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21st Century Visionary

21st Century Visionary

By Sanat Singhal

21st Century Visionary is the go-to podcast for young entrepreneurs, leaders, and changemakers building the future. The podcast is hosted by Sanat Singhal, an 18-year-old kid with a vision to connect young people with the content and community to dream an inspiring vision for society and make it a reality. So every episode, we feature the stories and insights of inspiring young entrepreneurs or experienced business and thought leaders.
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Ep. 15 Aradhita Parasrampuria on using bacteria to create sustainable dyes, self-learning microbiology as a fashion student and the future of sustainable fashion

21st Century VisionarySep 23, 2020

00:00
39:56
Joe Wehbe on community building principles, why education today is like domesticating a cat, and his dream of a simple life for all

Joe Wehbe on community building principles, why education today is like domesticating a cat, and his dream of a simple life for all

Joe Wehbe is a facilitator, working on innovating education, non-linear & exponential career pathways, self-awareness, and accelerating the next generation of mission-led founders, writers, and creatives. Joe is the co-founder of the Constant Student Community, Author, and Project Leader of the book '18 & Lost? So Were We. He also hosts the Joe Wehbe Podcast and Blog, which explores introspection and self-awareness.

Show Notes:

(01:50) - Joe's background  

(05:27) - Dropping out of College to build a non-profit

(10:53) - The importance of feedback loops in learning

(13:53) - Lessons from running a real estate business

(17:51) - His interest in alternative education pathways and the idea behind his book 

(23:53) - Running a retreat for the book authors

(28:25) - "Everyone has a really good story"

(29:30) - Joe's Podcasting Process

(31:30) - His experience putting together a learning community

(35:22) - The best success story from Constant Student

(39:40) - Challenges in building community

(47:10) - Why the education system is fundamentally flawed

(51:00) - Advice to an 18 year old today

(53:40) - Creating a structured gap year experience

(59:00) - Favorite resources 

(1:01:36) - Why all entrepreneurs should study philosophy 

(1:03:52) - Joe's vision of a simpler life for all










Dec 20, 202101:07:57
Yash Tekriwal on Designing kickass personalized learning experiences at scale

Yash Tekriwal on Designing kickass personalized learning experiences at scale

Yash Tekriwal (@tekondeck) is the Ed-tech entrepreneur behind Lectureless, a collective of the best learning designers, no-code tools, and coaches to 10x the impact of cohort-based courses. Yash is also the chief of staff of High Output, which provides performance coaching for entrepreneurs. Prior to that, Yash built and ran upskilling programs for college students in data science and other technical skills, was a coach for Akimbo, and taught CS and entrepreneurship at a high school.


Show Notes:

(01:18) - Yash's elevator pitch

(03:00) - Teaching a data science course in college

(06:20) - The decision to start a company right out of college

(12:23) - Views on education

(15:00) - How a major car accident shifted his perspective (or didn't)

(17:23) - His interest in cohort-based courses

(22:15) - Improving the CBC experience

(26:33) - Starting and pivoting his company Lectureless

(31:00) - Advice to his 18-year-old self

(31:00) - Recommended programs/resources to learn hard skills like data science

(35:23) - Becoming an expert at using no-code tools

(36:52) - Favorite resources (eg. Refind)

(39:00) - Finding community



Dec 10, 202142:11
Author Proby Shandilya breaks down the lessons startups can learn from successful sports teams

Author Proby Shandilya breaks down the lessons startups can learn from successful sports teams

Today's guest is the insightful Proby Shandilya. Proby is an incoming undergraduate student at New York University studying sports management and he has authored two books on basketball front-office strategy, analyzing the factors, decisions, and management strategies that drive success for NBA teams. He has also done sports analytics research on player valuation and worked with the Houston Rockets on projects in their business strategy department.


In this episode, we talk about the value of writing to crystallize thinking, why athletes and employees performance is based on their team, the importance of having conviction in your innovation, The story of the Phoenix Suns and the 3 point shot, the Missionary vs Mercenary distinction, being intentional about company culture, Nadella's revival of Microsoft, Proby's experience working with the Houston Rockets, his intense writing process, note-taking systems, mental models, and more!

Nov 16, 202101:00:36
Biotech Entrepreneur Anthony Mooz on breaking into tech, being interdisciplinary, and eradicating neurological diseases

Biotech Entrepreneur Anthony Mooz on breaking into tech, being interdisciplinary, and eradicating neurological diseases

Today's episode features the amazing Anthony Mooz. Anthony is the Founder and CEO of AGE-LESS AI, an AI healthcare company with a suite of products and services that are designed to assist neurologists and multi-care teams through remote rehabilitation and assessment of patients suffering from movement disorders such as Parkinson’s and Stroke.

Prior to founding AGE-LESS AI, Anthony conducted research at Stanford Psychology and Donner Lab at UC Berkeley. Tony was also technology lead and data scientist for several Fortune 100 companies in technology, finance, supply chain, and industrial agriculture.

In this episode, we talk about Anthony's motivation behind building Ageless AI, his origins as a hacker, working on Wall Street, breaking into tech without a conventional CS background, networking, self-awareness, education, mentors, the impact of COVID on biotech, challenges they faced building Ageless AI, raising funding, favorite resources, and more!

