We live in strange times where AI is turning every problem into a coding problem but no one is reading the code solving those problems.

On this episode of the Neon show, we have Harjot, Co-Founder & CEO CodeRabbit. Harjot explains why they didn’t go after code generation, the infinite demand for software that is coming, why Jira and Linear are being bypassed, and why he calls today's fundraising market the weirdest he has seen.

We also explore CodeRabbit’s $8M open-source investment, the company’s $1.5B valuation, what successful agents will look like, and why founders need to learn to kill their ideas.

Watch this episode to learn about the future of software engineering and how to ride a tech wave.

00:00 Why Coding Space Exploded
00:37 From Copilot to Claude Code
01:55 Why CodeRabbit Ignored Code Generation
04:23 Is Code Review a $250B Market?
06:24 When Claude Code Fights CodeRabbit
07:16 Developers Are Now Reviewers
10:54 Clones, Rivals and the Benchmark Problem
13:08 The Weirdest Fundraising Market Ever
17:04 Seats, Margins and the Amazon Prime Problem
21:24 Finding Co-Founder in Family
24:16 Why GitHub Can't Go Away
25:59 Will AI Agents Replace Figma?
29:12 Why Adding More Engineers Creates Chaos
30:38 The Early Decisions That Worked
31:18 Sandboxes in 2023 and Skipping MCP
32:32 The $8M Open-Source Bet
33:11 From Free Users to a Paid Business
35:50 Punjab, Alcatel-Lucent and Silicon Valley
39:08 Building, Selling, and Exiting First Startup
43:50 Right Product, Wrong Timing
45:06 You Can't Create a Wave
49:38 Does Vibe Coding Need Code Review?
51:33 Every Problem Becomes a Coding Problem
53:50 Where Founders Should Build Next
56:29 The Market for Agent Change Management
59:55 Code Review, Security, and What Comes Next
-------------
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: instagram.com/theneonshoww/
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/neon-fund
Twitter: https://x.com/TheNeonShoww

Connect 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

From a boutique industry of ~20 firms to today where there are specialised funds for every stage, geography and category, Venture Capital has changed radically.

On this episode we have Nakul Mandan from Audacious Ventures. Nakul came to Silicon Valley at 28 expecting to be fired. He left Lightspeed in 2020, spent 14 months raising a $90M first fund in the middle of a pandemic, then watched ChatGPT changing the game entirely during his first two years of investing.

In this episode, Nakul shares how his thinking evolved from being thesis-driven to people-driven, why he believes only five thousand people shape Silicon Valley, why there is always a younger, hungrier investor coming for you and how to invest millions of dollars in 20 year old founders.

Watch this episode to understand the new Venture Capital and how it's operating in the hyper-speed AI world.

00:00 The Most Intense VC in Silicon Valley
02:30 5,000 People Run Silicon Valley
05:44 The Drive Behind the Intensity
09:13 Why You Never Arrive in Silicon Valley
11:17 Sourcing, Picking, Winning, Helping
14:37 The Ego-Bruising Reality of Fundraising
19:55 Bull Runs, Crashes, and ChatGPT
22:44 Slowing Down Deployment
24:21 Why $1B AI Companies Can Still Be Cheap
27:38 How AWS, YC, and AngelList Changed Venture
32:30 The Freedom (and Pressure) of Building Audacious
39:27 Making VC Math Work
43:06 Defining the Improbable Outcome
45:29 The 5 Traits of Exceptional Founders
48:16 When You’re on the Fence, Lean In
50:51 The Audacious Unfair Advantage
56:40 The Power Law of People
58:07 Finding Exceptional 21-Year-Old Founders
01:03:30 Backing WorkOS and Multiverse
01:10:39 Passing on Figma
01:20:24 Bubbles, Time Diversity and Staying Power
01:23:14 Why Ambitious Founders Move to Bay Area

-------------
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: https://www.linkedin.com/company/neon-fund
Twitter: https://x.com/TheNeonShoww

Connect 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

Tim Guleri has spent 25 years in venture capital. Before that, he built companies with $3.8B in combined exits. And before that, he was a Punjabi guy selling Bibles door to door in the US.

In this episode, we go deep into AI, venture capital, fundraising, SaaS, Silicon Valley and how great investors actually make decisions.

We discuss the Gatorade Rule for equity, why Airtable sold for 2x, why 9–5 fails in Silicon Valley, why revenue durability matters more than hyperspeed growth, why Tim still operates at 120% all the time, how Sierra selects 30 companies out of 30,000, and how he missed Salesforce.

Listen to this conversation to learn what it takes to win gold in the Olympics of tech.

00:00 Selling Bibles to $3.8B in Exits
01:03 Operating with Only One Gear
03:02 The Founder LOVE Framework
05:17 Four Audiences Every Founder Must Win
07:24 My $100B Mistake: Salesforce
10:42 Avoid Building Companies with 'Stretch Marks'
13:10 The Gatorade Theory of Startup Funding
15:46 Don’t Chase the Next Anthropic
18:22 Raising Sierra’s 14th Fund
19:31 Is AI Really Killing SaaS?
24:30 Golden Age of Indian Entrepreneurs
29:36 How Sierra Selects 30 Out of 30,000
32:11 "We Are Street Fighters"
35:34 Why Real Work Happens After Hours
35:57 Why He Refused to Retire After a $3B Exit
37:24 What 25 Years in Venture Teaches You
40:28 Silicon Valley Has an IPO Problem
44:00 How a VC Firm Survives for 100 Years
46:07 Is 3x Growth Still Enough?
50:49 Why Party Rounds Ruin Startups
56:32 Investing in Pre-Revenue Startups
59:10 Why Great VCs Need Killer Instinct
01:04:55 How Sierra Moves Fast
-------------
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: https://www.linkedin.com/company/neon-fund
Twitter: https://x.com/TheNeonShoww

Connect 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