Coffee with a Founder Podcast: Jeevan Kalanithi, OpenSpace

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00:00 — Using visual tracking to transform construction progress
Jeevan Kalanithi introduces OpenSpace and its mission to bring greater visual clarity to construction. Using 360 cameras, drones, mobile phones, and spatial AI, OpenSpace creates visual records of job sites that help teams understand what is actually happening on the ground, track progress, and replace opinion-based conversations with factual data.

05:50 — Taking a break after an exit
After leaving his previous company, Jeevan reflects on the importance of taking intentional downtime before jumping into another startup. He discusses why founders often feel pressure to immediately start building again and why giving yourself permission to stop can be essential after years of intense operating.

06:28 — Rethinking life after an exit
Jeevan shares the idea of setting an “anti-deadline” after an exit rather than deciding when you need to start your next company. He explains the difference between an operational mindset and a creative one, and why it can take six to nine months away from constant execution before curiosity and creativity fully return.

09:55 — Exploring new technology and ideas
During his downtime, Jeevan spent more time with family while diving back into technology through online courses, including machine learning. He began helping friends with projects and experimenting with small research ideas, gradually reconnecting with the technologies and problems that interested him without immediately trying to turn them into a company.

13:35 — Bringing structure to early-stage exploration
As OpenSpace began taking shape, Jeevan and his co-founders realized casual brainstorming wasn’t enough. They adopted a structured process inspired by The Startup Owner’s Manual, holding regular check-ins, identifying the biggest risks to the idea, and setting deadlines for proving whether the business had enough potential to pursue seriously.

19:39 — Searching for the next technology opportunity
After growing OpenSpace from an early startup into a company that has raised more than $100 million, Jeevan discusses the challenge of continuing to innovate at scale. Leadership now requires both optimizing the business that already works and continuing to search for the next major technological “unlock,” particularly as AI becomes increasingly capable of understanding the physical world.

20:20 — Remembering what it means to start in the garage
Jeevan contrasts the advantages of operating a scaled company with the freedom of starting from almost nothing. Larger companies have teams, customers, data, and resources, but early startups can move with fewer constraints. He reflects on maintaining some of that experimental, garage-stage mentality even as OpenSpace grows.

26:03 — Why conversations with startup founders still matter
The conversation closes with reflections on entrepreneurship, technology, family, and the experience of repeatedly building companies. Jeevan’s journey illustrates how conversations between founders can go beyond tactics and fundraising, revealing how experienced entrepreneurs think about creativity, risk, discipline, leadership, and what makes building another company worth pursuing.