Makers of The Metaverse: Aneesh Kulkarni Of Strivr On The Future Of The VR, AR & Mixed Reality Industries
An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis
Be bold — VR presents an opportunity for trailblazers to introduce concepts, use cases, and technology that the world has never seen before. Being creative and ambitious is key to maintaining momentum in this industry, new technology always brings challenges but also untapped potential for those brave enough to explore it.
The Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality & Mixed Reality Industries are so exciting. What is coming around the corner? How will these improve our lives? What are the concerns we should keep an eye out for? Aside from entertainment, how can VR or AR help work or other parts of life? To address this, we had the pleasure of interviewing Aneesh Kulkarni.
Aneesh Kulkarni is the Chief Technology Officer at Strivr, the leading platform for enterprise VR. He brings a wealth of experience in technical leadership, developing consumer and enterprise platforms for mobile web, and data applications. As the CTO of Strivr, Aneesh has been instrumental in developing Strivr’s platform, building and mentoring high-performance teams to realize Strivr’s product vision. Prior to Strivr, Aneesh served as VP of Engineering at Dremio and AppDynamics, and Director of Engineering at NetSuite.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit. Can you tell us a bit about your backstory and how you grew up?
I grew up in India, on the West Coast in a city called Mumbai. It’s very much like New York, being the financial capital of the country. I have a B.S in Computer Science from a university in India. I came to the United States to pursue an M.S in Computer Science. After graduate school, I moved to the San Francisco Bay Area to work at a startup. I’ve been here ever since, and have worked in multiple companies, all startups before Strivr.
Is there a particular book, film, or podcast that made a significant impact on you? Can you share a story or explain why it resonated with you so much?
The book that has made the most impact on me is Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance, by Angela Duckworth. It resonates with my journey here in this industry as a software engineer now transitioning into a leadership role. As an engineer and a leader, one of the primary characteristics I’ve had to foster was grit. I don’t think I was necessarily born with all the talent — but I’ve worked hard to get where I am today, and this book has had a significant influence on me. If I had to pick a couple of other books that I really liked they would be Open: An Autobiography, by Andre Agassi, and Steve Jobs, by Walter Isaacson.
Is there a particular story that inspired you to pursue a career in the Virtual Reality industry? We’d love to hear it.
I’d been building enterprise software platforms for a while. The companies I’ve worked for previously developed platforms that were used by other organizations and benefited categories of use cases (i.e. business intelligence, file sharing and collaboration, application performance management, and self-service analytics for cloud data lake houses.) There was a connection between my work and its impact on people in the world, but it wasn’t a very direct connection.
In 2019, I wanted to do something very different from what I’d done before, and find a role where I could have more of a direct connection with the end-user. I was looking at a few different categories such as healthcare, fintech, and EDtech. I wanted to make a difference in industries that could benefit a lot more from technology. During that time, someone pitched me to take a look at Strivr.
I’m a big sports fan, and I was very interested in what Strivr had done for sports. The fact that VR can help someone train through “mental reps” repeatedly, reliably, and safely, was what ultimately compelled me. At Strivr, I’ve been able to draw a more direct connection between the work that I do and how it impacts people — for example, I know that what I do every day will influence thousands of employees at Walmart, Bank of America, MGM, and more in getting better at their jobs, in learning new skills, and doing it in a revolutionary new and more effective way!
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began this fascinating career?
As I mentioned earlier, what initially drew me to Strivr was its connection to sports, but I found out they were making a hard pivot into the enterprise space as I joined. Making a pivot this drastic can be risky. But it made sense and it felt like a big and audacious goal. I was still very drawn to the technology and the fact that Strivr was a category-creation company. It’s very exciting to be a part of a pioneering story of bringing VR to the mainstream. In fact, we are now working with four of the top five Fortune 100 companies, and it’s been exciting as CTO, leading research, technology, and development through this growth.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
When I first started my career as an engineer, I sort of stumbled into engineering management, by accident. In my earlier years, the people who I worked with were my peers who I’d go out to dinner with and see movies with regularly. And then, all of a sudden — I was their manager.
This was a really hard transition. My first foray as a manager was not a success, for that one reason and many others! But having been given a second chance, I learned how to dissociate personal relationships and friendships from work relationships, which has helped me to succeed.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
It’s difficult to answer this question because there isn’t just one person who comes to mind. It’s more of an aggregate of experiences and people that I’ve learned from over the years, starting with my parents and the work ethic they instilled when raising me and my siblings in their pursuit of excellence in their professional careers. My mother was a stay-at-home mom until me and my siblings started going to school. Once she got the time back, she went back to university to pursue a bachelor’s as well as a master’s in education before re-entering the workforce. She showed me that, with the right motivation and interest, you can really change the course of your career.
