Ankit Dhawan

Founder & CEO BluePill AI | ex-Amazon AI | Cornell alum

Seattle, Washington, United States

About

3× entrepreneur (1 exit) — currently building BluePill AI. BluePill creates AI consumers - digital twins of real audiences, built from real-world data, that think and react like people - for instant market research and insights. We've raised $6.25 Million to help brands test ideas instantly — from CPG concepts, packaging and product claims to marketing campaigns and creatives. We augment or replace traditional focus groups and surveys with predictive, validated consumer insights, accurately simulating real-world behavior. Previously, I founded Virtuelly, a team-building and culture-as-a-service platform that grew from 0 → $2M in revenue and was acquired after serving customers like Google, Amazon, Netflix, and Microsoft. Before founding startups, I led Product and GTM for AWS GenAI (Voice AI) and personalization for Amazon Global, building large-scale systems that automated content localization worldwide. Earlier, I was part of Amazon’s Retail Leadership Development Program, managing a multi-billion-dollar grocery category. I began my entrepreneurial journey at 24, launching India’s first free daily newspaper (On The Go), which created a new media category. I hold an MBA from Cornell University, where I led the Entrepreneurship and High Tech Clubs and was part of the Life Changing Labs incubator. Outside of work, you’ll usually find me reading about founders, watching Liverpool FC, or exploring the PNW with my wife, daughter and dog.

Experience

  • Founder & CEO at BluePill AI
    Apr 2025 - Present · 1 yr 3 mos

    BluePill AI lets teams accurately simulate how real customers would respond to product, marketing and GTM ideas — using AI consumers that think like real people. Our AI consumers are built from real world data, to accurately mirror how real humans react to different ideas and scenarios. Faster, deeper insights to drive smarter decisions.

  • Co-founder & CEO at RealStar AI at RealStar AI
    Jul 2024 - Jan 2025 · 7 mos

    Single handedly chose the worst time in the history of real estate to build an AI native real estate brokerage to help people sell homes for a fraction of the price. Great lessons learned and moved on to the next.

  • Entrepreneur in Residence at Allen Institute for AI (AI2)
    Jun 2023 - Mar 2024 · 10 mos

    Building a Gen AI start-up for sshhhhh

  • Founder and CEO (exited) at Virtuelly
    Dec 2020 - Mar 2024 · 3 yrs 4 mos

    Founded, raised venture capital and led a team of 15 to help distributed teams foster better connections and drive engagement. Virtuelly curated and aggregated interactive virtual experiences and activities from creators, celebrities, and local businesses to help teams socialize with each other. We enabled creators, virtual event hosts, and physical venues to connect with their audience and fans virtually, seamlessly through one platform including a patent-pending virtual venue to host live interactive events, a metaverse app or IRL. Took Virtuelly from 0 to $2M+ in revenue with customers such as Google, Amazon, Netflix, etc. and finally to a successful exit. Virtuelly was #1 Product on Product Hunt and Running Remote Start-up of the Year.

  • Amazon (4 yrs 6 mos)
    • Tech Product Lead, Generative Artificial Intelligence - Voice
      Sep 2019 - Dec 2020 · 1 yr 4 mos

      Product, Go to Market and Growth Strategy for AWS Polly AI service - Gen AI Voice. Creating artificial voices for Amazon and AWS Customers. Launched Brand Voice - The first Gen AI product for customers to create branded touch points through generative AI voices.

    • Sr. Product Manager AI & ML - Personalization & Localization Amazon Global
      Sep 2017 - Dec 2020 · 3 yrs 4 mos

      Leveraging Machine Learning and AI to build the best in class CX for our global customers. Personalizing content at scale to deliver a local experience by generating programatic localized content saving 100's in HC.

    • Retail Leadership Development Program - Grocery Category
      Jul 2016 - Dec 2020 · 4 yrs 6 mos

      Retail Leadership Development Program - Managing supply chain for grocery category focusing on optimizing supply chain using technology to drive FCF. Leading projects worth $12M + across consumables and managing vendor relationships with some of world's top CPG companies such as Nestle, Mars-Wrigley, Keurig, etc.