Connect with Anthony: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anthonymooz/

Follow Ageless AI: https://www.linkedin.com/company/age-less-ai/

Learn more about the AGE-LESS AI - Wyss Institute Collaboration: https://wyss.harvard.edu/news/wyss-institute-announces-industrial-participant-program-ipp-to-accelerate-the-development-of-urgently-needed-diagnostic-capabilities/

Sep 24, 202101:14:28
Ep. 39 NYU Stern Prof. Cynthia Franklin on key traits of successful entrepreneurs, the real secret to attracting investors, and the importance of foundational knowledge

Ep. 39 NYU Stern Prof. Cynthia Franklin on key traits of successful entrepreneurs, the real secret to attracting investors, and the importance of foundational knowledge

Today's episode features NYU Professor Cynthia Franklin. Cynthia is the director of entrepreneurship for the Leonard N. Stern School's W. R. Berkley Innovation Labs at New York University. At the Berkley Innovation Lab, she serves hundreds of students, alums, and other aspiring entrepreneurs through venture competitions (which awards more than $200,000 in cash and services), venture mentor network, conferences, speaker series, and technical assistance programs.

Prior to joining the Berkley Innovation Lab, Cynthia was executive vice president of KIP Communications, b-to-b marketing, and media company she cofounded. For her work with startups and small businesses and promoting entrepreneurship and economic development in urban communities, Cynthia has received numerous honors and awards including from the U.S. Small Business Administration, the U.S. Department of Commerce, the NYC Mayor's Office, and many others. 

In this episode, we talk about traits of successful entrepreneurs, why Cynthia deemphasizes seeking funding early, when and how to raise capital, whether you should work in your industry before starting a company, the future of media, the unique value of formal education, her top book recommendations, podcasts and more!



Aug 30, 202137:45
Ep. 38 Skip the Traditional Path and Get Ahead with Investor/Author Zak Slayback

Ep. 38 Skip the Traditional Path and Get Ahead with Investor/Author Zak Slayback

Today's episode features the renegade VC and author Zak Slayback. Zak is a principal at the 1517 fund, where he invests in and works with dropouts, renegades, and deep tech scientists at the earliest stages. He also writes about personal and professional development on his website and hosts a long-form newsletter on society, tech and exploration called Slayback to the Future. Zak is the author of How to Get Ahead and The End of School

Timestamps:

0:46 Zak's Intro

2:27 How Zak broke into VC

5:57 Hyper Focus and Shiny Object Syndrome

7:25 Starting cash-flow businesses

13:58 The Value of Work Experience and how to choose where to work

20:38 How being competent can help you get your foot in the door

25:07 Why Unpaid Internships are like Marshmallow Tests 

26:20 Trading Up Mentors and Opportunities

29:51 The Art of Negotiation and Knowing when to Quit

33:57 Build a Business on the Side

36:22 Startup Ideas that Zack would fund (eg. Airbnb for Homeschooling!)

42:47 Crafting your narrative without a college degree

46:20 The Future of Education

50:41 Connect with Zack




 





Aug 19, 202152:24
Ep. 37 Podcaster Adam Ashton on Growing his podcast to 2 million podcast downloads, Life-changing Business book/lessons, and his "Swiss Cheese" writing process

Ep. 37 Podcaster Adam Ashton on Growing his podcast to 2 million podcast downloads, Life-changing Business book/lessons, and his "Swiss Cheese" writing process

Today's episode features a personal podcasting mentor, the incredibly well-read Australian Adam Ashton! Adam hosts the top-rated What you will Learn along with Adam Jones, where they break down the key insights from the top non-fiction books in an engaging format. The podcast has received 2 million downloads to date and was ranked #6 in the Apple Business category. He is also the author of the book The Shit They Never Taught You, which covers the best bits from 115+ of the top books of all time.

In this conversation, we talk about Adam's early business ventures, how reading Dale Carnegie landed Adam a competitive IB job in college, key lessons for entrepreneurs from top business books, tactics for growing a popular business podcast, his reading, and note-taking process, struggles with writing, overcoming them and living with intention!


Jul 28, 202139:46
Ep. 36 Billionaire Investor Tim Draper on Why he predicts Bitcoin will reach 250K, How he chooses Investments, and Adapting to Globalization
Jul 19, 202139:40
Ep. 35 Wharton Prof. David Erickson on IPO's, SPAC's, Breaking into VC, and Capitalizing on Disruption

Ep. 35 Wharton Prof. David Erickson on IPO's, SPAC's, Breaking into VC, and Capitalizing on Disruption

Today's Episode features Wharton Finance Professor David Erickson. David is currently a Senior Fellow and Lecturer in the Finance Department and Co-Director of the Stevens Center for Innovation in Finance at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. David is also a Lecturer in Law at Penn Law/University of Pennsylvania Law School.

In addition to his responsibilities at Wharton, David acts as a consultant to both private and public companies on capital markets, corporate governance, and exploring strategic alternatives. He was also an operating partner at Bessemer Venture Partners, one of the leading global venture capital firms, and an advisory board member of Accompany, a relationship intelligence technology company (acquired by Cisco Systems, May 2018).

In this conversation, we talked about his early interest in finance, the dot com bubble, working with tech luminaries like Steve Jobs on taking their companies public, common mistakes companies make when looking for funding, SPAC's, key traits for success in Investing banking, and private equity, being an effective communicator, the importance of gaining operating experience for investors, opportunities to service traditional companies whose business model has been disrupted, Fintech, China and more! 

Jun 15, 202152:31
Ep. 34 Summit Co-Founder Ryan Begelman on "Holistic Entrepreneurship", Education and Gap Years, Bootstrapping and Unique Gen-Z Business Opportunities

Ep. 34 Summit Co-Founder Ryan Begelman on "Holistic Entrepreneurship", Education and Gap Years, Bootstrapping and Unique Gen-Z Business Opportunities

"I think life is a lot longer than I realized when I was 18. I wish I could go back and elongate each stage and relish the stage I was in because at every stage you're right on time and you're right where you need to be! "- Ryan Begelman

Today's guest is the inspiring Ryan Begelman. After working in Investment Banking early on, Ryan and his partners bootstrapped Bisnow Media, an email newsletter and conference business, to over 7M in annual profit after only an initial $50,000 investment. They ultimately sold the business for over $50M, which is now the largest producer of commercial real estate news and events.

