Tags:  Entrepreneurship, Scaling, Retail, MVP

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About Ashwini Asokan

Ashwini Asokan is the CEO and Founder of Mad Street Den, a computer vision AI startup where she has bootstrapped, raised capital, and successfully hired and retained 50% women. Ashwini is a process aficionado and has roots in product design and culture research.

Scaling an AI-startup and the retail ecosystem today

A lot has been said and written about the journey that is entrepreneurship. What else are you going to hear that’s not unique?

Hear us spill the beans: Every starting up story is personal, anecdotal, and unique. Ashwini’s entrepreneurial trajectory draws a distinction because of a) the niche market her product operates in b) the barriers she overcame while bootstrapping, raising funding, and maintaining inclusivity at work c) her perspective on the gaps in retail after working with several big brands and, d) the comfort she finds in being a process aficionado (and where it comes from).

Listener notes

[00.55] -- Entrepreneurship is a lonely ride 
[02.44] -- Self-flagellation with the loneliness
[03.44] -- Founding Mad Street Den with the neuroscientist husband: Natural and a synchronized dance
[07.15] -- The essentials for bootstrapping 
[09.40] -- AI in retail: Textual to visual
[13.26] -- 50% women in tech startup
[14.11] -- Customers and investors don’t expect to see me
[18.19] -- The journey of enterprise companies 
[20.18] -- Finding inspiration in silence
[21.39] -- The a16z Podcast
[22.01] -- The hard thing about hard things by Ben Horowitz
[22.20] -- Jason Lemkin Podcast
[23.09] -- Macy’s: Steering a ship away from an iceberg
[24.32] -- Luxury brands are changing in ways we can’t imagine
[25.23] -- The sharing economy market