A show on optimistic conversations with people building and creating new products and technologies, hosted by veteran technologists Aarthi Ramamurthy and Sriram...
Ep 92 - Mark Pincus on the state of media and politics, the Zynga story and being the most unmanageable founder in tech
Chapters:0:0 Intro1:30 The big political divide in the US7:50 The new media election19:55 Pre-Zynga: Mark's entrepreneurial origins26:10 Being in the room where it happens30:50 How to choose the right idea to work on34:35 Meeting Mark Zuckerberg and investing in Facebook40:20 Founder Mode43:15 Zynga board and saving the company49:30 Zynga 2.0: The Comeback55:00 Zynga company culture1:01:20 Building product at Zynga1:08:30 How Zynga was Facebook's winning strategy1:14:10 Advice to Founders1:25:15 Outro
Follow Sriram:https://www.instagram.com/sriramk/https://twitter.com/sriramkFollow Aarthi:https://www.instagram.com/aarthir/https://twitter.com/aarthirFollow the podcast:https://www.instagram.com/aarthiandsriramshow/https://twitter.com/aarthisrirampod
--------
1:26:20
Ep 91 - Ishan Mukherjee on launching Rox, and living the American Dream
0:01Intro3:04 Ishan's Story4:43 Inside IIT: India's Most Competitive Universities6:50 How Quiz Championships Shaped a Tech Founder11:45 Moving to the US19:38 Building Kiva - The Early Days24:45 The Amazon Acquisition28:30 Immigration34:55 What is ROX37:00 Where are AI agents lacking/ State of LLMs41:35 Reinventing CRMs43:45 How ROX works48:30 AI's Impact on Traditional Industries53:45 The Launch: ROX Goes Public57:00 Advice to Young Dreamers58:35 The Ultimate Quiz Showdown1:01:30 Outro
Follow Sriram:https://www.instagram.com/sriramk/https://twitter.com/sriramkFollow Aarthi:https://www.instagram.com/aarthir/https://twitter.com/aarthirFollow the podcast:https://www.instagram.com/aarthiandsriramshow/https://twitter.com/aarthisrirampod
--------
1:01:42
Ep 90 - Elon’s DOGE and the First Podcast Election
The year is 2024 and it has been a few days since the remarkable US elections. Trump is now President elect. Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy (both former guests of our podcast!) are leading DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency). What does it all mean for tech, for startups and for skilled immigration? What is the future of journalism and media? Is this election a one of one, or is this the first of many podcast elections? We cover it all here in our solo episode.
Chapters
00:01:00:17 – 00:03:21:15: One week after the US elections
00:03:19:26 – 00:14:12:00: DOGE and Elon Musk
00:14:15:21 – 00:22:22:17: Elon, Trump and the new government
00:22:34:07 – 00:27:48:05: The podcast election
00:27:55:07 – 00:33:25:13: Views on journalism - the decline of wired magazine
00:33:38:03 – 00:47:39:19: Sriram’s view on skilled immigration and country caps
00:47:46:26 – 00:58:35:22: Views on the Trump government
00:58:50:10 – 01:00:44:26: RFK Jr, FDA and the American food system
01:00:48:27 – The end
Follow Sriram:
https://www.instagram.com/sriramk/
https://twitter.com/sriramk
Follow Aarthi:
https://www.instagram.com/aarthir/
https://twitter.com/aarthir
Follow the podcast:
https://www.instagram.com/aarthiandsriramshow/
https://twitter.com/aarthisrirampod
--------
1:02:54
Ep 89 - Anil Varanasi from Meter on AI and networking hardware, spotting talent early, on China and Cinema