Most recently, Ryan is the cofounder of Summit, which has been called Davos for Gen Y by Forbes. Summit gathers leaders and features icons in a series of invitation-only events. Their speakers have included Jeff Bezos, Richard Branson, Shonda Rhimes, Jessica Alba, Reed Hastings, Brené Brown, and Al Gore.

He also acquired America’s largest ski resort, Powder Mountain, and is an early investor in startups like Uber, Warby Parker, and CoinBase. Today, he’s on the hunt for small companies to acquire.

In this episode, we talk about Ryan’s view on holistic entrepreneurship, redefining wealth using mindfulness to achieve goals, personal growth, traveling, taking a gap year, thoughts on education, using a system to track well being, bootstrapping, unique businesses opportunities for the next generation, and his "curriculum" for young entrepreneurs.

Reach out to Ryan at ryanbegelman.com and let him know you are a 21CV listener!

Jun 01, 202154:32
Ep. 33 Justin Nguyen on Podcasting, Content Creation, and Career

Ep. 33 Justin Nguyen on Podcasting, Content Creation, and Career

Justin Nguyen is an entrepreneur, a speaker, and a podcaster. He’s currently the host of the Declassified College Podcast, an iTunes top 50 podcast that provides college students the "cheat codes" to succeed in their higher education. He is also the founder and CEO of GetChoGrindUp, a company he built along with his girlfriend and best friend while still in college. While in school, Justin landed multiple internships with companies like Lockheed Martin, Cooper Canyon LLC and Northwestern Mutual. Additionally, Justin has an online course to teach students how to optimize their LinkedIn profiles called Accelerate Your Career with LinkedIn

In this wide-ranging conversation, we talk about his first consulting business, building a massive audience on Linkedin, choosing the entrepreneurial route, biggest challenges, podcasting, TikTok, corporate sponsorships, analyzing key metrics, finding internships, and much more!

May 21, 202143:53
Ep. 32 Sydney Von Arx on Teaching Coding, Thinking Globally, and Stanford Effective Altruism

Ep. 32 Sydney Von Arx on Teaching Coding, Thinking Globally, and Stanford Effective Altruism

Today's episode features the Sydney Von Arx. Sydney is a co-founder and current director of Bit by Bit Coding, a student-led nonprofit located in Portland with a mission is to diversify the community of ponderers and creators by equipping the next generation with the tools of technology, thinking, and leadership to improve the world, bit by bit. Sydney also helps run Stanford Effective Altruism and works with the Stanford Existential Risks Initiative. Effective Altruism is a growing social movement based on the idea that good intentions alone, while admirable, are not enough to have an impact. Instead, EA is committed to combining compassion with reasoning and evidence so that our choices do the most good possible. Sydney is currently a sophomore studying Computer Science and Biomedical Computation at Stanford University. We talked about her experience being the only girl in her high school STEM classes, getting a grant from the National Center for Women in Information Technology, running a coding camp for girls in her community, having confidence, thinking locally vs. globally, getting introduced to Effective Altruism, our power to address major issues, how her friend is addressing animal welfare, existential risks, EA opportunities for high school students, and much more!

 Apply for the EA high school summer program: https://bitbybitcoding.org/uncommonsenseseminar


Apr 29, 202125:07
Ep. 31 Monica Chen on Dropping out of High School, the Value of Exploration, Factory Farming, and Affecting Social Change

Ep. 31 Monica Chen on Dropping out of High School, the Value of Exploration, Factory Farming, and Affecting Social Change

Today's episode features my conversation with the free-spirited changemaker Monica Chen. Monica is the Executive Director of the Factory Farming Awareness Coalition, a non-profit dedicated to educating people about the impacts of their food choices as they relate to public health, social justice, and the environment. Previously she worked for Nature Bridge as an Environmental Science Educator and taught at Teach for America. She also volunteers as a Course Instructor for the Prison University Project. She holds a Bachelor’s degree from UC Berkeley in American Studies and a Masters's Degree from the University of New Mexico in Education.

In this conversation, we talked about her experience dropping out of high school to “create her own school”, rethinking education, the value of exploration, self-designing her major at UC Berkeley, lessons from working as an educator, defining your values, leading a non-profit, the effects of factory farming, her theory of change, and much more!

Apr 12, 202153:38
Ep. 30 Vivian Tan on Leading vs. Managing, Preparing for 4 TEDx talks, and Building a Powerful Personal Brand

Ep. 30 Vivian Tan on Leading vs. Managing, Preparing for 4 TEDx talks, and Building a Powerful Personal Brand

Today's episode features my conversation with the fascinating Vivian Tan. Vivian is a Social Entrepreneur and Public Speaker. She founded Student SEAS, an organization dedicated to empowering students to navigate the seas of adulting through personalized guidance, tailored resources, and skill-building opportunities. She is also a 4x TEDx Speaker and Personal Branding Coach. 

Apr 12, 202148:06
Ep. 29 Phiona Mutesi "The Queen of Katwe" on growing up in Uganda's poorest slums, becoming a chess champion and subject of a Disney film, and empowering African souls
Mar 26, 202101:03:57
Ep. 28 Sid Sridhar on building thick skin, teaching impact investing at Berkeley, NFTS and launching his own token, and being yourself

Ep. 28 Sid Sridhar on building thick skin, teaching impact investing at Berkeley, NFTS and launching his own token, and being yourself

This episode features my conversation with the wise and hilarious Siddharth Sridhar. Sid is the CEO of TILE.org, the world's largest student-driven conversion series. He is a student intra/entrepreneur studying for a coordinated dual-degree at the extremely selective UC Berkeley Management, Entrepreneurship, and Technology Program. He is also a student lecturer for Impact Investments and Social Enterprises at Berkeley Haas. Some of his other eclectic accomplishments include being an Improv Acting State Champion for New Jersey, Congressional Bronze and Silver Medal Recipient, aNJSDL & Cal Leadership Scholar, and a voice actor for The Marble Report.

