From Student to CEO: Building the Campus AI Ecosystem | Ep. 101

Mar 13, 2026

Kavitta Ghai, co-founder and CEO of Nectar, built a campus AI operating system after experiencing time poverty as a student. She discusses scaling AI support across 116 community colleges, integrating assistants into LMS platforms, and creating document‑grounded tutoring, advising, and career coaching. Short talks cover technical interoperability, measurable student outcomes, and plans to expand into K‑12 and nationwide.

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ANECDOTE

Slack For Schools Scaled Overnight During COVID

Pre-AI Nectar began as a Slack-for-schools hub where class channels stored peer, TA, and professor Q&A.
During COVID UCSB onboarded 20,000 students in a week and later signed a 10-year contract.

INSIGHT

RAG Grounding Restores Faculty Trust

Nectar evolved to an AI operating system with document-only RAG so class assistants answer from teacher-provided materials.
Teachers upload syllabus/textbook so AI answers are grounded and not shared with LLM providers.

ADVICE

Meet Faculty Where They Already Work

Embed AI inside the LMS and let teachers create class-specific assistants in minutes.
Nectar's LTI integration appears in Canvas/Moodle/Blackboard so faculty meet AI in their daily workflow.

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