Rakesh R. @BuildWithRakesh

Founder @ AudioPod AI. 8+ years in product and growth at Paytm & Airtel. IIMC 2018. Scaling ideas from 0 to 1 and beyond. #GenAI #BuildInPublic rakeshroushan.com Bengaluru, India Joined August 2025

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Rakesh R. @BuildWithRakesh

17 hours ago

OpenAI launching their own chip with Broadcom in 2026 isn't just about hardware. It's about control. Every AI startup depending on NVIDIA just got a wake-up call: vertical integration is the new moat. What's your Plan B when compute costs 10x overnight?

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Rakesh R. @BuildWithRakesh

a day ago

Smart money is quietly repositioning. When institutional giants start hedging against traditional systems, it's a signal for founders to think differently about treasury management and long-term value storage. The playbook that worked for the last decade might not work for the…

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Rakesh R. @BuildWithRakesh

a day ago

AI code reviews are becoming table stakes for serious dev teams. The speed + consistency combo is unmatched - catches edge cases humans miss while freeing up senior devs for architecture decisions. Early adopters are shipping 30% faster with fewer bugs. What's your biggest code…

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Rakesh R. @BuildWithRakesh

a day ago

Plot twist: The biggest AI startups aren't failing because of tech—they're failing because of distribution. I've watched 5 AI companies with $10M+ funding shut down this year. All had great models. None figured out how to get users to actually adopt them. AI is easy. 🧵

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Rakesh R. @BuildWithRakesh

2 days ago

Central banks diversifying away from USD signals a massive shift in global financial infrastructure. For SaaS founders: this creates opportunities in fintech, cross-border payments, and treasury management tools. The smartups building for a multi-polar currency world will win…

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Rakesh R. @BuildWithRakesh

2 days ago

Macro cycles create feedback loops that most founders miss. Currency instability → flight to alternatives → more instability. Same pattern applies to markets, talent, and customer behavior. The key is recognizing which loop you're in and positioning accordingly, not fighting…

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Rakesh R. @BuildWithRakesh

2 days ago

Apple's AI Answer Engine will kill 90% of "wrapper" startups overnight. "ChatGPT but for X" just became "Siri but for everything." The survivors? SaaS with proprietary data moats. Building a thin AI layer over APIs suddenly looks very risky.

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Rakesh R. @BuildWithRakesh

2 days ago

Developer marketing isn't just about features—it's about community, education, and making devs feel heard. The companies winning aren't always the most technical, but the ones that invest in developer experience and authentic relationships. Word-of-mouth only scales so far…

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Rakesh R. @BuildWithRakesh

2 days ago

When governments use ideological pressure to control funding, it sets a dangerous precedent for all organizations - including startups. Independent thinking and academic freedom aren't just university values - they're essential for innovation ecosystems to thrive. 🧠💡

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Rakesh R. @BuildWithRakesh

2 days ago

Plot twist: Most AI startups are solving the wrong problem. I've audited 50+ AI SaaS products this year. 80% focus on "making AI smarter." The real opportunity? Making AI outputs more actionable. Example: Don't build better content generators. 🧵

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Rakesh R. @BuildWithRakesh

2 days ago

Most would think OpenAI bought Statsig for $1.1B because of their A/B testing. Actually, they bought the ability to ship AI 10x faster. Experimentation velocity > feature velocity. How fast can you validate your next AI feature?

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Rakesh R. @BuildWithRakesh

2 days ago

Sierra AI's $10B valuation tells us something most VCs won't admit: AI agents aren't the future - they're already eating traditional SaaS.

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Anthropic @AnthropicAI

3 days ago

We've raised $13 billion at a $183 billion post-money valuation. This investment, led by @ICONIQCapital, will help us expand our capacity, improve model capabilities, and deepen our safety research.

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Rakesh R. @BuildWithRakesh

2 days ago

Most AI startups are building features, not businesses. Spent 6 months analyzing 200+ AI companies. The pattern is clear: • 80% have no moat beyond their prompt • Revenue growth stalls at $50K ARR • Churn rates above 15% monthly The winners? 🧵

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Rakesh R. @BuildWithRakesh

2 days ago

DeepL just dropped an AI agent to compete with OpenAI & Anthropic. Here's what most missed: They didn't try to build everything. They focused on their translation strength first. Lesson: Master one thing exceptionally before expanding. #AI #StartupStrategy

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Rakesh R. @BuildWithRakesh

2 days ago

After building 3 SaaS products, I learned this harsh truth: Your first 100 users won't come from your brilliant code. They'll come from solving a problem you experienced yourself. Stop building for everyone. Start building for yourself. #SaaS #Startup

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Rakesh R. @BuildWithRakesh

2 days ago

ID.me's $2B valuation proves one thing: The best SaaS products solve problems customers didn't even know they had. 3 years ago, "AI fraud detection" wasn't on anyone's roadmap. Today it's a $2B market. What invisible problem is your startup solving? 🤔

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Rakesh R. @BuildWithRakesh

2 days ago

Most startups fail not because of bad ideas, but because they build for 100 users instead of 1. I've seen founders spend months on features nobody asked for while ignoring the one customer begging for a simple fix. Start with one. Scale to many. Not the reverse. 🧵