The AI Product Playbook: Validate in Hours, Not Quarters

Hosted by Dr. Aki Wijesundara and Manu Jayawardana

Thu, Feb 12, 2026

10:00 PM UTC (30 minutes)

Virtual (Zoom)

Free to join

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AI Builder Bootcamp for Product People
Aki Wijesundara, PhD and Manu Jayawardana
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What you'll learn

What you'll learn

Modern AI product validation, scoping small and testing fast, demo-first thinking, avoiding “AI theatre.”

A short, specific title about what students will learn

PMs Founders | Operators owning AI initiatives

Outcome promise

You’ll leave with a clear, repeatable validation process.

The AI Builder Playbook

This playbook is what the AI Builder Bootcamp is built around.

Why this topic matters

AI changes how fast products should be validated. In this session, we’ll share a repeatable product playbook for testing AI ideas quickly — without overbuilding or burning credibility.

You'll learn from

Dr. Aki Wijesundara

AI Founder | Educator | Google AI Accelerator Alum

Aki Wijesundara is an AI researcher, educator, and founder with a PhD in Machine Learning and experience at Google's AI Accelerator, where he contributed to advancing real-world applications of machine learning and large language models. As Co-Founder of Snapdrum, he helps organizations design, build, and deploy applied AI systems that move beyond prototypes to production-scale impact.

Aki has taught over 5,000+ engineers, founders, and product leaders worldwide how to build production-ready AI systems using LangChain, RAG pipelines, and MLOps frameworks.

He serves as AI Advisor to the United Nations, contributing expertise on responsible AI implementation and policy.

His work bridges cutting-edge research and practical implementation across text, voice, and multimodal AI.

Alongside Snapdrum, Aki serves as CTO of Krybe, an AI voice automation startup, and CTO of Tilli, an edtech company redefining how learners engage with AI-powered education.

Manu Jayawardana

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

Manu Jayawardana is a serial entrepreneur and AI advisor with multiple successful ventures in automation and applied AI. As Co-Founder of Snapdrum, he helps enterprises and startups integrate intelligent systems that deliver measurable business results — from AI agents and RAG pipelines to full-scale automation solutions.

Previously, Manu founded and exited Rise AI, a fintech intelligence app with over 35,000 users, acquired by a private investor.

He also serves as CEO of Krybe, an AI voice agent company transforming how businesses automate customer interactions.

With experience across the U.S., Europe, and Asia, Manu combines deep technical understanding with strategic execution — helping organizations move from experimentation to scalable, production-grade AI systems.

Previous students from

Google
Meta
OpenAI
NVIDIA
Amazon Web Services

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