Pranjali's Journey to a Startup Founder

Background and Motivation

• Parents moved from India to the US for PhD studies.
• Financial constraints emphasized the need for a scholarship to attend university.
• Networking early with influential figures like Sam Altman.
• Urgency to succeed due to parental expectations and financial realities.

Introduction

• Pranjali is famous for creating a 100 crore startup in the US at age 16.
• Building Delve AI for 2.5 years; gained significant media attention.
  • Featured in Business Insider, leading to 600 million impressions in Indian media.

Early Life and Move to the US

• Moved to the US in 7th grade; parents pursued PhDs.
• Introduced to coding by her engineer father at age 7.
• Participated in competitive programming in middle and high school.

Educational Experience in the US

• Attended a charter school focused on math and tech.
• Changed schools frequently to find the right fit and community.
• Charter schools: Lottery-based public schools with a more organized system.

Developing Coding Skills

• Started with basic projects like calculators and animations.
• Advanced to competitive programming and hackathons.

Networking and Early Inspiration

• Inspired by Michael Seaman's story of building apps for financial support.
• Attended Miami Hack Week, which led to interest in startups.

Early Entrepreneurship

• Entered HFZero, a residency for young founders, funded by back-end capital.
• Raised initial funding and built a team of engineers.

College Decision and Scholarship

• Decided to attend college to find a co-founder and leverage the startup ecosystem.
• Received a scholarship from Master’s Own Foundation, which supports young people internationally.

Building Delve AI

• Initially targeted researchers, now focusing on consultants.
• Conducted enterprise pilots and individual users.
• Uses proprietary models fine-tuned on Lama and Mistral for AI solutions.

Challenges and Learning

• Encountered setbacks with funding and contracts.
• Learned from product development failures and continued to iterate.
• Emphasizes the importance of self-research and not just following trends.

Advice for Young Entrepreneurs

• Encourages building projects that interest you and learning through iteration.
• Stresses the value of networking and being resourceful.
• Highlights the relevance of having a co-founder and college for networking.

Inspirational Figures and Networking Strategy

• Looks up to figures like Sam Altman, Lisa Su, and Patrick Collison.
• Emphasizes that anyone can network and connect with high-profile individuals by attending open events.

Immigration Journey

• Switched from dependent visas to an O1 visa through Delve AI.
• O1 visa process took around 2-3 months.

Closing Thoughts

• Stresses the importance of doing what excites you and pursuing opportunities despite challenges.
• Encourages students to explore programming and tech from a young age.