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Startup Project

Startup Project

By Nataraj

Exploring the ideas, investments & strategies behind global Startups. Learn more and stay up to date at thestartupproject.io
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#58 - TA McCann - Professional Sailor, Serial Entrepreneur (5x Founder with 3 Exits), Managing Director at Pioneer Square Labs

Startup ProjectMay 21, 2023

00:00
50:16
#58 - TA McCann - Professional Sailor, Serial Entrepreneur (5x Founder with 3 Exits), Managing Director at Pioneer Square Labs

#58 - TA McCann - Professional Sailor, Serial Entrepreneur (5x Founder with 3 Exits), Managing Director at Pioneer Square Labs

To stay up to date checkout ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠thestartupproject.io⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ & follow Nataraj on twitter: ⁠⁠⁠@natarajsindam⁠⁠

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/

May 21, 202350:16
#57: How to Run Innovation Sessions with Bill Gates to Solve World Problems?

#57: How to Run Innovation Sessions with Bill Gates to Solve World Problems?

To stay up to date checkout ⁠⁠⁠⁠thestartupproject.io⁠⁠⁠⁠ & follow Nataraj on twitter: ⁠⁠@natarajsindam⁠⁠

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 then it's completely deep tech, uh, and sort of like invention based, uh, ideas.

[00:00:08] Nataraj: Uh, so what was the process of like capturing and invention and taking and productizing it and, you know, making a return out of it? Like what was the thinking process there?

[00:00:20] Taylor: So the, uh, and you can read Malcolm Gladwell's take on this in a, in an article where he described our invention sessions. Um, a and the invention sessions are a bit of a riff on like an innovation session or an envisioning session or things along those lines where you, you come up with wild ideas within a particular problem space, um, in a very unfettered sort of, Um, and the whole goal of this session is to generate as many ideas as possible.

[00:00:52] Taylor: That's the sole ROI you're looking for in those sessions. Um, but there's certain conditions you set for success in those [00:01:00] sessions. And so the way that we ran those sessions, and I, and I, I ran, uh, a number of them, um, is that we would prepare for months ahead of time in gathering all of the materials that related to the problem.

[00:01:14] Taylor: and by materials I mean the scientific research in a particular problem space, the, uh, market, uh, and startup landscapes of that particular problem space. Um, uh, things that people had written about it. Books, articles, um, you know, YouTube videos, everything, uh, along those lines. And the goal was to, um, inform.

[00:01:43] Taylor: Kind of the fermentation moment of when you're thinking about a problem, all of these things w wouldn't themselves, um, not be a solution necessarily, but there are all the things that someone who wanted to be completely informed or as, as, as informed and possible 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'd do 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 into their 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, bill Gates, um, uh, whenever he came to those sessions, he would have all of those materials like completely groced. And so you, you know, you needed to have them groced 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, a good month or so before the actual sessions happened. Um, that gave everybody an, an even playing [00:03:00] field in terms of, you know, I may be a physicist, I may be a biz dev person, I may be, um, an attorney.

[00:03:06] Taylor: I may be, uh, you know, a program manager, but I have all of the same raw material. Uh, and my own perspective on it that I can bring to these sessions. The sessions themselves, them, um, were set 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, a lot of conversation, a lot of like wild thinking and post-it notes and whiteboards of just dumping ideas out, uh, that had occurred to people or occurred in conversation or happened in the, in the hallway outside. Um, and we get all those ideas down, documenting everything.

May 14, 202306:23
#56: Why Wordpress dominates internet?

#56: Why Wordpress dominates internet?

#56: Why Wordpress dominates internet?

May 07, 202303:25
#55: What is the insurance against Innovation Dilemma?

#55: What is the insurance against Innovation Dilemma?

To stay up to date checkout ⁠⁠⁠thestartupproject.io⁠⁠⁠ & follow Nataraj on twitter: ⁠@natarajsindam⁠

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 large companies to have some kind of incubator or accelerator model because one of the reasons I think we are seeing in this bear cycle, sort of like when the wave sort of, you know, falls down, you see who's naked scenario.

