Anand Chandrasekaran, Celesta MP on AI-First Companies & Product DNA episode artwork

EPISODE · Jan 15, 2026 · 1H 1M

Anand Chandrasekaran, Celesta MP on AI-First Companies & Product DNA

from Venture with Grace · host Grace Gong

Anand Chandrasekaran is the Managing Partner of Celesta. Prior to joining Celesta, Anand Chandrasekaran co-founded and was President of Crescendo, an AI-first contact center business, co-created and backed by General Catalyst (GC). He is a former Partner and Venture Advisor at GC. Earlier in his career he was CPO and a product leader for two decades at Five9, Meta (Messenger), Bharti Airtel, Snapdeal (FreeCharge), and Founder of Aeroprise (acquired by BMC Software). He was recognized as the #1 seed investor focused on the India – U.S. corridor by the HURUN India Report three years in a row from 2022-2024. Anand holds an M.S. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University, and a B.S. from PSG College of Technology, India. In 2010, Anand was named Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum. In 2017 and 2018, he was named to Fortune's 40 under 40 India list.Topics: Why the best AI investors think like product leadersHow to build truly cross-border teamsHow enterprises decide when AI is “production-ready”#AI #VentureCapital #EnterpriseAI #ProductLedGrowth #OperatorToInvestor #IndiaUSTech #SeedStage #StartupInvesting #B2BTech #SmartVenture

Anand Chandrasekaran is the Managing Partner of Celesta. Prior to joining Celesta, Anand Chandrasekaran co-founded and was President of Crescendo, an AI-first contact center business, co-created and backed by General Catalyst (GC). He is a former Partner and Venture Advisor at GC. Earlier in his career he was CPO and a product leader for two decades at Five9, Meta (Messenger), Bharti Airtel, Snapdeal (FreeCharge), and Founder of Aeroprise (acquired by BMC Software). He was recognized as the #1 seed investor focused on the India – U.S. corridor by the HURUN India Report three years in a row from 2022-2024. Anand holds an M.S. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University, and a B.S. from PSG College of Technology, India. In 2010, Anand was named Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum. In 2017 and 2018, he was named to Fortune's 40 under 40 India list.Topics: Why the best AI investors think like product leadersHow to build truly cross-border teamsHow enterprises decide when AI is “production-ready”#AI #VentureCapital #EnterpriseAI #ProductLedGrowth #OperatorToInvestor #IndiaUSTech #SeedStage #StartupInvesting #B2BTech #SmartVenture

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Anand Chandrasekaran, Celesta MP on AI-First Companies & Product DNA

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Anand Chandrasekaran is the Managing Partner of Celesta. Prior to joining Celesta, Anand Chandrasekaran co-founded and was President of Crescendo, an AI-first contact center business, co-created and backed by General Catalyst (GC). He is a former...

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