Anthropic & OpenAI Have Changed What Moving Fast Means | Krishna M, Elevation Capital

When frontier labs can build everything, when moving fast doesn't mean what it used to, and when what was impossible can now be done in days, what do you build and how do you build it?Krishna M is an AI Partner at Elevation Capital. He has seen the 0-to-1 journey twice as a founder and has also experienced what large-scale building looks like at tech giants like Meta and Cohesity.In this episode, we discuss why a founder's fearlessness and ambition will define the destiny of the company far more than technical skills. Krishna shares how Indian founders have come a long way and now build like they know no fear. We then explore how OpenAI and Anthropic have changed what it takes to build startups, and what founder traits are needed to create outlier companies in this era.Watch this episode to understand the new definition of startup speed and what to build when frontier labs can build entire product categories themselves.01:00 From 2x Founder to AI Investor03:37 Why Bet on the US-India Corridor07:07 Can Indian Founders Build Giants?10:13 What Makes Krishna Bet on a Founder?12:33 The Founder Traits That Matter in AI14:18 Why Speed Is the New GTM17:52 The New AI Founder19:13 How Krishna Builds Conviction23:26 Why Elevation Bet on Portkey28:20 How Elevation Evaluates AI Startups31:17 The AI Security Opportunity32:04 Your PMF Can Die in a Quarter32:57 Why Open Source Still Matters34:11 India's Infrastructure Advantage36:51 Where the Next AI Opportunities Are41:35 What Matters Beyond Revenue43:36 Why India + US Is a Powerful Combination44:59 What Cohesity Taught Him About Scale47:13 Selling Data to Broke Professors50:18 Why Two Weeks in SF Won't Work52:06 Fundraising Trap Founders Miss56:47 Outliers Aren't Well-Rounded58:49 "We're Wrong More Than We're Right"-------------India’s talent has built the world’s tech—now it’s time to lead it.This mission goes beyond startups. It’s about shifting the center of gravity in global tech to include the brilliance rising from India.What is Neon Fund?We invest in seed and early-stage founders from India and the diaspora building world-class Enterprise AI companies. We bring capital, conviction, and a community that’s done it before.Subscribe for real founder stories, investor perspectives, economist breakdowns, and a behind-the-scenes look at how we’re doing it all at Neon.-------------Check us out on:Website: https://neon.fund/Instagram:   / theneonshoww  LinkedIn:   / beneon  Twitter: https://x.com/TheNeonShowwConnect with Siddhartha on:LinkedIn:   / siddharthaahluwalia  Twitter: https://x.com/siddharthaa7-------------This video is for informational purposes only. The views expressed are those of the individuals quoted and do not constitute professional advice.Send us Fan Mail