[00:00:17] Nataraj: Um, I think any company which survives multi decades has to have multiple large businesses. Mm-hmm. . I think in a lot of ways, I mean, looking back, a lot of companies didn't, uh, look for long-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 would argue the potential on the upside of suckers was so high they should have put in, you know, one more billion and tried the next version.

[00:00:50] Nataraj: Mm-hmm. . Mm-hmm. , uh, and I. , like argue the same with Facebook in a sense. Like now they're doing this metaverse thing. [00:01:00] Um, and sort of again retreating 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 to be a social company.

[00:01:14] Nataraj: Um, like I think that's sort of like a self-imposed mental model on themselves. Mm-hmm. , like, uh, I would not impose themselves like a social company. Yeah. You work good at Facebook and WhatsApp, but I mean, look at how many great technologies that came out from Facebook, open source community and like putting that social as a blanket on your company.

[00:01:34] Nataraj: I think. Set a backstage for all these 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 out on business opportunities because of that reason.

[00:01:50] Nataraj: That's my personal view on like, , a lot of companies could have it if it is well run. Mm-hmm. . Um, and should have it because of this reason. Right? Mm-hmm. , it's sort of [00:02:00] like you are the innovation dilemma that you'll encounter at some point as a large company, and you have to have a sort of a backup backstopping mechanism to that innovation dilemma, which every company will eventually face.

[00:02:12] Nataraj: Mm-hmm. , um, So I feel like the innovation, uh, accelerator or the incubator would sort of act as that, uh, you know, 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 problem there 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 three years 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 way of showing your, your anticipated revenue, your anticipated ROI on the basis of your activities, then uh, [00:03:00] it's entirely legitimate that you get.

[00:03:02] Taylor: There's a, there's a, there's data driven ways of showing that the whole venture ecosystem depends on the fact that 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 program inside an enterprise has to have that same data-driven hygiene.

For full conversation check out Episode 53.

Apr 30, 202303:29
#54: How Techstars Seattle Works & How Should Founders Think About It?

#54: How Techstars Seattle Works & How Should Founders Think About It?

To stay up to date checkout ⁠thestartupproject.io⁠ & follow Nataraj on twitter: @natarajsindam In 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.  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 the founders really getting outta, um, joining tech?

[00:00:09] Marius: Yeah, for sure. So, um, the Tech Techstars program essentially, uh, falls into almost three phases. So it's a 13 week program and it's kind of, uh, set up in three phases. The first phase is customer discovery, so we worked with you to ensure that like, , you truly understand who your customer is and what are they buying from you.

[00:00:31] Marius: Like, you know, you, you would be surprised how many people have an idea of who their customer is, but it's not clearly defined. They don't really understand why that customer is interested in their product. So even companies that are farther along, we find. , it's always good to like really reflect on who your customer is.

[00:00:50] Marius: So the first phase is customer discovery. Second phase is go to market and execution, which is more important nowadays, especially given the market [00:01:00] situation. More important than ever to actually gain real traction in your business and prove out that your business has some product market fit. And product 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're preparing you to go out in front of investors. So we're working on your pitch deck, 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 and putting you in front of investors.


Full version at thestartupproject.io


Apr 23, 202303:39
#53 Taylor Black - Innovation Science Fund & Microsoft Incubator

#53 Taylor Black - Innovation Science Fund & Microsoft Incubator

To stay up to date checkout ⁠⁠thestartupproject.io⁠⁠ & follow Nataraj on twitter: @natarajsindam 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. 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.


Apr 16, 202355:40
#52: What is Sharegrid & how it got started?

#52: What is Sharegrid & how it got started?

To stay up to date checkout ⁠thestartupproject.io⁠ & follow Nataraj on twitter: @natarajsindam In 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.  Full Transcript:

[00:00:00] So you decided you want to be in tech. Then how did, uh, your, uh, company start, uh, share grid?

[00:00:06] Yeah, so she started, um, actually the idea was kind of originated while I was, was working our 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 a media communication, uh, background.

[00:00:24] But he ended up in tech as well. He was a designer and front end developer and um, he was a longtime photographer and we would take walks all the time and. , he, he sold his previous company to Groupon, so he's been very entrepreneurial himself and we were always kicking around ideas of potential startups that we could start.

