Beyond the AI Hype: The Next Growth Playbook at TiECON East 2026

TICON East is the premier entrepreneurship conference bringing together founders, operators, and investors. There's so much ambiguity around AI today. Everyone has AI, but the question is, what's going to win? I'm very excited about the opening keynote. What still wins when everyone has AI? There's a lot of questions that people have. You know, what is working, what's not? What's the right approach? Should I be doing this or not? What are the ethics involved? What are the implications? This is the place to come in and be part of that conversation and have those questions. There's a lot of value in cross-pollination, and which is why we designed this year's conference to be a single track, multi-focus area kind of conference. So you get the opportunity to meet across operators, investors, entrepreneurs, ecosystem partners, everybody, but across every industry. How do you differentiate? And then how do you take that differentiated conversation or differentiated product into the market and provide a differentiated message? Relevance, insights, connections, and expertise. All of that's going to be in the room at the same time for the full duration of the conference. Welcome to Indian Union News. Our guests today are Amita Soni. She's the chair of TICAN East 2026. And Vikram Venkateswaramanian, he is a co-chair. We are going to talk to them about upcoming TICAN on October 2nd at Burlington Marriott Hotel in Burlington, Massachusetts. The conference will be attended by about 500 investors, entrepreneurs, business executives, and venture capitalists. We are going to talk to them about why one should attend TICAN this year. Amita, the first question for you is, what makes TICAN East especially important this year? So TICAN East is the premier entrepreneurship conference bringing together founders, operators, and investors. This year, our theme is the next growth playbook, product, market, and capital in the age of AI. There's so much ambiguity around AI today. Everyone has AI, but the question is, what's going to win? So that's exactly what we're going to be exploring all day at the conference, and this is why it is so relevant. It's something that everybody should take advantage of and be here to be part of the conversation. What are some of the conversations, speakers, or ideas you are most excited about? This is a hard question because you're asking me to choose between the different kids. But that said, I'm very excited about the opening keynote. What still wins when everyone has AI? That just is totally aligned with our overall theme and just so very relevant. And we have a keynote speaker who has lived it and is going to be sharing his experiences. Amita, if someone is on the fence about attending TICAN East this year, what would you tell them they will miss by staying home? You know, I'm a big believer in the old adage, 80% of getting something done is showing up for it. So for any conference, it's a great idea to show up for both the learning as well as the opportunities for connections. But this year, given our theme, that is just so much more relevant. Again, there's a lot of questions that people have. You know, what is working, what's not? What's the right approach? Should I be doing this or not? What are the ethics involved? What are the implications? This is the place to come in and be part of that conversation and have those questions answered or at least give you food for thought so you can go the very next day and start implementing. So Amita, early startup showcase has also become an important part of the TICAN every year. What is new this year? So as you said, this is a very important part of TICAN. But what's new this year is the focus, the three different tracks that we have. One is on AI-powered companies. The other one is life science and healthcare. And the third one is the Indo-US corridor. And our judges have spent a lot of time reviewing the applications across its three categories and picking the finalists. It's going to be a tremendous experience for everyone in the audience, not just the presenters as such, to really see what piece resonated in each of these sectors today. And how many finalists will be there? There'll be six in each category. So 18. And plus we will also have winners from the Thai women as well as the Thai U or the Thai university pitch competitions. So Amita, if you can talk about what happens after this startup showcase, companies come to TICAN, 18 of them. And is there any prize? Is there any, how that you can talk about that? And by the way, just another interesting point. We had a record number of applications this year for these 18 spots. So it's been very competitive. And I think credit goes to all the finalists for their very compelling ideas. But that said, once the, we do have awards both in cash as well as in kind from our ecosystem partners, our sponsors for these startup showcase finalists across or the winners across these three different categories. Amita, one region. Personally, you will not miss TICAN. So, you know, I wear a number of different hats. I serve as a board member and a strategy advisor as well as a chief marketing officer for different tech and digital health companies. And there is, all of them are grappling with how they can use AI best, you know, in terms of their growth and servicing their customers and meeting their needs best as such. This is such a tremendous opportunity for me to learn from others and internalize how I can personally use it in each of those roles. So it's just, again, a huge reason why I would be there and I wouldn't miss it at all. So Amita, with your background in marketing, especially for the technology companies, how the marketing has changed in the last 10, 15 years? And what remains of marketing from the old days? Well, you know, there are some things which always stay true. The biggest thing is really understanding what's going on with the customer and the market. What are the issues and how is your solution going to solve their problem and solve it better than anybody else's? And at a price point, which makes sense for them. And I think today in the age of AI, there are certain things which are absolutely much easier in terms of understanding what's going on in the market or the competition and how do you use that in terms of your product or service offering development as such. And the positioning