Parag Shah

09/09/2026

Venky in his own style angrily screamed at me today morning- just stop repeating one line in every conversation- i am fed up. And i realised - yes - it has been almost 4 years since i am using this line and that’s now in my blood 😊.

Repeating here -

If you are a leader/manager -
Your role is not to show the way;
Your role is to get out of the way.

If this helps you - try to integrate in your work-life. If it doesn’t- you might have already found your own way 😊

31/08/2026

30/08/2026

“You are eating in your own restaurant.”
That is the reason for the success of Richa AI.
I heard this from one of our first clients during my recent visit to Pune.
He told me:
“I am using Richa AI because you and your team are using Richa.”
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Then he added:
“If someone is eating in his own restaurant, I am sure they are serving a quality product.”
That statement stayed with me.
Because that is exactly how we operate at Red Jinni.
We use what we sell.
Our entire Sales/Onboarding team uses Richa AI for their own sales.
We use IB HRMS for our own HR operations.
And our people aren't just “testing” the products before selling them.
They are already using them every day.
Every member of our sales team has 3 AI employees working with them, along with access to Richa's advanced tools.
So they aren't really traditional salespeople anymore.
They are Onboarding People — people who already know how Richa works because they use it themselves.
Richa handles the sales and onboarding.
Our team simply helps the client get the maximum value from it.
And we have removed another barrier:
Every client gets Richa usage worth ₹54,750 FREE.
So the client:
→ Doesn't need to invest upfront.
→ Gets to use the actual product.
→ Gets support from people who already use it.
→ And can experience the results before spending money.
That's how we believe products should be sold.
Don't just tell your customer how good your product is.
Use it yourself.
Eat in your own restaurant.
And then invite your customer to the table.
My Pune visit gave me a business lesson I won't forget.
Sometimes, your customer sees something about your business that you haven't seen yourself.

17/08/2026

For the last 5 years, I have been receiving almost every telecalling call I get — even on Sundays.
Yes, even the calls that most of us usually try to avoid.
And this habit started with one telecalling call in 2021.
A telecaller called me.
Normally, I would have ignored the call.
But this time, she was pitching exactly the solution I needed.
So I got interested.
I started asking questions.
And suddenly…
Silence.
She was blank.
She didn't know the answers.
That moment made me think.

Why?

She had found a customer who was actually interested, yet she wasn't prepared for it.

Then I started looking at it from her perspective.
Imagine making 100+ calls every day.
98 people are either disconnecting, saying "Not interested", not listening, or sometimes behaving badly.
After hearing "NO" 98 times a day, wouldn't you eventually start believing that nobody is going to buy?
And that's when I had the first thought:

What if we could build a sales agent that doesn't develop this mindset?
An agent that doesn't get tired.
Doesn't get frustrated.
Doesn't take rejection personally.
And is always ready when a customer says YES.
That was the beginning of the idea of Richa AI in 2021.

Over the next 5 years, I continued picking up almost every telecalling call I received — even on Sundays.
And the pattern became very clear.
Whenever I said:
"Yes, I need your product. Tell me more."
There was almost always a pause.
They simply weren't expecting a YES.
One experience with a listing platform made this even more interesting.
We at Red Jinni had been their customer for 12 years, although I had been inactive for the last 2 years.
Their telecaller called us for renewal.
And this time, we actually wanted to renew.
But we had a few pain points that we wanted to discuss before making the decision.
We asked him:
"Will you listen to our concerns?"
He disconnected the call.
That incident didn't create the idea of Richa AI.

The idea was already born in 2021.

This incident simply reinforced what I had been observing for years.
Maybe the biggest problem with telecalling isn't the telecaller.
Maybe we are expecting humans to behave like machines.
And that's where AI can make a difference.
No fatigue.
No personal bias.
No ego.
No leaves.
No frustration.
One-time training.
Consistent ex*****on.
Today, 3.4 lakh businesses have started using Richa AI.
What started with one telecaller going blank in 2021 has now become a sales AI being used by businesses across India.

Sometimes, the biggest ideas don't come from boardrooms.

They come from a 30-second phone call you almost decided not to answer.

12/08/2026

We are taking 10+ interviews every day for Onboarding Executives.

Today, while taking one such interview, I suddenly remembered something that happened 12 years ago.

It took me right back to the time when we were hiring the first employee of Red Jinni.

During that interview, I casually asked the candidate:

“Why should we hire you?”

He answered:

“Sir, I was watching a show some days back when Mr. Shahrukh Khan said to Mr. Anupam Kher that the main reason for my success is I work very hard after I get the work.”

And he explained it beautifully.

He said that people are trying very hard to get the work — movies, in the case of a film actor. But once they get the work, they become casual. According to him, Mr. Shahrukh Khan works very hard after he gets the movie, and that is the main reason for his success.

Then he said:

“Sir, I am of the same nature.”

And we hired him.

Surprisingly, that turned out to be a very good hire.

Using the word "Surprisingly" as I had heard on those days that generally, the first hire is not a good hire for any new company.

But we were fortunate.

That was not the case with us.

In fact, when I look back, I feel we have always been very fortunate with the people we have got in our team.

We have got some really good people.

Today, while interviewing a candidate for our Onboarding Executive role, he said: “I am very hardworking.”

And suddenly, I remembered our first hire.

The difference was not in the words.

