Shows
Mala's PodcastWhat's inside high-performing engineering teams | In conversation with VP, Engineering at ServiceNowMichael Avrahamov, VP of Engineering at ServiceNow, joins Mala Ramakrishnan to discuss what it really takes to lead large engineering teams in the age of AI.From early startup work building developer platforms to leadership roles at Siebel, Oracle, and now ServiceNow, Michael shares how he built a niche in observability and reliability engineering—and why falling in love with hard technical problems shaped his career.The conversation dives deep into AI-assisted coding, the risks of auto-generated code, IP concerns, and whether locking down engineers slows innovation. Michael also unpacks how ServiceNow infused AI into di...
2026-02-2424 min
Mala's PodcastOn Building Trustworthy Fintech Platforms at Scale | From CTO of Redwood TrustAbhinav Asthana, CTO of Redwood Trust, joins Mala Ramakrishnan to share his unconventional journey from early data science in Formula 1 to leading technology at a publicly traded real estate investment trust (REIT).In this candid conversation, Abhinav breaks down how technology drives real business outcomes in financial services, how private credit and non-qualified mortgages work, and why AI must tie directly to return on equity—not just automation metrics.He also shares insights from investing in early-stage AI startups through Redwood’s corporate venture arm, what founders get wrong when selling to financial institutions, and why s...
2026-02-1617 min
Mala's PodcastFinOps Lessons for the AI Era | Best practices from a startup CEOPuneet Gupta, Founder & CEO of Amberflo, joins Mala Ramakrishnan to unpack one of the biggest blind spots in AI adoption: cost, governance, and tying LLM usage to real business value.A former General Manager at Amazon Web Services and founding member of Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, Puneet brings deep cloud infrastructure experience to the AI era. In this conversation, he explains why token usage is exploding, why experiments don’t translate cleanly into production, and why enterprises must “get ahead of the bill” with AI governance.The episode dives into AI gateways, attribution models, multi-cloud realities, usage-based pricing, and th...
2026-02-1628 min
State of the AI UnionMala Ramakrishnan: From Operator to AI InvestorIn this episode, Laura Fu interviews Mala Ramakrishnan, a seasoned investor and founder, discussing the evolving landscape of AI companies. They explore the key signals of sustainability in AI startups, the importance of go-to-market strategies, and the common pitfalls founders face in sales. Mala emphasizes the need for domain expertise, resilience, and the ability to articulate value when pitching AI solutions. The conversation also touches on the unique strengths women bring to the table in tech and the impact of parenting on risk management.TakeawaysGo-to-market strategies are crucial for AI companies.AI...
2026-02-0730 min
Mala's PodcastHow Enterprise Tech Learns from Consumers | With Rajeev Sethi, Group VP of Tech at ServiceNowRajeev Sethi, SVP of Emerging Technologies at ServiceNow, joins Mala Ramakrishnan for a candid conversation on how large enterprises actually adopt AI, automation, and agentic systems.With nearly four decades across engineering, IT, consulting, and enterprise platforms, Rajeev shares how ServiceNow evolved from a workflow engine into a category-defining company, why automation matters more than AI buzzwords, and where agentic AI is genuinely useful versus overblown.The episode dives deep into consumerizing enterprise software, working with early-stage startups, pitching to CIOs, embedding AI responsibly, and why autonomous enterprises are c...
2026-01-2921 min
Mala's PodcastThe COO Playbook for Scale | With Parisa Naseralavi, COO at XOPSParisa Naseralavi, COO of XOPS, joins Mala Ramakrishnan for a candid conversation on operations, leadership, and what it really takes to scale companies from early traction to enterprise adoption.Starting her career as a chemical engineer, Parisa shares how thinking in process and scale shaped her journey across Monsanto, Cisco, VMware, ServiceNow, and now a fast-growing startup. She explains why operations is the operating system of a company, why startups underestimate go-to-market discipline, and how autonomous workflows can remove human friction across IT, HR, and finance.The episode also d...
