Startup Project: Recent Episodes
Nataraj
Exploring the ideas, investments & strategies behind global Startups. Learn more and stay up to date at thestartupproject.io
Startup Project Podcast: Building AI Agents for Knowledge Workers with Lutra AIJiquan Ngiam joins Nataraj to discuss the future of AI, from the rise of deep learning to the potential of AI agents for knowledge workers. They delve into [Guest Name]'s experiences working with Andrew Ng at Coursera and Google Brain, where he witnessed the power of scaling up compute and data in pushing the boundaries of AI.Timestamps: 0:00 - Introduction: Nataraj welcomes [Guest Name] to the show and introduces his impressive background. 2:28 - Working with Andrew Ng: [Guest Name] shares his experience working with Andrew Ng, emphasizing Ng's foresight and focus on scaling up neural networks. 6:15 - The Importance of Data and Compute: [Guest Name] highlights how data and compute became key drivers in the success of AI, using the example of AlexNet's breakthrough in 2012. 12:25 - Democratizing Education with Coursera: [Guest Name] discusses the early days of Coursera and the team's vision for democratizing access to education, especially in fields like machine learning. 17:55 - Google Brain and the Rise of Transformers: [Guest Name] reflects on his time at Google Brain, where he witnessed the emergence of transformers and their potential for generalizing across modalities. 21:24 - The Limits of Scaling: [Guest Name] questions the future of AI scaling, suggesting that we may be approaching a point of diminishing returns due to data limitations and the difficulty of creating truly effective synthetic data. 28:13 - The Need for Data on Physical Tasks: [Guest Name] proposes a bold idea: collecting real-world data on mundane tasks to train AI agents for robotics and other applications that require replicating human behavior. 34:23 - Lutrei.ai: AI Agents for Knowledge Work: [Guest Name] introduces Lutrei.ai, an AI agent designed to assist knowledge workers with tasks like research, data manipulation, and automation. 42:49 - Different Approaches to AI Agents: [Guest Name] compares Lutrei's approach to building AI agents with other common methods, highlighting the importance of separating data and logic for reliable and scalable solutions. 45:38 - Choosing the Right Models: [Guest Name] discusses the diverse landscape of AI models and how Lutrei leverages different models for different tasks, from small models for summarization to larger models for reasoning and planning. 52:04 - AI Code Generation: Cursor vs. GitHub Copilot: [Guest Name] shares his experience using Cursor, a code generation tool, and compares it to GitHub Copilot, highlighting the potential for AI to empower average developers. 1:00:16 - The Future of AI Code Generation: [Guest Name] predicts that AI code generation capabilities will become ubiquitous, and the key innovations will be in user experience and interaction design. 1:05:43 - Consuming Information: [Guest Name] shares his favorite sources of information, including podcasts, books, and news outlets. 1:08:44 - Mentorship and Learning: [Guest Name] reflects on the key mentors in his career, including Andrew Ng, Daphne Koller, and John Chen. 1:12:34 - Advice for Early Career Professionals: [Guest Name] advises young professionals to be voracious learners and prioritize gaining diverse experiences early in their careers. 1:16:21 - The Motivation Behind Lutrei: [Guest Name] explains his passion for pushing the boundaries of AI while simultaneously making it accessible and impactful for a wider audience. 1:18:33 - Closing Thoughts: Nataraj thanks [Guest Name] for sharing his insights and expresses his excitement for the future of Lutrei.ai.Don't miss this episode to learn more about the exciting things happening in gen AI and how it's poised to revolutionize the way we work!*
đŽ Dive into the future of gaming with Ian from High Score! đŽIn this episode of Startup Project, we explore:- The true size of the gaming industry (hint: it's HUGE!)- How cloud gaming is revolutionizing accessibility- The story behind High Score's innovative platform- Challenges faced by cloud gaming services like Google Stadia- Future trends in game development- Advice for aspiring game developersIan shares insider insights on:- Why gaming is now recognized as a pinnacle of artistic media- How High Score aims to bring PC gaming to any device- The bifurcation of the gaming industry between indies and AAA titlesWhether you're a gamer, a tech enthusiast, or an aspiring game developer, this episode is packed with valuable insights you won't want to miss!Don't forget to like, subscribe, and hit the notification bell to stay updated on our latest episodes featuring innovators in the startup world.
Website - https://thestartupproject.io/2024/08/17/80-end-of-gaming-pc-ambitious-vision-of-highscore-for-cloud-gaming/
Gaming #CloudGaming #StartupProject #TechInnovation #GameDevelopment #startups #cloud #opensource
Startup Project Podcast: Building a Scalable No-Code Backend with XanoJoin Natraj as he sits down with Prakash, the founder of Xano, a revolutionary no-code backend platform that's shaking up the software development landscape.This episode dives deep into:đ¸Xano's mission: Prakash explains how Xano empowers developers and citizen developers to build complex, scalable applications without writing code. He shares his insights on the challenges of traditional back-end development and how Xano addresses them.đ¸ Product Market Fit: Discover how Xano honed its unique approach to no-code and found its sweet spot in the market. Prakash shares the key decisions that led to their success and the specific user base they cater to.đ¸ AI's Impact on Development: Prakash offers a thought-provoking perspective on the role of AI in software development. He argues that AI is a powerful tool, but it needs a visual canvas like Xano to truly unleash its potential and bridge the gap between intention and execution.đ¸ Building a Sustainable Business: Hear how Xano is driving growth through content marketing, a thriving community, and a strategic focus on enterprise partnerships. Learn how they're building a marketplace for developers and coaches.đ¸ Lessons from a Founder: Prakash shares his invaluable advice for aspiring founders, emphasizing the importance of aligning yourself with your zone of excellence and embracing the long journey to success.This is a must-listen episode for anyone interested in the future of software development, the power of no-code, and the potential of AI in building scalable applications. Don't miss out!đ¸Follow Prakash: https://www.linkedin.com/in/prakawesome/đ¸About Nataraj: Nataraj is the host of the Startup Project Podcast, a platform dedicated to exploring exciting new technologies and innovative products. He is also an investor at Incisive VC, an angel investor, and a product manager with a passion for supporting entrepreneurs and fostering the growth of emerging businesses.đ¸đ¸đ¸https://www.linkedin.com/in/natarajsindam/Find more Startup Project Podcast episodes: https://thestartupproject.io/episodes/#startups #nocode #xano
đď¸ Startup Project Podcast - Episode with Shankar Somasundaram, CEO of AsimilyWelcome to another exciting episode of the Startup Project Podcast! In this episode, we have Shankar Somasundaram, the CEO and founder of Asimily, a company dedicated to providing visibility and security for medical IoT and OT devices. Shankar brings a wealth of experience from his time at Symantec and Qualcomm, and he shares his journey of founding Asimily and the innovative solutions they offer.đ Topics Covered:- Shankarâs background and journey from Symantec to founding Asimily.- The challenges and opportunities in securing medical IoT and OT devices.- The importance of cybersecurity in healthcare and other critical infrastructure.- Insights into the unique approaches Asimily takes to vulnerability management and incident response.- How Asimily integrates with existing systems to provide comprehensive security solutions.- Shankarâs thoughts on the future of smart cities and the role of connected devices.- The impact of regulations like HIPAA on healthcare security solutions.đĄ Key Takeaways:- The critical need for specialized security in heterogeneous environments like healthcare.- The evolution of connectivity and its implications for smart cities.- The importance of continuous innovation in the cybersecurity landscape.đ˘ Guest Bio:Shankar Somasundaram is the CEO and founder of Asimily. With a strong background in product and engineering, Shankar has been at the forefront of IoT security for over a decade. đ Connect with Shankar:LinkedIn: Shankar Somasundaram (https://www.linkedin.com/in/shankar-somasundaram-a7315b/)Asimily Website: asimily.comđ Connect with Nataraj:LinkedIn: Nataraj Sindam (https://www.linkedin.com/in/natarajsindam/)Website: thestartupproject.iođ Stay Tuned:Donât forget to like, subscribe, and hit the notification bell to stay updated with the latest episodes of the Startup Project Podcast.#StartupProject #Podcast #Cybersecurity #IoT #HealthcareSecurity #Asimily #SmartCities #Innovation #TechPodcast
--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/startupproject/message
Damon Lemby, CEO of Learn It, a company that has trained over 1.9 million individuals, shares his journey from professional baseball to the world of education, offering insights on leadership, learning, and the future of work.
The Power of the "Learn It All" Mindset
Lemby argues that the key to success in today's dynamic world is not being a "know-it-all," but embracing a "learn it all" mindset. This means being humble, curious, and constantly seeking new knowledge. He emphasizes that this approach is crucial for navigating the rapid changes in the business world, especially with the rise of AI.
Overcoming Imposter Syndrome: A Practical Framework
Recognizing that imposter syndrome is a common struggle, Lemby outlines a three-step framework for overcoming it:
- Identify the Source: Clearly define what you're worried about.
- Purposeful Awfulizing: Imagine the worst-case scenario and determine if you can handle it.
- Work Hard, Focus, & Let Go: Put in the effort, practice, and release the need for perfection.
Navigating AI and the Future of Work
Lemby believes that while AI will significantly impact the workforce, those who adapt and learn to leverage it will thrive. He advises companies to empower their employees with access to AI tools and encourage them to explore these technologies.
Building Trust and Elite Teams
Lemby emphasizes that a company is not a family, but a team that needs to be constantly evolving. He encourages leaders to build high-performing teams, recognizing that sometimes this may involve letting go of individuals who have reached their capacity within the organization. He also underscores the importance of giving people the benefit of the doubt, acknowledging that building trust is essential for long-term success.
Invest in Your Growth:
Lemby encourages listeners to invest in their own development, read biographies of successful individuals, and constantly seek new knowledge. He also shares his own investment philosophy, focusing on seed-stage companies and traditional businesses with a strong leadership team and a solid market fit.
Key Takeaways:
- Embrace a "learn it all" mindset for success in a dynamic world.
