In the race to implement artificial intelligence across industries, most of the attention has gone to consumer tech, automation tools, and enterprise platforms. But the sectors that power everyday life—utilities, mining, energy, and water—often remain on the margins of innovation. They are complex, infrastructure-heavy, and too often overlooked in the conversation around digital transformation.
Yet, these industries hold the key to solving some of the most urgent challenges of our time, from climate resilience to sustainable energy distribution. They also represent massive untapped potential for job creation, economic output, and inclusive innovation, if approached with intention and a deep understanding of local context.
This is where Agents Stack is carving its path. At the intersection of AI, infrastructure, and impact, the company is bringing purpose-built technology to industries that have traditionally lagged. And at the helm of this transformation is Aanchal Gupta, a founder driven by lived experience, global insight, and a clear vision for how AI can serve people first, not just profit.
A Foundation of Restlessness and Resolve
Aanchal Gupta has always been an explorer. Not just of places, but of systems, people, and possibilities. Long before she launched Agents Stack, she was already charting her own course both literally and professionally. Having travelled across 40 countries and grown up traversing every corner of India, her innate curiosity shaped her worldview early on.
“I’ve always been fascinated by how things work, how ideas move, how problems get solved, and why they often don’t,” she says. This curiosity led her to McKinsey & Company, where she spent formative years helping Fortune 100 clients address some of their toughest challenges.
Her professional experiences spanned not just industries but continents. From operational strategy roles at GE, Dow Chemicals, and Halliburton to transformative tech leadership positions at Cloudflare and Tulip. Across these roles, she built a reputation for turning complexity into clarity and insight into execution. Yet, something remained unfinished. “I always felt the need to see the end-to-end impact. I wanted to move beyond advisory and be part of the execution loop,” she recalls.
That realization, along with a decade-long desire to build something of her own, laid the foundation for Agents Stack. But it was the evolution of AI, particularly the removal of coding barriers, that made the timing feel right. “I’ve wanted to build for years. But I’m not a coder. Now, AI has flattened that entry point for people like me who want to solve high-value problems without needing to write software from scratch.”
Built in Asia, for Asia and the World
Based in Singapore, where she has lived for nearly a decade, Aanchal Gupta chose to build Agents Stack with a clear regional focus. It was not just about proximity to her roots in India. She recognised a structural gap in how enterprise technology was being shaped and deployed.
“Global products are great, but their adoption across Asia often falls flat because local context is missing. We’re flipping that equation by building with user feedback from Asia at the centre,” she explains. Agents Stack focuses on AI-led digital transformation for critical infrastructure sectors such as Power, Water, mining, utilities, Retail, Telco and more. These are areas where technology has traditionally lagged but where the impact of transformation is deeply tangible. With sustainability and security as core pillars, the company aims to improve operations and reimagine how industrial workforces function in the AI era.
The goal is ambitious. Agents Stack aims to create a 100-million-strong industrial workforce empowered by AI by 2029. But Aanchal Gupta believes it is achievable with the right people, aligned incentives, and a shared sense of purpose.
A Culture of ALIGNMENT
At the heart of Agents Stack lies a value framework that Aanchal calls ALIGNMENT. It isn’t just a leadership philosophy. It is the blueprint for how the company hires, builds, communicates, and grows.
Each letter in ALIGNMENT represents a core principle:
- A – Autonomy with accountability: Trust is a given. Teams are empowered to lead their work, with ownership tied to impact.
- L – Lifelong learning: Curiosity drives growth. Reflection, iteration, and a willingness to adapt are actively encouraged.
- I – Integrity without ego: Doing what’s right takes precedence over being right. The work comes before recognition.
- G – Grit and grace in problem solving: Complex problems are met with resilience and empathy, especially in human-centric sectors.
- N – Natural transparency: Communication is open, early, and honest. Information is shared to build clarity, not control.
- M – Mission-driven impact: Each project must contribute meaningfully. Work is measured by its ability to shift systems, not just outputs.
- E – Empathy in action: Listening, adapting, and designing with people in mind are essential to how solutions are created.
- N – Nimble collaboration: Fast execution, faster learning. Silos are replaced with shared responsibility and open feedback loops.
- T – Tech for simplicity: Technology is used to reduce friction. If it complicates the process, it gets redesigned.
