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May 4, 2026
01 Sarit Sethi - AI, Parenthood, & Poetry
01 Sarit Sethi - AI, Parenthood, & Poetry
00:00
10:25
Transcript
0:00
[gentle music] All right. Well, this is fun. Uh, this first one is with Sarit Sethi. I had the pleasure of working with Sarit for a short stint.
0:08
He's a product builder, uh, in the architecture and engineering space, poet, dad, all around good guy. Hope you enjoy it. Things that I feel are really refreshing, I was just...
0:18
As I said, I was taking a walk on the river with the kid, right? And there was this guy who was sitting, uh, on the river walk with, um, a, a pencil and a notebook. Like, that's refreshing. He's not on his phone.
0:31
He's, he's probably, like, writing something, so pro. But even if he's doing work, he's doing it on a pencil and a paper, and that's super refreshing.
0:39
It's funny you say that because the whole reason I got here, and this was actually the, the very f- [laughs] the very first post that I did yesterday, was because I, I decided to sit down with my pen and paper before I did anything else.
0:53
And, and then I realized, oh, the reason I got to that was because I decided to take a dog walk and leave my AirPods at home and just, like, just go with a clear head.
1:01
Like, I, I am so exhausted reading stuff generated by AI that I want the other person to be able to read my email and say, "Okay, this, this was, this was, you know, written by a human."
1:15
And I, I think that's, that's gonna probably amplify, um, as, as AI amplifies, that need is gonna start to amplify as well. You wrote a book. Yeah, we did that while we were in Toronto. It was, um...
1:30
Me and my wife have written for the longest time. We've, we've... That's how we actually connected way back in, in high school, uh, in college actually, uh, when we were studying architecture.
1:39
There's gotta be something so satisfying about just having that and, like, being able to look at it and be like, "We did that." Yeah. It's, it... I had such grand plans with it.
1:46
I'm like, "Okay, now I, I'm gonna push it out, and then I'm gonna sort of do this whole social media campaign, and we'll have recitations of all of our poems, and we'll put videos out there.
1:57
And then, you know, maybe we'll later do merchandise and what all." It, it takes a fair bit just writing, editing, getting, you know, designers together, illustrations, figuring out the publishing.
2:12
So just getting all of that done, um- Mm-hmm... is, it was, you know. And yeah, it's something that we have, the little boy can have.
2:21
Most fascinating one and the one that I think has shaped me the most is, um, definitely my stint as, um, as an entrepreneur and a co-founder, uh, way back in, um, 2016.
2:33
We started in 2016, ran a SaaS-enabled marketplace, uh, you know, in a complex market like India's for about five years. Um, raised a couple of different rounds and then finally exited, uh, as an acqui-hire.
2:47
Today is very much shaped by that experience.
2:50
Anything and everything I know of building technology solutions, uh, is very rooted, uh, in that experience, especially since that, uh, brought my focus very much on anything and everything that we do needs to in some ways, um, uh, result in tangible impact, uh, be it for your investors, your customers, or your peers, um, people who you build with.
3:15
I actually ha- did quite enjoy my, um, architectural project management days on construction sites before that as well, 'cause most of my projects were, uh, manufacturing facilities.
3:26
So while I was building, uh, complex manufacturing facilities, the, the fascinating bit about that was I was also learning about, uh, how a lot of these products are built, so, or how a lot of these products are, are, are made and pushed out into the market and sold.
3:41
Uh, from, from detergents to Pampers to chocolates to tires, uh, building some of those manufacturing facilities in some ways has also given me a very well-rounded perspective of how, uh, products that we consume in our day to day actually see the day of light.
3:58
And I, I, I think that's the most fascinating part of my story, that in the last about 10 years I've moved eight different cities and, and nine different homes. Um, and part of my agility in some ways comes from that.
4:11
I'm more a product manager, uh, building technology in the architecture, engineering, construction space. Uh, but outside of the nine-to-five, um, pretty much a dad, enjoying being a father. Uh, we have a two-year-old.
4:27
Um, always been a creator. I think, uh, some of that was, um, infused, right, very early, um, during my school days and then continued forward, uh, in my education as an architect. Um,
4:40
so yeah, always busy trying to build something, create something, and put something out there in the world. Okay, so you've got, you've got a young one. What are you learning about, what are you learning about yourself?