- Conquer imposter syndrome with a practical framework.
- Leverage AI for growth and prepare for the future of work.
- Build elite teams and trust your employees.
- Invest in your own development and seek out new knowledge.
This conversation with Damon Lemby offers valuable insights for entrepreneurs, leaders, and anyone seeking to navigate the evolving business landscape.
--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/startupproject/message
In this episode of Startup Project, Nataraj sits down with SC Moatti, a serial entrepreneur, product manager, investor, and author. SC Moatti shares insights into his diverse career path, from building successful products to launching his own venture capital firm, Mighty Capital. In this episode, you'll learn:
- SC Moatti's journey from engineer to VC: Discover how he built a career spanning product management, entrepreneurship, and venture capital.
- The secret to picking winning startups: SC Moatti reveals how Mighty Capital identifies and invests in companies with a strong product vision.
- Essential product management skills: Get expert advice on building a great product and becoming a successful product manager.
- The future of AI: SC Moatti shares his thoughts on the biggest challenges and opportunities in the world of artificial intelligence.
Don't miss this insightful interview! Subscribe to Startup Project for more valuable content on building successful startups.Connect with SC Moatti: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scmoatti/Connect with Nataraj: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natarajsindam/#startup #venturecapital #productmanagement #ai #investing #siliconvalley #mightycapital #entrepreneurship #innovation
--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/startupproject/message
Satya, co-founder of Scispot, joins Startup Project's Nataraj to share his journey from leading a platform team at Expedia to starting a biotech company that solves data challenges for life science labs.In this episode, we discuss:
- Satya's unique career path, from fashion startup owner to data expert.
- The founding story of Scispot, tackling the problem of unanalyzed data in biotech.
- The YC experience and its valuable lessons, including the importance of market signals.
- Scispot's growth and traction, serving a diverse range of lab-based businesses.
- The exciting future of AI in biotech and Scispot's role in empowering innovation.
- Challenges and strategies for prioritizing features and building a sustainable platform.
- Building a company in Seattle and the evolving startup ecosystem.
- Advice for aspiring entrepreneurs interested in biotech and the power of fresh perspectives.
Tune in to learn about Scispot's vision for the future and Satya's insightful perspectives on entrepreneurship, data, and the evolving landscape of biotech.Connect with Satya: https://www.linkedin.com/in/satyaravisingh/Connect with Nataraj: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natarajsindam/
About the host: Nataraj is a Senior Product Manager and the host of the âStartup Projectâ podcast. He also invests in startups with Incisive.vc and writes â100 Days of AIâ, an educational series on AI.#biotech #startups #YC #entrepreneurship #data #AI #Seattle #SizePort #lifesciences #podcast #StartupProject
--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/startupproject/message
Startup Project Podcast: Episode Notes - Navigating the Shifting Investment Landscape with Sajid Rahman
Guest: Sajid Rahman - Top Angel Investor
Host: Nataraj - Senior Product Manager, Investor at Incisive.vc & Startup Advisor
Episode Overview:
Join us as we delve into the evolving world of startups and venture capital with Sajid Rahman, a prolific angel investor with over 1000 investments.
Key topics explored in this episode:
- Market Shift: Analyzing the transition from the funding boom to a more cautious investment environment. Exploring the prevalence of down rounds, the rise of secondary deals, and strategies for investors in the current climate.
- Dry Powder Explained: Demystifying the concept of dry powder â uninvested capital committed to VC funds. Understanding how and when VCs deploy capital and the implications for startups seeking funding.
- Web3 Deep Dive: Exploring the latest trends in the Web3 space, including the intersection of AI and blockchain, real-world asset tokenization, and the development of decentralized infrastructure. Discussing strategies for identifying promising projects and avoiding scams in this evolving landscape.
- AI Investment Landscape: Examining the current AI boom and the potential for both foundational models and application-layer companies. Addressing concerns about overvaluation and identifying key factors for successful AI investments.
- Sajid's Investment Strategies: Gaining insights into Sajid Rahman's approach to angel investing, syndicate management, and running multiple funds focused on Web3, YC companies, early-stage startups, and AI.
Additional Resources:
- Connect with Sajid Rahman on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rahmansajid/
- Connect with Nataraj on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natarajsindam/
- Follow Startup Project for more episodes and updates: https://open.spotify.com/show/3Cx7Q5r9Ow9eikxQjsJjjq?si=5d154bcf6b0541f7
#startup #investing #venturecapital #web3 #AI #angelinvesting #podcast #startupproject #secondarydeals #drypowder #blockchain #artificialintelligence #fundmanagement #YC #startupecosystem
--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/startupproject/message
Brian Bell is the Managing Partner at Team Ignite. Bell has experience in product development in AI at Microsoft, AWS, and startups.Full conversation includes:đ¸Transition from Product Management to full time investingđ¸Investing in YC đ¸Operating an investing Syndicateđ¸Growth hacks to grow your syndicate đ¸Is AngelList loosing its advantage?đ¸Red flags in pitch decksđ¸If money was not an object, what would you be doing?& more.Listen now đFollow Brain on twitter here - https://twitter.com/brianrbellFollow Nataraj on twitter here - https://twitter.com/natarajsindamFollow 100 Days of AI here - https://thestartupproject.io/100-days-of-ai/Subscribe now đđ¸Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/3Cx7Q5r9Ow9eikxQjsJjjqđ¸YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCs8lGcgpE7JC-alvUhMPk3gđ¸Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/startup-project/id1551300319?uo=4#startups #angellist #investing
--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/startupproject/message
New episode with Todd Bishop, GeekWire's co-founder.
Todd is a longtime business and technology journalist who reports on subjects including AI, the cloud, startups, and health technology, plus Amazon and Microsoft, in addition to hosting GeekWire's weekly podcast. This is Todd's second appearance on the Startup Project podcast.
In our conversation, we discuss:
đ¸ How is a tech business journalist using AI?
đ¸ Does AI live up to the hype?
đ¸ Covering Big tech's AI strategy as Geekwire Editor
đ¸ Amazon's ecommerce AI assistant
đ¸Why hasn't Amazon integrated Alexa with an LLM?
đ¸Data privacy legislation in AI
đ¸Layoffs in tech
đ¸TikTok Ban, will it or will it not happen?
đ¸Much more
Listen now đ
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCs8lGcgpE7JC-alvUhMPk3g
Lister to Todd's first appearance on the podcast here.
Follow Todd on twitter here - https://twitter.com/intent/user?screen_name=toddbishop
Follow Nataraj on twitter here - https://lnkd.in/gUJ_Gah
Follow 100 Days of AI here - https://lnkd.in/g_8T8_rZ
--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/startupproject/message
In this episode Nataraj talked to Peter Mueller who is the founding partner of Breakwater ventures investing in early stage tech startups in Pacific Northwest and Wester Canadian Startups.The conversation includes:- how to think about angel investing & pre-seed investing?- Seattle pre-seed ecosystem- learnings from Seachange fund- thesis for breakwater- Whats making Western Canada an interesting place to invest?- investing in AI- long tail opportunity in AI& more.Follow peter on twitter here - https://twitter.com/pjsmueller
Follow Nataraj on twitter here - https://twitter.com/natarajsindam
Follow 100 Days of AI here - https://thestartupproject.io/100-days-of-ai/
--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/startupproject/message
In this episode Nataraj spoke to Brendan Rogers Ex Cofounder of Wag, a NASDAQ listed public company.Full conversation includes:- Origin story of WAG- His journey into investing in India- Why he is bullish on Indian startups?- Opinion on different sectors & moreTo stay in loop for future conversations check out thestartupproject.ioFor above average opinions on big technology sign up to https://above-average.beehiiv.com/
Follow 100 Days of AI by Nataraj at https://thestartupproject.io/100-days-of-ai/
--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/startupproject/message
Welcome to 50th edition of the Above Average Newsletter. Your bi-weekly source of Above Average takes on the business of big technology written by Nataraj Sindam.
Topic 1: Whatâs with Direct-to-Consumer Companies?
Whatâs common among all these companies?
All birdsBrilliant earth groupPelotonRent the runway
They are all public direct to consumer companies whose stock is down ranging from 80 to 95% in last couple of years.
If you are direct to consumer company the best time to go public was in 2021 when the pandemic has fueled an ecommerce spending spree. Once this is over, the markets realized a lot of these direct to consumer companies have no path to profitability and have unsustainable business models.
So what can we learn from what is happening with direct to consumer companies -
When you are willing to spend on high customer acquisition cost (CAC), you can create a short term non profitable direct to consumer company, even when industry dynamics donât support it. If you spend enough amount of money on Facebook and Google ads you can sell any decent product.
VC money was used to subsidize CAC, that is clear. But that stopped and these companies are not close to profitability and a lot of them are on the verge of bankruptcy. But if I am an investor in such brands the one thing I would look for is that the product innovation should reflect in my customer acquisition cost being low. If you are not able to get very low customer acquisition cost on your product or brand, then technically you are not creating value with your product. Your customer acquisition cost reflects whether the product/brand is actually desired by the customer & if the industry dynamics support it or not.
Topic 2: Where is the AI opportunity?
Itâs easy to see big funding rounds in AI for foundation model companies and think AI is all about Fearsome Foursome funding Geoffrey Hintonâs ex-students or ex-open ai employees.
But I think the real opportunity in AI for next couple of years is in the long tail of building specific narrow application that solve small problems that were not possible before. There is treasure trove to be exploited by teams of 1-3 developers to build SaaS applications which can generate millions in revenue.
LLMs are a super power for full stack application developers. If you want to build something and are looking for such ideas feel free to reach out to me.
Topic 3: 100 Days of AI experiments
AI is going to impact us all, so as part of 2024âs first 100 days I am going to spend 1-2 hrs a day learning, experimenting, reading & tinkering with the latest AI models, products & content. You can follow along by following me on Twitter or here on my blog . My goal in this 100 days will be focused on what new things we can build using AI and what to expect from AI in future. The series is also published here on hackernoon .