2026-01-2822 min
Mala's PodcastOn Leading Azure Networking at Microsoft | In Conversation with Pankaj Garg, CVP of EngineeringPankaj Garg, Corporate Vice President at Microsoft, joins Mala Ramakrishnan for a deep, candid conversation on how Azure was built, how infrastructure innovation really happens at scale, and why AI represents the biggest platform shift of our lifetime.From writing kernel code and building Hyper-V to helping grow Azure from an early internal project into a global cloud platform, Pankaj shares firsthand lessons on execution speed, enterprise go-to-market advantage, and where startups still have room to innovate alongside hyperscalers.The episode also explores how AI workloads are reshaping cloud networking, security, and developer productivity—plus wha...
2026-01-2824 min
Mala's PodcastInside Docusign's Approach to Responsible AI | With Shanthi Iyer, CIO of DocusignShanti Iyer, CIO of DocuSign, joins Mala Ramakrishnan to share a candid, inside look at how large enterprises adopt AI with discipline, responsibility, and real business impact.From growing up in Chennai to spending two decades at Cisco and now leading technology at DocuSign, Shanti explains why great CIOs think business first, technology second. She breaks down how DocuSign approaches AI adoption, tool sprawl, governance, developer productivity, and responsible AI—without slowing the company down.This episode goes deep into how enterprises actually deploy AI in production: from rolling out “birthright” AI tools, to bui...
2026-01-2831 min
Mala's PodcastHow Endeavor Builds Global Entrepreneurs in Emerging Markets | Allen TaylorAllen Taylor, Managing Director at Endeavor, joins Mala Ramakrishnan to unpack how Endeavor has spent nearly three decades building high-impact entrepreneurs across emerging and underserved markets.From Latin America to Africa, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia, Allen explains why talent is evenly distributed but access to networks, capital, and trust is not. He shares how Endeavor identifies the top 1% of scale-up founders, why peer networks matter more than mentors, and how long-term thinking creates compounding impact in entrepreneurship.The conversation also dives into Endeavor Catalyst, its global venture fund, what makes great founders stand o...
2026-01-2624 min
Mala's PodcastHow CxOs Lead AI, Security, and Growth at Scale | Aysha Khan, CISO, Treasure DataAysha Khan, CIO and CISO of Treasure Data, joins Mala Ramakrishnan to share a deeply practical view on leadership, cybersecurity, and using AI as a business accelerator—not a distraction.From growing up across Pakistan, Canada, and the US to leading global security and technology transformations at Oracle, Symantec, and major financial institutions, Aysha explains why exposure builds resilience, why security must be a business enabler, and how AI amplifies either strategy or chaos.This episode breaks down how modern CIOs and CISOs align with go-to-market teams, unlock new revenue through trust, and build simple, se...
2026-01-2625 min
Mala's PodcastWhy AI Doesn’t Eliminate Jobs, It Redefines Them | From CIO's deskRohit Jain, CIO and Chief AI Officer, challenges one of the most common fears about AI. That it will eliminate jobs.In this clip, Rohit explains why history tells a different story. From the Industrial Revolution to the digital era, roles evolve but responsibility remains. AI doesn’t erase human work. It reshapes how work gets done and where humans add the most value.His message to leaders is clear.Stop framing AI as job destruction.Start framing it as job transformation. _____________________________________________________________About Rohit JainRohit Jain is a technology executive with 20+ years of experience leading enterprise IT, data, and AI...
2026-01-2301 min
Mala's PodcastDon’t Do AI for the Sake of AI | Shibani Sanan, CTO, LadderShibani Sanan, veteran engineering leader and CTO, shares a grounded take on how leaders should approach AI without losing focus on the business.In this clip, Shibani explains why small and mid-sized companies can’t afford to chase AI trends blindly. With limited bandwidth, revenue goals, and product roadmaps to manage, AI must earn its place. It should strengthen the company’s mission, unlock real use cases, or create leverage that didn’t exist before.Her principle is simple.Don’t do AI for the sake of AI.Do it only when it meaningfully moves the product and the business...
