Anand Mahurkar & Findability Sciences: From Shop Floor Logic to Global Enterprise AI Leadership
What does it take to build a globally recognized Enterprise AI company, not from Silicon Valley, but starting with insights gleaned from manufacturing floors and navigating economic crises? Meet Anand Mahurkar, the Founder and CEO of Findability Sciences, a Boston-based firm making waves in the complex world of Artificial Intelligence for businesses.
Anand recently shared his incredible journey and deep insights into the AI landscape on the Founder Thesis podcast. His story is a masterclass in perseverance, adaptability, and building a sustainable tech venture.
Check out the video of the conversation here or read on for insights.
This article dives deep into the man and the mission behind Findability Sciences, drawing from Anand's experiences and the company's trajectory.
The Unexpected Seeds of Entrepreneurship 🌱
Anand Mahurkar's path to becoming an AI entrepreneur wasn't straightforward. Growing up in the Marathwada region of Maharashtra, India, his father was an accounting professor and author. Young Anand often saw his and his brother's names used in textbook examples for fictional companies like "Anand Private Limited."
"Since then there was always a dream that Anand owns a company or Anand is a business person... my father as an accounting professor always wanted either of their sons to try business because honestly probably a million years in the past nobody in my family ever did any entrepreneurship."
This planted a seed. After graduating as a mechanical engineer in the early 90s, his first entrepreneurial impulse wasn't software, but hardware. He rode his scooter from Aurangabad to Pune, hoping to convince Kinetic Honda to let him set up a service garage in his hometown. He described the encounter:
"I went there I knocked on the gates... the security said oh why are you here I said no I want a service station... He called 1 guy he came and he said oh... What's your background? He said the minimum requirement is that you need 1 place to start a garage and five lakh rupees in your bank account and I said I neither have both and he said thank you very much and I just left from the gate."
This early setback didn't deter the dream, but it rerouted his journey through the corporate world, where he would gain invaluable experience and technical skills.
Forging a Path: From Manufacturing to Management 🏭
Anand's career began not in code, but in metal.
Bharat Forge (Project Engineer): His first job was at India's largest forging manufacturer. Here, amidst the heat and hammers, he had his first real encounter with automation and software. Bharat Forge was modernizing, bringing in German robotic systems (from Weinig) to handle the dangerous forging process. Anand's curiosity led him to learn coding in an unconventional way:
"I was actually put on to that project and there were German engineers... working... in the evening when the shift is over. They used to implement all the robots. So I used to just hang around with them and looking over their shoulders I started learning coding... I never trained myself in a school on software programming but in factories."
He started with languages like Fortran on microprocessors, applying software logic to physical processes.
Videocon (Plant Engineer & Product Manager): He moved back to Aurangabad, working at Videocon's television and washing machine plant. He continued tinkering with computers in the evenings, eventually moving to their office automation division – his backdoor entry into the IT world.
Kale Consultants (Regional Manager): The Y2K boom provided an opportunity to formally enter the software industry. He joined Kale Consultants, a banking software provider, managing the Pune region and learning C++ and Informix while overseeing software implementations for banks.
Datamatics Global Services (President): This was a significant step. Joining Datamatics, a pioneering IT Services and BPO company (an offshoot of Tata Consulting Services), Anand focused on data and document-related services: Business Intelligence, Data Warehousing, Document Management, Workflow, Imaging, and OCR (Optical Character Recognition). He rose to become President, gaining experience managing large teams, global clients, contributing to two acquisitions, and the company's successful IPO. He moved to the US (Greater Boston) as part of his role at Datamatics.
This diverse experience – from the physical logic of manufacturing and automation to the complexities of data management and BPO – laid the groundwork for his next, most significant venture.
The "Aha!" Moment: The Pain of Search vs. The Joy of Finding 💡
The idea for Findability Sciences stemmed from a real-world client problem Anand encountered while President at Datamatics. A major bank, a client spending millions ($7M+) on a data warehousing solution co-delivered by Datamatics and IBM, was deeply unsatisfied.
Driving back from a difficult meeting, Anand had a realization:
"The customer is not looking for a business intelligence solution but actually customer is looking for ability to find information... They had all the savings account and checking account in the database. And they had mortgage accounts and loans... in a document management repository... the customer wanted a unified report."
This sparked the core idea: the universal business "pain of search" versus the desired "joy of finding." Information existed, but it was siloed, fragmented between structured databases and unstructured documents, making unified access impossible.
"That aha moment of ability to find information... I said I'm going to leave the job... I gave the six month notice and I said I'm going to build a technology which actually improves ability to find information."
He saw a gap. Could technology bridge this divide? Convinced of the need, Anand took the leap.
Founding: He founded Findability Sciences LLC in April 2011, headquartered near Boston, MA.
Timing: Launched amidst the challenging US sub-prime crisis recovery.
Bootstrapping: He initially bootstrapped the company, building the first version of the platform himself with a small team, funding growth through early customer revenue.
Core Concept: Coined the term "Findability" (as "Find Ability" wasn't an English word) and trademarked the phrase "Pain of Search vs. Joy of Finding." The mission: equip enterprises with the ability to efficiently find and utilize information, regardless of where it resided.
Findability Sciences: The Enterprise AI Powerhouse 🚀
What started with solving the "findability" problem has evolved into a comprehensive Enterprise AI company.
Mission: To apply the power of Big Data, Cognitive Computing, and Artificial Intelligence to solve complex business challenges.
Core Technology: The award-winning Findability Platform®. This platform acts as the foundation, incorporating proprietary technologies for:
Data Unification: Connecting structured data (databases) and unstructured data (documents, emails, images, etc.), both internal and external. This addresses the original "findability" problem.
Contextualization: Adding meaning and context to raw data.