I’ve also been very inspired by my wife of twenty years. She has a very successful and high-level career too and we’ve found a great balance between her career and mine. This has taught me that a couple’s career is not a zero-sum game — it doesn’t have to be just one or the other that gets to succeed, and I’m very grateful for her help in finding that balance.
Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people?
We recently launched our Strivr Partner Program with the goal to accelerate the at-scale adoption of VR in the enterprise. Our ecosystem joins leading providers in immersive content, software & technology, and professional services that we’ve partnered with over the last few years, such as Accenture, DDI, Pico, VMware, and many others. Through this new program, our content partners have greater access to deliver VR experiences to the enterprise workforce without having to integrate into organizations’ enterprise IT and systems. Our platform provides a Software Developer Kit (SDK) which we also launched earlier this year. The SDK will be a doorway to opportunities not only for content partners but also for developers to create and publish VR content on the Strivr platform and work directly with large enterprise customers to make a lasting impact on the global workforce.
Ok super. Thank you for all that. Let’s now shift to the main focus of our interview. The VR, AR and MR industries seem so exciting right now. What are the 3 things in particular that most excite you about the industry? Can you explain or give an example?
- Creating an impact on people through technology — I’m very excited to make a difference in the world through technology. As I mentioned earlier, being able to trace my work directly to the tangible benefits it produces (i.e. in engagement, skill-building, and knowledge retention) for end users and organizations, lets me know that the work that I do has a substantial impact.
- Bringing new technology to the masses: I’ve really enjoyed the opportunity to bring a new type of technology to a large number of employees and users. Typically, knowledge workers are the ones who get to experiment with all the new fancy tech first (i.e. new mobile applications, new computers, and hardware), while frontline workers are the last people considered. I think one of the best things that Strivr has done is to introduce VR to the masses through the enterprise, given that the frontline employee population in the Fortune 1000 is much bigger than the knowledge-worker population.
- The rise of the Metaverse — I’m excited to see the emergence of the Metaverse, and its potential to transform the enterprise with an immersive world to learn, train, and engage with other people. At Strivr, we believe we are serving as the bridge to the Metaverse for enterprises. I foresee the Metaverse as being an augmentation of the physical world, where we take a physical space that’s too expensive or too difficult to replicate and recreate that experience virtually for the user. Ultimately, we know that when learners train in an environment as close to the real world as possible, they have the highest chances of engagement and retention.
What are the 3 things that concern you about the VR, AR, and MR industries? Can you explain? What can be done to address those concerns?
- Delivering safe user experiences — A very important consideration at Strivr, is ensuring that people can experience this technology safely. With virtual experiences, we have to ensure any physical movement users do in the real world is equally matched in the virtual world, or else the end user may experience dizziness and nausea.
At Strivr, we care about the entire user experience and put a great amount of thought into where the training is going to take place. Oftentimes the companies we work with don’t have the large spaces that are required for six degrees of freedom (6DoF) experiences (i.e. experiences where users can physically move forward or backward, left or right, and up or down as they can in physical reality). We consider questions such as “Is this a 4×4 or 6×6 room?” or “Is this space better for supporting 6DoF experiences, or is it better for three degrees of freedom (3DoF) when you’re sitting in a chair or a desk so that you’re not standing up without space to move around?” Soon, pass-through and AR technology that shows the user’s real-world surroundings while in the headset should be arriving on the market to provide added visibility and safety measures.
2. Change Management — Another challenge is ensuring that organizations take the time to roll out the technology in a way that offers the best possible experience for their employees. When putting on a headset, many users are experiencing VR for the very first time. It’s a considerably different modality than they are used to compared to a phone or a tablet. This requires attention to change management practices in order to ensure that the learners understand the technology and how to get the most from the experience.
3. Content — Hardware, form factor and design, software are critical areas that are undergoing significant evolutions to deliver the most compelling, high-quality immersive experiences for users. As we get there, the quality and volume of content and applications will be critical to drive usage and mass adoption of the technology. I look towards tech like Generative AI and graphics computing platforms to accelerate the world of content development. They can help with automation content generation, improving content quality, and increasing content variety.
I think the entertainment aspects of VR, AR and MR are apparent. Can you share with our readers how these industries can help us at work?
VR is playing a significant role in critical areas such as training, upskilling, and increasing knowledge retention and engagement. Because VR provides an immersive experience for employees to practice and make mistakes without real risk, it’s a phenomenal tool for both frontline and knowledge-based workers. For example, VR training has been deployed to frontline store associates and customer service representatives by companies such as Walmart, Verizon, and Sprouts to practice using new equipment and procedures or practice enacting safety protocols for scenarios such as in-store robberies, in a safe space.
VR has also been transforming the knowledge-worker sector as well, by helping companies better provide more engaging experiences for employees during the hiring process, during onboarding, and for L&D. For example Accenture created the “Nth floor virtual office” to provide a centralized place to impart its culture and values, exchange ideas, and foster collaboration in real-time. Companies are also experimenting with VR to provide potential hires with a look at what their day-to-day roles would look like before they accept the job; and help learners improve soft skills critical for success in our virtual-first workplace, such as navigating conflict and delivering feedback with empathy.
