# Nikhil Sethi

> Nikhil Sethi is the co-founder and CEO of Workgrounds, a New York startup using AI to automate the slow, phone-and-email world of corporate hotel room block booking. He is a repeat founder: alongside Garrett Ullom he built the adtech company Adaptly from a Northwestern dorm room into a 200-person business serving brands like PepsiCo, Fox, and Domino's before Accenture acquired it in 2018. After running global programmatic services at Accenture, he reunited with Ullom in 2022 to attack a problem they had both lived through - the painful logistics of booking group travel - raising $2.6M to launch Workgrounds.

- **Role:** Co-Founder and CEO at Workgrounds
- **Organizations:** Workgrounds, Adaptly, Accenture, deftly.vc (LP)
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** Electrical Engineering, Northwestern University
- **Known for:** Co-founded and scaled Adaptly from a college concept to a 200-person adtech company over nine years, Led Adaptly to a successful exit via acquisition by Accenture in 2018, Served as Managing Director, Global Programmatic Services Lead at Accenture

## Career timeline

- **2010** — Co-founded Adaptly with Garrett Ullom while undergraduates at Northwestern University
- **2010-2018** — Built Adaptly into a leading adtech platform with 150-200+ employees, serving brands including PepsiCo, Fox, Domino's and Philips
- **2018** — Accenture acquired Adaptly
- **2019** — Became Managing Director, Global Programmatic Services Lead at Accenture
- **2022** — Co-founded Workgrounds with Garrett Ullom to automate group travel and hotel room block management
- **2024** — Launched Workgrounds publicly and raised a $2.6M pre-seed round

## Achievements

- Co-founded and scaled Adaptly from a college concept to a 200-person adtech company over nine years
- Led Adaptly to a successful exit via acquisition by Accenture in 2018
- Served as Managing Director, Global Programmatic Services Lead at Accenture
- Co-founded Workgrounds and raised $2.6M from Oceans Ventures, Hannah Grey, Volo Ventures and deftly.vc
- Built Workgrounds to deliver group hotel savings of up to ~31% through AI automation

## Latest updates

- **2024-11** — Workgrounds raised $2.6M pre-seed round and launched publicly
- **2026** — Listed as a speaker at Transform 2026, discussing the future of work, remote leadership and AI in group travel

## Links

- Website: https://workgrounds.com
- LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/niksethi
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/nsethi
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GqusI8c2u4

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/nikhil-sethi
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-06-21