Akash Singh is an engineer-turned-entrepreneur and the co-founder of two companies, Sellermate.AI and Observe.AI. With a background in Computer Science from IIT Delhi, Akash has always had a passion for technology, problem-solving, and business. His journey from tinkering with toys as a child to ethical hacking in high school and launching impactful startups reflects his innovative mindset. Apart from his entrepreneurial ventures, he is an angel investor and advisor to various tech companies. He is also an avid traveler, having explored over 25 countries.
What were your initial years of growing up like? Tell us about your life before starting your entrepreneurial journey.
I did my schooling in a small town in India called Kanpur and then moved to Delhi (the capital of India) for my bachelor’s in Computer Science from IIT Delhi.
I’ve always loved tinkering with things—starting with toys when I was a kid, then ethical hacking in high school, and later working on various non-profit side projects in college with my batchmates.
Every industry that is now a large-scale, top-notch business once started as a small idea in the minds of entrepreneurs. What was that idea or motivation that made you start your business/initiative? What motivated you within to say, “YES, go for it!”?
The first company, Observe.AI, stemmed from our frustration with customer support, both in India and the USA. It was 2017, and my co-founder, Swapnil, and I were frustrated with how bad customer support was. So, we decided to do something about it. We started by building better tools for customer support agents, and now it’s an omnichannel platform for the entire customer support stack.
The story behind my second company, Sellermate.AI, is also pretty interesting. One of my co-founders, Akash Verma, and I have a common friend who is the founder of a huge STEM toy brand. He would often share his frustration with the current tooling available for Amazon. Even though a large part of his business depended on Amazon, he didn’t have good tools to make sense of what was happening in the maze of Amazon. We dug deeper into the market and realized this was a big enough problem for a significant number of people.
Tell us something about your initiative or current role. What is it about, and what impact are you trying to make?
Our vision for Sellermate.AI is to become a single platform for brands and agencies to run and manage performance marketing.
We started with Amazon and, in just our first year of operations, we already have more than 1,000 brands and agencies using the product!
Personally, I was the CTO at my last company, Observe.AI, and now I’m wearing the hat of a CEO at Sellermate.AI. I love it! I’m being forced to relearn and unlearn a lot of things, but it’s a fun ride!
Your journey and your vision are very inspiring, but are there any achievements or accomplishments you would like to mention?
I’m a second-time founder, and my first company, Observe.AI, grew to more than 350 employees and raised over $200 million in funding.
I’m also an angel investor and advisor for various tech companies based in India that sell to a global audience.
I’ve traveled to more than 25 countries and consider myself an avid traveler.
Would you like to share with our young budding women entrepreneurs the change you would like to see in the world if given an opportunity?
Don’t give up! That’s the mantra I say to myself every day.
Go after a large market, and give yourself time to learn about the market, entrepreneurship, hiring, sales, marketing, finance, product development, people management—the list goes on.
Be honest with your efforts and give your startup a few years before thinking of quitting. A large majority of people give up too quickly.
Women are a growing force in workplaces worldwide, standing shoulder to shoulder with their male counterparts. What are your thoughts about women in leadership today?
I’ve seen both kinds of teams—those with women leaders and those without.
I can say with confidence that teams with women leaders, and in general, teams with leaders from a variety of backgrounds, are much more resilient, come up with better and more innovative ideas, and perform better overall.
What would you want to say to our young leaders and audience reading this?
Hear everyone out—your parents, teachers, and mentors (find them early on)—but do what your heart says. 🙂
Website & Social Links
- Website: https://www.sellermate.ai/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/akash-singh-0b57b916/
