Last year, Vijay Rayapati spent 100+ days stateside, turning coffee chats, customer dinners, and forty CIO believers into momentum. So when Sand Hill Road powerhouse Khosla Ventures joined us on the Atomicwork journey, it felt like the market was simply validating the credibility Vijay had already compounded.

Last year, Vijay Rayapati spent 100+ days stateside, turning coffee chats, customer dinners, and forty CIO believers into momentum. So when Sand Hill Road powerhouse Khosla Ventures joined us on the Atomicwork journey, it felt like the market was simply validating the credibility Vijay had already compounded.

My takeaways:
→ Credibility isn’t a single moment. It’s the sum of how you show up, whom you keep in the loop, and how consistently you add value before the ask
→ Fundraising ≈ hiring. In both, people take a bet on your trajectory, and they’re more likely to do it when they already trust the direction
→ Build mindshare where it matters. Show up where your buyers and investors gather—not just where you are—and save your stories for rooms that can turn into revenue (or runway)

P.S. This article comes with a few easter eggs:
1/ Prefer listening? There’s a neat Notebook LM audio summary of this piece on the page
2/ Need a checklist? Grab Vijay’s Notion doc of tactics straight from the trenches
3/ Craving AI art? 'Repurpose' Pranay’s sepia-graphite prompt before he trademarks the charcoal strokes :)

Link: https://lnkd.in/dN5mEa3c

Pranay Ashwin Madhavi

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