Leadership Connect · For PE investors and the software companies they own

Cut Cost. Build AI. Protect the Exit.

HireRoad, a Strattam Capital-backed HR analytics platform, built the PeopleInsight AI Assistant with SourceFuse on AWS. Time to insight went from days to seconds. Over dinner, Hari Challapalli, HireRoad's former CPO, joins PE investors and portfolio leaders to talk through what it takes to cut costs, build AI and protect the exit.

  • October 29, 2026 | 6:00 to 9:00 PM EDT
  • Blackbarn Restaurant, New York City
  • Invite-only executive dinner
  • Limited spots
Reserve your seat
  • Hari Challapalli Hari Challapalli Co-Founder & Chief Product Officer, Beacon Signal; former CPO, HireRoad
  • Keith Groom Keith Groom Senior Manager, Technology Business Development - Amazon Web Services
  • Kelly Dyer Kelly Dyer Executive Chairman & Co-Founder, SourceFuse
  • Samarpan Bhattacharya Samarpan Bhattacharya VP, Application Development and SaaS, SourceFuse
<30sec
Time to insight, down from 2 to 3 days
85%
Insights retrieved instantly
50%+
Reporting overhead cut

HireRoad PeopleInsight AI Assistant, built with SourceFuse on AWS.

Three moves before the next process

The market made the right bet, at the wrong time to still be paying for it. Large funds have in-house value-creation teams; funds of $200M to $2B often don't. Their portfolio companies put product and growth first, so technical debt and AI diligence pressure now land together.

  1. Cut

    Remove legacy cost: database migration, license consolidation, infrastructure cleanup.

  2. Build

    Make the company AI-native, in internal workflows and in the product.

  3. Protect

    Build governance, monitoring and security from the start, not assembled just before a sale.

Why this conversation, now

One company that shipped

Backed by Strattam Capital and built with SourceFuse on AWS, HireRoad's PeopleInsight AI Assistant cut time to insight from 2 to 3 days to under 30 seconds, retrieves 85% of insights instantly, forecasts with 75% accuracy and cut reporting overhead by more than 50%.

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What compressed the timeline: AI moved into the toolchain itself. SourceFuse's AI-DLC, built with AWS, uses AI in migration, testing and governance.

Hold periods
35%

of the global PE portfolio has been held 6+ years · EY, 2026

Exit-prep window
12–24

months before sale: when exit prep pays off most · EY, 2026

AI rollout
~20%

of portfolio companies expected to fully hit AI rollout and ROI goals in 2026 · Analysys Mason

The AI diligence bar went technical. Buyers no longer take an AI slide on trust; they test it.

Agenda

Three questions for the table

  1. 01 · Cut

    What did you cut first, and how much of the AI build did those savings pay for?

  2. 02 · Build

    How did you get from pilot to production without stalling the product roadmap?

  3. 03 · Protect

    What would a buyer's tech diligence team find today, and what would you still fix?

One table. Two sides of the deal.

This is a small dinner for the two people who share an exit: the investor who has to sell the AI story, and the operator who has to prove it. Mid-market funds ($200M to $2B) rarely have an in-house tech value-creation team. Their portfolio companies spent the last cycle on product and growth. Now technical debt and AI diligence are landing at the same time.

Has to sell the AI story

PE investors

  • Investors in PE-backed software companies
  • Especially funds of $200M to $2B without an in-house value-creation team

Has to prove it

Portfolio leadership

  • Leaders of the software companies PE investors own
  • Teams carrying technical debt into AI diligence

What you leave with

    Speakers

    • Hari Challapalli

      Hari
      Challapalli

      Co-Founder & Chief Product Officer, Beacon Signal; former CPO, HireRoad

    • Keith Groom

      Keith
      Groom

      Senior Manager, Technology Business Development - Amazon Web Services

    • Kelly Dyer

      Kelly
      Dyer

      Executive Chairman & Co-Founder, SourceFuse

    • Samarpan Bhattacharya

      Samarpan
      Bhattacharya

      VP, Application Development and SaaS, SourceFuse

    Your next buyer will test the AI story. Hear how one team proved it.

    October 29, 2026 · 6:00 to 9:00 PM EDT · Blackbarn Restaurant, New York City. An invite-only executive dinner for PE investors and the software companies they own.

    Seats are limited.

    Request received

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