Strategist · Entrepreneur

AI is getting a body. Strategy has to catch up.

More than a decade shaping strategy in a dozen countries.

Strategist and entrepreneur. I've built strategy and new businesses at Bosch and Schneider Electric, and today I'm building Skillstr. My current big-ticket focus: how physical AI is reshaping industries.

Portrait of Manu Menon

Featured in

Red FM nasscom Bosch FutureSkills Prime EDHEC Business School Product Leaders Forum TechEx

The big theme · Physical AI reshaping industries

Machines that move and think.

AI learned to talk on screens. Now it is moving into cars, factories and homes. Every company that builds physical things has to decide what that means.

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Coming next

  1. 01Why physical AI is the next platform shift
  2. 02The humanoid question every industrial company will face
  3. 03What the software-defined vehicle can teach robotics
  4. 04Who captures the value in a humanoid robot

Built on what I've already written

Insights

Essays on technology, strategy and leadership. Also published by nasscom and Bosch.

All insights →
Technology · SDV
October 2026
The car is becoming a supercomputer on wheels From a hundred control units to a few central brains. Who will own the brain?
Strategy · #BuildInBharat
October 2026
GCC 4.0: from cost centre to command centre India's capability centres moved from cost to capability. Next comes accountability.
Strategy · AI
March 2026
In AI, defaults win The AI race may be decided by distribution and defaults, not benchmarks.

Speaker reel

Beyond the Desk

Full episode on YouTube ↗

How to build a personal playbook when AI rewrites the job.

Red FM's leadership series, in full.

The shorts

Purpose, impact, and why money is just a byproduct.
Will AI replace jobs? Why skills matter more than ever.
“A champion always shows up.” Consistency, discipline, growth.

The ground covered

More than a decade.
A dozen countries.
Three continents.

Strategy is local before it is global. I've built it across Europe and Asia, with teams in every time zone.

Europe

Germany
France
Netherlands

Asia & Middle East

Japan
Singapore
Hong Kong
China
India
UAE
Qatar

Americas

Mexico
United States

Built at

Bosch Schneider Electric

Educated at

EDHEC Business School National Institute of Technology Warangal UC Berkeley
  1. 2011–2012

    National Industrial Gas Plants

    Operations intern · Doha, Qatar

  2. 2014–2015

    bmp Consultants

    Strategy consultant, VC-backed consulting arm · Germany, France, Netherlands

  3. 2016–2017

    Schneider Electric

    Strategic marketing consultant · Hong Kong, France, India, UAE

  4. 2018–2024

    Bosch

    Strategy manager to head of strategy · India, Germany, Singapore, China, Mexico

  5. 2025–now

    Skillstr

    Founder and CEO · independent strategy advisor · trainer

€3.5B+

Bosch business whose market and competitive intelligence I led

0 → 1

AI-driven IoT mobility product, built and run for the EU, US and Japan

€500M+

Field-service business across 20+ Asia-Pacific countries

Strategist & entrepreneur

What I do

My story →

Build

Skillstr: AI that helps professionals lead better at work. Founder and CEO.

Advise →

Where to play and how to win, as AI gets a body.

Write

Essays on physical AI, humanoids and the software-defined vehicle.

Speak

Keynotes, panels, podcasts and guest lectures across Europe and Asia.

Train →

60+ leadership and design-thinking programmes on three continents.

Machines That Move. A monthly letter on physical AI, humanoids and software-defined vehicles.

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