Scaling Through Partnership and Proximity with Nectir Co-founder Kavitta Ghai | GSVtv Podcast

Can AI improve student success, increase college retention, and make personalized learning accessible to every student?

Kavitta Ghai—Co-founder and CEO of Nectir, the 2026 GSV Cup Fan Favorite in the Higher Education category—joins Electra Frelinghuysen, Director of Product at GSV, to discuss how Nectir's very personal founding story has grown to transform higher education through personalized student support, faculty-led AI adoption, and scalable AI infrastructure.

In this GSVtv podcast, Kavitta shares how she co-founded Nectir as a student at UC Santa Barbara and transformed a classroom communication platform into an AI-powered education solution designed to provide students with 24/7 academic support. She explains why successful AI integration in education starts with faculty: how educators can (and should) customize AI teaching assistants to align with their curriculum, and why academic freedom is essential to improving learning outcomes.

The conversation explores Nectir's partnership with the California Community Colleges, including a research study involving 56 community colleges and 21,000 students that examined how AI adoption, faculty professional development, and pedagogical alignment influence course success and student retention.

Kavitta also introduces Mapper GPT, an AI-powered college and career pathway planning tool designed to help students navigate course selection, transfer credits, degree completion, and workforce opportunities. By combining academic pathways with labor market data and personalized career guidance, Mapper GPT aims to make higher education more accessible, affordable, and connected to future employment.

From AI teaching assistants and student retention to responsible AI implementation, community college innovation, and the future of work, this conversation examines what it takes to make AI genuinely useful for students, faculty, and institutions.