Are there other ways that VR, AR and MR can improve our lives? Can you explain?
While very nascent in stages, VR in healthcare has seen recent spikes in startup activity and VC investment. The Great Ormond Street Hospital is a prime example of a health provider that leveraged VR to train staff on operational procedures months ahead of surgery, so that they could practice performing the task, without the risk of harming the patient.
The potential that this technology has to transform our lives is only beginning to be discovered. While each industry will ultimately use VR for different tasks, the ultimate results are the same across the board: giving learners visual, auditory, and kinesthetic cues in a fully immersive environment to bring significant improvements in performance and knowledge retention — oftentimes at a faster rate than traditional learning.
What are the “myths” that you would like to dispel about working in your industry? Can you explain what you mean?
One of the greatest misconceptions we’ve had to break is that VR is primarily a great medium for games. While VR has been historically linked to the gaming world, it has proven itself to be an impactful L&D solution for Fortune 1000 companies and is backed by decades of research. I anticipate that what we are seeing emerge through the Metaverse, will ultimately change the perception of VR as a technology and medium both for work and for play.
What are your “5 Things You Need To Create A Highly Successful Career In The VR, AR or MR Industries?”
- Think outside the box — VR is still a relatively nascent technology despite its long history, having gone through multiple attempts mostly focused on gaming, which wasn’t overly successful. Now, there is a new wave of interest with the kickstart of the Metaverse, which has few precedents and is accompanied by more sophisticated technology. With no precedence, being successful involves thinking out of the box and having a vision of where the technology is headed.
- Be bold — VR presents an opportunity for trailblazers to introduce concepts, use cases, and technology that the world has never seen before. Being creative and ambitious is key to maintaining momentum in this industry, new technology always brings challenges but also untapped potential for those brave enough to explore it.
- Be innovative — VR isn’t always all about the “cool stuff,” but rather the most impactful application, and how you can find that. At Strivr, we’ve found this through learning and training. Companies spend on average approximately $1,270 per worker on L&D and still find that many existing training methods today aren’t effective or are not measurable.
- Find applications of VR that drive adoption at scale — VR is a highly innovative new way of learning and training that amplifies engagement and cognitive retention. This is a great example of an area where organizations are willing to invest in innovative approaches to learning that will help drive retention, engagement, and upskilling. Driving that change by bringing something completely new and different, yet proven, is an example of a good application. And when deployed at scale, it can have a significant impact.
- Have patience & understand that success doesn’t happen overnight: I think many newcomers have an expectation that VR is going to be successful overnight. They don’t consider the arc of time it takes for new technologies to become ubiquitous. Consider mobile technologies in general and mobile phones specifically. It’s actually taken a long time for it to evolve into what it is today. The development and evolution of the hardware, firmware, software, and applications were over the span of 20+ years. I do not think it would be the same length of time for VR since it has been able to take advantage of the advancements made in hardware and design over the past 20+ years.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
I think of education as a great leveler — a mechanism that allows people at large, and especially those from the poorest circumstances to succeed. But there are significant headwinds and challenges for people from these backgrounds in pursuing education. Education is expensive, and people from these backgrounds have to make choices between earning a living and pursuing an education. If I could inspire a movement, it would be one that would change education from being a commodity that is easily accessible for people with means — those with wealth, those with homes in school districts with high property prices, into being a resource that is truly and equally accessible to everybody.
We are very blessed that very prominent leaders read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would like to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them 🙂
From the general world, unrelated to technology I would like to meet Barack Obama. Transcending politics, I think he has the right balance in being empathetic, inclusive, and wanting to do good for the population, without being dogmatic.
In the world of tech, there are a few influential visionaries I’d love to spend time with. If Steve Jobs were still alive, it would be Steve Jobs, it would be Mark Zuckerberg, it would be Elon Musk. Even if I don’t agree with everything they’ve said or done, I think of these people as those that have taken insane risks the average person would never take to build products and platforms that have changed or are changing the world.
Continuing with the world of tech, I have massive respect for founders. The founders that I have worked with have a singular passion and belief in solving a hard problem and making a positive impact. I have the privilege of being able to spend time with Derek Belch, the CEO and founder at Strivr every week, and I had the privilege of doing the same with Jyoti Bansal when I was at AppDynamics.
And last but not the least, I would love to have lunch with Trevor Noah. He is my favorite comedian and his background, life story, and achievement is very inspiring.
Thank you so much for these excellent stories and insights. We wish you continued success in your great work!
Makers of The Metaverse: Aneesh Kulkarni Of Strivr On The Future Of The VR, AR & Mixed Reality… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
