By Taryn Skees for Amplify — February 17, 2023
Akhil Nair began his entrepreneurial journey as an e-commerce consultant, helping mom-and-pop shops improve their online presence. He quickly realized the urgent need for a more efficient solution to optimize growth on platforms like Amazon and Walmart, especially during the pandemic. To address this need, he founded Xena Intelligence, an AI-powered growth platform that helps e-commerce brands automate and optimize ad campaigns through proprietary algorithms and data intelligence.
“I noticed that [small businesses] spent a significant amount of time and effort on manual tasks such as report analysis, ad optimization, keyword enablement, and more,” said Nair. “I believed that a software solution could streamline these processes and do a better job than human teams.”
With Xena, he developed and built the MVP (Minimum Viable Product) and successfully tested it with initial clients. Today, these early customers have grown into multi-million dollar brands and market leaders on Amazon.
Developing an AI product comes with a unique set of challenges, namely handling the vast amounts of data required to produce valuable insights and workflows. The field of e-commerce and e-commerce data analytics is still in its infancy, and all AI companies, including Xena, are exploring new ways to leverage the available data.
“It’s exciting to be at the forefront of e-commerce growth and the analysis of human behavior through online purchasing and decision-making. The future holds endless possibilities and endless potential,” Nair said.
When asked what advice he would give other entrepreneurs just starting out in their journeys, Nair says he has noticed one trait that sets the tone for success: resilience. With a business world that is constantly evolving, “the only thing that sustains growth and success through these challenges is resilience and unwavering determination,” he said. “My advice to aspiring entrepreneurs is to cultivate this mindset, continuously push themselves beyond their comfort zone, and never give up.”
As National Entrepreneurship Week comes to an end, Nair reminds us that “Entrepreneurship is not just about starting a company and developing products, it’s a way of thinking and a mindset.”
Akhil Nair is the founder & CEO of Xena Intelligence. Xena is an AI-powered growth platform that helps e-commerce brands automate and optimize ad campaigns on platforms like Amazon & Walmart through proprietary algorithms and data intelligence. He has an MBA degree from Babson College and has done his undergraduate engineering at VIT University, India. He is a solo founder and a first-generation immigrant.