[00:00:47] And one of the ideas was, 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 I justify kind. [00:01:00] Investing more money into more equipment when I'm not even using the equipment I already have. So that was kind of the thread that we started to talk about the idea, and essentially the idea was a lot of filmmakers, photographers invest.

[00:01:15] Quite a bit of capital into, uh, equipment, into, into different, uh, cameras, lenses, audio equipment, lighting equipment, and it's very, very expensive. I mean, we're talking thousands of dollars for a camera or lens. Sometimes for film equipment, you're looking at 40, $50,000 for cinema camera, and that doesn't count all the additional accessories and, and everything else you need.

[00:01:41] I knew about this from 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 of me being hired, uh, will increase. Because the film world is actually a very much [00:02:00] a gig economy, freelance type of world. So they were thinking, if we invest in, in this equipment, uh, I will stand amongst the rest and like be hired more frequently.

[00:02:10] That doesn't always happen. So you invest all this money, but your monthly payments are coming in every day, every, every month. , but you're not always getting hired. That equipment'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 is something that other people would be interested in First.

[00:02:43] I spoke to a lot of my friends from Phil School and everybody said, It's a great idea, but what about if somebody steals my equipment while they're renting it? They don't come back with the equipment. So that was always kind of the big challenge that we had 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 just from a personal need and also just a brainstorm of ideas.

[00:03:07] So it was essentially a marketplace for renting, uh, camera and other high-end equipment for production.

[00:03:14] Exactly. Exactly.

Apr 09, 202303:15
#51: Working in Tech vs Movie Business

#51: Working in Tech vs Movie Business

To stay up to date checkout ⁠thestartupproject.io⁠ & follow Nataraj on twitter: @natarajsindam In 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.  Full Transcript:

[00:00:00] So I was like, you know, 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 a startup and. Uh, learning UX design. So I had to make a decision. I couldn't do both. And the reason I decided to go into tech, I remember having this kind of conversation with my significant other, is that in film it's a very traditional career path, meaning, In order to become a cinematographer or a director or a producer, you have to pay your dues.

[00:00:35] Like there is very strict rules about what certain people could do on a set and what they can't do, like. I've been told in my position as a production assistant was like, you are not allowed to move that equipment. You're not allowed to move that chair because the union, you don't belong to that union.

[00:00:53] So it's actually like a safety regulation or. It was a very traditional kind of [00:01:00] career path, and I realized that like I was not going to reach my dream of becoming a cinematographer or director well into my forties, probably fifties, and it was gonna take a long time where in tech it was actually the complete opposite.

[00:01:18] The younger you were, 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 just really opening, people are just much more supportive. If you have big ambitions, you don't have to like, wait in line and wait your turn.

[00:01:38] You could just act on those ambitions. Uh, so it just felt like a much friendlier community and just more embracing. So, um, it went towards tech and I, I always planned like at some point in my career, I'll make it in tech and then I'll come back at an older 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 that might be.

Apr 02, 202302:02
#50: Marius Ciocirlan - Managing Director Techstars Seattle, Co-Founder of Sharegrid (Acq by Backstage)

#50: Marius Ciocirlan - Managing Director Techstars Seattle, Co-Founder of Sharegrid (Acq by Backstage)

To stay up to date checkout thestartupproject.io & follow Nataraj on twitter: @natarajsindam In 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. 

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

Mar 26, 202338:22
#49 Insidious Loops in Indian Startup Ecosystem (TSP Insights)

#49 Insidious Loops in Indian Startup Ecosystem (TSP Insights)

To stay up to date checkout thestartupproject.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 ⁠@debarghya_das⁠!

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Past guests of Startup Project podcast include Ali Moiz (stonks.com), Kirby Winfield (Ascend.vc), Eric Bahn (Hustle Fund), and others.


Mar 21, 202310:10
Shark Tank India vs Shark Tank U.S Differences Explained (TSP Insights)

Shark Tank India vs Shark Tank U.S Differences Explained (TSP Insights)

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

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Past guests of Startup Project podcast include Ali Moiz (stonks.com), Kirby Winfield (Ascend.vc), Eric Bahn (Hustle Fund), and others.


