Validate an Idea Before You Write Any Code

Hosted by Aki Wijesundara and Manu Jayawardana

Tue, Jul 14, 2026

3:00 PM UTC (30 minutes)

Virtual (Zoom)

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AI Engineering Bootcamp & Certificate
Aki Wijesundara, PhD and Manu Jayawardana
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What you'll learn

Pressure test an idea with AI

Use AI to find the weak spots in a product idea before anyone commits engineering time.

Surface the reasons it might fail

Pull out the risks and bad assumptions early, while changing course still costs nothing.

Decide to build, change, or drop it

Reach a clear call on the idea on paper, before it turns into a wasted sprint.

Why this topic matters

Teams burn a quarter building something nobody wanted because the idea was never really tested first. In this free 30 minute session you see how to use AI to pressure test a product idea before a line of code gets written, poking holes in it the way a sharp colleague would. We take a real idea and run it through the checks live: who it is for, why it might fail, what would prove it. You leave able to validate or kill an idea on paper before it costs a sprint.

You'll learn from

Aki Wijesundara

AI Advisor | Educator | Google AI Accelerator Alum

Aki Wijesundara is an AI leader with a PhD in Machine Learning and extensive experience mentoring startups at Google’s AI Accelerator. With a career spanning both research and applied AI, Aki has taught 5,000+ students worldwide how to design and deploy production-ready AI systems.

He has worked across cutting-edge areas of applied AI, from LangChain and RAG pipelines to observability and large-scale deployment. As a researcher and educator, Aki bridges the gap between theory and practice, making complex systems approachable and actionable for engineers, founders, and product leaders.

Aki is also a frequent speaker and advisor to organizations adopting AI, helping them transition from experimentation to production at scale.

Manu Jayawardana

AI Founder | Co-Founder & CEO at Krybe | Co-Founder of Snapdrum

Manu Jayawardana is a serial entrepreneur with multiple AI startup successes.

He is also the Co-Founder of Snapdrum, an AI consultancy helping companies integrate and automate their businesses using AI. Through Snapdrum, Manu has worked with top startups and enterprises across the U.S., Europe, and Asia, advising on automation, product development, and AI strategy.

Currently, Manu is the Co-Founder & CEO of Krybe, an AI voice agent startup in London transforming how businesses automate customer interactions. His experience spans fundraising, scaling products, and leading teams to deliver production-grade AI solutions adopted globally.

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