Mar 20, 202101:21:29
Live Event! Ep. 27 Building Your Moonshot for Gen Z with Self-Made Billionaire Naveen Jain

Live Event! Ep. 27 Building Your Moonshot for Gen Z with Self-Made Billionaire Naveen Jain

This live episode of 21st Century Visionary in partnership with TILE.org features the billionaire entrepreneur and philanthropist Naveen Jain. Despite growing up in a remote village in India, Naveen had the audacity to shoot for the moon-quite literally! His company Moon Express was actually the first private company to receive U.S. government approval to send a spacecraft beyond Earth’s orbit. Naveen is clearly driven to solve the world’s biggest problems founding groundbreaking ventures such as Moon Express, World Innovation Institute, Viome, TalentWise, Intelius, and Infospace.  

In this conversation, you will learn: The 3 framing questions Naveen asks himself before tackling any audacious goal; The importance of asking the right questions; Why non-experts are best positioned to disrupt industries; Why it is actually easier to solve a big problem than a small one; How to build and recruit a world-class team and enroll them in your vision; Advice to secure investor funding for moonshot ideas; Naveen's vision for education; Why Naveen believes we will look back at COVID-19 as the best thing that could have happened; The importance of solving the root cause, not symptoms; Shifting your mindset to look for opportunities; the advice he gives his children; learning about exponential technology; creating a flywheel to stay ahead of your competitors; and his thoughts on disrupting the education system!

Mar 10, 202153:05
Ep. 26 Tamar Hela on Marketing like a CIA Spy, The Myth of a Linear Career and Saying Yes, Building a 3000+ member community and Personal Branding on Linkedin

Ep. 26 Tamar Hela on Marketing like a CIA Spy, The Myth of a Linear Career and Saying Yes, Building a 3000+ member community and Personal Branding on Linkedin

Today's episode features my conversation with Tamar Hela. An entrepreneur based in Shanghai and the COO of the N°1 LinkedIn Marketing Agency, Genius Encel, Tamar helps Fortune 500 companies generate leads through LinkedIn. She is also the Co-President of LinkedIn Local Asia, a network of communities for LinkedIn lovers, and grew the Shanghai community to over 3000 members. Tamar also teaches the next generation of digital marketers as a Professor at Emlyon Business School. 

In this wide-ranging conversation, we talk about her elevator pitch, marketing like a CIA spy, early entrepreneurial endeavors, working with celebrities in the publishing and filmmaking industries, the myth of a linear career path, the power of ambition, discovering Shanghai through food, the fast-paced business ecosystem in China, Building a 3000+ member Linkedin community, Linkedin branding for young entrepreneurs, optimizing social media use, psychology in marketing, and much more!

Feb 22, 202101:06:00
Ep. 25 Iris Guo on moving from China to Canada, raising $20,000 to alleviate food insecurity and the job search strategy that landed her internships at Microsoft and Blackberry

Ep. 25 Iris Guo on moving from China to Canada, raising $20,000 to alleviate food insecurity and the job search strategy that landed her internships at Microsoft and Blackberry

Today's episode features Iris Guo. Iris is an international student from China who came to Canada alone with a big dream of changing the world. She found her passion in creating products as a founding member of the non-profit OpenMeal--which is aimed at alleviating hunger while addressing racial inequality. Since then, she has held multiple internships in product management at companies like Blackberry, FoundersBeta, KuzoKlass and will join Microsoft as a PM intern next year. Meanwhile, she is building her sustainability venture Neutrify, which empowers users to understand their carbon footprint based on their shopping cart. 

In this conversation, we talk about her pivot from finance to product management, networking on Linkedin, moving from China to Canada for school, the future of education, how she helped raise $20,000 to alleviate food insecurity, lessons from leading a 40+ person team, building her sustainability startup, her top career advice, cold outreach, retrospective thinking, staying organized, investing, and much more!


Feb 14, 202101:02:57
Ep. 24 Jason Shatsky on Building Community, Talking to Customers, Bootstrapping and Managing your Network

Ep. 24 Jason Shatsky on Building Community, Talking to Customers, Bootstrapping and Managing your Network

"It's close to impossible to fail if you do what the customers tell you to do." 

Today's guest is the ever-insightful Jason Shatsky. Jason is the President of Babson College's entrepreneurial community, ETower, and founder of TicketRev, the first-ever reverse marketplace for event tickets. 

Feb 06, 202156:12
Networking for Gen Z...Seize Every Opportunity (ft. Michael Ioffe, Rohan Gupta, Mark Potter, Jordan Paris, Hayoung Park)

Networking for Gen Z...Seize Every Opportunity (ft. Michael Ioffe, Rohan Gupta, Mark Potter, Jordan Paris, Hayoung Park)

Happy New Year, 21CV listeners! As we embark upon 2021 with Season 2 of 21CV, we wanted to reflect on the key lessons from our previous guests. Personally, I realized that conversations on the podcast inspired me to shoot my shot and actively seek out peers and mentors in my own life. So this first value-packed episode about networking features stories and advice that will kickstart your journey towards building a world-class network. 

You will hear Michael Ioffe (Ep. 2) describe how he connected with some of the early advisors for Arist, Rohan Gupta (Ep. 8) describe the mindset and initiative that led to his mentor relationship with billionaire investor Tim Draper, Hayoung Park’s (Ep. 18) insane story about being put in touch with Drake through his Uber driver, Jordan Paris (Ep. 19) on leading with value, Prof. Mark Potter's (Ep. 22) formula for the "informal interview", and much more!