2026-01-2301 min
Mala's PodcastAI Is Moving Fast. Security Must Move Faster | Says CISO of Treasure DataAysha Khan, technology executive and strategic advisor, explains why AI transformation without security-first thinking is a leadership blind spot.With AI accelerating across enterprises, Aysha breaks down why cybersecurity can’t be an afterthought. It must be built into strategy, governance, and operating models from day one. From compliance to trust frameworks, she shares what leaders must get right as AI reshapes how companies scale, innovate, and protect value.This is about building AI systems that are not just powerful, but resilient, trusted, and ready for the real world._______________________________________________About Aysha KhanAysha Khan is a te...
2026-01-2301 min
Mala's PodcastHow AI Agents Change Executive Decision-Making | Hear from a Silicon Valley ExecSriram Chakravarthy, Founder & CTO of Avaamo, explains why modern leaders shouldn’t spend time chasing updates like AWS spend, hiring numbers, or operational metrics.Instead, he’s building an AI-powered dashboard and personal agent. A system that surfaces real-time insights across spend, resources, and operations.So leadership energy goes into decisions, not status checks.____________________________About Sriram ChakravarthySriram is the Founder and CTO of Avaamo, a deep learning enterprise software company focused on conversational AI for high-impact enterprise use cases. Founded in 2014, Avaamo builds propr...
2026-01-2001 min
Mala's PodcastUse 2 AI Agents at Once | Amr Awadallah’s Secret to Avoid HallucinationsAmr Awadallah, Former Founder & CEO of Vectara, explains why he uses two AI agents in parallel, to compare results, catch hallucinations, and make better decisions.Amr shares a practical mindset for working with AI today: don’t treat it as magic. Learn the tools deeply, understand their limits, and use structure to get more reliable outcomes.A simple tactic with big implications for leaders, builders, and anyone working with AI systems.This clip was recorded at a recent Founders Creative AI Vibe-Coding Summit, 2025.______________________________________________About Amr AwadallahAmr Awadallah is a tech entrepreneur and AI builder with 30 years of experience across larg...
2026-01-2000 min
Mala's PodcastWhat CPOs Need to Know Before Shipping AI | From Product Management LeaderMala Ramakrishnan sits down with Abhijit Kakhandiki, SVP & GM, Digital Business Automation at BMC Software and former EVP, Product & Engineering, Automation Anywhere, to unpack what it really takes to build AI-powered products that work in production — not just in demos.Drawing from years of experience creating the RPA category, scaling to thousands of enterprise customers, and shipping early AI products before GenAI was mainstream, Abhijit shares hard-won lessons on product leadership, AI misconceptions, customer-first design, and why most AI products fail after the POC stage.____________________________________________________...
2026-01-2042 min
Mala's PodcastFrom Founder to Funder: The Journey of Mala RamakrishnanMala Ramakrishnan — founder of Progressive Ventures, serial entrepreneur, and investor — joins Indian Tech Icon Spotlight to share her journey from growing up in India to building companies, leading exits, and backing underrepresented founders in Silicon Valley.In this candid conversation, Mala reflects on starting her first company at 21, the power of belief and sponsorship, why women must think bigger when building startups, and how venture capital shapes economic outcomes. She also shares her vision for 50% representation in leadership, boardrooms, and venture-backed companies, along with practical advice for founders who want to build venture-scale businesses.A powe...
2026-01-2025 min
Mala's PodcastHow AI is transforming cybersecurity | With Meerah Rajavel | CIO, Palo Alto NetworksMeera Rajavel, CIO at Palo Alto Networks, joins Mala Ramakrishnan to share a candid journey from a small town in India to the C-suite of global technology companies.Meera breaks down what it really takes to build a long-term career in engineering, IT, and cybersecurity. She shares lessons from startups and large enterprises, how CIOs think about outcomes, why security must be frictionless, and how AI is reshaping the speed and risk of cyber threats. The conversation also covers leadership, risk-taking, and what founders must get right to sell into the enterprise.-----------------------------------------------Timestamps:00:00 Intro 01:00 Growing up in India and...
