Partners from Cloudflare & 8VC
Dane Knecht, Chief Technology Officer
Dane Knecht is the Chief Technology Officer at Cloudflare, the leading connectivity cloud company. Knecht is responsible for bringing the company’s most audacious and innovative ideas to life that will be key to Cloudflare’s ongoing evolution and strategy. Over the last 13 years at Cloudflare, he has led the development, launch, and scaling of products like Cloudflare Zero Trust, Cloudflare’s Developer Platform, and most recently, the company’s AI inference and agents platform. Knecht joined Cloudflare when the company had fewer than 30 people. Prior to Cloudflare, Knecht founded an ecommerce SaaS company, which was later acquired, and held product leadership roles at MessageOne and Dell. He graduated from Columbia University and resides in Austin, Texas.
Bhaskar Ghosh, Partner 8VC
Bhaskar "BG" Ghosh is a Partner at SF venture firm 8VC where he leads the core enterprise infra s/w investment practice, and now works on SaaS and Infra investments and incubations, with a heavy focus on AI, Services and Automation themes. BG serves on the boards of Nile, Yugabyte, Ushur, Acryl Data, Spotnana, Rocketlane, LightBeam, and Aryn, and has incubated fintech and enterprise s/w companies (Opto, Anzenna and Spotonix) through the 8VC Build program.
A major focus for BG has been driving the expansion of 8VC’s investment and build platform in the India-US corridor, leading the series A and B in Rocketlane, doing enterprise seed investments with top VC firms in Bangalore and expanding 8VC’s AI engineering footprint in major Indian cities.
Partners & Supporters
We extend our heartfelt gratitude to our sponsors for their generous support and commitment to making this event a success. Their contributions play a vital role in ensuring a seamless and enriching experience for all attendees.
Agenda Overview
Explore. Engage. Execute.
The AI Native Builders Forum (AINBF) is designed for hands-on learning and meaningful collaboration. Each track brings together founders, operators, and domain experts to help you move fast and build smart.
Sessions
AI Modeling
Explore the frontiers of AI modeling: from reasoning and reinforcement learning to scaling laws and performance optimization. This session dives into the core techniques shaping today’s most capable models.
AI Applications & Agents
What does it take to deploy AI in the real world? Learn how leading teams design agent architectures, select frameworks, and build for reliability, latency, and user experience.
Hiring & Organization
AI is redefining talent. Get insights on how to structure teams, hire for emerging roles, and upskill your workforce to stay ahead in an AI-first environment.
Product & Company
From product vision to go-to-market — this session unpacks how we can craft strategies, understand customers, and navigate company-building in the era of intelligent software.
Format
Each track includes
One Talk
A framing session to set context and surface key questions.
One Panel
Diverse perspectives from operators and founders navigating similar problems.
One Roundtable
Action-oriented small group discussions focused on solutions and next steps.
Beyond the Sessions
Networking, Done Right
Matchmaking and structured networking to connect you with the right people.
Spotlight Podcasts
Short interviews with speakers and special guests — recorded live.
Q&A Lounge
Unfiltered conversations with panelists, moderators, and domain experts
Unconference-Style 1:1s
Grab time with fellow attendees to brainstorm, jam, or just chill.
Agenda Overview
Explore. Engage. Execute.
The AI Native Builders Forum (AINBF) is designed for learning and meaningful collaboration. Each track brings together founders, operators, and domain experts to help you move fast and build smart.
Sessions 3: AI Engineering for a Globalized World (4:00 - 4:45)
Dane Knecht
LinkedIn | Cloudflare
Dane Knecht is the Chief Technology Officer at Cloudflare, the leading connectivity cloud company. Knecht is responsible for bringing the company’s most audacious and innovative ideas to life that will be key to Cloudflare’s ongoing evolution and strategy. Over the last 13 years at Cloudflare, he has led the development, launch, and scaling of products like Cloudflare Zero Trust, Cloudflare’s Developer Platform, and most recently, the company’s AI inference and agents platform. Knecht joined Cloudflare when the company had fewer than 30 people. Prior to Cloudflare, Knecht founded an ecommerce SaaS company, which was later acquired, and held product leadership roles at MessageOne and Dell. He graduated from Columbia University and resides in Austin, Texas.
Bhaskar Ghosh
LinkedIn | 8VC
Bhaskar "BG" Ghosh is a Partner at SF venture firm 8VC ($7B AUM) where he initiated the core enterprise infra s/w investment practice, and now focuses on AI enabled Services, SaaS and Infra investments and incubations. BG serves on the boards of Nile, Yugabyte, Ushur, Acryl Data, Spotnana, Rocketlane, LightBeam, and Aryn, and has incubated fintech and enterprise s/w companies (Opto, Anzenna and Spotonix) through the 8VC Build program.
In the India-US corridor, a major focus for BG has been driving the expansion of 8VC’s early phase investments (e.g. Rocketlane) and AI Engineering incubation teams, and in backing non-profits and causes in arts, entrepreneurship and education.
BG has a PhD from Yale CS, and spent his formative Silicon Valley years building core products and teams during the hyper-scaling phases of LinkedIn, Yahoo, Oracle and Nerdwallet.
Sessions 4: Networking (4:45 - 5:30)
AI Native Builders Forum
Date: June 28, 2025
Location: Microsoft Research, Lavelle Road, Bengaluru
Agenda Overview
Explore. Engage. Execute.
The AI Native Builders Forum (AINBF) is designed for learning and meaningful collaboration. Each track brings together founders, operators, and domain experts to help you move fast and build smart.
Sessions 3: Fireside Chat (4:00 - 4:45)
Dane Knecht
LinkedIn | Cloudflare
Dane Knecht is the Chief Technology Officer at Cloudflare, the leading connectivity cloud company. Knecht is responsible for bringing the company’s most audacious and innovative ideas to life that will be key to Cloudflare’s ongoing evolution and strategy.
Bhaskar Ghosh
LinkedIn | 8VC
Bhaskar "BG" Ghosh is a Partner at SF venture firm 8VC where he leads the core enterprise infra s/w investment practice, and now works on SaaS and Infra investments and incubations, with a heavy focus on AI, Services and Automation themes.
Sessions 4: Networking (4:45 - 5:30)
Organizers
The AI Native Builders Forum is hosted by experienced founders and operators who are deeply immersed in building AI-native products. With backgrounds spanning enterprise AI, data platforms, and financial intelligence, they bring hands-on insight and a shared commitment to accelerating the ecosystem through meaningful collaboration.
About the Event
AI is a generational opportunity—yet the ecosystem, especially in the US-India corridor, remains fragmented and under-leveraged. AINBF brings together forward-looking builders to:
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Build a focused, high-quality community
Foster genuine collaboration around talent, product development, and strategic growth for Indian startups looking at US markets and for US companies trying to set up cutting edge dev centers in India. -
Accelerate AI adoption
Rapidly share knowledge, tech and market insights to help startups leapfrog typical adoption hurdles for deep tech and enterprise play. -
Channel resources wisely
Prioritize building sustainable, deep tech companies.