Feb 01, 202120:01
Ep. 22 Prof. Mark Potter on Navigating College Admissions and Finances, The Art of "Informal Networking", and Key Success Traits

Ep. 22 Prof. Mark Potter on Navigating College Admissions and Finances, The Art of "Informal Networking", and Key Success Traits

This episode features my conversation with Dr. Mark Potter, a Finance Professor at Babson College. Mark has taught at Babson College since 1995, teaching over one hundred courses at the undergraduate, graduate, and executive education levels spanning a myriad of topics that includes investments, corporate finance, derivatives, and international finance. In the past five years, he has worked with companies in the consumer services, medical devices, high technology, financial services, and litigation support industries. Professor Potter's areas of expertise include investments and portfolio performance, behavioral finance, and alternative investment strategies. His research has appeared in the Journal of Portfolio Management, Journal of Business Finance and Accounting, and Journal of Financial Research, among others. His work has also been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Kiplinger's, and CFA Digest.

In this conversation, Mark talks about discovering his passion for teaching finance, the "underbelly" of college admissions, making effective career choices, the art of informal networking, key financial principles for entrepreneurs, key traits he found in successful students, staying productive at home, the importance of thinking and much more!

 

Jan 04, 202149:02
Ep. 21 Shantanu Roy on Marketing for Gen Z

Ep. 21 Shantanu Roy on Marketing for Gen Z

This episode features my conversation with Shantanu Roy. Shantanu is the founder and managing partner of Zeta Management Consulting, which delivers data-driven marketing services for businesses targeting Generation Z. He is also a freshman studying marketing and management at Purdue University.

In this conversation, Shantanu shares the key elements of their pitch that helped Zeta raise funding, tactics for securing their early clients, the strategy he used to triple the sales of a bagel cafe, his process of working with clients, understanding market trends, the ANPOCS sales formula, adapting to the pandemic, favorite books and much much more!


Dec 24, 202036:06
Ep 20. Wes Woodson on Getting an Advantage over his Anxiety and Publishing his First Book
Dec 18, 202001:03:52
Ep. 19 Jordan Paris on Designing your Dream Education, Creating Internship Opportunities and Podcasting Pitfalls

Ep. 19 Jordan Paris on Designing your Dream Education, Creating Internship Opportunities and Podcasting Pitfalls

Today's episode features the one and only Jordan Paris. Jordan is an author, podcast host, and entrepreneur featured in publications such as Forbes, Entrepreneur, and Men’s Health. Jordan’s podcast, The Jordan Paris Show, formerly Growth Mindset University, was ranked #6 in Apple’s Self-Improvement category and #15 in Education. On the show, Jordan interviews his heroes, including James AltucherGrant CardoneRobert Greene, and Seth Godin. As you will hear, he pivoted his show recently towards discussing political issues. Jordan is also the founder of Trend Up Media, a one-stop podcast agency that produces podcasts to help businesses grow in both profit and influence. In this conversation, we talked about designing your ideal education, finding mentors and internships, where most podcasters go wrong, staying true to your values, favorite books, and much more! 

Dec 11, 202047:22
Ep. 18 Hayoung Park on flipping sneakers in high school, meeting Drake through his Uber driver, and creating trends with HYP

Ep. 18 Hayoung Park on flipping sneakers in high school, meeting Drake through his Uber driver, and creating trends with HYP

Welcome to the one and only podcast designed to empower young people to thrive in the 21st Century. I am your host Sanat Singhal. This episode features my conversation with Hayoung Park. Hayoung is the founder of HYP, a social bidding platform that partners with brands to launch exclusive release auctions. The company has partnered with companies such as Supreme and AirThirtyTwo for auctions. Hayoung is currently on sabbatical from Babson College to work on his startup full-time. My co-host for this episode is my friend Emily Fan. Emily is an incredibly curious and impact drive individual, currently studying Economics and Computer Science at MIT. Enjoy!

Nov 22, 202056:03
Ep. 17 Live AMA! Art Norins on lessons from mentors, overcoming rejection, finding your calling and doing good in the world

Ep. 17 Live AMA! Art Norins on lessons from mentors, overcoming rejection, finding your calling and doing good in the world

Today's episode features my live conversation with Art Norins. Art currently serves as the CEO of RS11, a big data/artificial intelligence company he recently founded that wants to do well and good at the same time (a triple bottom line focus:  planet, people, and profit). Prior to RS11 Charity (HartHub) Art served as the CEO of Nor1, a tech company that provides travel suppliers with innovative and patented solutions (business intelligence and analytics) to increase revenue while simultaneously enhancing their guest’s travel experience. Nor1 has a global footprint with customers including Hilton Worldwide, InterContinental, and Caesars. Nor1’s investors include SAP (Concur) Goldman Sachs, Accel Partners (premier VC firm, Facebook investor) to name a few. At the beginning of 2017, Art founded the nonprofit called HartHub Inc, which is now the nonprofit arm of RS11.  RS11 Charity (formerly HartHub) drives awareness and funding to quality early childhood development and parent development with the intention of going upstream (prevention) to reduce homelessness, incarceration, poverty, mental and physical health issues. 


