pixel-art portrait of Prithvi Datla

builder, seller, operator

i have spent my career on two sides: shipping digital products at AT&T and Verizon, and running businesses. i headed sales at a FinOps startup, operated a family office, and founded my own: an AI services firm, a voice AI startup, short-term rentals, a boutique hotel and a restaurant. full history.

now building and running experiments in AI, robotics, and algorithmic distribution in san francisco.

i am a published photographer, an avid surfer, golfer and diver, and a typewriter nerd.

recent

  1. 2026

    founded Dinealog, a restaurant voice agent, and KiloByte, an applied-AI firm. both wound down in august 2026.

past

  1. apr 2025 – mar 2026

    CSO at Heeddata, a multi-cloud FinOps platform.

  2. 2024–25

    interim operator, family wealth office.

  3. 2023–24

    owner, general manager and executive chef, Velvet House Tulum, Mexico's best Indian restaurant.

  4. 2017–24

    Airbnb Superhost, my own hospitality business: 18 straight quarters, $9K into $1.3M revenue over seven years.

  5. 2021–23

    founder and general partner, VVSR Investments: $1.5M raised for a Tulum hotel, exited at 30%, finished as Arka Tulum.

  6. 2018–21

    lead product manager, Verizon: a cross-sell platform i helped ship became a $120M line of business.

  7. 2016–17

    Cornell Tech MBA.

  8. 2010–16

    senior product manager, AT&T: joined the ecommerce catalog and digital ops team as member #3.

  9. 2008–10

    edtech first product seat: 4K to 140K monthly traffic, $300K to $2.7M ARR in ten months.

full history

projects

all projects

photographs

all photographs
A woman looking at the camera in low lightPosters on a red brick wallRows of typewriters on a workbench, from aboveAn elephant walking through green grassA man under scaffolding at nightPainted statues on top of a temple tower

notes

all 22

short musings and longer essays. the recipes are here.