#45 Building the Ability to Navigate Outcomes: The Intelligence Node Journey

In 2019, we at Cornerstone Ventures made a decision that would come to define one of our core beliefs as a fund: that early-stage investing is, above all else, a game of conviction.

At the time, we partnered with Intelligence Node — a retail AI and pricing intelligence company building world-class technology from India, with a global-first mindset. The problem they were solving was massive: helping retailers and brands make smarter, real-time pricing decisions in a digital-first world. From the outset, their clarity of purpose and ambition stood out. This wasn’t just a startup trying to ride a trend. This was a team building toward category leadership in a space they knew deeply.

Fast forward to today — Intelligence Node has been acquired by Interpublic Group (IPG) in a transaction valued at nearly $100 million. It marks a meaningful outcome for the founders, the team, and for us at Cornerstone. But more than the destination, it’s the journey — and the decisions we made along the way — that we want to reflect on.

Backing Our Conviction — Not Waiting for Consensus

In venture, it’s easy to follow the crowd. Much harder to trust your own judgment — especially when market sentiment isn’t aligned.

With Intelligence Node, we didn’t wait for external validation. We led early and continued backing the company across multiple rounds. Each time, we looked at the fundamentals — strong customer adoption, expanding use cases, and a deep tech stack that delivered measurable outcomes. Between 2019 and our exit, the company grew 5X in topline — an impressive trajectory in any market.

This growth was only possible through the leadership and resilience of the founders, Sanjeev and Yasen. Whether it was identifying silver linings during the trenches of the pandemic or having the courage to take hard calls — including letting go of tail-end but bleeding customer accounts — they showed high-agency leadership in action.

Yet despite these strong fundamentals, the external environment wasn’t always friendly. There were times when the capital ecosystem became cautious, particularly as the global SaaS multiples went through a reset. Many would have sat back and waited for the next lead investor to emerge. We leaned in. Because our conviction wasn’t outsourced — it was built from the ground up.

Navigating Outcomes in Dynamic Markets

One of the defining moments in our journey came not during a fundraise, but during a candid conversation.

By 2022–2023, it was clear that the global markets were in a corrective phase. Raising a large round at that point — despite Intelligence Node’s growth — would have meant compromising on either valuation or strategy. That’s when we, along with the founder, chose a different path.

Instead of chasing capital in a tough environment, we chose to explore strategic outcomes. This wasn’t a decision made out of desperation, but out of foresight. We had built a solid business, and we wanted to ensure the next phase of its growth was supported by the right partner and a right home for the founders.

To support this journey, we doubled down — giving the company the time, space, and resources to find the right fit. We believed Intelligence Node had the right to win, and as a fund, we stayed proactive in shaping outcomes for our portfolio rather than waiting on others to act.

Throughout, we were aligned not just on the numbers, but on the vision. Sanjeev took on the responsibility with conviction, working tirelessly to ensure that all stakeholders were aligned in securing a long-term strategic partner.

A Thoughtful Exit, A Stronger Future

The acquisition by IPG validates everything we believed about Intelligence Node — the strength of the product, the quality of the team, and the scale of the opportunity.

While we did receive offers from multiple global players, we chose to partner with the world's largest advertising and marketing services conglomerate. Intelligence Node's real-time insights into product attributes, pricing, promotions, availability, and consumer sentiment are a natural compliment to IPG's creativity led solutions, to the world's largest brands.

For us as investors, this outcome reflects more than a return. It reflects the value of true founder-investor alignment. It speaks to the importance of building optionality into a company’s journey — and having the courage to act when the time is right.

We’re proud to have been part of this chapter. And prouder still that we did it in a way that stayed true to our core beliefs.

Key Takeaways - How we are applying it to our investment thinking

As venture investors, we often talk about conviction. But it’s in moments of uncertainty that conviction is truly tested.

Our experience with Intelligence Node reinforced that patient capital, paired with high-agency founders, can build real value. That timing matters — but alignment matters more. And that exits don’t have to be reactive; they can be deliberate, strategic, and collaborative.

In the value proposition stack, the company fits in the business decision layer i.e. platforms that drive actionable insights that can unlock rapid scale and deliver clear customer ROI. In this layer, we typically look for companies that have (1) the potential to grow outward — i.e., to go global — as Intelligence Node clearly demonstrated with some of the largest global retailers under their belt during our investment period; and (2) the extent of growth they can achieve independently, and how that can be multiplied under a larger umbrella.

During the journey, it reached a point where the growth path made more sense in a larger platform than a standalone company — a moment of clarity that informed our strategic exit approach. That’s a lens I now actively coach my teams to apply across our portfolio: not just tracking topline metrics, but identifying when a company may need structural leverage to unlock the next level of scale. These are the drivers we look for today, both at entry and as part of our ongoing monitoring.

These principles continue to shape how we partner with founders, how we think about long-term value, and how we design for outcomes — not just valuations.

To the team at Intelligence Node — thank you for letting us be part of your story. We’ll be cheering you on in this next phase and beyond.

~ Nanika

Learn more about: Cornerstone Ventures | CGES Index