Srikanth Velamakanni built an AI company before most people knew the A in AI. In 2000, long before ChatGPT, he and five co-founders started Fractal Analytics with a simple bet: that math could predict human behaviour and help companies make better decisions. The market wasn't ready. HDFC took 18 months to convince. Citibank made them prove themselves against 100 in-house PhDs. They won on accuracy, stayed profitable, and 26 years later Fractal became India's first AI company to go public. In this episode of Unstarted, Srikanth sits down with Avnish to talk about the story behind the story. Growing up middle class in a small oil town in Assam. Why he never thought he was founder material, and the Narayana Murthy lecture that changed his mind. If you are building, or still unstarted, this one is full of hard-won lessons on conviction, timing, co-founders, and staying relevant across 26 years of technological change.
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