Nov 11, 202059:46
Ep. 16 Live Episode! Young Entrepreneurs Panel at Nebula Summit ft. Michael Ioffe, Wes Woodson and Avni Barman

Ep. 16 Live Episode! Young Entrepreneurs Panel at Nebula Summit ft. Michael Ioffe, Wes Woodson and Avni Barman

Hello and Welcome back to the 21st Century Visionary podcast, the one and only podcast designed to empower young people to thrive in the 21st Century. I am your host Sanat Singhal. Today’s episode features a live youth entrepreneurship panel discussion I moderated at the Nebula Summit. The panel featured 3 inspiring entrepreneurs, the founder of Arist, Michael Ioffe, chief storyteller at the hidden company Wes Woodson, and founder of GenShe Avni Barman. We talked about their journeys, the spark behind their ventures, key resources they utilized, finding mentors, networking, leveraging your youth and inexperience, building community, finding your why, their vision and much more!  Huge shoutout to Nebula Youth Camps for organizing this amazing event!

This upcoming Sunday, October 4 at 4 pm PST, I am hosting a live AMA with serial entrepreneur Art Norins, who founded the global tech service Nor1 and serves as the CEO of AI company RS11. It will be streamed live on Twitch, Youtube and Facebook so you can ask questions there. Learn more and RSVP at sanatsinghal.com.

Oct 01, 202031:41
Ep. 15 Aradhita Parasrampuria on using bacteria to create sustainable dyes, self-learning microbiology as a fashion student and the future of sustainable fashion

Ep. 15 Aradhita Parasrampuria on using bacteria to create sustainable dyes, self-learning microbiology as a fashion student and the future of sustainable fashion

Today's episode features sustainable fashion visionary Aradhita Parasampuria. As a researcher at Genspace Z, the world’s first community biotechnology lab, Aradhita created genetically modified competent Escherichia coli to stain fabric as a replacement to synthetic dyes. The genetically modified colorfast bacterial dyes that she created use up to 431 times less water than synthetic dyes. This was also the topic of her senior thesis at Parson School of Design, from which she graduated with honors this spring. Finally, she happens to be my cousin’s sister! It was fascinating to dive deep into her story, how she got the idea for creating bacterial dyes, the process of developing them without any scientific background, networking, sustainable fashion, and much more!  

Sep 23, 202039:56
Ep 14. Audrey Pe on Starting Witech at age 15, Public Speaking as an Introvert, and Making your own Opportunities

Ep 14. Audrey Pe on Starting Witech at age 15, Public Speaking as an Introvert, and Making your own Opportunities

"I believe that in order to get really good opportunities you shouldn't wait for them to come to you, you should make them for yourself." - Audrey Pe

Audrey Pe (@audreyisabelpe) is an incoming freshman at Stanford University and the founder and executive director of WiTech (@witechorg) -- a nonprofit organization based in the Philippines that aims to educate, inspire, and empower youth to break gender barriers and use tech to make a difference in society.

Through WiTech, she has been working on projects at the intersection of technology and education since she launched the organization at age 15. She is now 19 and finishing up the remainder of her gap year. In quarantine, her time has mostly been spent going on partnership calls, speaking at webinars, and coordinating with WiTech’s 11+ chapters in 4+ countries on how to break the gender and accessibility gaps in tech.

Her work with WiTech has garnered her recognition as a 2019 Global Teen Leader, 2020 Pinterest Council of Courage member, 2018 Zonta Young Women in Public Affairs District awardee, 2019 Zonta Women in Technology Asia-Pacific District Scholar, Opportunity Desk 30 Under 30 Changemaker, 2020 Women in IT Advocate of the Year Finalist, and 2019 Women in Tech Global Aspiring Teen Award Finalist. A two-time TEDx, ASEAN and UN speaker, she has delivered over 30+ talks and has also been featured in local and international publications like Forbes, Esquire, and Elite Daily.

In this conversation, we talk about starting Witech, how she pivoted her blog to become a community organization, securing partnerships with brands like Accenture to host events, experience speaking to thousands of attendees at tech conferences as an introvert, learning from failure, turning inspiration into action, recruiting for student organizations, forming a team, recommended books, and much more!


Sep 16, 202044:23
Visionary College Series: Inside Babson College ranked the #1 entrepreneurship university, ft Sumukh Setty and Jason Shatsky

Visionary College Series: Inside Babson College ranked the #1 entrepreneurship university, ft Sumukh Setty and Jason Shatsky

This is the first episode in our visionary college series, where we cover the entrepreneurship education and community at the #1 entrepreneurship school in the US, Babson College. I talk Sumukh Setty, the former President of E-tower (Babson's premier entrepreneurial community) and past podcast guest, and Jason Shatsky, another senior at Babson University, and the current president of E-tower. In this conversation, we talk about why they chose Babson, get an inside look into E-tower, learn about Jason’s experience transferring to Babson, advice for getting into this selective university, unique opportunities, potential downsides of the school, things they wish they knew coming in and much much more!

Sep 05, 202039:15
Ep. 12 Live Episode! Roger Spitz on Future-Proofing our Education, Careers and Businesses in the 21st Century

Ep. 12 Live Episode! Roger Spitz on Future-Proofing our Education, Careers and Businesses in the 21st Century

Welcome back to the 21st Century Visionary podcast, the one and only podcast designed to bring young people the content and community to dream and execute on their inspiring vision for society. In this special episode, we are releasing the recording of the first live 21st Century Visionary talk in partnership with TILE.org and The Nebula challenge featuring the amazing and insightful Roger Spitz. 

Based in San Francisco, Roger Spitz is the founder of Techistential, the global Foresight, Strategy & Futures Intelligence platform. Roger is also founding Chairman of the Disruptive Futures Institute. He has two decades of experience leading investment banking businesses, advising CEOs, Founders, Boards, and Shareholders of companies globally on how to future-proof their business. As the former Head of Technology Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) with BNP Paribas, Roger advised on over 50 transactions across the world with an overall deal value of $25bn. Roger is also an advisor to a number of Accelerators, Incubators, and Venture Capital funds in Silicon Valley including Berkeley SkyDeck and Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center.