If you are listening to this and have not subscribed to the newsletter, please go subscribe.
Till next time, stay above average.
Nataraj
--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/startupproject/message
This episode is the audio version of Nataraj's newsletter Above Average.
Welcome to 49th edition of the Above Average Newsletter. Your bi-weekly source of Above Average takes on the businss of big technology written by Nataraj Sindam.
- Why the new AI Button on Your Keyboard is inevitable?Microsoft is adding a new AI button to your PC keyboard. This is the first time Microsoft changed the PC keyboard in last 30 years. If you are a regular user of ChatGPT or its competitors you will notice your own behavior, that you use it repeatedly and it might get lost in the 10s of chrome tabs you have opened.
You also realize that its a constant companion on your daily work. Microsoft already realized this and jumped head on into creating Copilots for all its products.
The next step in this strategy is to have a dedicated button that will launch bing copilot which uses gpt-4 and is currently free.
The move highlights couple of things:
Copilots are going to an enduring form factor
We will use copilots so often that it requires its own button
Its a great use of Microsoftâs distribution power to create a new user behavior
If this new behavior works its acts as counter to Google search. Your first step for any answer would be to tap that button and start asking the question. A better interface potentially to transition from a search dominant world to answer dominant world. - Who is the biggest AI VC in town?As some one who closely works with a venture fund and interacted with lots of investors and invested in 20+ startups its important to note that the unseriousness of ZIRP era was prevalent in VC industry as much as it was in any other industry.
This meant higher valuations that defy the gravity of the business became common. Chasing each others and asking the question âwho else is investingâ became the most important criteria. Deals closed faster than ever. Crypto as a sector suck more oxygen in the room that it should. Mostly because too much capital was chasing too few deals and in the process new & some old investors lost track of what is important. Its important for a VC to invest in important things in tech.
Now with AI era on us, the biggest investors in AI are not the VC firms but its the fearsome foursome - Microsoft, Google, Amazon & Nvidia.
The amount of investment commitments from these 4 companies has already exceeded $20B with a conservative estimate.
Big tech companies never really invested in crypto like they are investing in AI.
So whatâs the take away here - if you think AI hype cycle is similar to crypto hype cycle, you are wrong. AI is an enduring cycle worthy of hype, unlike crypto which was propped up by VCs with out enough depth.
Topic 3 - My Experiments with AI:One of the reason this newsletter is less frequent than usual (from now on it will be twice a month) is because I am working on writing more on AI as part of a series I am calling 100 days of AI. If you are interested in gen AI experiments, ideas & trends follow along here. Here are some posts I have written about AI. - Design Thinking using Semantic Kernel - Get Insights from YouTube Podcast Video using Open AIâs GPT 4 - Build Your Own Chat with Data App
Till next time, stay above average.
Nataraj
--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/startupproject/message
For more unique insights on technology follow Nataraj on Twitter - â â https://twitter.com/natarajsindamâ â & Instagram - â â https://www.instagram.com/1nataraj/â
What late stage investors got wrong about investing in Startups?
- Confusion in the venture scene, especially with late-stage investments.
- Some firms raising funds for secondaries in startups, but a twist for LP investors: a cautious approach is needed.
- Skepticism about firms claiming expertise in both early and late-stage investments.
- Discussion on the industry mix-up and the need to reconsider how we negotiate prices.
- Emphasizing the importance of aligning return expectations with industry dynamics.
- Concerns about the pricing game not adding up in the long run, even with solid companies.
- Exploration of the industry's potential need for a rethink to optimize returns.
- Join the conversation at thestartupproject.io/nataraj/
angelinvesting #youtubeshorts #venturecapital #investing #limitedpartners #vc #startups #tigerglobal
--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/startupproject/message
For more unique insights on technology follow Nataraj on Twitter - â https://twitter.com/natarajsindamâ & Instagram - â https://www.instagram.com/1nataraj/â
Why Rivian will become 2nd Largest EV Player in the U.S?
- Exploring the EV market in the US and the competition between Rivian and Tesla.
- Rivian stands out with a superior product, a more profitable segment, and a less controversial brand than Tesla.
- I predict the future paths of Rivian and Tesla, highlighting the crucial significance of the next three years for their survival and Rivian's growth.
EV #electric #predictions #technology #tesla #rivian #elonmusk #elon #electricvehicles
--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/startupproject/message
- Over long term YouTube will win over TikTok, Instagram & other video apps.
- Check out the video to see why.
Follow Nataraj on Twitter - https://twitter.com/natarajsindam & Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/1nataraj/
--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/startupproject/message
Nataraj interviewed veteran VC Matt McIlwain of Madrona Venture Group on Startup Project podcast. Matt shared his insights into the state of venture capital and the impacts of AI, drawn from his 20+ years of experience.Some key takeaways:1. Venture is a "tale of two cities" now - later stage startups are struggling, earlier stage companies embracing AI are thriving2. Seattle has unmatched talent but lacks local capital - still over-reliant on Silicon Valley VCs3. Incumbents have the edge currently in leveraging AI due to data, customers, ability to integrate via APIs - but long term, AI-native startups will win out4. Partnerships forming between big tech and AI startups provide startups with computing resources while allowing tech giants to take an open, marketplace approach to AII highly recommend tuning in to hear Matt's take on venture capital, AI, and building an enduring company. Available on all major podcast platforms - link in comments!
--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/startupproject/message
In this episode, Nataraj spoke with John Staenberg, a veteran of the tech and venture capital world.
- John took Nataraj through his early days growing up in Omaha and attending Stanford University, where he was inspired by the culture of creativity and trying new things.
- After graduating, John worked in real estate and then got his MBA, also at Stanford. He became fascinated by the nascent world of venture capital and startups in Silicon Valley.
- John landed a job at Microsoft in the late 1980s, when the company was still small and growing fast. He described the exciting âchange the worldâ energy there, where people worked tirelessly to spread personal computers.
- After Microsoft, John started his own venture funds focused on bridging Seattle and Silicon Valley. He's been involved with around 200 startups over his venture career.
- John reflected on missing out early on companies like Google and Amazon that became huge wins. But he's also had some big successes, like Seagate. He emphasized that surprise and timing are always at play in VC investing.
- Nataraj and John also discussed how venture capital has matured and become overcrowded, making it hard to generate outsized returns. So John has pulled back on direct startup investing.
- Pivoting gears, they talked about John's passion project - starting a wine business in Argentina 17 years ago. He saw it as a way to pursue his interests and bring people together.
- John then explained his latest venture to Nataraj - launching a search fund to invest in other funds that acquire small businesses for entrepreneurs. He believes this model can provide great returns and opportunities.
- Throughout his wide-ranging career, John has stayed focused on connecting people and giving back, including through the many events he has hosted.
Follow Jon at https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonstaenberg/
Follow Nataraj at https://www.linkedin.com/in/natarajsindam/
--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/startupproject/message
In this episode of the podcast, we feature Ashmeet Sidana, the founder and Chief Engineer of Engineering Capital. Ashmeet has an extensive background in engineering and venture capital, with experience as the Director of Product Management at VMWare and as a venture capitalist.
During the conversation, Ashmeet discusses various topics, including his experience developing the ESx Server at VMWare and leading seed rounds of companies like Azure Power and Tubi. He also shares insights into why venture capitalists prefer startups to stay private and the importance of investing in technical insights.
Ashmeet also talks about his approach to getting in front of future founders and explains why he chooses not to invest in blockchain. He discusses the significance of large funding rounds in the AI seed stage and the value of investing in open-source companies.
To learn more about Ashmeet Sidana and his perspectives on investing in startups with technical risks, you can listen to the full episode on platforms like YouTube, Spotify & Apple.
Full conversation includes:
-
Being Director of PM at VMware & Venture Capitalist
-
Developing ESx Server at VMWare
-
Leading seed rounds of azure power (public & valued at $2B)
-
Leading seed investment at Tubi
-
Starting Engineering capital
-
Why vcs want startups to stay private
-
What it means to invest in technical insights
-
Getting infront of future founders
-
Not investing in blockchain?
-
Large funding rounds in AI seed stage
-
Investing in opensource companies
Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/startupproject/message
To stay up to date checkout â â â â â â thestartupproject.ioâ â â â â â & follow Nataraj on twitter: â â â â @natarajsindamâ and on LinkedIn at â https://www.linkedin.com/in/natarajsindamâ
Join us in this captivating episode as we sit down with Joe Heitzeberg, a multifaceted entrepreneur who has navigated the world of technology and business with remarkable success. From his early days in the tech industry to founding his acclaimed venture Crowd Cow, Joe shares his incredible journey and valuable insights on various topics.
1. Joe's Entry to Technology 2. Working for Paul Allen 3. Import Furniture Business 4. Opportunity Cost of MBA 5. Building Viral VoIP App for MySpace 6. Selling Media Piston to Upwork 7. Starting Crowd Cow 8. Problems with Chicken in the U.S 9. Fundamental Shifts from AI 10. AI Tinkerers
Follow Joe on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/joeheitzeberg
To stay up to date checkout â â â â â thestartupproject.ioâ â â â â & follow Nataraj on twitter â â â @natarajsindam and on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/natarajsindam
Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/startupproject/message
Tim Chen is the Managing Partner at Essence VC, an early-stage fund focused on data infrastructure and developer tool companies. He has over a decade of experience leading engineering in enterprise infrastructure and open source communities and companies. Prior to Essence, Tim was the SVP of Engineering at Cosmos, a popular open source blockchain SDK. Prior to Cosmos, Tim co-founded Hyperpilot with Stanford Professor Christos Kozyrakis, leveraging decades of research to disrupt the enterprise infrastructure space, which later exited to Cloudera. Prior to Hyperpilot, Tim was an early employee at Mesosphere and CloudFoundry. He is also active in the open source space as an Apache Software Foundation core member, maintainer of Apache Drill and Apache Mesos, and CNCF TOC contributor.
Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/startupproject/message
Aseem joined Madrona in 2021 after spending almost twenty years as an operating executive. He works alongside founders building the future of next-generation infrastructure (core, security, DevOps), intelligent applications, robotics, and automation.
