Poornanand Kulkarni

Co-Founder

Bengaluru, Karnataka, India8 yrs 8 mos experience

Most Likely To SwitchAI Enabled

Key Highlights

Expert in fostering startup partnerships for innovation.
Proven track record in program management and business development.
Strong background in community engagement and mentorship.

Stackforce AI infers this person is a SaaS-focused professional with expertise in startup ecosystems and community engagement.

Contact

Skills

Core Skills

Program ManagementBusiness DevelopmentMarket Research

Other Skills

AI CommunityAI StartupsAgile MethodologiesAgile Project ManagementAnalytical SkillsAnalyticsBusiness AnalysisBusiness InsightsBusiness TransformationCloud AdoptionCoachingCommunicationCommunity EngagementCommunity ManagementCross-Cultural Communication Skills

About

At SAP, our team has pioneered partnerships with startups to unlock exceptional customer value, guided by my expertise in Startup ISV and New Business Development. My recent role as Program Manager involved evaluating startups, managing cohort programs, and fostering strategic business engagements. This work builds upon my entrepreneurial background as a co-founder of CoachEd, where we provided industry-integrated mentorship programs. As the current Community and Engagement Manager for India at SAP, I am committed to nurturing a vibrant ecosystem that empowers innovation and collaboration. My educational foundation in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from PES University has been instrumental in understanding the technological nuances of startup ecosystems. I leverage these insights, along with my data analysis, stakeholder engagement and people skills, to drive impactful community initiatives and strategic value creation within the organization.

Experience

8 yrs 8 mos

Total Experience

1 yr 11 mos

Average Tenure

2 yrs 9 mos

Current Experience

Global shapers bengaluru i hub

Curator

Jul 2025 – Present · 11 mos · Bengaluru, Karnataka, India

Poornanand is currently serving as the Curator of Global Shapers Bengaluru Hub. The Global Shapers Community is a network of young people driving dialogue, action, and change at the grassroots level. It was founded by the World Economic Forum (WEF) and is composed of youth power who are exceptional in their potential, achievements, and drive to make a positive impact on their communities.

Sap

2 roles

Portfolio Value Management

Promoted

Apr 2024 – Present · 2 yrs 2 mos · Bangalore Urban, Karnataka, India

Building SAP Experience Garage - SAP's largest Innovation Vehicle instrumental in leading SAP into the world of Business AI.

Program Manager

Aug 2023 – Mar 2024 · 7 mos · Bangalore Urban, Karnataka, India

Fostering a new wave of groundbreaking collaborations between SAP and Startups in delivering exceptional value to our customers.
My responsibilities included:
1) Identifying and evaluating promising AI startups.
2) Organizing and overseeing the Strategic Startup Innovation Cohort.
3) Facilitating technical integrations between SAP and startups.
4) Managing relationships between startups, technical mentors, pre-sales and customer success teams
5) Identifying strategic business development opportunities, including customer engagements.

Startup ConsultingProgram ManagementStakeholder EngagementBusiness DevelopmentAI Startups

Coached

Co-founder and CEO

Jul 2020 – Jun 2023 · 2 yrs 11 mos · Bengaluru, Karnataka, India

CoachEd was a pioneer in providing mentorship programs to students from Tier 2/3 geographies of India. CoachEd was successful in providing Industry Integrated Programs to institutions across Karnataka, Maharashtra, Telangana and Kerala. CoachEd was recognized by Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Government of Karnataka for skill-development initiatives.
As we were unable to achieve Product-Market Fit and faced scalability challenges, I decided to move on from building the venture. This experience provided me with valuable insights, a strong network, and on-ground exposure to the Indian Higher Education Ecosystem.

Harvard project for asian and international relations (hpair)

Delegate, Winner of Impact Challenge at HPAIR 2019 ASIA Conference

Jul 2019 – Sep 2019 · 2 mos · Kazakhstan

1) Indian Delegate at the Harvard Project for Asian and International Relations (HPAIR) Asia 2019 Conference held at Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan.
2) Winner of the Impact Challenge 2019 - An Award winning Case Study (presented by Deloitte) for designing the Best Market Entry Strategy for a precision medicine company to enter Central Asian Markets.

Market ResearchData VisualizationGSM Technology

Pricewaterhousecoopers - service delivery center (pwc sdc)

Technology Consultant

Jun 2018 – May 2020 · 1 yr 11 mos · Bengaluru Area, India

1) Involved in developing a flagship mobile application for one of the largest managed care consortium of US.
2) Exposed to various competencies such as Product, Analytics, QA teams.
3) Interacted with professionals across the levels of organization.
4) Developed a global automation framework for HCM tools Workday, Oracle.

Cdac r&d

Summer Research Intern

May 2016 – Jul 2016 · 2 mos · Mohali, Punjab, India

1) Conducted Market Research on existing security systems for cars in India.
2) Visualized the same using Power BI
3) Designed a POC on Anti-Theft Security System for Cars using GSM Technology that prevents unauthorized access.
4) Demonstrated the actual working in a Symposium organized by CDAC.

Komponente

Early Team Member | Sales and Operations

Jul 2015 – Aug 2016 · 1 yr 1 mo · Bangalore

1) A startup incubated at PES University that aimed to reduce the hassle of college students to buy electronic, electrical and mechanical components.
2) An inventory stationed at college campus helped in delivering these components with a delivery time of less than 2 hours.
3) Conducted multiple workshops on the then emerging technologies such as IoT, Robotics, etc.