Welcome to yet another episode of the Build In Public Podcast! 🎉

Today's episode features Tharshan Thavaharan who leads Partnerships at Paddle, a fintech company last valued at $1.4b where I also work now.

In 2023, he started the AI Launchpad, a global founder program at Paddle which attracted 59 AI startups from 21 countries and in 6 weeks helped them accelerate their journey to find product-market fit, reach target audiences, and establish a financial base for scaling. Now he's passing the captain's armband to me and I'll be running this year's cohort. Applications open now, check out our site: https://www.paddle.com/ai-launchpad

In this episode, Tharshan and I discuss the behind-the-scenes story of winding down my previous edtech startup (BIPF), how I ended up at Paddle, what lessons Tharshan learned by running the AI accelerator, the types of companies who were part of it, the big focus for 2024 for us and more.

Relevant links:
AI Launchpad website: https://www.paddle.com/ai-launchpad
Tharshan on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tharshant/
KP on X: https://twitter.com/thisiskp_
KP on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karthikpuvvada/

Past guests on the Build In Public podcast include Gary Vaynerchuk (CEO of Vayner Media), Sahil Lavingia (CEO of Gumroad), Alexis Ohanian (co-founder of Reddit), Sheel Mohnot (Better Tomorrow Ventures), Gina Bianchini (CEO of Mighty Networks), Adam Draper (MD of BoostVC), Arvid Kahl (Author of Zero To Sold), Tiago Forte (author of Building A Second Brain), Mariam Hakobyan (CEO of Softr), Kat Cole (COO of Athletic Greens) and more.