and messaging when you're going to market with that. But then also there are aspects in terms of, again, around the positioning and messaging piece, the content, how you use AI to help you with that content piece, but in a way so it doesn't look like an AI bot did it for you, but it's rather using it more to surface ideas that you or people on your team can internalize and work on further. Now Amita, I have seen you at Thai Boston for I don't know how many years from the very beginning. I think you were one of the early charter members there. And tell us a little bit more about yourself. How did you get involved with Thai and what do you do? So I am very passionate about new technologies, not just technology for the sake of technology, but really helping it be successful, converting it into successful products and commercial successes as such. And it's just something which is part and parcel of me as a person. And Thai has been a tremendous organization in helping me make those connections in terms of the new technologies and successes in the market. But also, most importantly, the people who make that happen have also personally built a lot of great friendships along the years with people who are part of Thai. So Vikram, the first question for you is, ThaiCon East brings together entrepreneurs, investors, business leaders, and innovators. What makes the connections and conversations at this event different from a typical business conference? Yeah, so the way I look at it is that I can explain this in terms of an anecdote. So I was at a dinner event recently and happened to run into somebody who's from a completely different field, mine being cybersecurity and that person's being healthcare. And we were talking about a certain problem and we found out that we are using similar solutions for the same problem. So that got me thinking that there's a lot of value in cross-pollination and which is why we designed this year's conference to be a single track, multi-focus area kind of conference. So you get the opportunity to meet across operators, investors, entrepreneurs, ecosystem partners, everybody put across every industry. And the topics and the panelists are also structured so that it addresses all of these sector areas. Can you give us a preview of a moment, session or conversation that you think attendees will be talking about after the event? So the way to think about this for me is, I mean, right now, everybody has AI. So going from idea to product is orders of magnitude easier with AI. So now beyond that, how do you differentiate? And then how do you take that differentiated conversation or differentiate product into the market and provide a differentiated message, right? Very simply, how do you overcome the objection of why can't I wipe code your product, right? So these are key critical questions and sales objections from the design of the product through the selling of the product that we looked at during the day across multiple sessions. So that's gonna be a very key takeaway for everybody. Vikram, the last question is, beyond the formal programming, what opportunities are there for people to meet the right people, exchange ideas, and potentially create new business or investment relationships? So this conference, we make sure that there are entrepreneurs, operators, investors and ecosystem partners. So they're all gonna be there. But as you think about how to get to them, there are gonna be multiple actual agenda opportunities. There's gonna be a morning breakfast event, there's gonna be inward networking events, a lunch, and then a formal networking event in the evening as well with cocktails to lubricate the session. But very differentiated in this conference is that the lunch sessions are gonna be oriented towards networking, expected to be a working lunch. So you're gonna have curated topics at various different tables with people taking down takeaways so that you're not just learning from the speakers of the conference, but you're learning from your fellow attendees from the conference, and it's a direct opportunity to establish connection. Is it something new, Ty, doing this year? It has been done in the past. I'm not sure if it's been done in the past, but it's definitely new in the conferences that I've gone to. So one region, Vikram, you would personally not miss this type. I will not miss this conference because of the extent of relevance it has to exactly what's happening with my company and my product. We are about to launch a couple of new products very shortly. And in my industry, AI is both friend and foe. So understanding exactly how to build products, making connections with people who are working on it, but are not only working on it, but are providing the infrastructure for such products to run. And then also understanding from the experiences of people who have already gone to market with such products is gonna be super key for me. And it gives me an opportunity to look my head up from my screens and come out and address the same topics, but from different perspectives. So now you are in the similar market place with your company as well. And also we are hearing all these reports about AI that it might wipe out civilization in 10 years. What is your take on that? So yesterday I saw an article that put that probability at less than 10%. So I'm not yet worried that it's gonna wipe out civilization. However, bearing relevance to what we do, are there more enhanced attacks? And is there a higher volume of attacks? And are the attacks targeting more number of targets, including people? Answer to all of those, yes, yes, and yes. Nandi Security, we are the makers of Covalent, a consumer cybersecurity product. It's a very simple product that protects every home from cyber threats and privacy threats. There's no software to install. There's no hardware to buy. You can set up Covalent in any home in five minutes or less, and it protects unlimited devices in the home. Vikram, your last word on Daigon East. Four words, actually. Relevance, insights, connections, and expertise. All of that's gonna be in the room at the same time for the full duration of the conference. Now, is there somebody who has not signed up yet for Daigon? Can they still sign up? And where they should go? Yes, so there's still a few tickets remaining. So if you're thinking of signing up, please do right now. You can go sign up at daigoneast.com. Vikram, thank you so much.