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Hari Iyer

Stealth Startup | Prev: 2x founder, New Ventures @ Cisco Emerging Tech

Hari Iyer is a serial entrepreneur and the Founder & CEO of Kapeesh. He has a LinkedIn profile under the username "chiefnerd".1 With 20 years of C-suite experience, Hari specializes in tackling challenging problems.1 He is also an alumnus of Stanford University Graduate School of Business.1

Professional Background

Hari Iyer has founded multiple companies throughout his career:

  • He is currently the Chief Nerd (CEO) at Kapeesh.14
  • Previously, he founded two companies that were acquired in 2019 and 2021.3
  • He also served as a Product Manager for Ideation & New Ventures at Cisco, where he recommended strategy for an emerging area to the CEO.3

Expertise and Interests

Hari has demonstrated expertise in various areas:

  • Entrepreneurship: As a serial entrepreneur, he has experience in building and scaling businesses.1
  • Technology: His role as "Chief Nerd" suggests a strong background in technology and innovation.14
  • Business Strategy: His experience in C-suite positions and product management indicates skills in strategic planning and execution.13

Hari Iyer is also known to share insights on professional networking platforms. For instance, he has posted about the power and limitations of ChatGPT, showcasing his interest in emerging technologies.2

Highlights

Apr 30 · linkedin

𝗖𝗵𝗮𝘁𝗚𝗣𝗧 𝗶𝘀 𝗕𝗼𝘁𝗵 𝗜𝗻𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗯𝗹𝘆 𝗣𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗳𝘂𝗹 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗨𝗻𝗯𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗲𝘃𝗮𝗯𝗹𝘆 𝗦𝘁𝘂𝗽𝗶𝗱

I was listening to one of computer scientist Dr. Yejin Choi's TED talks, where she made this assertion (or words to that effect). She even gave a couple of examples.

So I decided to try them out (credit to https://lnkd.in/g_2wUrbD).

First I asked ChatGPT: "I left 5 pieces of clothing to dry out in the sun and it took them 5 hours to dry completely. How long would it take to dry 30 pieces of clothing?"

ChatGPT's response:

"If 5 pieces of clothing take 5 hours to dry completely, we can calculate the time needed to dry 30 pieces of clothing by assuming a constant drying rate per piece of clothing. First, let's find the drying rate:

5 pieces of clothing / 5 hours = 1 piece of clothing per hour

Now, to find out how long it would take to dry 30 pieces of clothing, you can multiply the drying rate by the number of clothes:

1 piece of clothing per hour * 30 pieces of clothing = 30 hours

So, it would take 30 hours to dry 30 pieces of clothing, assuming the drying rate remains constant. However, it's important to consider that other factors like available drying space and humidity might affect the drying time."

My next question:

"I have a 12-liter jug and a 6-liter jug. I want to measure 6 liters. How do I do it?"

ChatGPT:

"1. Fill the 6-liter jug to its full capacity. 2. Pour the water from the 6-liter jug into the 12-liter jug. 3. Fill the 6-liter jug to its full capacity again. 4. Carefully pour the water from the 6-liter jug into the 12-liter jug until the 12-liter jug is full. 5. At this point, there will be 2 liters of water remaining in the 6-liter jug since the 12-liter jug can only hold 6 more liters. 6. Empty the 12-liter jug. 7. Pour the remaining 2 liters of water from the 6-liter jug into the 12-liter jug. 8. Fill the 6-liter jug to its full capacity again. 9. Pour the water from the 6-liter jug into the 12-liter jug, which already has 2 liters in it.

Now, the 12-liter jug contains exactly 6 liters of water (2 liters + 6 liters)."

And so 𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦, too!

According to Dr. Choi, GPT-4 has been trained on tens of thousands of GPUs and a 𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘰𝘯 words!

Next, I gave ChatGPT, a question from AP Calculus regarding Related Rates.

Guess what?

It solved it perfectly! It even guided me with awesome explanations.