Full conversation includes:
- From Intern at Windows to GM at Microsoft Azure
- GM at Azure to Investing at Madrona
- Investing at Madrona
- Startups vs Big Tech in AI
- Commoditization of LLMs
- Difference between LLMs & Human Brains
Follow Aseem on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/aseemdatar/
To stay up to date checkout â â â â â thestartupproject.ioâ â â â â  & follow Nataraj on twitter: â â â @natarajsindam
Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/startupproject/message
To stay up to date checkout â â â â â thestartupproject.ioâ â â â â & follow Nataraj on twitter: â â â @natarajsindamâ â
T.A. McCann is a serial entrepreneur with an impressive track record. He has founded and served as CEO of several successful companies. Some notable ventures include Senosis (acquired by Google), Gist (acquired by Blackberry), and Rival IQ, a leading company in marketing analytics.
McCann's expertise extends beyond founding companies. He has also held senior roles at Microsoft, where he led divisions such as Exchange and the Mobile Services divisions. Additionally, he has worked as an EIR (Entrepreneur in Residence) at Polaris Venture Partners and Vulcan Capital.
Full conversation includes:
- Becoming a professional sailor
- Working at microsoft exchange
- Starting 5+ companies (3 exits)
- Working for Paul Allen & building Startup Studio Vulcan Labs
- Selling Gist to Blackberry
- Rival IQ
- Synosis (acq by Google)
- Pioneer Square Labs
- Systematic customer discovery & customer development process
- Advice to entrepreneurs raising capital
- Is AI a step change?
- Who will capture value in AI? Big tech or startups?
Follow TA on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/tamccann/
--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/startupproject/message
To stay up to date checkout â â â â thestartupproject.ioâ â â â & follow Nataraj on twitter: â â @natarajsindamâ â
In this episode Nataraj spoke to Taylor Black who co-founded Fizzy Inc. Post Fizzy Taylor worked at Innovation Science Fund & currently works as a Principal Product Manager at the Office of the CTO Incubator at Microsoft.
Transcript:
[00:00:00] Nataraj: I looked at the portfolio there thenit's completely deep tech, uh, and sort of like invention based, uh, ideas.
[00:00:08] Nataraj: Uh, so what was the process of likecapturing and invention and taking and productizing it and, you know, making areturn out of it? Like what was the thinking process there?
[00:00:20] Taylor: So the, uh, and you can read MalcolmGladwell's take on this in a, in an article where he described our inventionsessions. Um, a and the invention sessions are a bit of a riff on like aninnovation session or an envisioning session or things along those lines whereyou, you come up with wild ideas within a particular problem space, um, in avery unfettered sort of, Um, and the whole goal of this session is to generateas many ideas as possible.
[00:00:52] Taylor: That's the sole ROI you're looking forin those sessions. Um, but there's certain conditions you set for success inthose [00:01:00] sessions. And so the way thatwe ran those sessions, and I, and I, I ran, uh, a number of them, um, is thatwe would prepare for months ahead of time in gathering all of the materialsthat related to the problem.
[00:01:14] Taylor: and by materials I mean the scientificresearch in a particular problem space, the, uh, market, uh, and startup landscapesof that particular problem space. Um, uh, things that people had written aboutit. Books, articles, um, you know, YouTube videos, everything, uh, along thoselines. And the goal was to, um, inform.
[00:01:43] Taylor: Kind of the fermentation moment ofwhen you're thinking about a problem, all of these things w wouldn'tthemselves, um, not be a solution necessarily, but there are all the thingsthat someone who wanted to be completely informed or as, as, as informed andpossible as possible about a set of [00:02:00]problems. Um, Had all of the raw material there.
[00:02:03] Taylor: We'd also do customer discovery, we'ddo customer interviews to understand those pain points. We'd bring people in,um, uh, and run sessions with them where they would, you know, get deep intotheir own, um, the problems they were encountering so that everybody who is,and everybody who's part of the sessions had to.
[00:02:22] Taylor: Understand those materials, uh,deeply. We'd even quiz them on occasion. Um, it also helped that, uh, billGates, um, uh, whenever he came to those sessions, he would have all of thosematerials like completely groced. And so you, you know, you needed to have themgroced too so that you didn't, you know, uh, lose face in front of Bill.
[00:02:44] Taylor: But, um, Uh, but the key, so we'd,we'd get everybody, all of those materials and have them go through them, uh, agood month or so before the actual sessions happened. Um, that gave everybodyan, an even playing [00:03:00] field in termsof, you know, I may be a physicist, I may be a biz dev person, I may be, um, anattorney.
[00:03:06] Taylor: I may be, uh, you know, a programmanager, but I have all of the same raw material. Uh, and my own perspective onit that I can bring to these sessions. The sessions themselves, them, um, wereset around particular problem spaces and we'd start, we'd start each, um,session and then there's a variety of different kinds of sessions that we ram.
[00:03:28] Taylor: Um, Uh, with a lot of provocations, alot of conversation, a lot of like wild thinking and post-it notes andwhiteboards of just dumping ideas out, uh, that had occurred to people oroccurred in conversation or happened in the, in the hallway outside. Um, and weget all those ideas down, documenting everything.
--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/startupproject/message
56: Why Wordpress dominates internet?
--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/startupproject/message
To stay up to date checkout â â â thestartupproject.ioâ â â & follow Nataraj on twitter: â @natarajsindamâ
In this episode Nataraj spoke to Taylor Black who co-founded Fizzy Inc. Post Fizzy Taylor worked at Innovation Science Fund & currently works as a Principal Product Manager at the Office of the CTO Incubator at Microsoft.
Transcript:
[00:00:00] Nataraj: To me it always made sense for largecompanies to have some kind of incubator or accelerator model because one ofthe reasons I think we are seeing in this bear cycle, sort of like when thewave sort of, you know, falls down, you see who's naked scenario.
[00:00:17] Nataraj: Um, I think any company whichsurvives multi decades has to have multiple large businesses. Mm-hmm. . I thinkin a lot of ways, I mean, looking back, a lot of companies didn't, uh, look forlong-term opportunities as much as they should. Like we can talk about like,uh, Amazon, you know, putting billion dollars into their phone, but I wouldargue the potential on the upside of suckers was so high they should have putin, you know, one more billion and tried the next version.
[00:00:50] Nataraj: Mm-hmm. . Mm-hmm. , uh, and I. , likeargue the same with Facebook in a sense. Like now they're doing this metaversething. [00:01:00] Um, and sort of againretreating that back now. But I feel like even Facebook with all its cash flow,uh, didn't really think, um, because they always self constrained themselves tobe a social company.
[00:01:14] Nataraj: Um, like I think that's sort of likea self-imposed mental model on themselves. Mm-hmm. , like, uh, I would notimpose themselves like a social company. Yeah. You work good at Facebook andWhatsApp, but I mean, look at how many great technologies that came out fromFacebook, open source community and like putting that social as a blanket onyour company.
[00:01:34] Nataraj: I think. Set a backstage for allthese technologies, which could be, you know, productionized and, you know,capitalized. Mm-hmm. . Right. Uh, that's, I feel like a lot of companies,especially the large companies, are with very good cash flow sort of mixed outon business opportunities because of that reason.
[00:01:50] Nataraj: That's my personal view on like, , alot of companies could have it if it is well run. Mm-hmm. . Um, and should haveit because of this reason. Right? Mm-hmm. , it's sort of [00:02:00] like you are the innovation dilemma thatyou'll encounter at some point as a large company, and you have to have a sortof a backup backstopping mechanism to that innovation dilemma, which everycompany will eventually face.
[00:02:12] Nataraj: Mm-hmm. , um, So I feel like theinnovation, uh, accelerator or the incubator would sort of act as that, uh, youknow, that part of small investment, it's sort of like an insurance to the, uh,to innovation dyna that you would eventually encounter anyways, uh,
[00:02:28] Taylor: , I think you're right.
[00:02:28] Taylor: There's a, there's an inherent problemthere too, though, is that, um, uh, innovation is inherently a yo low yield. .Um, and so within, and it's my kind of rule of thumb, that within two or threeyears of any program like ours existence, um, finance is gonna come and say,where's the revenue? Where's the roi? And if you don't have a data driven wayof showing your, your anticipated revenue, your anticipated ROI on the basis ofyour activities, then uh, [00:03:00] it's entirelylegitimate that you get.
[00:03:02] Taylor: There's a, there's a, there's datadriven ways of showing that the whole venture ecosystem depends on the factthat you're able to show future revenue on the basis of what you're doing now.Uh, that's how you raise funds, right? Um, and so every, uh, innovation programinside an enterprise has to have that same data-driven hygiene.
For full conversation check out Episode 53.
--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/startupproject/message
To stay up to date checkout â thestartupproject.ioâ & follow Nataraj on twitter: @natarajsindamIn this episode Nataraj spoke to Marius Ciocirlan who co-founded ShareGrid, a marketplace for filmmakers and photographers to rent and sell their equipment. It was â acquiredâ by Backstage and is now Managing Director of Techstars Seattle. Techstars expanded to Seattle in 2010, and since then more than 130 companies have gone through the program & collectively gone on to raise more than $2.5 billion in capital. Full Transcript:
[00:00:00] Nataraj: So Techstars is an, you know,traditionally what we call as an accelerator, right? Yeah. Uh, so what are thefounders really getting outta, um, joining tech?
[00:00:09] Marius: Yeah, for sure. So, um, the TechTechstars program essentially, uh, falls into almost three phases. So it's a 13week program and it's kind of, uh, set up in three phases. The first phase iscustomer discovery, so we worked with you to ensure that like, , you trulyunderstand who your customer is and what are they buying from you.
[00:00:31] Marius: Like, you know, you, you would besurprised how many people have an idea of who their customer is, but it's notclearly defined. They don't really understand why that customer is interestedin their product. So even companies that are farther along, we find. , it'salways good to like really reflect on who your customer is.
