Bootstrapped to 320K Users, ZERO Funding: Agnese Jaunošāne (COO & Co-Founder, Ajelix) on Open-Source AI's Power Move

She turned "everyone hates spreadsheets" into a 320,000-user, 150-country AI company, without taking a single dollar of outside funding. Agnese Jaunošāne, COO & Co-Founder of Ajelix, sits down to break down why she and her co-founder said no to VC money, bet big on open-source AI, and are now building their own hardware to own their entire intelligence stack. If you care about who actually controls AI, and why that question matters as much as any Web3 debate, this one's for you.What we get into:🚀 How Ajelix went viral before ChatGPT even launched, and built a 320K-user business from Latvia with zero outside capital🔓 Why open-source AI models are becoming a matter of data sovereignty, not just cost, especially for enterprises and governments in the EU🖥️ The real reason Ajelix invested in their own GPU hardware instead of renting compute forever💣 Is the "AI bubble" about to pop? Where the real risk actually sits (hint: it's not the apps)👻 Shadow AI: why ~79% of enterprise employees are already using AI your company can't see or audit🛡️ Building guardrails, audit trails, and permissions so AI agents can't quietly delete your production data🌍 What's next for Ajelix: model training, enterprise infrastructure, and the fight for European tech sovereignty🔗 Links: Ajelix website: https://ajelix.com/ Ajelix on X: https://x.com/Ajelix_AI Agnese on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/agnese-ajelix/ The Index Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@theindexpodcastShow LinksThe Index X ChannelYouTube