Mar 11, 202301:04
#31: Deedy (Debarghya Das) - Indian Startups, AI & Search

#31: Deedy (Debarghya Das) - Indian Startups, AI & Search

To stay up to date checkout thestartupproject.io & follow Nataraj on twitter: @natarajsindam

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In this episode Spoke to Deedy who writes amazing twitter threads on immigration,  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!

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Past guests of Startup Project podcast include Ali Moiz (stonks.com), Kirby Winfield (Ascend.vc), Eric Bahn (Hustle Fund), and others.


Mar 04, 202301:06:27
#30: Jacob Colker - Co-Managing Director AI2 Incubator

#30: Jacob Colker - Co-Managing Director AI2 Incubator

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

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Past guests of Startup Project podcast include Ali Moiz (stonks.com), Kirby Winfield (Ascend.vc), Eric Bahn (Hustle Fund), and others.

Feb 20, 202344:52
#29: Jacques Fu - Co-founder at Stax, Author of "Time Hacks"

#29: Jacques Fu - Co-founder at Stax, Author of "Time Hacks"

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". 

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

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Past guests of Startup Project podcast include Ali Moiz (stonks.com), Kirby Winfield (Ascend.vc), Eric Bahn (Hustle Fund), and others.


Jan 29, 202341:02
Google Got Chat Right 10 Years Back, But Didn't Know (TSP Insights)
Dec 14, 202200:29
Netflix No Longer Controls the Streaming Story (TSP Insights)
Dec 07, 202200:55
#28: Build In Public or Not? w/ KP
Dec 03, 202248:01
Venture Fund is a Startup (TSP Insights)

Venture Fund is a Startup (TSP Insights)

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. 

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

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Past guests of Startup Project podcast include Ali Moiz (stonks.com), Kirby Winfield (Ascend.vc), Eric Bahn (Hustle Fund), and others.


Oct 24, 202200:51
#27 Geoff Harris: Managing Partner Flying Fish VC
Oct 01, 202232:01
NFTs in Games? (Bonus Clip)

NFTs in Games? (Bonus Clip)

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/

Sep 19, 202200:45
Democratizing Education (Bonus Clip)

Democratizing Education (Bonus Clip)

Nataraj & Eric (Hustle Fund) talk about how an Indian company BYJU's despite its flaws is helping democratizing education. 

For Full conversation with Eric check out Episode 21 of Startup Project. https://open.spotify.com/episode/5ceRBSjtTP8ROl8nR9AoT0?si=bf937a7778d24236


Sep 11, 202201:32
#26 Mohan Belani: Co-Founder of E27.co
Sep 05, 202239:12
What is Amazon's Fourth Dreamy Business? (TSP Insights)
Aug 28, 202213:15
#25 Todd Bishop: Co-Founder of Geekwire.com
Aug 22, 202258:17
500x Coinbase Exit (Bonus)
Aug 16, 202201:35
#24 Liron Shapira: Web3 Critique, Founder & Early Investor in Coinbase
Aug 05, 202201:06:36
Story Behind Patagonia’s First Ecommerce Store (Bonus)
Jul 31, 202205:13
Is web3 hype about technology or political ideology? (TSP Insights)
Jul 24, 202204:57
#23 Chris DeVore: Managing Partner Founders Co-op (Remitly, Auth0 & Outreach)

#23 Chris DeVore: Managing Partner Founders Co-op (Remitly, Auth0 & Outreach)

In this Episode of Startup Project, Nataraj talked to Chris DeVore, Founding Managing Partner of Founders’ 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.


Jul 17, 202251:11
How to Angel Invest? (TSP Insights)
Jul 09, 202201:21
#22 Sudip Chakrabarti: Partner Decibel.vc Ex Partner at A16Z, Lightspeed & Madrona
Jul 02, 202252:48
Hyper Leverage (Bonus Clip)
Jun 12, 202201:21
Secret Sauce behind Hustle Fund's Brand! (Bonus Clip)
Jun 05, 202201:44
#21 Eric Bahn: Co-Founder & General Partner of Hustle Fund
May 31, 202255:06
How to Earn Your Luck? (Bonus Clip)
May 29, 202202:19
Position your Company for Acquisitions (Bonus Clip)
May 22, 202201:51
#20 Mike Fridgen: Seattle based Startup Incubator Madrona Venture Labs

