Thread by @krishnagade

I was a first-time founder when we started @fiddlerlabs, and we founded it with a big mission to build trust in AI.

This is a thread on the journey we went through in the last 3 years running the company and the lessons we learned. 🧵

First up, the startup journey is not for the faint-hearted. The highs are super high and lows are super low. I am lucky to have got a great co-founder in @amitpaka who has been there throughout this journey.

So, if you’re thinking of getting a co-founder - you should! /2

When I was starting @fiddlerlabs, the first person I met was @amitprakash whom I consider a mentor of sorts.

He told me - "if you’re planning to do a startup you should take some risks, meaning go after a big hairy goal instead of doing something incremental". /3

It turns out helping enterprises build trustworthy AI is a big hairy audacious goal, that I don’t know if we will ever accomplish fully.

One thing about BHAGs is that they inspire you and motivate you especially when you’re down in the dumps.

So go after a BHAG! /4

We got really lucky to get a great set of investors in @lightspeed, @lux_capital, and @insight, It all started with our chance meeting with @semil.

Getting @semil was game-changing for us because not only does he back his companies, he actually hustles for them #Respect /5

A great team is critical for any startup to be successful. When you have a long-term mission - it is critical to hire missionaries and weed out mercenaries who are there just for title/pay, etc.

It is a continual process, you have to keep improving the team as you go. /6

With @fiddlerlabs we are defining a category in ResponsibleAI and MLOps.

Creating a new category is hard! It requires a combination of non-obvious product insight, unique GTM, and an ability to weather skepticism.

You've to keep evangelizing and iterating with patience. /7

Early on, we studied regulations for Model Risk Management in Banking that mandate monitoring, explainability of AI.

We used to be the only MLOps startup that attended MRM conferences and this helped our product and GTM a lot.

Now, Fintech is a major market segment for us. /8

The overall market turned a corner 18 months ago, and MLOps got on fire as various other verticals started looking for ML Monitoring and Explainability tools.

It is important to start with a market insight but also have a flexible playbook when things change in the market. /9

Product-led growth is the new thing in the enterprise space. Gone are the days when your sales team can sell software that users hate to use. Modern enterprises shop around with a consumer mindset.

UI/UX polish, ease of use, onboarding experience are supercritical. /10

However, getting the product experience to the T in a new category can be difficult to get right from day-0.

Because no one before you has built a product in this category. There is no playbook here, you have to figure it out as you go. /11

We learned that it is critical to have a set of early adopters, who are trying the product and giving feedback. Otherwise, it becomes hard for your team to prioritize new features, bug fixes, and scalability issues.

So, make sure you establish a customer council early on. /12

Finally, it is super important to get your company culture right. IMO, culture is not what you preach, it is not what you say at your all-hands, it is not the list of values on your website.

Culture is what your company does on a day-to-day basis. /13

It is how the people in your company communicate and work with one another, celebrate successes, and handle failures.

Make sure you hire, retain and promote culture carriers. Because the teams that eventually win are the ones that have created a strong resilient culture. /end

Thanking all our investors and correcting a few twitter handles. @lightspeedvp, @BloombergBeta, @insightpartners, @Lux_Capital, @haystackvc, @zgulamali, @LockheedMartin Ventures

Correcting the Twitter handle for Amit Prakash @amitp42.