[00:00:50] Marius: So the first phase is customerdiscovery. Second phase is go to market and execution, which is more importantnowadays, especially given the market [00:01:00]situation. More important than ever to actually gain real traction in yourbusiness and prove out that your business has some product market fit. Andproduct market fit can mean different things at different stages.
[00:01:12] Marius: But at least in your initial M V P,there needs to be some product market fit. And then the third phase is we'repreparing you to go out in front of investors. So we're working on your pitchdeck, we're working on your delivery, we're working on all of your documents,uh, getting you ready to ensure that you're ready for, uh, investors andputting you in front of investors.
Full version at thestartupproject.io
--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/startupproject/message
To stay up to date checkout â â thestartupproject.ioâ â & follow Nataraj on twitter: @natarajsindamIn this episode Nataraj spoke to Taylor Black who co-founded Fizzy Inc. Post Fizzy Taylor worked at Innovation Science Fund & currently works as a Principal Product Manager at the Office of the CTO Incubator at Microsoft. Full Conversation includes:
- Starting a company during law school
- Running a WordPress server farm
- Why WordPress still dominates internet?
- Working at Innovation Science Fund
- Running innovation sessions attended by Entrepreneurs, Nobel laureates, Scientists & Bill Gates
- Fundamental technology breakthrough in Metamaterials
- Funding Starlink competitor
- Incubator inside Microsoft for the Office of the CTO
- Measuring Innovation inside large organizations
You can connect with Taylor here on LinkedIn.
--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/startupproject/message
To stay up to date checkout â thestartupproject.ioâ & follow Nataraj on twitter: @natarajsindamIn this episode Nataraj spoke to Marius Ciocirlan who co-founded ShareGrid, a marketplace for filmmakers and photographers to rent and sell their equipment. It was â acquiredâ by Backstage and is now Managing Director of Techstars Seattle. Techstars expanded to Seattle in 2010, and since then more than 130 companies have gone through the program & collectively gone on to raise more than $2.5 billion in capital. Full Transcript:
[00:00:00] So you decided youwant to be in tech. Then how did, uh, your, uh, company start, uh, share grid?
[00:00:06] Yeah, so shestarted, um, actually the idea was kind of originated while I was, was workingour group on both my co-founder and I, Raj. He was, he was, he went to film,well he went to photography school. I, uh, uh, I believe it was more of like amedia communication, uh, background.
[00:00:24] But he ended up intech as well. He was a designer and front end developer and um, he was alongtime photographer and we would take walks all the time and. , he, he soldhis previous company to Groupon, so he's been very entrepreneurial himself andwe were always kicking around ideas of potential startups that we could start.
[00:00:47] And one of the ideaswas, uh, it derived from him trying to sell some of his equipment. He was like,I really want this new lens, but I already have so many lenses. How do Ijustify kind. [00:01:00] Investing more moneyinto more equipment when I'm not even using the equipment I already have. Sothat was kind of the thread that we started to talk about the idea, andessentially the idea was a lot of filmmakers, photographers invest.
[00:01:15] Quite a bit ofcapital into, uh, equipment, into, into different, uh, cameras, lenses, audioequipment, lighting equipment, and it's very, very expensive. I mean, we'retalking thousands of dollars for a camera or lens. Sometimes for filmequipment, you're looking at 40, $50,000 for cinema camera, and that doesn'tcount all the additional accessories and, and everything else you need.
[00:01:41] I knew about thisfrom my prior film years, and I had a lot of friends who after school, their,their thinking was, if I invest a bit of money into equipment, the chances ofme being hired, uh, will increase. Because the film world is actually a verymuch [00:02:00] a gig economy, freelance typeof world. So they were thinking, if we invest in, in this equipment, uh, I willstand amongst the rest and like be hired more frequently.
[00:02:10] That doesn't alwayshappen. So you invest all this money, but your monthly payments are coming inevery day, every, every month. , but you're not always getting hired. Thatequipment's not always being used. So Arra and I saw that opportunity of like,there's all this idle equipment. What if you were to rent that equipment out,similar to other pure tope economies, like, uh, like u you know, like Airbnb,um, So we had the idea and we essentially wanted to validate if this issomething that other people would be interested in First.
[00:02:43] I spoke to a lot ofmy friends from Phil School and everybody said, It's a great idea, but whatabout if somebody steals my equipment while they're renting it? They don't comeback with the equipment. So that was always kind of the big challenge that wehad to face. But, but that's how the [00:03:00]idea, just to answer your question, that's how the idea kind of derived is justfrom a personal need and also just a brainstorm of ideas.
[00:03:07] So it wasessentially a marketplace for renting, uh, camera and other high-end equipmentfor production.
[00:03:14] Exactly. Exactly.
--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/startupproject/message
To stay up to date checkout â thestartupproject.ioâ & follow Nataraj on twitter: @natarajsindamIn this episode Nataraj spoke to Marius Ciocirlan who co-founded ShareGrid, a marketplace for filmmakers and photographers to rent and sell their equipment. It was â acquiredâ by Backstage and is now Managing Director of Techstars Seattle. Techstars expanded to Seattle in 2010, and since then more than 130 companies have gone through the program & collectively gone on to raise more than $2.5 billion in capital. Full Transcript:
[00:00:00] So I was like, youknow, working on Samsung, making videos and then also like working on sets,like reality TV shows and stuff like that, while at the same time doing astartup and. Uh, learning UX design. So I had to make a decision. I couldn't doboth. And the reason I decided to go into tech, I remember having this kind ofconversation with my significant other, is that in film it's a very traditionalcareer path, meaning, In order to become a cinematographer or a director or aproducer, you have to pay your dues.
[00:00:35] Like there is verystrict rules about what certain people could do on a set and what they can'tdo, like. I've been told in my position as a production assistant was like, youare not allowed to move that equipment. You're not allowed to move that chairbecause the union, you don't belong to that union.
[00:00:53] So it's actuallylike a safety regulation or. It was a very traditional kind of [00:01:00] career path, and I realized that like Iwas not going to reach my dream of becoming a cinematographer or director wellinto my forties, probably fifties, and it was gonna take a long time where intech it was actually the complete opposite.
[00:01:18] The younger youwere, the more respect you got and almost the more opportunities you received.So my goal was always like, I really enjoyed. and it seems like doors are justreally opening, people are just much more supportive. If you have bigambitions, you don't have to like, wait in line and wait your turn.
[00:01:38] You could just act onthose ambitions. Uh, so it just felt like a much friendlier community and justmore embracing. So, um, it went towards tech and I, I always planned like atsome point in my career, I'll make it in tech and then I'll come back at anolder age and a film and I'll be a producer and I'll fund my own films or uh, [00:02:00] documentaries or whatever, whatever thatmight be.
--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/startupproject/message
To stay up to date checkout thestartupproject.io & follow Nataraj on twitter: @natarajsindamIn this episode Nataraj spoke to Marius Ciocirlan who co-founded ShareGrid, a marketplace for filmmakers and photographers to rent and sell their equipment. It was acquired by Backstage and is now Managing Director of Techstars Seattle. Techstars expanded to Seattle in 2010, and since then more than 130 companies have gone through the program & collectively gone on to raise more than $2.5 billion in capital.Â
Full Conversation includes:
- How skateboarding led do film school
- Raising funds via grants
- Startup weekends
- Early days at Groupon Mobile Team
- Origin story and cofounding Sharegrid (acquired by Backstage)
- Joining Techstars Seattle as Managing Director
- What's special about Techstars Seattle?
- How founders should think about Techstars Seattle
If you are founder and is interested in applying to TechStars Seattle you can get in touch with Marius at marius.ciocirlan@techstars.com
--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/startupproject/message
To stay up to date checkoutthestartupproject.io& follow us on twitter:@natarajsindam
Deedy & Nataraj talk about
- Why is there no criticism about Indian startups in Indian media?
- What are the insidious loops in Indian startup ecosystem?
Don't forget to follow Deedy's opinions at â @debarghya_dasâ !
Past guests of Startup Project podcast includeAli Moiz (stonks.com),Kirby Winfield (Ascend.vc),Eric Bahn (Hustle Fund), and others.
--- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/startupproject/message
To stay up to date checkout thestartupproject.io & follow us on twitter: @natarajsindam
Full Notes:
One of the interesting things in Shark Tank India versus Shark Tank US that I've noticed is Shark Tank US is pretty much small and medium enterprise.
If a Silicon Valley style pitch comes up, like Mark Cuban will throw them out, uh, you know, this kind of ration doesn't work here. One thing I was amazed to see in this season particularly is, um, it's much more closer to Indian startup ecosystem. Um, I've actually seen couple of these pitches before they were on track tank, like Flatheads, uh, was the shoe company, which is similar to like a shoe company here.
Um, those other, um, mind peers was like a mindful company that came on recently, which I've seen before. Um, The interesting thing is it's much more similar to a venture, uh, you know, ecosystem than the S m E market that we are seeing, even though we see a lot of SME companies, but the language is pretty close to vc.
Like no one says, Hey, we are doing a pre-seed on Shark Tank us. Right? We are just asking for money. And, you know, this is a small and medium business
Past guests of Startup Project podcast include Ali Moiz (stonks.com), Kirby Winfield (Ascend.vc), Eric Bahn (Hustle Fund), and others.
--- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/startupproject/message
To stay up to date checkout thestartupproject.io & follow Nataraj on twitter: @natarajsindam
In this episode Spoke to Deedy who writes amazing twitter threads on immigration, Â Indian startups and more.
Topic covered include:
- Tweet threads on Indian startups
- Shark Tank India vs U.S
- Generative AI, LLMs & Search
- Zero Interest Rate Phenomenon
& a lot more.
Don't forget to follow Deedy's opinions at @debarghya_das!
Past guests of Startup Project podcast include Ali Moiz (stonks.com), Kirby Winfield (Ascend.vc), Eric Bahn (Hustle Fund), and others.
--- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/startupproject/message
To stay up to date checkout thestartupproject.io & follow us on twitter: @natarajsindam
In this episode of Startup Project Nataraj spoke to  Jacob Colker - Co-Managing Director AI2 Incubator.
Inaugurated five years ago by the late Paul Allen and Professor Oren Etzioni, the commercialization arm of the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence was tasked with creating an incubator program for the brightest minds in AI to launch the next wave of technology companies that would change the world. Jacob Colker, Vu Ha, and Bryan Hale were tasked to fulfill this mandate.
Full conversation includes:
- Origin story of Allen Institute Incubator
- Hype in AI
- Will LLM's disrupt search business model
- AI effects on knowledge work
Past guests of Startup Project podcast include Ali Moiz (stonks.com), Kirby Winfield (Ascend.vc), Eric Bahn (Hustle Fund), and others.
--- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/startupproject/message
To stay up to date checkout thestartupproject.io & follow us on twitter: @natarajsindam
In this episode of Startup Project Nataraj spoke to  Jacques Fu Co-founder at Stax, Author of "Time Hacks".Â
Stax is an all-in-one payment solution for small business. Stax has raised $245 million in fresh funding, taking its valuation up to $1 billion. The investment saw participation from Greater Sum Ventures (GSV), HarbourVest Partners and Blue Star Innovation Partners, all of which will serve as strategic partners to Stax.
Full conversation includes:
- Journey of Stax
- Opportunities in Fintech
- Crypto
- Angel Investing
- Time Hacks
Past guests of Startup Project podcast include Ali Moiz (stonks.com), Kirby Winfield (Ascend.vc), Eric Bahn (Hustle Fund), and others.
--- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/startupproject/message
Google started and ended about 5 chat application in last 10 years, but the best chat application was already made by them before every one else. It was GTalk!
To stay up to date checkoutthestartupproject.io& follow us on twitter: @natarajsindam
--- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/startupproject/message
Netflix for long dictated the streaming story, they set the narrative that other media companies scrambled to follow. But all that is changed now.
To stay up to date checkout thestartupproject.io & follow us on twitter: @natarajsindam
--- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/startupproject/message
In this episode of Startup Project we spoke to KP, Build In Public guy on Twitter.
Full conversation includes:
- What is Build In Public?
- Cornering Keywords on Internet
- The Good, Bad & Ugly of Build In Public
& more.
To stay up to date checkout thestartupproject.io & follow us on twitter: @natarajsindam
Past guests of Startup Project podcast include Chris Devore (Investor in Remitly, Auth0 & Outreach), Ali Moiz (stonks.com), Kirby Winfield (Ascend.vc), Eric Bahn (Hustle Fund), Todd Bishop (geekwire.com) and others.
--- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/startupproject/message
To stay up to date checkout thestartupproject.io & follow us on twitter: @natarajsindam
Launching a, a venture fund is not for the faint of heart, uh, and it is very much a startup activity.Â
Geoff Harris & Nataraj talk about the challenges of launching a venture fund. Geoff spent 15 years at Microsoft in engineering leadership and executive leadership positions. His career at Microsoft began in digital media where he ran the Windows Media Player team.
Full conversation includes is available here and includes:
- Developing Natural language processing at Microsoft
- Angel investing to raising a fund
- Core insight behind Flying Fish
- AI Use cases for future
- Web3 & Venture
Past guests of Startup Project podcast include Ali Moiz (stonks.com), Kirby Winfield (Ascend.vc), Eric Bahn (Hustle Fund), and others.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/startupproject/message
In this episode of Startup Project we spoke to Geoff Harris, Managing Partner Flying Fish VC. Flying Fish is a thesis driven fund focused on Al/ML.
Geoff Harris spent 15 years at Microsoft in engineering leadership and executive leadership positions. His career at Microsoft began in digital media where he ran the Windows Media Player team.
Full conversation includes:
- Developing Natural language processing at Microsoft
- Angel investing to raising a fund
- Core insight behind Flying Fish
- AI Use cases for future
- Web3 & Venture
Past guests of Startup Project podcast include Ali Moiz (stonks.com), Kirby Winfield (Ascend.vc), Eric Bahn (Hustle Fund), and others.
To stay up to date checkout thestartupproject.io & follow us on twitter: @natarajsindam
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/startupproject/message
What problems are NFTs solving in games, Liron & Nataraj (twitter.com/natarajsindam) discuss.
Liron Shapira is known as the guy who write twitter threads about web3 use cases including Axie Infinity & Helium.
But before becoming twitter famous, he is also a founder & angel investor and currently runs a YC backed startup called Relationship Hero.
The irony in his angel investments is he made life changing money by investing in Coinbase which was a 500x return on his investment.
Full conversation includes:
- Failure with Quixey (50M+ Series C)
- Relationship Hero (YC Backed)
- Seed Investment in $COIN (listen for exit multiple)
- Investing in Russian Bonds
- Web3 Use cases (cross border payments, helium, NFTs in gaming, Uber on Web3, Identity)
Nataraj is a PM at Azure, investor & host of thestartupproject.io podcast. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/natarajsindam.
Full conversation Link: https://thestartupproject.io/2022/08/05/24-liron-shapira-web3-critique-founder-early-investor-in-coinbase/
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/startupproject/message
Nataraj & Eric (Hustle Fund) talk about how an Indian company BYJU's despite its flaws is helping democratizing education.Â
For Full conversation with Eric check out Episode 21 of Startup Project. https://open.spotify.com/episode/5ceRBSjtTP8ROl8nR9AoT0?si=bf937a7778d24236
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/startupproject/message
Todays guest is Mohan Belani the co-founder of E27.co. E27 is tech publication covering SEA startups.
Full conversation includes:
- Origins of e27
- Startups in SEA (Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia & Vietnam)
- Businesses model of e27
- Events business
- Angel investing and starting seed stage fund
- YC effect in SEA startups
- Starting a Seed Fund
- & many more
Past guests of Startup Project podcast include Ali Moiz (stonks.com), Kirby Winfield (Ascend.vc), Eric Bahn (Hustle Fund), and many more.
To stay up to date checkout thestartupproject.io & follow us on twitter: @natarajsindam
-----
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/startupproject/message
Jeff Bezos defines dreamy businesses to have these characteristics:
- customers love it
- it can grow to very large size
- it has strong returns on capital
- and it's durable over time
Amazon has 3 dreamy businesses prime, marketplace & AWS.Â
Todd & Nataraj discuss about what is going to be Amazon's next big dreamy business?
Past guests of Startup Project podcast include Ali Moiz (stonks.com), Kirby Winfield (Ascend.vc), Eric Bahn (Hustle Fund), and many more.
To stay up to date checkout thestartupproject.io & follow us on twitter: @natarajsindam
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/startupproject/message
In this week's episode of Startup Project we spoke to Todd Bishop, Co-Founder of Geekwire. He is a longtime business and technology journalist who reports on subjects including AI, cloud, startups, and health technology, plus Amazon and Microsoft, & hosts GeekWire's weekly podcast.
Full conversation includes:
- Geekwire Story
- Business model of publishing
- Covering Big Tech
- Amazon's next big thing
- Doom Scrolling
& a whole lot more.
Past guests of Startup Project podcast include Ali Moiz (stonks.com), Kirby Winfield (Ascend.vc), Eric Bahn (Hustle Fund), and many more.
To stay up to date checkout thestartupproject.io & follow us on twitter: @natarajsindam
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/startupproject/message
For Full conversation with Liron check out episode 24 here.
- Website: thestartupproject.io
- Spotify Show Link: https://open.spotify.com/show/3Cx7Q5r9Ow9eikxQjsJjjq?si=7cfcaf39db80490b
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/startupproject/message
Liron Shapira is known as the guy who writes twitter threads criticizing web3 use cases. Other than being a web3 critic, he is also angel investor in Coinbase & Wyre (the irony), founder of a Y Combinator company & raised $50M round led by Alibaba.
Full conversation includes:
⢠Failure with Quixey ( 50M+ Series C)
⢠Relationship Hero (YC Backed)
⢠Seed Investment in $COIN (listen for exit multiple)
⢠Investing in Russian Bonds
⢠Web3 Use cases (cross border payments, helium, NFTs in gaming, Uber on Web3, Identity)
Nataraj is a PM at Azure, investor & host of thestartupproject.io podcast. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/natarajsindam.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/startupproject/message
Chris Devore and Nataraj talk about the brand ethos of Patagonia and the story behind the first ecommerce store of Patagonia.
For full conversation with Chris, check out https://thestartupproject.io/2022/07/17/23-chris-devore-managing-partner-founders-co-op-remitly-auth0-outreach/
Nataraj is a PM at Azure, investor  & host of thestartupproject.io  podcast. Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/natarajsindam.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/startupproject/message
Chris Devore talks about web3 and if its the next big thing in tech.Â
For full conversation with Chris, check out https://thestartupproject.io/2022/07/17/23-chris-devore-managing-partner-founders-co-op-remitly-auth0-outreach/
Nataraj is a PM at Azure, investor  & host of thestartupproject.io  podcast. Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/natarajsindam.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/startupproject/message
In this Episode of Startup Project, Nataraj talked to Chris DeVore, Founding Managing Partner of Foundersâ Co-op, Pacific Northwest's leading seed-stage venture fund. Chris led the seed rounds for Seattle's most recent successful IPO Remitly (NASDAQ:RELY) and $4B+ Outreach, was an early backer of Auth0 (acquired by Okta for $6.5B).
Full conversation includes:
- Starting Patagonia's online store
- Bringing Risk Capital to Seattle
- Running TechStars Seattle
- Starting Founders Co-Op
- Thesis behind investing in Remitly
- New new thing & Web3
- Investing takeaways from covid shocks
Nataraj is a PM at Azure, partner at NVC  & hosts thestartupproject.io  podcast. Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/natarajsindam.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/startupproject/message
How to get started with Angel Investing?