#20 Mike Fridgen: Seattle based Startup Incubator Madrona Venture Labs

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

May 15, 202232:49
No Momentum? You are Dead! (Bonus Clip)
May 08, 202202:48
Don't Build in Public (Bonus Clip)
May 01, 202201:59
#19 Shruti Gandhi: Founder and General Partner of Array.VC on early stage investing

#19 Shruti Gandhi: Founder and General Partner of Array.VC on early stage investing

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

Apr 24, 202225:40
#18: Bear.Tax Co-Founders on simplifying Crypto Taxes | Startup Project by Nataraj
Apr 09, 202236:33
#17 Founding Partner of Ascend.vc: Kirby Winfield on all things Venture | Startup Project by Nataraj

#17 Founding Partner of Ascend.vc: Kirby Winfield on all things Venture | Startup Project by Nataraj

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.

Mar 26, 202253:32
#16 Assure.co: Jeremy Neilson on all things Venture | Startup Project by Nataraj
Mar 15, 202246:38
#15 Stonks.com: Ali Moiz on Investing, Streaming & Stonks | Startup Project by Nataraj

#15 Stonks.com: Ali Moiz on Investing, Streaming & Stonks | Startup Project by Nataraj

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.

Mar 05, 202244:57
#14 Simplified.co: Co-Founder Ajay Yadav on Scaling, Building in Public & More | Startup Project by Nataraj

#14 Simplified.co: Co-Founder Ajay Yadav on Scaling, Building in Public & More | Startup Project by Nataraj

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.

Feb 27, 202231:44
#13 First Check Ventures: Ali Jamal on Angel Investing | Startup Project by Nataraj
Feb 20, 202248:30
#12 Harvey Multani: Founder RUV Alliance & Miami100 DAO  | Startup Project by Nataraj
Feb 05, 202247:44
#11 Richard White: Founder of Fathom.Video (YC W21) & Uservoice | Startup Project by Nataraj
Jan 23, 202246:01
#10 Luba Lesiva: Founder of palumni.vc investing in Palantir Alumni | Startup Project by Nataraj
Jan 10, 202231:60
#9 Eric Satz: Founder of Alto IRA | Startup Project by Nataraj
Nov 15, 202135:40
#8 Sajid Rahman: Founder of My Asia VC, Investor in 1000+ Startups with 40+ Exits | Startup Project by Nataraj
Sep 25, 202135:03
#7 Martin Tobias: Founder of Incisive.vc | Startup Project by Nataraj

#7 Martin Tobias: Founder of Incisive.vc | Startup Project by Nataraj

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

Aug 07, 202136:19
#6 Vipul Agrawal: Founder of Unlu.io | Startup Project by Nataraj
Jul 03, 202140:50
#5 Ani Mohan: Founder & General Manager at GameSnacks (Google Area 120) | Startup Project by Nataraj
May 22, 202101:01:03
#4 Manik Mehta: Founder of Omnify, a global SaaS platform for small and medium service business | Startup Project by Nataraj

#4 Manik Mehta: Founder of Omnify, a global SaaS platform for small and medium service business | Startup Project by Nataraj

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. 

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

Apr 11, 202101:10:51
#3 Vikas Malpani: Co-Founder of Leher & Ex-Cofounder of Commonfloor.com | Startup Project by Nataraj

#3 Vikas Malpani: Co-Founder of Leher & Ex-Cofounder of Commonfloor.com | Startup Project by Nataraj

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. 

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

Mar 11, 202134:45
#2 Pankaj Jain: COO Workomo & Investor | Startup Project by Nataraj

#2 Pankaj Jain: COO Workomo & Investor | Startup Project by Nataraj

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 about 

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

Feb 14, 202101:33:47
#1 Pranay Gupta: Cofounder of 91Springboard & Angel Investor | Startup Project by Nataraj

#1 Pranay Gupta: Cofounder of 91Springboard & Angel Investor | Startup Project by Nataraj

Pranay is the co-founder of 91 Springboard (91springboard.com), one of India's successful co-working space companies.  

We talked about: 

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.

Jan 29, 202101:19:57