In this episode of the Sunny Ray Show, Sunny sits down with Gaurav, founder of Shelfex, an AI powered retail execution platform for consumer packaged goods companies. Gaurav shares his path from growing up in Delhi and working in a family sales execution business to building his third startup, this time using AI despite having a fashion design background rather than an engineering one. He explains how Shelfex helps CPG brands like Pepsi or Coke close the visibility gap between planned shelf merchandising and what actually appears in stores, using computer vision, mobile scanning, and a proprietary 3D mapping tool for entire retail outlets. The conversation moves into Gaurav's genuine fascination with robotics and humanoid technology, his skepticism that today's AI is anything close to its final form, and his belief that full self driving style intelligence, not hardcoded systems, is the real frontier. He closes by discussing the fundraising challenges of running a US registered company with an India based team, and the progress of Shelfex's early funding rounds.
Gaurav explains how Shelfex uses AI and 3D mapping to fix retail shelf blind spots for CPG brands worldwide.
Can you give a quick overview of yourself and your company Shelfex?
I'm a simple guy trying to build a fulfilling life. My company is Shelfex, reachable at shelfexecution.com. We're building an operating system for CPGs to run their sales pipeline, giving real time sales execution across retail and online, eventually feeding into an omnichannel strategy and our future product, ShelfAmp, which will optimize ad spend and customer acquisition cost.
Where did you grow up and what was your path before entrepreneurship and tech?
I grew up in Delhi and later lived in Gurgaon, which has a lot of tech talent. My ex-wife's family was in the sales execution business, not tech, and gave me a role there. That's where I learned sales execution as an industry and started thinking about how technology, especially AI, could transform it.
Was ChatGPT your 'aha moment' with AI like it was for most people?
No, ChatGPT was not my aha moment. I was among the first to download it but wasn't fascinated. I've been curious about AI from the beginning. Honestly I'm still not fascinated with AI itself, I think it's in very early stages and we're only beginning to learn how it will transform the world.
What draws you to robotics specifically?
I'm fascinated by human anatomy, how perfect the body is, which pulls me toward humanoid robotics. Our hand alone has over 150 motors, all controlled from the forearm, which is an incredible piece of machinery to replicate. I spent eight years earlier in my career selling robots to university professors and deans worldwide.
Is robotics part of Shelfex's roadmap or just a personal interest?
Robotics is definitely in Shelfex's future. We can't scale to the level we want without it. Right now sales reps use our app to photograph shelves, but eventually we'll need continuous shelf presence through robots or installed cameras to really know in real time what's on the shelf at all times.
What exact problem does Shelfex solve for CPG companies?
CPGs like Pepsi supply products to retailers under agreed shelf placement plans, but they have a blind spot, they don't know if that compliance is actually happening on the shelf. Instead of a rep spending 30 minutes checking manually, our app lets them click a photo or video and instantly get the gap analysis and insights.
How does the AI or computer vision actually work in your application?
Sales reps use our mobile app to photograph or video the shelf, aisle, or entire outlet. Our computer vision then evaluates real product presence versus what was planned. We can even generate a full 3D map of an entire outlet, even 200,000 square feet, overlaying planned versus actual performance across every aisle.
What's been the biggest challenge in building Shelfex?
Fundraising has been the biggest challenge, nothing else. Business comes if you put in the effort. Because we're a US company operating with a team in India, Indian VCs faced regulatory hurdles investing in us. We recently closed an angel round and just got our first check for our seed round.
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