The grid, the garage, and the future of AI
From data centers to dealerships, Varun Sivaram and Monik Pamecha are building for America’s industrial backbone
The best job seekers do their homework, so we’re making it easy for you to come prepared to next week’s Founders You Should Know startup showcase. Every day this week, we're introducing you to two founders and giving a sneak peek at the stories they'll share at next Wednesday’s show.
Haven’t secured your seat yet? Apply now to meet 10 breakout founders and hear why their startup could be your next career-defining opportunity.
Varun Sivaram, founder of Emerald AI
He’s a Rhodes Scholar, a UN COP26 advisor, and a former Biden administration clean energy managing director. With his credentials, you’d bet that his next career move would be something akin to leading the Department of Energy, or serving as a UN Climate envoy.
Instead, Varun placed a different kind of gamble: becoming a founder.
When you dive deeper, it’s not too big of a surprise — no one is better equipped to tackle the AI energy crisis. Emerald AI's Conductor platform allows AI data centers to intelligently dial their power usage up or down in real-time, responding to grid demands and constraints. His extensive background in energy policy and solar research uniquely positions him to solve this massive challenge.
Silicon Valley agrees. Emerald AI officially launched last month following a $24.5M seed round, including participation from NVIDIA’s venture capital arm. Early results show their platform can reduce power consumption by 25% during peak grid stress periods while maintaining compute service quality. Emerald AI is making the kind of breakthroughs the industry desperately needs.
Join us Wednesday to hear how Varun made the leap from policy expert to energy founder, and discover why now is the perfect time to join Emerald AI.
Monik Pamecha, founder of Toma
Monik’s first business wasn’t an AI startup. It was a tech blog. Originally from Mumbai, Monik wrote about Silicon Valley from the outside, scaling his blog to 100,000+ visits per month and managing a team of 20+ authors. A decade later, he's now building the future of technology he once wrote about.
Monik likens his work style to that of an experimental physicist: tinker, test, and pivot. It’s this approach that led him and his co-founder Anthony Krivonos to build Toma’s voice AI solution for car dealerships. Midway through their YC batch, they realized the voice AI solution they had initially built for healthcare could find stronger traction in the automotive industry, with its lighter regulation and clear tech gap.
After sharing their product on Facebook pages, the flood of inbound interest confirmed they’d found a problem in need of solving. Today, Toma enables automotive dealerships and management groups to generate an additional $2M+ in revenue by automating call handling processes. Their Voice AI solution is fully customizable to each dealership, preserving brand identity while boosting customer satisfaction.
Hear more of Monik’s story and Toma’s explosive past year of growth next Wednesday at our Founders You Should Know Showcase.
Want to hear more of their stories? Apply now to claim your seat at the showcase and meet these two breakout founders.