Day Zero for Everyone: Reflections from San Francisco

Taking a pause before heading back to India after an intense few days in the Bay Area.

Every time I come to SF, I leave with a notebook full of ideas, questions, energy, and perspective.

This trip was no different.

Over the last few days, I got to meet founders, investors, operators, and ecosystem builders across conversations, dinners, bootcamps, community gatherings, and quiet one-on-ones.

24 founder meetings. A 3-day bootcamp with 67 founders. Late-night Mafia games with friends. Conversations on AI, community, hardware, vertical SaaS, Caravan, and what the next decade could look like.

But a few moments stayed with me more deeply than the rest.

Meeting Kanwal Rekhi was one of them.

Getting a signed copy of his book was special. But what stayed with me most was a simple thought he shared:

“Success is one-third startup, one-third family, and one-third health. You can only call yourself truly successful if you’ve balanced all three.”

That line stayed with me.

Especially in a world where many of us are busy building companies while unintentionally neglecting ourselves and the people we love.

⚡ Realisation #1: It feels like Day Zero for everyone again.

For the longest time, I assumed we were the only ones figuring things out in real time. But after speaking to enough founders and even larger companies, I realised something comforting:

Nobody truly knows where the world is headed.

AI is rewriting assumptions faster than institutions can react to them.

⚡ Realisation #2: The real game now is simple. Disrupt yourself before someone else does.

Some conversations opened entirely new doors in my mind.

Avi Harsh shared fascinating insights on hardware and how communities for hardware software companies could emerge. Founders spoke passionately about Vertical AI and how AI is collapsing time-to-scale in ways we haven’t fully understood yet.

⚡ Realisation #3: Indian founders need to get to the point quicker.

Be clear in the ask.

Too many early-stage founders spend too much time circling around context before arriving at the actual problem or request.

Clarity is kindness. Especially in a world moving this fast.

Some of the happiest moments from the trip were deeply personal.

Meeting Tarun Kumar Davuluri and his better half Padmini after a long time. Having lunch cooked by her. Sitting in their beautiful green backyard and quietly appreciating how life evolves for good people.

Celebrating Arvind Parthiban’s birthday with friends.

Meeting Girish again after a while.

Hosting a virtual roundtable from the US to India with Swapnil from Observe.ai on becoming AI-native.

Signing up new volunteers for Caravan ’26, SGX, and our US initiatives.

And somewhere in between all of this, I also met a 3-year-old kid: a founder friend’s son.

I had seen him briefly on a video call earlier. Full of energy, curiosity, and personality.

Before leaving back to India tomorrow, I specifically stopped by just to meet him.

Didn’t want to miss meeting that little force of nature.

Sometimes, the most memorable people you meet on a trip aren’t always in the boardrooms or founder circles.

And most importantly, hearing so many people genuinely believe in what we are trying to build with AIBoomi (formerly SaaSBoomi).

Community building is exhausting work sometimes.

But trips like these remind me why we do it.

Grateful for every conversation, every insight, every honest piece of feedback, and every person who supported this journey.

Back home soon.

Back to building.

Happy weekend, everyone :)