Manish Patel

Partner

at Nava

As a Silicon Valley veteran, I have been fortunate to lead teams that have designed, developed, and scaled products with global impact from enterprise advertising systems like AdWords to consumer experiences like Google Maps. I have a particular passion for those products and technologies that address deep human needs and then evolve to become a part of our everyday life. I focus on solving problems at the intersection of technology, business, and the human experience.

California

AI & Data Science, DTC (Direct-to-Consumer), SaaS & B2B Marketplace, Social Media & Community Platforms

Product designRaising Early Stage Capital

Articles by Manish Patel

7 Steps to Build a Product That Sells Itself

In our latest session from the Mucker Growth Series featuring Ethan Smith from Graphite, we explored AEO, a significant new approach for optimizing visibility in AI-driven search, particularly relevant as...

The Founder’s Mental Health Playbook: What I Learned After Nearly Burning Out

A hard-won guide to staying mentally healthy while building a startup I founded Stitcher, the podcast platform, in 2007 and ran it for seven years until we sold in 2014....

Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) for Early Stage Companies

Startup Guide to AI Visibility: Be the Brand ChatGPT Recommends

Introduction Today, users aren’t just searching on Google. They’re asking ChatGPT, Claude, Google’s Gemini, Perplexity, and other AI systems for advice. AI visibility is the new frontier of brand awareness....

Practical Uses of AI & Automation for Startup Operations

In a recent Mucker Growth Series session, we invited Rock Vitale, Founder & CEO of Easie, to share how he’s helped early-stage teams move from manual, fragmented workflows to streamlined,...

2025 New York Tech Week Recap Of Mucker Sessions

Last week during New York Tech Week 2025, we joined more than 1,000 events hosted by founders, investors, and VCs. This post is a full Mucker recap of the three...