Thank you @shivanipod for getting me into early access program! Love my Fo assistant’s proactivity and voice calling!
I led engineering at Google DeepMind.
Today, I'm proud to introduce Fo to give personal AI something no lab ever has... Humans.
Other personal AI's pretend AI can do everything. Fo employs humans to do tasks that AI cannot.
- 2x better at real-world task completion (beats 94% trust rate (4x less likely to leak private info vs Muse, Instinct)
Sign up for free: wajo.ai/join-wajo
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Karandeep Anand retweeted
Walt Disney named Karandeep Anand to the newly created role of chief technology officer for the entertainment giant bloomberg.com/news/articles/…
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Karandeep Anand retweeted
How to build loved, defensible products in Consumer AI! x.com/i/article/2089…
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Karandeep Anand retweeted
Full house tonight at the Future of Consumer AI event in Redwood City
Consumer founders and builders are a small but committed group these days. Some fascinating conversations about moat, distribution, most promising applications and PMF (which apparently is dead according to e doing more of these, please share any feedback if you were there
Consumer founders and builders are a small but committed group these days. Some fascinating conversations about moat, distribution, most promising applications and PMF (which apparently is dead according to e doing more of these, please share any feedback if you were there
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Karandeep Anand retweeted
Consumer AI, Karandeep Anand (@_karandeep) says, demands a fundamentally different playbook from anything he’s built in 20 years.
Last Friday, the CEO of character.ai (@character_ai) sat down with Priyal Motwani (@PriyalMotw89880) to dig into the realities of building ducts – what keeps users coming back, what still creates a moat, how products should monetize, and which metrics matter as the category evolves.
What the conversation revealed:
→ 𝗣𝗠𝗙 𝗶𝘀 𝗮 𝗱𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘆 𝗿𝗲-𝗮𝗰𝗾𝘂𝗶𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗲𝘀𝘁: The 30/60/90-day cohort is dead as a signal, a free clone of you can exist next week. The real question is if this user had to be re-won today, with a free alternative right there, would they still choose you? If not, you don't have PMF.
→ 𝗠𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘂𝘀𝗮𝗴𝗲 = 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗹𝗼𝘀𝘀𝗲𝘀: ~700 character.ai clones launched last year, ~30 survive. Most died 3 months after a marketing spike, when usage outran monetization. Build your growth-to-sustainability curve before you scale.
→ 𝗔𝗱𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗮 𝗵𝗲𝗱𝗴𝗲, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗮 𝗱𝗼𝘄𝗻𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗱𝗲: character.ai now makes more from ads than subscriptions. Keep every lever open, subs, in-app purchases, ads, data, because people are still learning how to pay for AI.
→ 𝗦𝗵𝗶𝗽 𝗳𝗲𝘄𝗲𝗿 𝗳𝗲𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝗽𝘂𝗿𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗲: WhatsApp stayed dominant by obsessing over what not to build. Past ~3 core features, you start losing users. Only add what's adjacent to your true vision.
→ 𝗞𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗹𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗵-𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿 𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗰: In early consumer AI there is no one metric. Watch the full funnel (explore → signup → first delight in 3–5 min → day 1/7/30/90), session time, and a value-capture metric alongside your value-creation one.
→ 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗺𝗼𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗯𝘀𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻: If you have <10,000 users, spend 2 hours a day talking to real users directly. Above that, spend it in your forums (Reddit, Discord) and on customer calls.
A great evening, made better by a full room asking equally sharp questions. Thank you to those who joined us, and see you at the next Lightspeed Dialogue!
@rahultaneja @SeekingN0rth
Last Friday, the CEO of character.ai (@character_ai) sat down with Priyal Motwani (@PriyalMotw89880) to dig into the realities of building ducts – what keeps users coming back, what still creates a moat, how products should monetize, and which metrics matter as the category evolves.
What the conversation revealed:
→ 𝗣𝗠𝗙 𝗶𝘀 𝗮 𝗱𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘆 𝗿𝗲-𝗮𝗰𝗾𝘂𝗶𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗲𝘀𝘁: The 30/60/90-day cohort is dead as a signal, a free clone of you can exist next week. The real question is if this user had to be re-won today, with a free alternative right there, would they still choose you? If not, you don't have PMF.