This clip was part of episode 21 of Startup project which is available at:
https://thestartupproject.io/2022/05/31/21-eric-bahn-co-founder-general-partner-of-hustle-fund/
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/startupproject/message
In this Episode of Startup Project, Nataraj talked to Sudip from decibel.vc. Sudip started two companies and got his PhD in computer engineering at Georgia Tech before becoming a VC investor at Andreesson Horowitz, Lightspeed, and Madrona.
Full conversation includes:
- Building Decibel
- Investing in Enterprise Software (Exabeam, DataCoral & Streamlio)
- Working at A16Z & Madrona
- Digital Ocean
- & More
Nataraj is a PM at Azure, partner at NVC  & hosts thestartupproject.io  podcast. Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/natarajsindam. You can also subscribe to his newsletter at getrevue.co/profile/StartupProject
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/startupproject/message
Nataraj & Harvey from RUV Alliance talk about Leverage.
For full conversation check out the links below:
Youtube: https://youtu.be/rXMY1LDIb_U
Website: https://thestartupproject.io/2022/02/05/12-harvey-multani-founder-ruv-alliance-miami100-dao-startup-project-by-nataraj/
Anchor: https://anchor.fm/tsp1/episodes/12-Harvey-Multani-Founder-RUV-Alliance--Miami100-DAO---Startup-Project-by-Nataraj-e1dvoi3
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0VgU4sMOX1AD5BCxLnVicm?si=3c9f834506e143da
Nataraj is an engineer at Azure, partner at NVC & hosts thestartupproject.io podcast. Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/natarajsindam & stay up to date here.
startups #leverage #economy #media #code #capital #shorts
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/startupproject/message
Eric (Co-Founder of Hustle Fund) talks to Nataraj about how they built their brand.
Check out more about hustle fund here, https://www.hustlefund.vc/.
Nataraj is an engineer at Azure, partner at NVC(https://angel.co/s/natarajusa/B8aAA) & hosts thestartupproject.io podcast. Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/natarajsindam
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/startupproject/message
In this Episode of Startup Project, Nataraj talked to Eric Bahn, Co-Founder & General Partner at Hustle Fund. In last 5 years, Eric & team scaled Hustle Fund to 3 funds, 100M+ AUM, 120+ early stage investments & along the way built a globally recognizable VC brand, find more about them at https://www.hustlefund.vc/
Full conversation includes:
- Beat the GMAT (Eric's Startup)
- Defining hustle
- Raising fund 1
- First 10 investments
- Building the brand
Nataraj is a PM at Azure, partner at NVC  & hosts thestartupproject.io  podcast. Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/natarajsindam. You can also subscribe to his newsletter at getrevue.co/profile/StartupProject
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/startupproject/message
Shruti from Array.vc and nataraj talk about earning luck.Â
Full conversation available at:
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/08LJYjwwQPyseCkSEZohQA?si=4de30bec6b8340d2
For more check out the startup project website at thestartupproject.io Â
startups #luck #arrayvc
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/startupproject/message
What can founders in early stage companies do to position themselves for acquisitions. Â
Full Episode available on:
YT: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uMdazKrC0k
Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/17-founding-partner-of-ascend-vc-kirby-winfield-on/id1551300319?i=1000555322251&app=podcastÂ
Website: https://thestartupproject.io/2022/03/26/17-founding-partner-of-ascend-vc-kirby-winfield-on-all-things-venture-startup-project-by-nataraj/
Visit thestartupproject.io for more.
startups #kirby #aquisitions
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/startupproject/message
In this Episode of Startup Project, Nataraj talked to Mike Fridgen, Managing Director at Madrona Venture Labs a Seattle based tech startup incubator. Some of the companies incubated include Style Genome (Acq by Wayfair), Chatitive (Acq by MailChimp), Message Yes (Acq by Nordstrom) & more. Before joining Madrona Venture Labs Mike was part of founding teams at Farecast (Acq by Microsoft) & Decide (Acq by Ebay) where he led product and growth strategies.
Full Conversation includes:
- Farecast.com (Predicting prices) - Acquired by Microsoft
- Decide.com (next gen consumer reports) - Acquired by Ebay
- Through line across being part of multiple acquisitions
- Incubating companies at Madrona Venture Labs
- Relationship with Madrona Venture Group
- Thematic focus behind companies incubated at Madrona Venture Labs
Nataraj is a PM at Azure, partner at NVC & hosts thestartupproject.io podcast. Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/natarajsindam. You can also subscribe to his newsletter at getrevue.co/profile/StartupProject
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/startupproject/message
Nataraj and Ali (Founder of Stonks.com) talk what happens to a unknown company post their stonks pitch day.Â
For full version of this conversation check out the following links. Â
Full Video on YT: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjyaipwngZc&t=0s
Website Link: https://thestartupproject.io/2022/03/05/15-stonks-com-ali-moiz-on-investing-streaming-stonks-startup-project-by-nataraj/
startups #stonks #fundraising
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/startupproject/message
Not everything has to be built in public, but when it makes sense it has its advantages. Check out the full conversation between Ajay and Nataraj here. https://youtu.be/-Xbv4O1ovvY #build #startups #buildinpublic
Nataraj is an engineer at Azure, partner at NVC(https://angel.co/s/natarajusa/B8aAA) & hosts thestartupproject.io podcast. Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/natarajsindam
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/startupproject/message
In this Episode of Startup Project, Nataraj talked to Shruti Gandhi, GP of Array.VC. Before founding Array.VC a solo fund investing in b2b enterprise companies, she was a founder and an engineer. For more info check out her newsletter at shrutigandhi.substack.com
Full Conversation includes:
-
Transition from engineer to vc
-
Working at Corporate VC vs running your own fund
-
Raising first fund for Array.VC
-
Things to look out for first time fund managers
-
Push vs Pull investing
-
Cheque Sizes
-
Megatrons
-
Solo Brands in Venture
Nataraj is a PM at Azure, partner at NVC & hosts thestartupproject.io podcast. Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/natarajsindam. You can also subscribe to his newsletter at getrevue.co/profile/StartupProject
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/startupproject/message
In this Episode of Startup Project, Nataraj talked to Tela Andrews (https://www.linkedin.com/in/telaandrews/) and Vamshi (https://www.linkedin.com/in/vamshi4001/), Co-Founders of crypto currency tax software Bear.tax.Â
Full Conversation includes:
- Origin story of Bear.Tax
- How microacquire.com helped the founding team to get together
- Crypto tax complexity for individuals, traders and businesses
- Roadmap for solving tax complexity
- Future of crypto
Nataraj is an engineer at Azure, partner at NVC & hosts thestartupproject.io podcast. Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/natarajsindam & stay up to date here.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/startupproject/message
In this Episode of Startup project (https://thestartupproject.io/) , Nataraj talked to Kirby Winfield, Founding GP of Ascend.vc (pre-seed fund based in Seattle).
Prior to founding Ascend.vc, Kirby was part of founding teams at Go2Net (GNET), Marchex (MCHX), Dwellable (Acquired by Home Away (AWAY))
& AdXpose (Acquired by comScore (SCOR)).
Full conversation includes:
- Through line of a successful career
- How can companies strategize for an exit?
- The why behind starting a pre-seed fund?
- Helping startups from zero to one
- Price discovery of startups in current private markets
Follow Kirby on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/winfield/. Checkout Ascend.vc for more updates.
Nataraj is an engineer at Azure, partner at NVC & hosts thestartupproject.io podcast. Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/natarajsindam & stay up to date here.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/startupproject/message
In this Episode of Startup project, Nataraj talked to Jeremy Neilson, CEO & Co-Founder of Assure.co.
Prior to co-founding Assure, Jeremy ran Utah Fund of Funds and later went on to found Assure. Assure created & pioneered the usage of SPVs and became the synonymous as backend of Venture Capital. Today Assure's clients include Republic, Launch Fund, Forge, Equity Zen and more.
Full conversation includes:
- Origin story of Assure
- How Assure created SPVs that powered AngelList and others.
- State of Venture from Assure's point of View
- Evolution of VC firms
Follow Jeremy on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremyneilson/. Checkout Assure.co (https://hubs.li/Q015-RK10) for more updates.
Nataraj is an engineer at Azure, partner at NVC & hosts thestartupproject.io podcast. Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/natarajsindam & stay up to date here.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/startupproject/message
In this Episode of Startup project, Nataraj talked to Ali Moiz, Co-Founder of Stonks.Com.
Prior to co-founding Stonks, Ali was a serial entrepreneur and co-founder of Stream Labs (Acq by Logitech) & Peanut Labs (Acq by E-Rewards).
Full conversation includes:
- Value prop of Stonks for founders & investors
- Post pitch effect for startups
- Behind the Scenes of Stonks.com
- Evolution of Video Streaming
- Investing in Canva, Airtable & notion via Poor Founders
Follow Ali on Twitter at https://twitter.com/ali_moiz & on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/alimoiz/. Checkout Stonks.com for more updates.
Nataraj is an engineer at Azure, partner at NVC & hosts thestartupproject.io podcast. Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/natarajsindam & stay up to date here.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/startupproject/message
In this Episode of Startup project, Nataraj talked to Ajay, Co-Founder of Simplified.co.
Prior to co-founding simplified.co, Ajay was a serial entrepreneur and was founder of Roomi, which helps people find flexible, affordable co-living solutions.
Full conversation includes:
- India to U.S
- Raising venture for Roomi vs Simplified
- Funding landscape for repeat founder vs first time founder
- Competing against $40B Canva
- Building in Public, Marketing-Product Fit.
- Why be a repeat entrepreneur?
Follow Ajay Yadav on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/yadavajay/ and learn more about Simplified.co.
Nataraj is an engineer at Azure, partner at NVC & hosts thestartupproject.io podcast. Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/natarajsindam & stay up to date here.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/startupproject/message
In this Episode of Startup project, Nataraj talked to Ali Jamal, Founder of First Check Ventures.
Prior to starting First Cheque Ventures, Ali was at companies like RockYou, Agoda & Rappi in growth and marketing roles.