4:53
I don't know if this is just a me thing or if this is every parent for the first time when they become a parent, but I feel this, um, sense of inadequacy, uh, if I'm being completely honest and transparent.
5:05
I, I'm, I'm actually a little disappointed in how much my life has now started to revolve around, uh, digital media and devices.
5:15
Um, and I tend to feel that a lot more, um, when I'm trying to kind of multitask and subconsciously tell myself to put my device away and focus on the toddler. These 24 months have been like 24 different versions of him.
5:29
I...
5:30
We can always remember the iPhone version that we're on because our son was born the year the first iPhone came out, and so that's been an interesting realization to be like, oh man, like, the iPhone has been around as long as he has.
5:39
But, like, just to see how much that device has changed and changed culture and to know that that's been happening, like, from the moment that he was born is just, that's been a wild thing to think about as a parent for us.
5:51
[laughs] That makes me, uh, almost go back and think if I should keep release notes of my baby boy [laughs] for the next 10 years.
6:01
Something I've been focusing a lot on or thinking a lot about is just reevaluating what-Like, what's the purpose of my work? What's the meaning I get out of my work?
6:08
And I think a lot of that has changed after having kids. So what are you thinking about, like, the meaning of, you know, the work and you- that you do, the purpose in what you're doing on a daily basis?
6:18
I think I am very mindful of what this world looks like five years from now from all different perspectives. Um, there's an interesting sort of geopolitical, uh, dynamics at play.
6:32
Um, there's also obviously the technology and the way it's, uh, evolving.
6:37
So I'm trying as hard as possible to think about what this world looks like for myself and for my family five years down the line and 10 years down the line.
6:46
So I think that notion and that thought is most likely gonna shape what I do from this point onwards with respect to the work I do.
6:54
We are dealing with a technology that, um, in some ways has sold an idea of efficiency to corporates and to executives.
7:06
We are at a search- such an early stage of this technology wherein we've really not seen any measurable impacts of that, um, hypothesis, right?
7:16
Um, having worked with the technology, I, I have very little doubt in my head that it'll actually be able to achieve a fair bit of what it claims to achieve going forward.
7:26
And when it goes down that path and as people start to both interact with this technology on a more regular basis as well as get impacted by it, I wonder when fatigue starts to set in.
7:40
Uh, and this is at a very nascent stage.
7:43
This is, um, an example of where the technology hasn't necessarily impacted my work as much, but it has definitely impacted my experience of interacting with a human that was very, very different a few years ago.
7:58
I think there, there definitely is a, a future wherein people may just have had enough of it. Um, a- and, and that's where I wanna take your concept of those micro communities from online to offline.
8:15
Yeah, you used the word fatigue, and that's one that just keeps coming up for me every day.
8:20
Multi-factor authentication fatigue is, like, its own thing now because of how many times I'm logging in to different platforms [laughs] on the daily. Decision fatigue.
8:30
Are you j- what are some safeguards or, like, things that you're changing about how you work to try and keep yourself from- Offline social experiences as much as I can. Mm-hmm.
8:38
Um, I just, just physical exercise as much as I can. Team sports, I think that's, that's a big one for me. That's always been a big one for me.
8:48
Um, you want your kid to come back with dirt on his pants and not, you know, keys imprinted on his fingertips. I think that's, that's what sort of, uh, uh, I'm keeping my eye out on.
9:02
Um- Like, anything that you wanna put out there that's, like, kinda like your own little promo of what you're up to and what you're building? Yeah. Um, so I think my focus at this point in time is twofolds.
9:11
I think there's an immediate focus, which is being able to build frameworks that are easy to deploy for large enterprises who are figuring their AI strategy out.
9:23
I think I've seen far too many gaps in, um, the teams that build technology versus the executives that build the strategy. Instead of building products, I almost want to build frameworks that bridge the two.
9:35
Um, that's my near term. Um, and I think my long term is how that translates into strategy that does not compromise human authenticity.
9:47
Uh, how do we build strategy that actually leverages the technology for impact, not necessarily for replacing headcount? Uh, just follow me on my, uh, website.
9:58
I've put a lot of my projects out there, demos, um, and videos, and, um, concepts, frameworks, what I'm thinking. I'm thinking about it. Yeah, I'm looking forward to what else comes out of these conversations.
10:11
I'm sure there are very interesting people that you're gonna speak to. Yeah. Thanks. I appreciate it. I wonder how long it's gonna take me to get to 100. [laughs] [upbeat music]
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