→ 𝗠𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘂𝘀𝗮𝗴𝗲 = 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗹𝗼𝘀𝘀𝗲𝘀: ~700 character.ai clones launched last year, ~30 survive. Most died 3 months after a marketing spike, when usage outran monetization. Build your growth-to-sustainability curve before you scale.
→ 𝗔𝗱𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗮 𝗵𝗲𝗱𝗴𝗲, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗮 𝗱𝗼𝘄𝗻𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗱𝗲: character.ai now makes more from ads than subscriptions. Keep every lever open, subs, in-app purchases, ads, data, because people are still learning how to pay for AI.
→ 𝗦𝗵𝗶𝗽 𝗳𝗲𝘄𝗲𝗿 𝗳𝗲𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝗽𝘂𝗿𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗲: WhatsApp stayed dominant by obsessing over what not to build. Past ~3 core features, you start losing users. Only add what's adjacent to your true vision.
→ 𝗞𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗹𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗵-𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿 𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗰: In early consumer AI there is no one metric. Watch the full funnel (explore → signup → first delight in 3–5 min → day 1/7/30/90), session time, and a value-capture metric alongside your value-creation one.
→ 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗺𝗼𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗯𝘀𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻: If you have <10,000 users, spend 2 hours a day talking to real users directly. Above that, spend it in your forums (Reddit, Discord) and on customer calls.
A great evening, made better by a full room asking equally sharp questions. Thank you to those who joined us, and see you at the next Lightspeed Dialogue!
@rahultaneja @SeekingN0rth
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Karandeep Anand retweeted
A film depicting the life of a Sikh human rights activist has ignited a political row in India after it was pulled from a streaming platform bloomberg.com/news/articles/…
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Karandeep Anand retweeted
Just saw SATLUJ and it is not a film , but a deep wound that will never heal. It stirs up the sludge in one of the darkest chapters of our history
This is cinema used as confrontation , where @diljitdosanjh acts with a quiet fury with no chest thumping heroism.. His only weapons are a ledger and a conscience. @rampalarjun adds layers of moral rot in the institutional complicity that feels chillingly realistic
Director @honeytrehan instead of sensationalising the horror unfolds the film like a slow burn investigative thriller through bureaucratic files, cremation records, and hushed conversations
This restraint makes the brutality of the subject matter hit that much harder because it explodes with the force of truth and not exploitation.
The philosophical core of the film about how a democracy devours its own citizens and then tries to erase the evidence is explored without any preachiness and that’s no normal
achievement .
The various issues surrounding its exhibition and publication prove that any art which makes the powerful uncomfortable has done its job, and that is the true purpose of true art , which SATLUJ is .
It is highly courageous essential filmmaking because it unsettles, educates, and lingers . In the times where main stream chases spectacle and popcorn cinema , SUTLEJ shoots out a hard reminder of what cinematic medium can truly achieve when it takes on truth and honesty
SATLUJ is a film that has to be seen , shown, discussed, debated and not ENCOUNTERED like the victims in the film
My appeal to all the powers is , please don’t do to SATLUJ what has been done to JASWANT SINGH KALRA 🙏🙏🙏
TRUTH HITS HARDER when one tries to HIDE IT .
— AYN RAND
This is cinema used as confrontation , where @diljitdosanjh acts with a quiet fury with no chest thumping heroism.. His only weapons are a ledger and a conscience. @rampalarjun adds layers of moral rot in the institutional complicity that feels chillingly realistic
Director @honeytrehan instead of sensationalising the horror unfolds the film like a slow burn investigative thriller through bureaucratic files, cremation records, and hushed conversations
This restraint makes the brutality of the subject matter hit that much harder because it explodes with the force of truth and not exploitation.
The philosophical core of the film about how a democracy devours its own citizens and then tries to erase the evidence is explored without any preachiness and that’s no normal
achievement .
The various issues surrounding its exhibition and publication prove that any art which makes the powerful uncomfortable has done its job, and that is the true purpose of true art , which SATLUJ is .