Some helpful linksMeter - https://www.meter.com/Meter command - https://command.meter.com/Link to Tyler’s book on culture - https://www.amazon.com/Praise-Commercial-Culture-Tyler-Cowen/dp/0674001885Sam Hinkie - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Hinkie0:00 - Intro3:48 - Anil’s early years and background5:23 - Unconventional parenting9:35 - Anil's journey to entrepreneurship12:30 - Sleeping in factories in China15:22 - China VS U.S.18:30 - Why Networks are so important21:35 - Why networking is still an unsolved problem24:10 - Is hardware too hard?26:11 - What does Meter do?37:17 - How does Meter work?41:08 - Future of enterprise software44:00 - Human interaction with AI models46:30 - Why Meter is building AI models50:50 - Spotting young talent54:00 - Anil's framework to find good talent57:30 - How Anil helped Dwarkesh Patel start his podcast1:02:00 - The “X factor” in Anil’s investments1:02:00 - Raising the ambition bar1:06:55 - Escaping the competitive Indian dynamics1:08:38 - How cinema influences entrepreneurship1:17:25 - Why don't we know how planes fly1:19:20 - Lessons from Sam Hinkie1:21:04 - Kindness as an operating principle1:22:10 - Why hasn’t Anil had a more public brand?1:24:03 - US Immigration1:28:00 - Aarthi, Sriram and Anil show?1:30:44 - Best Indian restaurant in London1:32:50 - Has sneaker culture peaked?1:34:25 - Why don’t wealthy people build monuments anymore?1:38:04 - London’s rich history1:40:30 - Why does Sriram have sriramk.eth?1:42:00 - Should all startups go direct on comms?1:47:07 - Are Aarthi and Sriram “too online”?1:49:10 - Sriram’s Silicon Valley groupchats1:49:46 - Will Aarthi and Sriram move back to India?1:48:12 - Aarthi and Sriram’s failures in tech1:53:55 - Netflix’s 3D and streaming software1:58:18 - Popfly1:59:55 - Microsoft success under Satya2:02:00 - On tech execs2:03:10 - Nonfiction book that Aarthi and Sriram would write2:06:27 - Aarthi and Sriram’s favorite Indian movie before 20002:09:48 - The End
Follow Sriram:https://www.instagram.com/sriramk/https://twitter.com/sriramkFollow Aarthi:https://www.instagram.com/aarthir/https://twitter.com/aarthirFollow the podcast:https://www.instagram.com/aarthiandsriramshow/https://twitter.com/aarthisrirampod
--------
2:10:51
Ep 88 - Gokul Rajaram on Founder Mode and building the next Meta and Google
0:00 - Intro1:10 - Meet Gokul Rajaram, on the Mount Rushmore of Silicon Valley2:19 - Gokul's relationship with Aarthi and Sriram4:00 - What is Founder Mode? And Zuck's Micromanagement6:33 - Founder Mode Vs Management Mode8:26 - Why Gokul disagrees with Paul Graham10:56 - Learnings from Google’s Larry and Sergey15:58 - What were early days at Google like?18:58 - What makes a great CEO?20: 42 - How to engage with high performing executives25:45 - Why Gokul left Google to launch his own startup28:53 - Chamath's Acquisition offer31:30 - Fundraising advice for founders34:13 - Gokul’s HOT take on AI startups38:10 - The evolving consumer apps landscape40:55 - Career Advice for young people48:00 - When is the right time to start a company?52:17 - Why titles don't matter1:01: 45 - Why Gokul left Facebook to join Square1:06:46 - Regret Minimization Framework1:07:28 - Gokul's Best Bet - Doordash1:13:18 - Doordash’s secret hiring process1:16:11 - Sriram’s favorite interview question1:17:30 - Gokul’s advice for first time founders1:20:10 - Final Thoughts
Follow Sriram:https://www.instagram.com/sriramk/https://twitter.com/sriramkFollow Aarthi:https://www.instagram.com/aarthir/https://twitter.com/aarthirFollow the podcast:https://www.instagram.com/aarthiandsriramshow/https://twitter.com/aarthisrirampod
A show on optimistic conversations with people building and creating new products and technologies, hosted by veteran technologists Aarthi Ramamurthy and Sriram Krishnan.