Real stories from founders building the future
Unfiltered insights from the people doing the hardest work in startups.
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Episodes published
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“The inference costs have gone down by 300x, but the demand has gone up by almost a million x — and is still accelerating.”
Past guests include founders from
Fresh from the feed
NewEp. 125How Adaption Labs Is Rethinking AI With Continual Learning | Sudip Roy, Co-founder & CTO of Adaption Labs
Sudip Roy, Co-founder and CTO of Adaption Labs, joins Nataraj Sindam to explain why the AI industry is shifting from scaling compute and ever-larger foundation models toward inference-layer efficiency and smaller, verticalized models. Drawing on his time at Google Brain, DeepMind, and Cohere, Sudip breaks down what is really driving AI inference costs, why the most valuable innovation is moving out of the model and into the full stack, and how gradient-free continual learning could finally close AI's stubborn "last 5%" reliability gap.
NewEp. 124How Vast Data Built a $30B AI Data Platform | Jeff Denworth, Co-founder of Vast Data
Jeff Denworth, Co-founder of Vast Data, joins Nataraj Sindam to discuss how a storage company founded in 2016 grew into a $30 billion AI data platform powering roughly 90% of Neo cloud GPU deployments worldwide. From the architectural innovations that set Vast apart from Google File System-era designs, to the unexpected expansion into vector databases, SQL analytics, and serverless compute, Jeff breaks down how Vast created a new category in AI infrastructure — and why the company's Rule of 40 score of 228 makes it one of the most financially unusual stories in enterprise software.
Ep. 123Storage as the Data Foundation for Enterprise AI | Garima Kapoor, Co-founder & Co-CEO of MinIO
Garima Kapoor, Co-founder and Co-CEO of MinIO, joins Nataraj Sindam to discuss how MinIO is building the data foundation for the AI era. From the founding thesis that bulk of data will be produced outside public cloud, to why storage is now the biggest bottleneck for GPU utilization, Garima shares a decade of building infrastructure at scale and offers a frank view on how AI is reshaping engineering velocity, SaaS economics, and the competitive landscape for startups.
🔥 PopularEp. 122Autonomous AI Agents Are Changing How We Interact with the Web | Abhishek Das - Co-founder and Co-CEO of Yutori
Abhishek Das, Co-founder and Co-CEO of Yutori, joins the show to discuss how autonomous AI agents are revolutionizing web interactions. Learn how his team, with roots in Meta's AI division, is building proactive agents to automate our daily digital tasks.
Ep. 121How Yoodli is Replacing Boring Sales Training with AI Roleplays | Varun Puri, Co-Founder & CEO of Yoodli
How do you train a global sales team in the age of AI? Varun Puri, Co-Founder & CEO of Yoodli, shares how his AI communication coach evolved from a consumer app to an enterprise powerhouse used by Google and Snowflake, offering a masterclass in product evolution and GTM strategy.
Ep. 120Inside the Battle for AI Cloud Dominance — Why Cloud Builders like TensorWave are Rethinking NVIDIA’s Monopoly | Jeff Tatarchuk, Co-Founder of TensorWave
Jeff Tatarchuk, Co-Founder of TensorWave, joins the show to reveal how specialized AI cloud builders are challenging NVIDIA’s market dominance. Learn how his company is betting on AMD's GPUs to build a more open and accessible AI compute future.
Ep. 119Eilon Reshef on How Gong Leverages AI to Revolutionize Revenue Operations
Eilon Reshef, Co-Founder and CPO of Gong, discusses the company's journey from conversational intelligence to a comprehensive revenue AI operating system. He shares insights on product-market fit, the impact of AI, and the future of enterprise...
In their own words
Straight from the founders
Product-market fit isn't a moment. It's a signal you keep chasing — and when you finally feel it, everything changes overnight.
Eilon Reshef
Co-Founder & CPO · Gong
We stayed profitable long before it was fashionable. Capital efficiency forced us to build a real business, not a subsidised one.
Andrew Bialecki
CEO & Co-Founder · Klaviyo
NVIDIA built a great product, but a monopoly is never good for innovation. We're here to change that.
Andrew Feldman
CEO · Cerebras
Enterprise search was broken. Founders kept asking 'why is finding information at work still this hard?' — that was our whole thesis.
Arvind Jain
Co-Founder · Glean
The terminal is the most powerful tool a developer has. We asked why it still looked the same as it did in 1980.
Zach Lloyd
CEO & Co-Founder · Warp
About the host
Meet Nataraj
I'm a product leader and early stage investor. Startup Project is where I interview founders who found product-market fit—and unpack the decisions behind it.
- Product Operator + Early Stage Investor
- Focused on PMF, AI First Products & Building the Future of Technology.
- Actionable takeaways from operators with real experience.
Nataraj Sindam
Product Operator, investor in AI first early stage technology companies.
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