Prukalpa Sankar

Building the context layer for AI and data

About

I'm the co-founder and co-CEO of Atlan, where we're building the missing context layer for data and AI. We help the humans (and increasingly, the AI agents) of data do their best work together.

Atlan is the fastest-growing company in our space and is a leader across all major analyst quadrants—including both Forrester Waves and both Gartner Magic Quadrants in 2025-2026. We're trusted by enterprises like Mastercard, JP Morgan, Zoom, Dropbox, General Motors and Workday.

Before Atlan, I co-founded SocialCops, a data for good company where we built India's National Data Platform, the UN's Sustainable Development Goals tracker and drove data for good projects across 50+ countries impacting a billion people. We processed data for 500 million citizens and billions of pixels of satellite imagery—and learned firsthand how chaotic data collaboration really is.

We're backed by Insight Partners, Sequoia, GIC, and Salesforce Ventures, and honored to count the founders of Snowflake, Looker, and Datadog among our investors.

I write about data & AI teams, culture, metadata, governance, and leadership. I hope to become a published author someday—realized early that fiction wasn't my thing, so I'm trying to do cool stuff with my life that someday becomes worthy of a book.

"Context is King."

Writing

I publish Metadata Weekly, a newsletter on the modern data stack, governance, and the future of AI-native infrastructure.

View all writing →

Talks & Podcasts

National Geographic Documentary · 2022
TED Talks India Nayi Soch · 2017
World of DaaS with Auren Hoffman · Jul 2025
TechCrunch Found · Sep 2024
PMF Conversations with Sajith Pai
Analytics Power Hour

Recognition

Woman Ahead Award
ET Startup Awards 2025
Person to Watch in Big Data
BigDATAwire 2025
Gen.T Leaders of Tomorrow
Tatler Singapore 2025
50 CEOs to Watch
Pavilion 2024
Forbes 30 Under 30
Forbes Asia
Fortune 40 Under 40
Fortune India
TED Speaker
TED Talks India & TEDxGateway
Global Visionary
New York Times

Bookshelf & Podcasts

Books and podcasts that have shaped how I think about building companies, leading teams, and understanding the world.

Books I've Written

A practical guide to building governance foundations for the AI era—covering everything from metadata strategy to operationalizing data trust at scale. Available on Kindle.

A children's book about my journey using data to solve community problems—written by Shreyasi Singh to inspire the next generation of data leaders.

Building & Leadership

Get A Grip Gino Wickman & Mike Paton
Radical Candor Kim Scott
7 Powers Hamilton Helmer
Playing to Win A.G. Lafley & Roger L. Martin

Startup Stories

The PayPal Wars Eric M. Jackson
Elon Musk Walter Isaacson
Founders Podcast David Senra
Acquired Podcast Ben Gilbert & David Rosenthal

Thinking & Growth

Life & Purpose

Man's Search for Meaning Viktor Frankl
Option B Sheryl Sandberg & Adam Grant
Happy Ever After Paul Dolan
Same as Ever Morgan Housel
Huberman Lab Podcast Andrew Huberman

Fiction

Harry Potter Series J.K. Rowling
Fourth Wing Rebecca Yarros
Throne of Glass Series Sarah J. Maas
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo Taylor Jenkins Reid
Lily Evans and the Elf-nymph Necklace Sohara von Salienta (fanfiction)

Connect