It is highly courageous essential filmmaking because it unsettles, educates, and lingers . In the times where main stream chases spectacle and popcorn cinema , SUTLEJ shoots out a hard reminder of what cinematic medium can truly achieve when it takes on truth and honesty
SATLUJ is a film that has to be seen , shown, discussed, debated and not ENCOUNTERED like the victims in the film
My appeal to all the powers is , please don’t do to SATLUJ what has been done to JASWANT SINGH KALRA 🙏🙏🙏
TRUTH HITS HARDER when one tries to HIDE IT .
— AYN RAND
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Karandeep Anand retweeted
In the race to build AI faster than everyone else,
what does it mean to pause?
Hear @_karandeep, CEO @character_ai, on choosing responsibility over speed, even when the entire industry is moving in the opposite direction.
Because not every race needs to be won first.
Some need iginalThinking #SYNAPSE2026 #SYNAPSEConclave #ai
what does it mean to pause?
Hear @_karandeep, CEO @character_ai, on choosing responsibility over speed, even when the entire industry is moving in the opposite direction.
Because not every race needs to be won first.
Some need iginalThinking #SYNAPSE2026 #SYNAPSEConclave #ai
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Karandeep Anand retweeted
Most accounting software just made the paperwork faster.
We want to eliminate it entirely.
That's why we're building @AccrualHQ 👇
We want to eliminate it entirely.
That's why we're building @AccrualHQ 👇
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Karandeep Anand retweeted
BREAKING: Thoma Bravo just released their LP meeting slides.
The world's largest software PE firm thinks the market has it completely wrong on software right now.
Public markets are panic-selling software based on AI fear.
Here's what they're seeing:
The world's largest software PE firm thinks the market has it completely wrong on software right now.
Public markets are panic-selling software based on AI fear.
Here's what they're seeing:
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Karandeep Anand retweeted
The story of Jaswant Singh Khalra MUST be told. It's not for Sikhs, Hindus, Whites or Blacks. It's for humans. He challenged darkness - did not let it settle around him.
Diljit Dosanjh cooked and exposed the Indian government’s hypocrisy in his Insta story. Narendra Modi is not allowing his movie PUNJAB 95 to release, while propaganda movies like #Dhurandhar2 are getting a free pass
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Karandeep Anand retweeted
"We are all exploring. Every iteration of LLMs improves after what people tell it what to do!" @_karandeep at #Synapse2020.
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Go @getCos! Can’t wait to see how Accrual uplevels the accounting workflows!
Ever since I met @sidd in our early days at Stripe, I hoped we’d one day find an idea big enough to start a company together.
That day is finally here.
After building quietly for the past year, I’m excited to officially launch @AccrualHQ, a new foundation for professional accounting 👇
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Karandeep Anand retweeted
Huge congrats to @pedroh96 @hdubugras and the entire @brexHQ team.
It is not often two 20 year olds decide to move to the US from Brazil and build a fintech company and exit at $5B+.
I have learned so much working with the both of you and it was the privilege of a lifetime to see you build Brex
Here are my fun and favorite stories
1/ 2017: @hdubugras decides he does not know how to hire engineers in the US and applies for a job at a startup to go through the full process and then asks to meet with the CEO and converts them into an angel investor
2/ Before hiring the first employee, Pedro and Henrique decide they need to see if the company will be even worth a $1B. They attend an accounting class at Stanford to build a model which Michael Tannebaum then tears apart
3/ Pedro's written culture: Pedro has so much empathy that it is unmatched to most leaders. When the going got tough, @pedroh96 - you led with intensity, optimism every single day and that showed through every part of Brex. Your letter to the company about the role your mom played in shaping you during your toughest times in your childhood is by far one of the best and most inspiring letters I have seen from a leader to date
You put together an incredible team - Michael, Camilla, Ben, Art, James among so many others that stayed in the trenches every single day.
You should be proud and a new chapter begins.
And kudos to my former partner @daltonc who spotted them at YC, accepted them into the batch for a VR idea, convinced them to pivot to Brex and always said: this team is special.
It is not often two 20 year olds decide to move to the US from Brazil and build a fintech company and exit at $5B+.
