Ani Bhalekar is the founder and CEO of EliteFit.AI, an AI-driven virtual personal trainer that integrates into healthcare, fitness, insurance, and sports apps.

The company was part of IMDA’s Spark program.

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👋🏼 How would you explain your job to someone outside tech?

I run a company that helps people get trained in physiotherapy or fitness/yoga/dance/sports training using AI in the comfort and privacy of their homes.

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🧐 What's something about you or your job that would surprise us?

I spent 18 days on a train once which dropped me off at the same place that it picked me up from.

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🏆 What has been the biggest highlight of your career so far?

Undoubtedly it has been the journey of taking an idea that emerged from a personal unmet need to a profitable company—EliteFit.AI—in three years' time.

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🔍 What's a startup trend or space you're watching this year?‍

GenAI specifically text to rich media models like Sora, which is an AI model that can create realistic and imaginative scenes from text instructions. 

This has the capability of disrupting many industries like the smartphone did. 

Also, not too dissimilar from the smartphone space, I believe it will be a winner-takes-all model.

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💼 What advice would you give someone starting out in your industry? 

AI or die.

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🗣 What's one thing you can keep talking about for hours? 

Tech, product, -isms, travel destinations, and Singapore!

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🎥 What's your favorite movie/TV show? 

I grew up with the original Star Wars trilogy so it is a favorite. 

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I can't say that about the trilogy of trilogies or everything else that followed after.

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🍨 What's your go-to ice cream flavor?‍

Dark chocolate.

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FYI. We've edited this interview for clarity.