Building Snezzi in public: lessons from year one
A year into building Snezzi, the lessons that surprised me weren't technical. They were about naming a new category, choosing what to give away, and earning trust with skeptical buyers.
Now building SnezziAI visibility platform
I build products, companies & communities.
Right now I'm building Snezzi, an AI visibility platform, with my co-founders. Before that I bootstrapped DataOne and Shoppr until Whatfix acquihired the team, then built new product lines at Whatfix and Plivo. Along the way I've hosted 200+ events for founders.
Co-founder, Snezzi
0→1 products at Whatfix & Plivo
Acquihired by Whatfix
GSoC 2013
Host, Startup OGWhere I've built, led, and shown up
- Snezzi
- Whatfix
- Plivo
Shoppr.ai
DataOne Innovation Labs- UUpSurge Ventures
- Google Summer of Code
- Startup OG
GDG Cloud Ahmedabad
Headstart Gujarat
At a glance
13 years, one habit: building.
Get your brand into the answers buyers get from AI.
An AI visibility platform. It tracks how brands show up in ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI, then helps fix it with content, CMS-native agents, and a done-for-you option.
snezzi.com →
Product leader · 2020 to 2024
New product lines, inside scaled SaaS.
- WhatfixLed a no-code product analytics line from idea to launch ($250K ARR in two quarters).
- PlivoLed Contacto, an omnichannel contact center product: agent desktop, knowledge base, conversational AI.
The founder chapter
Bootstrapped ~5 years. COVID turned a growth raise into a survival raise. The team was acquihired.
- Mar 2016Co-founded DataOne
- 2020COVID hits the raise
- Dec 2020Team joins Whatfix
13+
years since 2013, across engineering, product, and GTM
EngineerFounderProductFounder again
Founder & host
Startup OG
Podcasts, meetups, and events where founders share real stories.
First from my Master's stream in Google Summer of Code.
The path so far
Engineer → founder → product leader → founder again.
- 2013
Engineer
Google Summer of Code, then Big Data systems for telecom operators at Ishi Systems.
- 2016
Founder
Co-founded DataOne, built Shoppr.ai, bootstrapped for five years, survived COVID.
- 2020
Product leader
Acquihired into Whatfix. Led 0→1 product lines there and at Plivo.
- 2025
Founder again
Started UpSurge Ventures. Now building Snezzi.
Featured · Dhirubhai Ambani University at 25
A chapter in Where Ideas Take Off.
For its Silver Jubilee, DAU published a book of alumni stories. Mine is one of them: “Snezzi: Building Impactful AI Designs,” by Shraddha Rathod.
Read more →Writing
Notes from building.