Full conversation includes:
- Career in Growth and data analytics
- Early Angel investing
- Transition from Angel Investing to founding first check ventures
- YC MFN clause
- Strategy behind the growth of First Check Ventures
- Building unique deal flow
- Investing in LATAM, Asia & Africa
Follow Ali Jamal on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/mralijamal/ and learn more about First Cheque Ventures here.
Nataraj is an engineer at Azure, partner at NVC & hosts thestartupproject.io podcast. Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/natarajsindam & stay up to date here.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/startupproject/message
In this Episode of Startup project, Nataraj talked to Harvey Multani, Founder of RUV Alliance & Miami100 DAO.
Prior to starting RUV Alliance, Harvey was at Coinbase and Plaid in business development and GTM Strategies.
Full conversation includes:
- The origins of RUV Alliance
- Goals as an investor community
- Macro factors that helped RUV Alliance
- Dynamics with other SPVs
- AngelList's reaction to RUV Alliance
- Who funds RUV Alliance?
- Miami100 DAO
- Where is the leverage for individuals today?
Follow Harvey on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/harvey-multani-95b591208/ and learn more about RUV Alliance here.
Nataraj is an engineer at Azure, partner at planbcapital.co & hosts thestartupproject.io podcast. Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/natarajsindam & stay up to date here.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/startupproject/message
In this Episode of Startup project, Nataraj talked to Richrad White, Founder of Fathom.VIdeo. It is one of the companies invested by Zoom Apps Fund.
Prior to starting Fathom.Video, Richard was CEO & Founder of Uservoice.com (Product feedback for B2B SaaS)/
Full conversation includes:
- Journey of Uservoice
- Insights that led to starting Fathom.Video
- Why repeat founders look at having more investors on cap table than less?
- Optimization for Angels and New funds on cap table
- Taking investment from Zoom Fund
- How to think about B2B marketplaces like Zoom Apps
Follow Richard on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/rrwhite/ and learn more about Fathom here. Go to https://fathom.video/pod to skip the waiting list and try fathom.video.
Nataraj is an engineer at Azure, partner at planbcapital.co & hosts thestartupproject.io podcast. Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/natarajsindam & stay up to date here.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/startupproject/message
In this Episode of Startup project, Nataraj talked to Luba Lesiva, Founder of palumni.vc
Prior to starting palumni.vc she was head of investor relations for Palantir and had a career in investing at Sovereign Wealth Funds and was an investment banker at various Wall Street firms.
We talked about:
- Origin story of palumni.vc
- Investing in Palantir Alumni
- Challenges & growth tactics in creating and growing an Alumni Syndicate
- Leveraging communities to create value
Follow Luba on Twitter at https://twitter.com/loobah_l and learn more about palumni.vc here.
Nataraj is an engineer at Azure, partner at planbcapital.co & hosts thestartupproject.io podcast. Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/natarajsindam & stay up to date here.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/startupproject/message
In this Episode of Startup project, Nataraj talked to Eric Satz, Founder & CEO of Alto IRA.
Prior to his role as founder and CEO of Alto, Eric worked in investment banking at DLJ/Credit Suisse and co-founded several companies, including: Currenex, an FX trading solution sold to State Street for more than $550M; Plumgood Food, and; Tennessee Community Ventures, a VC firm
We talked about:
-
- The problems that led to creation of Alto IRA
- Advantages of using Alto IRA
- Working with partners like Coinbase, Angellist & Republic
- Diversification of investments
- Fundraising via Equity Crowdfunding
- Peter Thiel's 401k strategy
Follow Eric on Twitter at https://twitter.com/ericsatz and learn more about Alto IRA here.
Nataraj is an engineer at Azure, partner at planbcapital.co & hosts thestartupproject.io podcast. Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/natarajsindam and stay up to date at https://www.getrevue.co/profile/bmb/members
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/startupproject/message
In this Episode of Startup project, Nataraj talked to Sajid Rahman, Founder of My Asia VC.
Sajid is an operator-investor who invested in 1000+ Startups with 40+ Exits. He is the founder of myasiavc.com and his portfolio companies span all geographical regions including North America, Europe, Asia, Africa and Latam.
We talked about:
- Transition from Banking to Angel Investing
- Solving the cold start problem
- Best way to start leading investments in 2021
- Graduating from a syndicate to fund
- Thought process behind Investing in different stages
- Thesis for the new late stage fund
- Why he thinks startup investing is not risky
- Decisions making style
- Trends he is looking forward in next couple of years.
Follow Sajid on Twitter at https://twitter.com/SajidRepublic and learn more about My Asia VC at myasiavc.com
Nataraj is an engineer at Azure, partner at planbcapital.co & hosts thestartupproject.io podcast. Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/natarajsindam and stay up to date at getrevue.co/profile/bmb
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/startupproject/message
In this Episode of Startup project, Nataraj talked to Martin Tobias, Founder of Incisive Ventures.
Martin is a serial entrepreneur, investor in 100+ deals as an angel, also the Founder of a leading Angel network, Element8. He is also 3x CEO, and has raised over $500M (including two IPOs).
We talked about:
- First Angel Investment
- Meta Themes
- Capital Efficiency in North America vs India
- Looking at valuations with the lens of notional capital
- What led to his investment in DocuSign at a time when electronic signatures were not legal.
- Story behind starting Incisive in the middle of a pandemic
Follow Martin on Twitter at https://twitter.com/MartinGTobias and learn more about Incisive at Incisive.vc
Follow Nataraj on Twitter at https://twitter.com/natarajsindam and stay up to date at thestartupproject.io
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/startupproject/message
This is a special episode. I have known Vipul for over 6 months now. With in just couple of conversations I have come to realize that he is one of the most interesting founders I have come across.
In this episode we talked about:
- Vipul's journey prior to starting unlu.io & building Rutogo & CricnWin.
- Making money using Internet
- The concept of Fandom vs Respect
- How his experience working with influencers in cricket and co-producing movies is helping him build Unlu?
- How does the journey of making an Unlu Class happen, from concept to production?
- How does Unlu convince the like of Ruskin Bond & Manoj Bajpayee come and teach their craft on Unlu?
- Market size of Indian Influencer economy
- what's next after Unlu Shoutouts & Unlu class?
- What are the moats that are separating Unlu from the competition?
- Thesis behind Angel investing and the experience of seeing exits like Fitso (aq by Zomato)
Follow Vipul on Twitter at https://twitter.com/iamvipulagrawal and learn more about Unlu at unlu.io
Follow Nataraj on Twitter at https://twitter.com/natarajsindam and stay up to date at thestartupproject.io
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/startupproject/message
In Episode 5 of The Startup Project (thestartupproject.io) Nataraj talked to Ani Mohan who is the founder and General Manager of Gamesnacks (gamesnacks.com), a web based game platform incubated inside Google's Area 120.Â
The conversation included the following topics:
- Start of the Gamesnacks and all the previous versions of it
- Incubation of projects inside google area 120
- How a decision to Pivot to Gamesnacks was made?
- Embedding as a distribution Strategy
- Value chain of Gaming Ecosystem & Future trends in gaming
Follow Ani on Twitter at https://twitter.com/ani_c_mohan and learn more about Gamesnacks at gamesnacks.com
Follow Nataraj on Twitter at https://twitter.com/natarajsindam and stay up to date at thestartupproject.io
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/startupproject/message
Manik is the Co-Founder of Omnify (getomnify.com), a global SaaS platform for small and medium service business. Previously he was also the co-founder of LinkMySport.Â
We talked about:
- Service Ecommerce
- Pivoting multiple times to find product market fit
- Scrapping and restarting to figure the right customers in right geography
- Giving back time to customers
- Getting through the rollercoaster of pandemic when 90% of your customers are outside India
- Vision of Omnify
Follow Manik on Twitter at https://twitter.com/manik_me and learn more about omnify at getomnify.com
Follow Nataraj on Twitter at https://twitter.com/natarajsindam and stay up to date at thestartupproject.io
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/startupproject/message
Vikas is the Co-Founder of Leher (Leher.app), a live discussion platform. Previously he was also the co-founder of Commonfloor.com which was acquired by Quikr.Â
We talked about:
- Growth of Leher in last 6 months
- Monetization Models
- Content moderation
- The Clubhouse Effect
- From Commonfloor to Leher, how has the Indian Startup ecosystem changed?
Follow Vikas on Twitter at https://twitter.com/vikasmalpani and learn more about Leher at Leher.App
Follow Nataraj on Twitter at https://twitter.com/natarajsindam and stay up to date at thestartupproject.io
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/startupproject/message
Pankaj Jain is currently COO of Workomo. He has worn multiple hats in his journey from being a founder, operator & investor. He is also an advisor to Angel List India's The Collective Fund.
We talked aboutÂ
- Creating communities like Startup weekend & now Indian startup club on clubhouse (https://indianstartup.club/)
- Working at TLabs (Times Internet's Accelerator)
- Different Accelerator models in India
- Leading 500 Startup's India Strategy
- Evolution of Food Startups in India
- Jio Effect in India
- Advising for Angel List India's The Collective Fund
- Perspective on AL Syndicates
- Indian companies registering outside India
- 2020 is it a crisis/bubble/opportunity
- Being chief operating officer at Workomo
Follow Pankaj on Twitter (https://twitter.com/pjain) and learn more about Workomo at https://workomo.com
Find more about Nataraj on Twitter https://twitter.com/natarajsindam
More information at thestartupproject.io
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/startupproject/message
Pranay is the co-founder of 91 Springboard (91springboard.com), one of India's successful co-working space companies. Â
We talked about:Â
- Interesting origin story of 91Springboard
- Evolution and scaling of 91Springboard
- The business model of co-working space company
- How 91Springboard became on of the best startup incubators and received "Best emerging Technology Incubator 2016" award from president of India
- His recent foray to Angel Investing and setting up a syndicate
- Goa as a startup destination
You can follow Pranay on Twitter (https://twitter.com/PranayG) and learn more about 91Springboard here (91springboard.com)
More information of all other episodes are at thestartupproject.io and you can find more about Nataraj on Twitter @natarajsindam.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/startupproject/message