I have learned so much working with the both of you and it was the privilege of a lifetime to see you build Brex
Here are my fun and favorite stories
1/ 2017: @hdubugras decides he does not know how to hire engineers in the US and applies for a job at a startup to go through the full process and then asks to meet with the CEO and converts them into an angel investor
2/ Before hiring the first employee, Pedro and Henrique decide they need to see if the company will be even worth a $1B. They attend an accounting class at Stanford to build a model which Michael Tannebaum then tears apart
3/ Pedro's written culture: Pedro has so much empathy that it is unmatched to most leaders. When the going got tough, @pedroh96 - you led with intensity, optimism every single day and that showed through every part of Brex. Your letter to the company about the role your mom played in shaping you during your toughest times in your childhood is by far one of the best and most inspiring letters I have seen from a leader to date
You put together an incredible team - Michael, Camilla, Ben, Art, James among so many others that stayed in the trenches every single day.
You should be proud and a new chapter begins.
And kudos to my former partner @daltonc who spotted them at YC, accepted them into the batch for a VR idea, convinced them to pivot to Brex and always said: this team is special.
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Karandeep Anand retweeted
Today we remember the #ChaarSahibzade the four sons of Guru Gobind Singh Ji martyred for refusing to bow to oppression.
Two, aged 6 and 9, were bricked alive.
Revered across India for their ultimate sacrifice in defence of religious freedom, justice and dignity for all. 🙏🏽
Two, aged 6 and 9, were bricked alive.
Revered across India for their ultimate sacrifice in defence of religious freedom, justice and dignity for all. 🙏🏽
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50 fastest growing software vendors report … no surprise to see so many exciting ai startups in this list but also some of my all time favorites like Replit and Clay
Dive into the insights: bit.ly/4qe1Rkl
Congrats:
@cursor_ai @openrouter @Kling_ai
@retellai @perplexity_ai @windsurf
@firecrawl @clay @Replit
@ExaAILabs @vast_ai
@GroqInc @InstantlyAI
@firefliesai @coderabbitai @posthog
@useapolloio @DeepgramAI @juicebox_work
@CustomerIO @langchain @supabase
@getlindy @meetgranola @ideogram_ai
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Karandeep Anand retweeted
Last quarter I rolled out Microsoft Copilot to 4,000 employees.
$30 per seat per month.
$1.4 million annually.
I called it "digital transformation."
The board loved that phrase.
They approved it in eleven minutes.
No one asked what it would actually do.
Including me.
I told everyone it would "10x productivity."
That's not a real number.
But it sounds like one.
HR asked how we'd measure the 10x.
I said we'd "leverage analytics dashboards."
They stopped asking.
Three months later I checked the usage reports.
47 people had opened it.
12 had used it more than once.
One of them was me.
I used it to summarize an email I could have read in 30 seconds.
It took 45 seconds.
Plus the time it took to fix the hallucinations.
But I called it a "pilot success."
Success means the pilot didn't visibly fail.
The CFO asked about ROI.
I showed him a graph.
The graph went up and to the right.
It measured "AI enablement."
I made that metric up.
He nodded approvingly.
We're "AI-enabled" now.
I don't know what that means.
But it's in our investor deck.
A senior developer asked why we didn't use Claude or ChatGPT.
I said we needed "enterprise-grade security."
He asked what that meant.
I said "compliance."
He asked which compliance.
I said "all of them."
He looked skeptical.
I scheduled him for a "career development conversation."
He stopped asking questions.
Microsoft sent a case study team.
They wanted to feature us as a success story.
I told them we "saved 40,000 hours."
I calculated that number by multiplying employees by a number I made up.
They didn't verify it.
They never do.
Now we're on Microsoft's website.
"Global enterprise achieves 40,000 hours of productivity gains with Copilot."
The CEO shared it on LinkedIn.
He got 3,000 likes.
He's never used Copilot.
None of the executives have.
We have an exemption.
"Strategic focus requires minimal digital distraction."
I wrote that policy.
The licenses renew next month.
I'm requesting an expansion.
5,000 more seats.
We haven't used the first 4,000.
But this time we'll "drive adoption."
Adoption means mandatory training.
Training means a 45-minute webinar no one watches.
But completion will be tracked.
Completion is a metric.
Metrics go in dashboards.