Self-Learning: Incorporating machine learning and AI capabilities.
Evolution to AI Leadership:
An early move to IBM Cloud led to a partnership with IBM Watson around 2014-2015. Anand served on the IBM Watson Partner Advisory Board (2014-2017).
This catalyzed the integration of deeper AI capabilities (Natural Language Processing, prediction) into the platform.
Since 2017, Findability Sciences has explicitly positioned itself as an Enterprise AI company, moving beyond just data unification.
Key AI Offerings & Concepts:
Anand emphasizes that Enterprise AI isn't just the headline-grabbing Generative AI (like ChatGPT). Findability Sciences focuses heavily on:
Predictive AI: Using historical data to forecast future outcomes (e.g., customer churn, demand forecasting, price prediction). Anand highlights their ability to significantly improve accuracy, often taking clients from 65-70% to over 95% accuracy by leveraging "Wide Data."
"AI can tell you what will happen and what to do... the C level executives are fed up in letting me know what happened... Ai can actually tell you that how many people are likely to leave you next month..."
Interpretive AI: Understanding and extracting meaning from existing data (e.g., OCR, document analysis, sentiment analysis, keyword extraction). This powers solutions like automated compliance checks.
"If you take the interpretation to the next level... I have a news release I'm passing it through AI and I am interpreting oh it's a bad news... take customer feedbacks... you can't read every day all that content but I can take that content and interpret for me..."Generative AI: Creating new content, used within specific business process co-pilots.
Unique Frameworks & Ideas:
Wide Data > Big Data: A core philosophy championed by Anand. He argues that for prediction, the breadth (variety of features/columns) of data is often more crucial than sheer volume (rows).
"Predictive AI is a statistical model applied to wide data and not big data alone... If I have more columns that actually helps machine learning to understand the interdependencies of the data... If I have width of the data which is 200 columns and I have only 2000 rows that's fine machine can learn based on that."CUPP Framework: Findability Sciences uses a proprietary Collection, Unification, Processing, Presentation framework for implementing AI solutions. Anand stresses the complexity:
"Enterprise AI solution should not be compared as software... collection and unification is every time unique to a business situation... the processing is our repeatable engine... the presentation layer in AI is also very custom made."Enterprise Forecasting: A major product line focused on predictive analytics for business planning.
Business Process Co-pilots: AI solutions designed for specific workflows, combining Predictive, Interpretive, and Generative AI. Example: An AI co-pilot to assist medical device companies in preparing complex FDA 510(k) submission forms, drastically reducing preparation time.
Company Metrics & Milestones:
Revenue: Reached approximately $10 Million ARR (Annual Recurring Revenue), as mentioned on the Founder Thesis podcast.
Funding: Secured Series A funding from SoftBank Corp (Japan's SoftBank Telecom arm, not the Vision Fund) in 2017/2018. This was linked to forming a strategic joint venture with SoftBank to enter the Japanese market. Anand noted this was their first and only external investment to date.
Global Presence: Headquartered in Boston, MA, with offices serving customers in the United States, Japan, and India.
Team: Operates with a lean sales team (just 2 salespeople mentioned in the podcast), relying heavily on referrals and contacts. Employs around 200 people globally.
Industry Focus: Delivers turnkey solutions to major corporations in Insurance, Retail, Manufacturing, Financial Services, Trading, Healthcare, and Transportation.
Accolades:
Fortune Magazine: Named one of America's Most Innovative Companies.
Financial Times & Inc. Magazine: Recognized as one of the fastest-growing companies in the US.
Fast Company: Acknowledged for world-changing ideas (2021).
Anand Mahurkar: Named an IBM Big Data Hero, received multiple New England Innovation Award nominations, International Achiever's Award (2021).
Leadership, Vision, and Philosophy 🧭
Anand Mahurkar is more than just a CEO; he's a recognized thought leader and mentor in the tech community.
Affiliations: Distinguished member of the Forbes Technology Council and the Fast Company Executive Board. He is also a Charter Member of TiE-Boston, actively mentoring emerging entrepreneurs.
Advocacy: A strong proponent of strategic AI adoption, translating complex concepts into business-friendly insights.
Philosophy: Anand emphasizes building sustainable businesses. While not against ambition or taking investment (used wisely), he cautions against the "grow at all costs" mentality often seen in the startup world.
"Build sustainable business... focus on sustainability. The growth, the money, the valuation will happen automatically."
"I am no way objecting to taking investment... [but] if you're going to crash the company in 2 years please don't do that I'm saying build sustainable business."
He takes pride in creating stable employment and solving real customer problems, reflecting his grounded approach despite operating at the cutting edge of technology. His advice to aspiring entrepreneurs reflects this pragmatism:
"No idea is a bad idea. Okay, if you are convinced about the idea you can go and convince the world... No U-turns. Okay, you can branch it off, you can take detours but keep moving ahead."
The Future of Findability 🔮
Findability Sciences continues to carve its niche in the competitive Enterprise AI landscape. By focusing on practical applications of Predictive and Interpretive AI, developing specialized solutions like business process co-pilots, and adhering to a philosophy of sustainable growth, Anand Mahurkar is building a company designed for the long haul.
His journey from a small town in Maharashtra, through the ranks of Indian manufacturing and IT, to leading a global AI firm from Boston is a testament to adaptability, technical curiosity, and a clear vision focused on solving the fundamental business challenge of finding and leveraging information effectively.
Listen now!
Other Ways to Listen:
Before you go……the analytics only tell me so much, I want to hear what you feel and think about the conversations.
Mail me at ad@thepodium.in with your comments & feedback or if you just want to hear my comments on your startup idea - I love getting your emails!
Until the next founder's thesis📕,
Your host, AD