founder and CEO of Complystream, shares his journey from product management to entrepreneurship in the FinTech space. He discusses the challenges and lessons learned while transitioning from traditional banking to a fast-paced FinTech environment, the inception of Complystream, and the importance of AI in streamlining financial crime operations. Karthik also highlights the significance of hiring the...
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Anthony Danon on Building Rerail and Scaling Startups
Lifeselfmastery's podcast I Startups I Venture Capital
Anthony Danon is the GP of - Pre-seed / seed angel fund investing in founders that look to utilize fintech. He was earlier a partner at Speedinvest and an investor at Anthemis In this episode, Anthony Danon, General Partner at Rerail, shares his journey from an unpaid internship at Anthemis to building Rerail, a $24M solo GP fund focused on fintech-powered businesses. Anthony discusses his early days of investing in fintech at Anthemis and Speedinvest, the decision to co-found Coco Fund with Carmen, and why he eventually launched Rerail. He explains his “Everything is Fintech”...
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Venture Everywhere with Jenny Fielding
Lifeselfmastery's podcast I Startups I Venture Capital
is the co-founder and Managing Partner of . She is the author of the book, In this episode, Jenny Fielding, co-founder and managing partner of Everywhere Ventures, shares her journey from corporate law and startup founder to becoming a top pre-seed investor. She discusses the transition from running startups to venture capital, the challenges of building a micro-fund, and the power of community-driven investing. She also talks about her book Venture Everywhere, highlighting inspiring founders worldwide, and much more! Timestamps 00:30 - 01:00 - Jenny’s background as a pre-seed investor and...
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From Morning Brew to Smooth Media: Jenny Rothenberg’s Blueprint for Scaling the Creator Economy
Lifeselfmastery's podcast I Startups I Venture Capital
, the COO of , an NYC-based agency representing knowledge creators. She is the ex-director of growth at Morning Brew. In this episode, the CEO of Smooth Media, Jenny Rothenberg shares her journey from Industry Dive and Morning Brew to founding her own media and agency powerhouse. Jenny reveals how she leveraged data-driven paid ads, referral programs, and strategic content repurposing to scale audiences and build thriving relationships with knowledge creators. She discusses pivotal lessons learned from growth experiments, from subway ad missteps to optimizing subscriber engagement and much...
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Roshan Gupta from AmplifyPM on Storytelling & the Future of PM
Lifeselfmastery's podcast I Startups I Venture Capital
Roshan Gupta is the founder of AmplifyPM Roshan founded AmplifyPM to bridge this gap and transform Product Managers into Product Leaders.. He is the ex-product head at Google and Meta In this episode, Roshan Gupta, founder of Amplify PM and former product leader at Google and Meta, shares his journey from software engineering to product management and leadership. Roshan discusses breaking into PM roles, scaling from team management to leading 300+ people, and key mindset shifts for product leaders. He dives into the importance of storytelling, strategic thinking, and networking for career...
info_outlineSaravana Kumar is the founder of Kovai - to $10 million ARR. Kovai currently employs 160 people, with offices in India and the UK.
In this episode, Saravana Kumar, founder of Kovai, shares his journey from IT consulting to building a bootstrapped SaaS business with over 200 employees. Saravana discusses identifying business gaps that led to products like BizTalk 360 and Document 360, scaling multiple SaaS products, and managing culture across global teams. He dives into the decision to bootstrap instead of seeking VC funding, the impact of AI on business operations, opportunities in India's growing tech ecosystem, and much more!
Timestamps
[00:04:00] Origin story of BizTalk 360 and how Saravana discovered a business gap.
[00:08:45] Transition to creating multiple products under the umbrella brand, Kovai.
[00:12:00] Saravana explains strategies for deciding when to build a second or third product.
[00:16:30] Discussion on identity challenges of running a multi-product business.
[00:19:00] Saravana explains why he chose to bootstrap his business instead of taking VC funding.
[00:22:45] Saravana shares early customer success stories and revenue generation.
[00:26:00] Saravana’s perspective on VC funding and managing business expenses efficiently.
[00:30:15] Insights on the future of AI-driven billion-dollar companies with small teams.
[00:33:30] Saravana discusses how AI tools are reshaping business operations.
[00:36:45] Advice for graduates on staying relevant in the AI-driven job market.
[00:40:00] The role of AI agents in decision-making processes for CEOs.
[00:43:00] Saravana explains Document 360's roadmap adaptation due to AI advancements.
[00:46:30] Benefits of integrating AI for enhancing customer support and technical writing.
[00:50:00] Managing culture and accountability with remote and distributed teams.
[00:53:30] Saravana shares experiences of maintaining company culture in different offices.
[00:57:00] Saravana reflects on lifestyle differences between living in India and abroad.
[01:00:45] Discussion on opportunities and technological advancements in Indian cities.
[01:04:00] Saravana talks about his venture investments and supporting startup ecosystems.
[01:07:30] Importance of founders maintaining focus on their primary business before investing.
Saravana’s Links
LDN– https://www.linkedin.com/in/saravanamv
Website – https://www.kovai.co/
My Links
Podcast: https://lifeselfmastery.com/itunes
YouTube: youtube.com/lifeselfmastery
Twitter: https://twitter.com/rohitmal
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rohit857/
Agency: https://bit.ly/41YuNnx