It was in the way he had explained what hard work meant to him.

And that reminded me of something I strongly believe:

Getting the opportunity is only the beginning.

What you do after getting the opportunity is what matters.

Today, Richa AI is doing the sales.

Our people are not traditional salespeople anymore.

Their job is to help businesses get onboarded, understand Richa AI, and start using it effectively.

But the fundamental quality we look for hasn't changed in 12 years.

Give us an opportunity, and then work hard to make that opportunity successful.

Sometimes, an interview answer from 12 years ago can still teach you something today.

And sometimes, your first employee becomes a reminder of what you should continue looking for in every new hire.

11/08/2026

**“We will get back to you.”**
That was the exact statement I heard from our first HR, almost 12 years ago, when I walked into our first, very small office.
My immediate thought was:
*“We should give constructive feedback to the candidate instead of ghosting them.”*

But her reply stayed with me for the next 12 years.
She said:
**“We are not ghosting him. And we have not rejected him either.”**
I was confused.
So I asked her to explain.
She said:
“We received 100+ applications for one position. We are going to select only ONE person.
Does that mean the other 100+ candidates are rejected?
No.
It simply means that, **for this particular role, at this particular time, one person was a better fit for what we needed.**”
And then she said something even more interesting:
**“We may need those other candidates tomorrow.”**
That thought has stayed with me.
A few days ago, we received **1,500 applications for one position.**
Think about it.
1,500 people cannot be “bad candidates” because only one person gets selected.
The world is full of talented people.
Sometimes, someone simply fits a particular requirement better **at that particular point in time.**
And that's not rejection.
It's selection.
If we send a rejection email, what are we really saying?
“Your skills are inferior to the person we selected.”
But how can we possibly make that comparison?
Every individual is different.
Different skills.
Different experiences.
Different strengths.
Different personalities.
Different circumstances.
**Not being selected doesn't mean you are not good enough.**
It may simply mean:
**“You weren't the right fit for this particular opportunity, at this particular time.”**
And who knows?
The candidate we didn't select today may become exactly the person we desperately need tomorrow.
**The world is small.
The talent pool is big.
And careers are long.**
So perhaps we should stop calling every non-selection a **“rejection.”**
Sometimes, it is simply **“not now.”**

04/08/2026

AI will replace Humans? The answer is Yes.

For almost 3.5 years, I deliberately avoided answering this question, despite being asked by 5,000+ professionals.

Today, I believe I have enough practical evidence to answer it.

Instead of debating opinions, let's look at a real business case.

More than 3.4 lakh businesses have signed up for Richa AI. But let me use the most relevant use case—our own organisation, Red Jinni.

Red Jinni was the first customer of Richa AI.

We already had a human sales team. Instead of replacing them, we built a completely independent AI Sales Team. For the last 1.5 years, both teams operated separately with the same objective, allowing us to compare their performance without bias.

The observations were fascinating -

The human team consistently created deeper customer relationships and handled complex business conversations better.

The AI team consistently outperformed in speed, consistency, availability, follow-ups and scale.

Our biggest learning was simple: Humans create depth; AI creates width. Together, they create scale without compromising relationships.

That experiment led us to our next strategic decision.

Effective 1st August 2026, we integrated both teams.

Today, 18 Humans and 18 AI Sales Agents work as one unified sales organization.

The future of sales is not Human vs AI. It is Human × AI.

Internally, we no longer measure this as a 36-member team.

We measure it as the equivalent of X people.

I am intentionally not disclosing X today. I'd rather let future results speak than make a bold claim.

This is not the first time we have witnessed this transformation.

Three years ago, we integrated AI into our software development process. The result was that a relatively small engineering team started delivering output that previously required a significantly larger workforce.

This is why my answer has changed.

Will AI replace humans?

Yes.

Not because AI is becoming more intelligent.

But because organizations that successfully combine humans with AI will require fewer people to deliver the same—or even better—business outcomes.

As CEOs and CXOs, I believe the real question is no longer:

"Will AI replace humans?"

The real question is:
"How many people should my organization hire for a function if AI can become part of the team?"

That is the question every leadership team will eventually have to answer.

The organizations that answer it first will build a structural competitive advantage. The ones that keep debating whether AI is a threat or an opportunity will eventually be forced to catch up.

Don't make strategic decisions based on headlines.

Build a use case (Richa AI is free).

Run a pilot.

Measure the outcome.

Then decide.

That's exactly what we did.

Finally, you can decide - "If AI becomes part of every team, what is the right Human-to-AI ratio?"

31/07/2026

**One underrated benefit of Work From Home—especially on a rainy day. 🌧️**

From an employer's perspective, it's not just about business continuity.

It's the peace of mind that employees aren't stuck in traffic, travelling through flooded roads, or compromising their health just to reach the office.

Instead, they're working safely from home—perhaps from their balcony, enjoying the monsoon with a cup of tea and some snacks.

**No office in the world can provide that kind of motivation.**

Sometimes, the best productivity comes not from office infrastructure, but from trust, flexibility, and a comfortable environment.

15/07/2026

Shahrukh Khan once said - “I work very hard after I get the Work”. This was in response to “what in your opinion is the single reason for your success.”

I am not a big fan of Mr Shahrukh - but this statement stayed with me for more than a decade and realise more than once per day how true the statement is in professional world.