February Mentor Connect: Scaling Products & AI with Vinita Paunikar

February Mentor Connect: Scaling Products & AI with Vinita Paunikar

TiE Silicon Valley hosted its February Mentor Connect session on February 27, featuring Vinita Paunikar, former Senior Vice President of Engineering at Oracle America and recognized by Business Insider as one of the “26 Most Powerful Female Engineers in the U.S.”

Six founders joined Vinita for focused 1:1 mentorship sessions, exploring challenges and opportunities around product strategy, AI transformation, SaaS platforms, and scaling enterprise-grade technology. The discussions provided founders with practical guidance on building resilient product roadmaps, strengthening technical infrastructure, and aligning innovation with real customer value.

With leadership experience spanning Oracle, VMware, Microsoft, and Sybase, Vinita brought a powerful combination of deep engineering expertise and enterprise-scale product leadership. Founders benefited from her insights on translating customer needs into impactful product strategies, building high-performing teams, and leveraging AI/ML to drive operational efficiency and long-term growth.

The conversations were candid and highly tactical, helping founders pressure-test assumptions, prioritize next steps, and think more strategically about how to scale their ventures in competitive technology markets.

Participating Founders

Mentor Connect continues to provide founders with direct access to experienced leaders who have built and scaled complex technology organizations. Each session is designed to deliver practical feedback, real-world perspective, and actionable insights that help founders move forward with clarity and confidence.