Career Agents, Founder Vision, and Building Iconic Brands with Navii Co-Founders Saurabh Palan and Aakanksha Upadhyay

How do you build a company around a vision so far ahead of its time that investors can't even grasp what you're talking about? Aakanksha Upadhyay and Saurabh Palan are co-founders of Navii (parent company Neopolis), an AI platform that creates personalized career agents for professionals. Their platform has achieved 96-97% user onboard rates with 30-35 minute average session times, helping users navigate career transitions through voice-based AI representation that understands their full professional portfolio.Aakanksha and Saurabh explain how they built toward an agent-to-agent future from day one, why the traditional 9-to-5 career model is ending, and how their platform helps professionals prepare for a portfolio-based work economy.In this episode, we explore:(00:00) Aakanksha and Saurabh's journey from Neopolis to Navii(01:30) Saurabh's experience being two years ahead with autonomous vehicle tech(02:47) The collective hallucination required for visionary founders(04:00) Why Neopolis became Navii and the power of memorable branding(07:36) Building belief and manifesting future visions into reality(08:30) Aakanksha's agent-to-agent network vision and professional representation(11:39) The portfolio work model replacing traditional career paths(13:58) How Navii addresses AI job displacement fears through voice-first onboarding(18:35) Lessons from the funding journey and investor storytelling challenges(21:40) Saurabh on user validation and 96% onboard rates(28:52) The cereal box analogy for beautiful design meeting great product(34:42) Working as married co-founders with their daughter as the company mascotResources mentioned:Website: https://www.heynavii.ai/ Aakanksha Upadhyay’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aakankshaupadhyay/ Saurabh Palan’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/saurabhpalan/  Enjoyed this episode?If this episode resonated, subscribe to the podcast and share it with a friend navigating career, family, or creative transitions. Leaving a review helps more people find these conversations.