So 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘥?

ChatGPT lacks 3 things:

  • Creativity
  • Common sense, and
  • Context

Of course, it's no surprise that AI tools lack creativity or common sense.

However, I found out context matters a lot!

And we can 𝘥𝘰 something about it!

The context for ChatGPT is the prompt. In the AP Calculus case, my prompt was not 1 sentence. It was 2 paragraphs and I gave it additional prompts along the way.

Not suggesting prompts would fix all the concerns raised by Dr. Choi in her talk, but they will certainly go a long way in making ChatGPT a more practically useful assistant.

Apr 28 · linkedin

𝗛𝘆𝗺𝗮𝗻 𝗥𝗶𝗰𝗸𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿'𝘀 𝗦𝗲𝗰𝗿𝗲𝘁: 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗘𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗲𝘂𝗿𝘀 𝗖𝗮𝗻 𝗔𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗲𝘃𝗲 𝗠𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗟𝗲𝘀𝘀  💪📈

Sometimes, 𝘢𝘭𝘭 it takes is 1 or 2 brilliant minds to transform the world.

And it's easy to forget that 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘦 innovation often comes from the smallest and 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 unexpected places.

The story of Admiral Hyman Rickover, the father of the US Nuclear Navy, is a 𝘱𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘶𝘭 testament to this idea.

Every year Rickover would present his budget to Congress. Year after year, his budget would 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦, but somehow, his team's deliverables kept 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨.

When asked how he was able to do this with 𝘢𝘭𝘭 the bloat and waste in the rest of government, he said this:

"Well, Senator, it's a 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘴𝘦𝘵. Imagine airplanes didn’t exist today and Congress wanted to commission a plane," he began. "You’d go to NASA and ask them to build a plane. NASA would come back with a $1B budget, a 2000-person team, and a 10-year plan."

He then delivered the punchline: "𝙉𝙤 𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙬𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙠 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙬𝙤 𝙨𝙢𝙖𝙧𝙩 𝙜𝙪𝙮𝙨 𝙞𝙣 𝙖 𝙗𝙞𝙘𝙮𝙘𝙡𝙚 𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙥."

This story highlights 3 critical lessons about innovation and changing the world:

  1. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝘀𝗺𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺𝘀: The Wright brothers' invention of the airplane exemplifies the incredible potential of small teams with a 𝘧𝘰𝘤𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘥 vision. Two people in a bicycle shop changed the world of transportation forever.

  2. 𝙍𝙚𝙨𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙘𝙚𝙛𝙪𝙡𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙘𝙚𝙨: Rickover's story demonstrates that it's not always about the 𝘴𝘪𝘻𝘦 of the budget or the team, but the 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 ways in which those resources are utilized.

  3. 𝗨𝗻𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴: When faced with a problem, it's important to think 𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘹 and consider alternative solutions. Sometimes, the answer lies in the most unexpected places.

While this 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘤 story about Hyman Rickover's response to Congress may be 𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘤𝘥𝘰𝘵𝘢𝘭 or 𝘢𝘱𝘰𝘤𝘳𝘺𝘱𝘩𝘢𝘭, the 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 message remains relevant and inspiring.

The principles of 𝙨𝙢𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙩𝙚𝙖𝙢𝙨, 𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙘𝙚𝙛𝙪𝙡𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙨, and 𝙪𝙣𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙫𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙖𝙡 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 can empower entrepreneurs and innovators to drive meaningful change in the world.

Related Questions

What inspired Hari Iyer to start Kapeesh?
What are some of Hari Iyer's notable achievements as a serial entrepreneur?
How did Hari Iyer's experience at Cisco influence his career?
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What is the mission of Kapeesh according to Hari Iyer?
Hari Iyer
Hari Iyer, photo 1
Hari Iyer, photo 2
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Experience

Founder & CEO at Stealth
Babel, August 2023 - Present

Education

BSE, Engineering: Self-Designed Major in Product Design & Computer Science from Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering, 2013

Location

Palo Alto, California, United States