AI, Infra vs Apps & Spotting Red Herrings with Akash Bajwa, Principal @ Earlybird

apps of the last twenty, thirty years. And I think that is reflective of the way that AI is diffusing across society and the economy generally. And so we could have had in in previous platform shifts...

Why the vector database hype was a dangerous trap for investors

Akash Bajwa explains the challenge of evaluating AI infrastructure vs applications, using vector databases as a cautionary tale. He warns against extrapolating short-term growth in hot categories like vector databases into overly bullish long-term assumptions, highlighting how easy it is to get caught up in cycle-driven hype.

Why AI security startups are getting acquired instead of going public

Akash Bajwa explains why certain AI primitives like security tools and vector databases aren't building standalone billion-dollar companies, but instead getting bundled into larger incumbent platforms. He points to recent acquisitions like Palo Alto's ProtectAI purchase and Checkpoint's Lakera deal as evidence that these specialized tools work better as features than standalone products.

Why AI apps will dominate over infrastructure in the next wave

Akash Bajwa argues that the application layer presents more compelling opportunities than infrastructure because AI is fundamentally changing both backend systems and human-computer interaction. He traces the evolution from Oracle databases to cloud SaaS to today's AI applications, identifying a clear trend toward augmenting human productivity in entirely new ways.

AI models are finally mature enough to create entirely new user experiences

Akash Bajwa discusses how AI model capabilities have reached an inflection point where user engagement patterns are fundamentally changing. He points to data showing increasing session lengths over time, particularly around major feature releases like advanced voice mode and memory, indicating users are expanding how they interact with AI beyond simple research tasks.

we have the same set of questions. You know? It's is OpenAI gonna build this? Is Anthropic gonna build it? And that applies to kinda throughout the stack, whether it's tooling and some sort of infra,...

Why AI company CTOs need to read research papers, not just code

Akash Bajwa explains why CTOs at AI companies need a fundamentally different skill set than traditional tech CTOs. He argues that staying on top of cutting-edge research like DeepSeek's latest releases is more valuable than pure coding ability when building applied AI products.