In this conversation, we covered Roger's unique career trajectory how he got into Foresight and Futures thinking, His current work with Techistenial and the Disruptive Futures Institute, The role of AI in the future, The AAA framework to future proof our careers, reforming the education system, the rise of generalists, Roger’s investing criteria, must-read books, and much much more!

Aug 19, 202059:09
Ep. 11 Yashvardhan Sharma on overcoming a speech impediment, life-changing advice from an ancient philosopher, and favorite books

Ep. 11 Yashvardhan Sharma on overcoming a speech impediment, life-changing advice from an ancient philosopher, and favorite books

Welcome back to 21st Century Visionary, the one, and only podcast featuring the stories of young entrepreneurs and leaders to provide you with the knowledge and inspiration to take action on your vision for society. This is the second part of a two-part conversation with Yashvardhan Sharma. In this conversation, we dive into Yash's personal story. Yash opens up about a severe speech impediment he had from a young age, the social anxiety that came with it, and how he overcame all of that by drawing lessons from a 2000-year-old philosophy. We also get into why he decided to take a gap year, productivity hacks, favorite books, his vision for the future, and much more!

Aug 09, 202041:12
Ep 10. Growing a publication from 200 to 200,000 global viewers with $0 in advertising Part 1, feat Yashvardhan Sharma

Ep 10. Growing a publication from 200 to 200,000 global viewers with $0 in advertising Part 1, feat Yashvardhan Sharma

"Last month, we hit 140,000 people. I could not have imagined that we would hit that milestone in the entire history of the website."- Yashvardhan Sharma. 

Welcome back to 21st Century Visionary, the one and only podcast that covers the stories of young entrepreneurs and leaders to provide you with the knowledge and inspiration to take action on your vision for society. Today I am talking with Yashvardhan Sharma. Yash is the Founder & Editor-in-Chief of the Tidings Blog, a student-run blog with articles on economics, economic history, and history. To date, they have published over 100+ academic articles reaching over 200,000 people around the globe. He is also the Founding Head of Operations at The Kudrat Initiative, a recycling and upcycling non-profit that has recycled close to 1,000lb of paper. He graduated high school in India and is currently taking a gap year to work on his ventures. In this first part of a two-part conversation, we covered everything that goes into building a successful publication including the early beginnings, assembling and motivating a global team, maintaining objectivity and credibility, finding interviewees, guerilla marketing strategies, and creating systems. With that please enjoy this value-packed episode with: Yashvardhan Sharma.

Jul 28, 202046:27
Stephanie Su on hosting the largest all-women hackathon, partnering with Uber, hosting virtual workshops and the importance of empathy

Stephanie Su on hosting the largest all-women hackathon, partnering with Uber, hosting virtual workshops and the importance of empathy

Today’s episode features the amazing Stephanie Su. Stephanie Su is a rising Bay Area high school senior passionate about technology, business, and design. She is the Lead Director of Superposition, a non-profit bridging the gender gap in tech through creating an empowering community and educational opportunities including the Bay Area's largest all-women and non-binary hackathon. As Lead Director, Stephanie has expanded Superposition beyond a 24-hour hackathon and reached 60,000+ individuals in 47 countries. She also serves as Co-Founder and Co-Executive Director of Ad Astra Youth, a non-profit empowering youth leader by fostering student initiatives through consultations, mentorship, and community-building. Outside of working on Superposition and Ad Astra, Stephanie helps lead Project CreateAFuture, debates competitively, and studies CS and math. In this conversation, we covered the different aspects of leading Superposition including leading a team of over 10 members, securing partnerships with tech companies such as Uber and Facebook, increasing event attendance tenfold from the previous year, and hosting virtual workshops to a global audience. We also touched on her other initiatives Project Create a Future and Ad Astra as well as her advice for other young leaders. 

Jul 18, 202052:26
Rohan Gupta on investing at age 12, connecting with famous investor Tim Draper, teaching finance concepts in India, and starting StreetFins

Rohan Gupta on investing at age 12, connecting with famous investor Tim Draper, teaching finance concepts in India, and starting StreetFins

Today's episode features the young finance wizard Rohan Gupta. Rohan was 12 when he made his first investment in stocks. Since then, his passion for investing has only grown as he headed his school’s investment club, bringing in guest speakers such as renowned investors Tim Draper and Howard Marks. He went on to found StreetFins, a platform aimed at simplifying finance for the younger generation by creating educational content. As part of this initiative, he hosts the podcast Finance simplified where he interviews successful investors and professors on various Finance topics. Rohan is currently a rising freshman at the University of Southern California. We talk about his first investment, the role of psychology in investing, connecting with famous investors, teaching Finance, starting Streetfins, favorite books, his vision for the future, and much much more!

Jul 03, 202053:58
Ep 7. Megan Cui and Mingjie Jiang on running a non-profit, Adapting to COVID-19 and the CS-Ed landscape

Ep 7. Megan Cui and Mingjie Jiang on running a non-profit, Adapting to COVID-19 and the CS-Ed landscape

Today we are joined by Megan Cui and Mingjie Jiang, co-founders of the organization Execute Big. Execute Big is dedicated to helping more students, leaders, and schools dream big and execute big through providing travel grants for students to attend hackathons, doing event consulting, and conducting research. Before founding Execute Big, Megan and Mingjie helped organize Hack Chicago and Hack Cincinnati, the Midwest's largest high school hackathons. Megan is currently a rising sophomore at Harvard University, studying economics and computer science. Mingjie is a rising freshman at UC Berkeley intending to study computer science. This was an extremely interesting conversation where we talked about their personal stories, the CS education landscape, adapting to COVID-19, and their advice for other young people.