“ALIGNMENT isn’t just our structure. It’s our superpower,”
Aanchal Gupta
Bootstrapped Confidence and Long-term Thinking
Starting a company is hard. Doing it as a woman founder in a region where most investors haven’t seen female tech leaders at scale adds an extra layer of difficulty. Aanchal is candid about the challenges. “I come from one of the most traditional states in India. Convincing my family was the first big step. The investor community here often doesn’t know how to back ambitious women.”
Rather than spend time convincing the wrong stakeholders, she made a deliberate decision. Agents Stack would remain bootstrapped, supported by personal debt, and would grow with patience rather than pressure. It is not a model for everyone, but it worked for her. Having self-funded her education through debt, she was comfortable with financial risk and confident in her ability to repay. This decision allowed her to focus on building the right team, product, and culture without the distraction of short-term metrics.
People First, Always
Of all the milestones the company has reached so far, Aanchal Gupta is most proud of the team. Each member was brought on not just for what they could do but for why they wanted to do it. “We’ve built a team of high performers who lead with integrity and leave their egos at the door.”
Diversity is not an agenda item. It is simply how the company operates. With representation from across Asia and an inclusive mindset shaped by prior global experience, the leadership team has created a culture where everyone feels seen and heard. Young talent also plays a key role. By making the workplace accessible, relevant, and purposeful, Agents Stack is attracting the next generation to industries they may never have considered before.
Applying AI where it Matters
AI can either widen inequalities or narrow them. At Agents Stack, the choice is clear. The company focuses on deploying AI in high-impact, underserved areas where it can generate jobs, reduce environmental risks, and improve overall economic outcomes.
Security is treated as a foundational layer. With AI increasingly being used by both attackers and defenders, the company partners with entrepreneurs who are dedicated to solving modern security challenges. One emerging trend is the secure remote access of air-gapped operational technologies. This enables broader workforce participation, especially from remote and younger talent pools.
Aanchal Gupta’s team is also focused on sustainability by design. By driving efficiency in supply chains and enabling local IP ownership, they are helping countries build digital sovereignty while solving real problems with local talent. Their approach to design centres around user experience. The goal is not to impress management but to make adoption seamless and intuitive for frontline workers.
Leading with Context and Compassion
Aanchal Gupta’s leadership style is rooted in lived experience. With two children and a global business to run, she has always believed that work and life should coexist rather than compete. “My kids grew up around Cloudflare. They came to the office regularly and knew everyone. It made work feel like home and home feel connected,” she says.
The early phase of company building required her to focus on legal structures and foundational processes—areas she admits are not her strongest suit. But now that the right functional leaders are in place, she is shifting back into strategy and growth. Her approach to balance is simple: focus on what she’s best at, delegate the rest, and include her family in the journey. Sarcasm helps, too. “I try to be sarcastic about my own problems. It keeps things in perspective,” she adds with a smile.
What lies ahead
Agents Stack is building for scale, but not at the cost of intention. As the company looks ahead, the roadmap is defined by deep ecosystem partnerships, long-term capability building, and meaningful local impact. The team is actively collaborating with governments and infrastructure giants to modernise legacy systems using AI, particularly in power and water. These are sectors with large public outcomes, where small efficiency gains can ripple into long-term savings and community well-being.
Expansion will not be limited by geography. Instead, it will be shaped by purpose. The company is already exploring partnerships with local talent development agencies to support workforce reskilling at scale, especially in regions where the transition to AI might otherwise leave gaps. Product-wise, the focus will remain on usability and adoption speed. Instead of overengineering features, Agents Stack prioritises intuitive interfaces that make sense to the people who use them most. Fast adoption leads to faster impact—and that’s the metric that matters.
An Open Letter to Women who want to Build
To aspiring women leaders, Aanchal Gupta offers grounded advice. “Find the right mentors early. Don’t be afraid to try things that feel unfamiliar. Be absolutely firm when it comes to ethics. That’s the only way to build something meaningful.”
For leaders seeking an optimum work-life balance, she adds: “Work and life should be knit together, not treated separately. Include your family in your work and pursue hobbies on the side. It helps maintain clarity and balance.” Nonetheless, she motivates readers to keep learning and never opt for shortcuts when it comes to ethics. Lastly, Aanchal enunciates on her financial philosophy, an equally important aspect in business as well as personal life, adding how she has tracked her net worth since her first internship. This gave her the freedom to build Agents Stack without external pressure and focus on long-term clarity.
Contact Details :
Email: aanchalgupta@agentsstack.com
Phone: +65 91292074
