When the market isn’t ready…yet
Sameer Ranjan started selling software before he even knew the word “entrepreneurship.”
At 16, he noticed a gap: students in Indian schools didn’t have access to shared information across institutions. So he and a friend built a basic web app and pitched it to school administrators.
“That was my first taste of building something and trying to sell it,” he says. “And I learned fast—building is easy. Selling is hard.”
That lesson never stopped showing up.
Today, Sameer is the founder of Catenate, a behavioral science platform that helps companies assess and develop soft skills—using AI, psychology, and real-world behavioral frameworks.
He built it in 2021, at a time when few people were talking about soft skills or preparing for a world where AI might reshape hiring.
“We couldn’t get anyone to care,” he says. “Nobody understood why it mattered yet.”
But he kept going.
Kept building. Kept listening.
Three years later, the world caught up.
AI is everywhere. Job displacement is real. And suddenly, everyone is asking the same question Sameer built Catenate to answer:
What makes a human uniquely valuable in the workplace?
And now, people are paying attention.
But the three years in between? That was the test.
“There’s no limit to how high the highs are—and no limit to how low the lows are,” he says. “One day you feel invincible. The next, no one’s picking up the phone.”
It wasn’t his first time riding that wave.
Sameer built a nonprofit at 18 that grew to 400 volunteers, teaching 12,000 students a day. He built a Covid-era CRM for shopkeepers while finishing grad school in Dallas. He built, launched, failed, learned—on repeat.
But the hardest part wasn’t the technology. It was emotional stamina.
“I had to learn something I now call acceptance,” he says. “It took me years to realize I could be doing everything right and still not see results—yet.”
That’s what makes his perspective rare.
Sameer doesn’t just talk about persistence—he lives it.
He doesn’t believe in “overnight success.” He believes in staying long enough for the world to catch up.
He also believes most entrepreneurs are suffering in silence.
“Founders are the loneliest people in the world,” he says. “I’ve seen people mortgage their homes for their startups, lose family support, lose their identity. And no one talks about it.”
So he’s changing that too.
Sameer’s mission isn’t just to scale Catenate—it’s to be the person other founders can call when it gets hard. Not as a coach. Not as a mentor. As a friend. As someone who’s been there.
“We need more humans in entrepreneurship. Not just products, not just pitches. Real people who get it.”
Sameer’s not chasing validation.
He’s building value—quietly, intentionally, and on his own terms.
He’s also got a North Star:
When the Texas Stock Exchange opens in 2027, he wants Catenate to be the first company to ring the bell.
It’s bold. It’s early. But if you’ve ever talked to Sameer, you know better than to bet against him.
This is what underestimated looks like.
Let’s Thrive,
—Eric
Want to chat and see if we're a fit? https://www.thrivers.co/check-the-vibe