Jun 26, 202057:21
Ep 6. Wes Woodson on the power of storytelling, partnering with Nike, and starting a movement

Ep 6. Wes Woodson on the power of storytelling, partnering with Nike, and starting a movement

Today's episode features Wes Woodson and is co-hosted by Wonho Do, a friend, and an incoming freshman at the NYU Stern School of Business. Wes is the chief storyteller of the hidden company and the founder of Feet2Feet. Through the hidden company, Wes has sparked a movement presented through the form of street-wear clothing, to encourage people to be themselves, unapologetically. Feet2Feet is an organization dedicated to providing footwear to the underprivileged. They have been able to partner with Reebok and many individual donors to distribute over 400 sneakers to shelters. Wes graduated from Babson College this year with a degree in Global Business Management. We talk about his entrepreneurial roots, the power of storytelling, building a clothing brand, authenticity, overcoming self-doubt, and much much more! With that, please enjoy my wide-ranging conversation with the inspiring  Wes Woodson.

Jun 13, 202059:59
Ep 5. Hassan Sohail on winning the Diamond Challenge, being inspired by diapers, and the Biological Revolution

Ep 5. Hassan Sohail on winning the Diamond Challenge, being inspired by diapers, and the Biological Revolution

" I have a weird attachment to synthetic biology, which is achieving biological immortality. I want to be a part of this revolution right now and leave a mark as a huge figure who made an impact through the biological revolution. But, the main plan is leaving the world better than we found it."

Today's guest is Hassan Sohail. Hassan is the young co-founder of Solvify, which is aimed at addressing the global water scarcity and food insecurity problems. He has helped develop an intelligent super absorbent nano-powder to do just that. In 2018, Hassan and his cofounder Hasham won the social innovation prize at the Diamond Challenge, an international business competition. We talk about his origin story, the scientific underpinnings of his idea, pitching to investors, favorite books, future plans, the next technological revolution, and much much more!

May 29, 202047:44
Ep 4. Victor Luo on non-profit fundraising, leading older employees as a 20 year old, and reframing failures

Ep 4. Victor Luo on non-profit fundraising, leading older employees as a 20 year old, and reframing failures

"When you're a younger founder, you should really own it... I can tell you that there are certain things that don't come into play with age like your work ethic, your determination, your grit, or will to not give up. I think that (those traits) definitely contribute to a startup's success far more than experience."

Today's guest is Victor Luo. Victor started his first company NEAT at the age of 15, to provide educational opportunities to impoverished rural children in China. Neat provides scholarships to students facing financial hardships so they can finish high school. He went on to found the tech company Bound which creates software to help companies run smooth and punctual meetings. At the age of 20, Victor took a gap year to join Bound full time as the co-CEO, leading a time of 8 employees. We talk about his story, guerrilla marketing tactics, managing a team, his favorite reading hack, learning from failure, and much much more!

May 13, 202046:51
Ep. 3: Atte Leskinen on partnering with Nokia, education technology , and building a global brand

Ep. 3: Atte Leskinen on partnering with Nokia, education technology , and building a global brand

"It doesn't really matter who you connect with at first. But actually  talk with people to get to know what they're interested in. What do you think what's needs to be? What needs to be fixed? Get to know your playing field."- Atte Leskinen


Todays guest is Atte Leskinen. Atte is the 20 yr old Finnish cofounder and head of international relations of Start North, an organization aimed at revolutionizing education by offering an innovative and youth based education community. We talk about his story, networking tips, concretizing a vision, 5g technology in education, building a global brand and much much more. Enjoy!

May 02, 202049:11
Ep 2. Michael Ioffe on overcoming rejection, problems with scaling, and learning through text messages

Ep 2. Michael Ioffe on overcoming rejection, problems with scaling, and learning through text messages

"if you have a certain level of clarity about what you want to do and are very, very clear about what your mission is and how you're going to accomplish it, those ideas tend to be naturally contagious”- Michael Ioffe

Today's guest is Michael Ioffe. Michael is the 20 yr old founder of Arist, the text-based learning platform, recently named a Fast Company world changing idea and the social entrepreneur behind TILE, the world’s largest student-led conversation series. As a high schooler, he led the largest student protest in Oregon history to rebuild schools hit by the lead crisis and become the youngest high school teacher in Oregon history, teaching an innovation workshop class. As you would expect, Michael is a fascinating guy with tremendous insights and wisdom to share. We talked about the inspiration behind TILE and Arist, his journey starting out, challenges along the way, his role models, advice for young people starting out and much much more. Please enjoy my conversation with- Michael Ioffe.

Apr 24, 202043:53
Ep 1. Sumukh Setty on finding mentors, "the student card", and empowering others

Ep 1. Sumukh Setty on finding mentors, "the student card", and empowering others

Sumukh Setty- Finding mentors, "the student card", and empowering others| "It is about how do I create the most value through systems and projects that could impact a lot of people."- Sumukh Setty


Sumukh is a venture fellow at Rough Draft VC and is the founder of Teendemy. Rough Draft is a student-run venture capital firm, backed by General Catalyst. Teendemy is bridging the gap between academic education and professional success. Sumukh is currently studying Business Administration at Babson College.


Apr 12, 202046:18
Coming Soon: 21st Century Visionaries

Coming Soon: 21st Century Visionaries

Welcome to the 21st Century Visionary Podcast. I am your host Sanat Singhal, a high school junior in the Bay Area focused on making an impact.  Every episode we talk to a young person with a compelling vision for society working on making it a reality. We will dive into their journey; how they got started? What tactics and lessons did they use? What is their vision for the future? The first season will center on young entrepreneurs and their journey building their companies. Our Episodes drop every other week. Stay tuned and Stay Safe!

Apr 11, 202000:57