Dashboards go in board presentations.
Board presentations get me promoted.
I'll be SVP by Q3.
I still don't know what Copilot does.
But I know what it's for.
It's for showing we're "investing in AI."
Investment means spending.
Spending means commitment.
Commitment means we're serious about the future.
The future is whatever I say it is.
As long as the graph goes up and to the right.
$30 per seat per month.
$1.4 million annually.
I called it "digital transformation."
The board loved that phrase.
They approved it in eleven minutes.
No one asked what it would actually do.
Including me.
I told everyone it would "10x productivity."
That's not a real number.
But it sounds like one.
HR asked how we'd measure the 10x.
I said we'd "leverage analytics dashboards."
They stopped asking.
Three months later I checked the usage reports.
47 people had opened it.
12 had used it more than once.
One of them was me.
I used it to summarize an email I could have read in 30 seconds.
It took 45 seconds.
Plus the time it took to fix the hallucinations.
But I called it a "pilot success."
Success means the pilot didn't visibly fail.
The CFO asked about ROI.
I showed him a graph.
The graph went up and to the right.
It measured "AI enablement."
I made that metric up.
He nodded approvingly.
We're "AI-enabled" now.
I don't know what that means.
But it's in our investor deck.
A senior developer asked why we didn't use Claude or ChatGPT.
I said we needed "enterprise-grade security."
He asked what that meant.
I said "compliance."
He asked which compliance.
I said "all of them."
He looked skeptical.
I scheduled him for a "career development conversation."
He stopped asking questions.
Microsoft sent a case study team.
They wanted to feature us as a success story.
I told them we "saved 40,000 hours."
I calculated that number by multiplying employees by a number I made up.
They didn't verify it.
They never do.
Now we're on Microsoft's website.
"Global enterprise achieves 40,000 hours of productivity gains with Copilot."
The CEO shared it on LinkedIn.
He got 3,000 likes.
He's never used Copilot.
None of the executives have.
We have an exemption.
"Strategic focus requires minimal digital distraction."
I wrote that policy.
The licenses renew next month.
I'm requesting an expansion.
5,000 more seats.
We haven't used the first 4,000.
But this time we'll "drive adoption."
Adoption means mandatory training.
Training means a 45-minute webinar no one watches.
But completion will be tracked.
Completion is a metric.
Metrics go in dashboards.
Dashboards go in board presentations.
Board presentations get me promoted.
I'll be SVP by Q3.
I still don't know what Copilot does.
But I know what it's for.
It's for showing we're "investing in AI."
Investment means spending.
Spending means commitment.
Commitment means we're serious about the future.
The future is whatever I say it is.
As long as the graph goes up and to the right.
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Karandeep Anand retweeted
I visited the golden temple in Amritsar today.
The place is absolutely stunning but having a chance to see and eat at the biggest community kitchen of the world was insane.
It’s hard to wrap my head around the fact that everything is free for everyone. No religion, no status, ust walk in. Eat. Be welcomed. And most of it runs purely on volunteers.
Standing in that atmosphere, watching millions be fed with zero expectation in return… it’s honestly a very inspiring things to witness.
How is this scale even possible?
The place is absolutely stunning but having a chance to see and eat at the biggest community kitchen of the world was insane.
It’s hard to wrap my head around the fact that everything is free for everyone. No religion, no status, ust walk in. Eat. Be welcomed. And most of it runs purely on volunteers.
Standing in that atmosphere, watching millions be fed with zero expectation in return… it’s honestly a very inspiring things to witness.
How is this scale even possible?
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Karandeep Anand retweeted
Day 1 at @ftlive #FutureofAI is done.
Highlights: Sir @timberners_lee, Character.AI's @_karandeep, and @TheGenAICEO with @andrewtghill on keeping people in control, scaling expertise, not sidelining it.
@MyPersonasAI/@EloquensAI showed 24/7 help with human oversight.
Highlights: Sir @timberners_lee, Character.AI's @_karandeep, and @TheGenAICEO with @andrewtghill on keeping people in control, scaling expertise, not sidelining it.
@MyPersonasAI/@EloquensAI showed 24/7 help with human oversight.
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