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Shiv Sakhuja

Co-Founder & CEO, Athina AI (YC W23)
San Francisco, California,United States
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Shiv Sakhuja's Overview

Total Experience9 years
CompanyAthina AI (YC W23)
CountryUnited States

Shiv Sakhuja is an accomplished entrepreneur and product leader with deep expertise in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and B2B SaaS. He is currently the CEO and Co-founder of Pluto, a company focused on leveraging AI for sales and revenue intelligence. Previously, Shiv co-founded and served as CEO of Zest (formerly Strides.ai), an AI-powered sales intelligence platform, which was successfully acquired by Mediafly in 2023. His earlier career includes impactful roles as a Product Manager at Microsoft, where he worked on products like Microsoft Azure and Bing, gaining experience in building and scaling technology solutions for global audiences. Shiv is passionate about building innovative products that solve real-world problems and drive business growth. He holds a Master's degree in Computer Science from the University of Washington and a Bachelor's degree in Computer Engineering from Delhi College of Engineering.

Professional Summary

Shiv Sakhuja's work history includes a series of influential roles in various companies. Here is a detailed list of his professional journey:

Athina AI (YC W23) - Co-Founder & CEO (2022 to Present)
Google - Engineer (2019 to 2022)
Troops - Engineer (2016 to 2019)

Notable Achievements

Co-founded and Led Zest (Strides.ai) to Acquisition

Co-founded Zest (initially Strides.ai) and served as its CEO, building it into a prominent AI-driven sales intelligence and coaching platform. Successfully navigated the company through growth phases, culminating in its acquisition by Mediafly in 2023, showcasing strong entrepreneurial and leadership capabilities.

CEO & Co-founder of Pluto

Currently leading Pluto as CEO and Co-founder, a new venture aimed at transforming B2B sales engagement and revenue operations through advanced AI technologies. Focused on developing next-generation tools for sales professionals.

Product Leadership at Microsoft

Served as a Product Manager at Microsoft, contributing to the development and strategy of key products within Microsoft Azure and Bing. Gained significant experience in large-scale product management, cloud computing, and search technologies.

Thought Leadership in AI and Sales Tech

Recognized as a voice in the AI and sales technology space, often sharing insights on leveraging technology to improve sales processes and outcomes through articles and industry discussions.

Educational Background

Y Combinator - Year 2022

Bachelor's degree, Computer Science, Economics

Columbia University in the City of New York

Modern School

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Notable news
Hiring actively
Corporate Finance
Corporate Finance
Corporate Finance
Corporate Finance
Corporate Finance

Company Overview

Athina AI (YC W23)
Total employees9
HeadquartersSan Francisco
Founded2022

Athina AI is an LLM (Large Language Model) evaluation and observability platform designed for engineering teams. It helps developers monitor, debug, and improve their LLM applications by providing tools to track model performance, detect regressions, evaluate prompt effectiveness, and ensure reliability in production environments. The platform aims to streamline the MLOps lifecycle for LLM-powered products, enabling faster iteration and more confident deployment.

Athina AI (YC W23) Funding Information
$3.8M - Total Funding Raised
$3.5M - Most recent funding amount
2 - Number of funding rounds
October 26, 2023 - Latest funding round
Lead Investors:
Y Combinator
Merus Capital
Quiet Capital
Abstract Ventures
10xValuePartners
Essence VC
FJ Labs
GTMfund

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