2026-01-1633 min
Mala's PodcastAI Journey with Google Maps | In conversation with Miriam DanielMiriam Daniel, VP and General Manager of Google Maps, joins Mala Ramakrishnan to discuss building and scaling one of the world’s most used consumer platforms in the age of AI.From her early engineering career in India to leading Google Maps with over 2 billion monthly users, Miriam shares lessons on career pivots, the power of sponsors, learning from failure at Amazon’s Fire Phone, and helping build Alexa from the ground up. She also explains how Google Maps is evolving with Gemini, voice, and generative AI—while maintaining accuracy, trust, and privacy at planetary scale.This...
2026-01-1329 min
Mala's PodcastOpen Source Business Models in the AI EraDave McJannet, CEO of HashiCorp, joins Mala Ramakrishnan to break down how real infrastructure companies are built across cloud, open source, and now AI.From starting his career as a chartered accountant to leading multiple platform shifts, Dave explains how cloud, open source, and AI follow repeatable patterns. He shares why HashiCorp bet early on multi-cloud, how open source businesses actually monetize, what IPOs really change, and why AI represents a shift from deterministic to probabilistic software.-----------------------------------------------Timestamps:00:00 Intro01:00 From accounting to...
2026-01-1328 min
Mala's PodcastHow IBM Healthcare Embraces AI | With Cheong AngCheong Ang, Field CTO at IBM, joins Mala Ramakrishnan to break down what it really takes to innovate in healthcare. From saving healthcare systems $90M annually, Cheong explains why healthcare is a people-and-process business, where AI helps, where it fails, and how founders can survive regulation, monetization, and scale. A clear look at startups vs incumbents, and what actually moves patient outcomes.-----------------------------------------------Timestamps:00:00 Intro and guest background01:10 Early career and entry into healthcare02:40 From pre-med to bioengineering04:20 First healthcare roles...
2026-01-0724 min
Mala's PodcastOn becoming the CEO of Windsurf | Jeff Wang X MalaIn the first episode of Mala’s podcast, Mala sits down with Jeff Wang, CEO of Windsurf (formerly Codeium). When a big tech bidding war erupts, Jeff unexpectedly finds himself stepping into the CEO role overnight.He opens up about building Windsurf’s enterprise wedge, surviving Anthropic’s API shutdown, and keeping an $82M ARR business alive — all while navigating a merger with Cognition to launch the world’s first dual-agent AI coding platform.We get a deep insight into the pros and cons of AI-powered code acceleration vs advanced agent-based code automation — and a raw, unfiltered look at startup surv...
2025-10-1623 min
Ignite: Conversations on Startups, Venture Capital, Tech, Future, and SocietyIgnite VC: Creating the Next Generation of Women-Led IPOs with Mala Ramakrishnan | Ep170Mala Ramakrishnan is the founder and managing partner of Progressive Ventures. A Stanford-trained computer scientist, she brings over two decades of experience as a technologist, entrepreneur, and venture capitalist. With multiple startup exits and a background as head of privacy at WhatsApp, Mala offers rare insight into B2B AI SaaS, privacy, and inclusive investing.In this episode, she shares her journey from founding startups in grad school to launching a mission-driven VC fund focused on empowering women and underrepresented founders. Her approach combines deep technical fluency with a bold vision for building a...
2025-06-2339 min
Verso Talk With AytakinWhen She was 21, Her Business Idea Won $50K from Guy Kawasaki. VC Investor Mala RamakrishnanMala Ramakrishnan, founder and managing partner at Progressive Ventures, is the guest on the "Verso Talk with Aytakin" Podcast.
Mala Ramakrishnan is an entrepreneurial leader with over 20 years of experience in executive leadership roles in product, engineering, and marketing for companies of all sizes, from startups to publicly traded firms.
