Generative AI and Large Language Models (LLMs) have taken the world by storm in the past two years, with global corporate AI investment reaching as high as $252.3 billion in 2024, according to Stanford University. It’s a technology suite with a range of applications and potential that many view as nearly limitless, if given the resources. As a result, many existing companies are seeking to integrate the latest technology into their processes and workflows, while other savvy entrepreneurs are eagerly seizing the opportunity to launch their own technology startups and achieve success.
One such entrepreneur is Santosh Naranapatty, a young entrepreneur seeking to leverage his professional experiences and personal passions to evolve the industry through a new approach. Naranapatty is currently the Gen AI lead at Kaay Labs, where he spends his days leading the design and deployment of enterprise-grade, multi-tenant solutions, with a specialization in scalable AI platforms that focus on data retrieval, analysis, and networking. However, those experiences aren’t the end of his ambitions; Santosh Naranapatty is looking to evolve both the technology and the way users interact with it.
Santosh Naranapatty is the Co-Founder of Oralia, a modular AI chatbot system designed to enable clients to easily scrape, embed, and deploy conversational assistants with voice navigation, analytics dashboards, and CRM/support platform integration. Naranapatty’s mission is to make websites more accessible and user-friendly through novel AI features and voice interaction. Going from technology lead to entrepreneur in his own right has proven both challenging and personally fulfilling, and Naranapatty looks forward to what’s coming down the pipeline.
“I have always been a tech enthusiast, from a very young age, and have always been surrounded by software and software-related things,” Naranapatty says. “Now the advancements in AI have really piqued my interest, and I seek to make a difference in the world by solving relevant use cases and problems in the world using the power of AI.”
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Inspirations And Career Defining Moments
Like many before him, Santosh Naranapatty was deeply inspired both as a businessman and as a technical expert by a close family member—in this case, his father. Growing up already attracted to software and technology, Naranapatty’s father taught him about hardware and software, which was a decisive influence on the future entrepreneur’s career. This inspiration and education also extend to the business world, with tutoring and guidance on business management and communication skills being passed from father to son.
“He started everything from scratch, learned everything on the job, worked tirelessly to get to where he is today, and still does not stop learning,” Naranapatty says. “That last bit is SO important, the second you stop learning, you are already ten steps behind. He is the ONLY businessperson I take inspiration from, and I think he is incredible for having achieved what he has with the resources at his disposal.”
With such an example to learn from and be inspired by, Santosh Naranapatty could have taken his career in many directions—and he has. He started as a software developer, spent some time as a product manager, transitioned into business and did sales work, and eventually landed as a startup co-founder (Oralia) and product manager (Kaay Labs). He works to develop his modular AI chatbot in one role, while overseeing multiple AI projects for various clients in the other. It’s a busy career that’s provided a new learning experience nearly every day, and for that, Naranapatty is grateful. However, not every lesson has come painlessly—any business leader with experience can share at least one mistake that proved educational. Naranapatty’s example is a lesson in proper communication, time management, and not overpromising on product.
“One experience which really changed the way I work is the time we were on the last day of a deadline of a project, and my team had worked all night for 3 days straight,” Naranapatty recalls. “However, due to a last-minute push, the build failed 5 minutes before we had to present, and it was so embarrassing on the Zoom call. I subsequently received an earful from the clients, who expressed their disappointment with how their boss felt. I learned so much then about the importance of proper communication, proper time management, not overpromising and underdelivering, and not messing with the product at the last minute.”
Striving Always Toward Excellence
As an AI technology lead at an established company and recently an entrepreneur in his own right, it’s no surprise that Santosh Naranapatty has been a high-achieving individual his entire life. Before entering the technology sector as both a technician and businessman, he was a nationally ranked Rubik’s Cube speed solver in India, with an average time of under seven seconds. That early passion instilled in him the lesson that carries him through the business world today: that with practice, he could do anything.
“More than the accomplishment [being one of India’s best solvers] itself, it taught me that if I truly put my mind to something, I can not only become good at it, but great at it, and I adopted that mindset into everything else I do in life,” Naranapatty says.
In the fast-paced technology business environment, focus and consistency are king. While work-life balance has been a hot topic of conversation and debate for years, Naranapatty recognizes something that his experiences have proven time and again: entrepreneurial success requires incredible amounts of energy, focus, and time, and those qualities only work when applied consistently. In fact, consistency is perhaps the driving core principle of Naranapatty’s professional decision-making and personal life.
“I feel, truly, that in an 8-hour work day, if everyone does even 2 hours of honest work, they can learn and improve so much more than they ever thought they could,” he explains. “Similarly, with hobbies, I like playing the piano. I play for one hour every day, and I have already improved significantly since a month ago. This is a core tenet of my lifestyle that I live by.”