She is a three-time product founder with significant experience in building and scaling 0-1 products.
Currently, she serves as the Founder and Managing Partner of Progressive Ventures, an investment firm focused on early-stage B2B AI startups.
Mala holds a...
2025-02-2658 min
CSM secrets Of Influential Customer Success leadersMala Ramakrishnan Teaches OperationsIn this episode on Operations, Mala Ramakrishan decodes the office of Operations:
1) A COO stands hand in hand with a CEO holding equal responsibilities for the overall achievement of the company's goals
2) Operations is all about execution of the stated strategic vision
3) A COO is responsible for Operations of all kinds, business, IT, program and revenue.
4) A COO needs to have a good understanding of almost all aspects of the business to be able to drive the results for each
5) Usually a COO holds dual responsibilities - Su...
2023-08-2927 min
Lifestyle Archives -MALA RAMAKRISHNAN: Single Mom Grows ISuccess Online BusinessMALA RAMAKRISHNAN shares her story of going from homelessness to success in this inspiring interview. Listen and learn about how the seeds of success are planted and sown for harvest.
Empowering women is my biggest passion.
Mala says:
I am a single mum for 3 children. Have been through many hurdles and was made homeless with my 3 children.
My challenges didn’t stop there and it didn’t stop me from achieving my dreams. I fought all odds and pursued my diploma and worked very hard to achieve my goals.
I was invi...
2017-10-3000 minBusiness Success Archives -MALA RAMAKRISHNAN: Single Mom Grows ISuccess Online BusinessMALA RAMAKRISHNAN shares her story of going from homelessness to success in this inspiring interview. Listen and learn about how the seeds of success are planted and sown for harvest.
Empowering women is my biggest passion.
Mala says:
I am a single mum for 3 children. Have been through many hurdles and was made homeless with my 3 children.
My challenges didn’t stop there and it didn’t stop me from achieving my dreams. I fought all odds and pursued my diploma and worked very hard to achieve my goals.
I was invi...
2017-10-3000 min
The Thought Leaders ShowMALA RAMAKRISHNAN: Single Mom Grows ISuccess Online BusinessMALA RAMAKRISHNAN shares her story of going from homelessness to success in this inspiring interview. Listen and learn about how the seeds of success are planted and sown for harvest.Empowering women is my biggest passion.Mala says:I am a single mum for 3 children. Have been through many hurdles and was made homeless with my 3 children.My challenges didn't stop there and it didn't stop me from achieving my dreams. I fought all odds and pursued my diploma and worked very hard to achieve my goals.I was invited as a...
2017-10-3020 min
"Thrive" with Heather PoduskaThrive Ep #50 – "From The Streets To The Stage" with guest Mala RamaKrishnan (Audio)"From The Streets To The Stage" with guest Mala RamaKrishnan Mala RamaKrishnan’s passion is to empower women. Being a single mother, she was left to be home in 2011 for 3 years with their 3 young children. She struggled to survive, holding three separate jobs. Her prayers were answered when she discovered iSuccess where she found her mentor Suria Muhammad. Now Mala is a business and life coach who runs her own team at iSuccess. She has been featured in Singapore’s national paper, international television, Vasanthm Central, and has also co-authored the book “Once a Queen...
2017-08-2427 min"Thrive" with Heather PoduskaThrive Ep #50 – "From The Streets To The Stage" with guest Mala RamaKrishnan (Video)"From The Streets To The Stage" with guest Mala RamaKrishnan Mala RamaKrishnan’s passion is to empower women. Being a single mother, she was left to be home in 2011 for 3 years with their 3 young children. She struggled to survive, holding three separate jobs.Her prayers were answered when she discovered iSuccess where she found her mentor Suria Muhammad. Now Mala is a business and life coach who runs her own team at iSuccess. She has been featured in Singapore’s national paper, international television, Vasanthm Central, and has also co-authored the book “Once a Queen Always A Quee...
2017-08-2427 min