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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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#11 Richard White: Founder of Fathom.Video (YC W21) & Uservoice | Startup Project by Nataraj

Startup ProjectJan 23, 2022

00:00
46:01
#73 Brian Bell - From Product Manager to Full Time Investor

#73 Brian Bell - From Product Manager to Full Time Investor

Brian Bell is the Managing Partner at Team Ignite. Bell has experience in product development in AI at Microsoft, AWS, and startups. Full conversation includes: 🔸Transition from Product Management to full time investing 🔸Investing in YC 🔸Operating an investing Syndicate 🔸Growth hacks to grow your syndicate 🔸Is AngelList loosing its advantage? 🔸Red flags in pitch decks 🔸If money was not an object, what would you be doing? & more. Listen now 👇 Follow Brain on twitter here - https://twitter.com/brianrbell Follow Nataraj on twitter here - https://twitter.com/natarajsindam Follow 100 Days of AI here - https://thestartupproject.io/100-days-of-ai/ Subscribe now 👇 🔸Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/3Cx7Q5r9Ow9eikxQjsJjjq 🔸YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCs8lGcgpE7JC-alvUhMPk3g 🔸Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/startup-project/id1551300319?uo=4 #startups #angellist #investing

Apr 15, 202448:58
#72 Todd Bishop GeekWire Co-founder, Business and tech journalist on big tech, AI and more!
Apr 01, 202450:42
#71 Peter Mueller Founding Partner Breakwater VC about Pre Seed Investing in Seattle Tech Startups
Mar 11, 202448:08
#70 Brendan Rogers From Founding WAG (NASDAQ: PET) to Investing in India

#70 Brendan Rogers From Founding WAG (NASDAQ: PET) to Investing in India

In this episode Nataraj spoke to Brendan Rogers Ex Cofounder of Wag, a NASDAQ listed public company. Full conversation includes: - Origin story of WAG - His journey into investing in India - Why he is bullish on Indian startups? - Opinion on different sectors & more To stay in loop for future conversations check out thestartupproject.io For above average opinions on big technology sign up to https://above-average.beehiiv.com/

Follow 100 Days of AI by Nataraj at https://thestartupproject.io/100-days-of-ai/

Feb 25, 202435:30
#69 Direct-to-Consumer Companies & Long Tail Opportunity in AI (Above Average Newsletter)

#69 Direct-to-Consumer Companies & Long Tail Opportunity in AI (Above Average Newsletter)

Welcome to 50th edition of the Above Average Newsletter. Your bi-weekly source of Above Average takes on the business of big technology written by Nataraj Sindam.


Topic 1: What’s with Direct-to-Consumer Companies?
What’s common among all these companies?
All birdsBrilliant earth groupPelotonRent the runway
They are all public direct to consumer companies whose stock is down ranging from 80 to 95% in last couple of years.
If you are direct to consumer company the best time to go public was in 2021 when the pandemic has fueled an ecommerce spending spree. Once this is over, the markets realized a lot of these direct to consumer companies have no path to profitability and have unsustainable business models.
So what can we learn from what is happening with direct to consumer companies -
When you are willing to spend on high customer acquisition cost (CAC), you can create a short term non profitable direct to consumer company, even when industry dynamics don’t support it. If you spend enough amount of money on Facebook and Google ads you can sell any decent product.
VC money was used to subsidize CAC, that is clear. But that stopped and these companies are not close to profitability and a lot of them are on the verge of bankruptcy. But if I am an investor in such brands the one thing I would look for is that the product innovation should reflect in my customer acquisition cost being low. If you are not able to get very low customer acquisition cost on your product or brand, then technically you are not creating value with your product. Your customer acquisition cost reflects whether the product/brand is actually desired by the customer & if the industry dynamics support it or not.


Topic 2: Where is the AI opportunity?
It’s easy to see big funding rounds in AI for foundation model companies and think AI is all about Fearsome Foursome funding Geoffrey Hinton’s ex-students or ex-open ai employees.
But I think the real opportunity in AI for next couple of years is in the long tail of building specific narrow application that solve small problems that were not possible before. There is treasure trove to be exploited by teams of 1-3 developers to build SaaS applications which can generate millions in revenue.
LLMs are a super power for full stack application developers. If you want to build something and are looking for such ideas feel free to reach out to me.

Topic 3: 100 Days of AI experiments
AI is going to impact us all, so as part of 2024’s first 100 days I am going to spend 1-2 hrs a day learning, experimenting, reading & tinkering with the latest AI models, products & content. You can follow along by following me on Twitter or here on my blog . My goal in this 100 days will be focused on what new things we can build using AI and what to expect from AI in future. The series is also published here on hackernoon .

If you are listening to this and have not subscribed to the newsletter, please go subscribe.

Till next time, stay above average.

Nataraj

Feb 13, 202403:12
#68 Why the new AI button on your keyboard is inevitable? (Above Average Newsletter)

#68 Why the new AI button on your keyboard is inevitable? (Above Average Newsletter)

This episode is the audio version of Nataraj's newsletter Above Average.

Welcome to 49th edition of the Above Average Newsletter. Your bi-weekly source of Above Average takes on the businss of big technology written by Nataraj Sindam.


1. Why the new AI Button on Your Keyboard is inevitable?Microsoft is adding a new AI button to your PC keyboard. This is the first time Microsoft changed the PC keyboard in last 30 years. If you are a regular user of ChatGPT or its competitors you will notice your own behavior, that you use it repeatedly and it might get lost in the 10s of chrome tabs you have opened.
You also realize that its a constant companion on your daily work. Microsoft already realized this and jumped head on into creating Copilots for all its products.
The next step in this strategy is to have a dedicated button that will launch bing copilot which uses gpt-4 and is currently free.
The move highlights couple of things:
Copilots are going to an enduring form factor
We will use copilots so often that it requires its own button
Its a great use of Microsoft’s distribution power to create a new user behavior
If this new behavior works its acts as counter to Google search. Your first step for any answer would be to tap that button and start asking the question. A better interface potentially to transition from a search dominant world to answer dominant world.
2. Who is the biggest AI VC in town?As some one who closely works with a venture fund and interacted with lots of investors and invested in 20+ startups its important to note that the unseriousness of ZIRP era was prevalent in VC industry as much as it was in any other industry.
This meant higher valuations that defy the gravity of the business became common. Chasing each others and asking the question “who else is investing” became the most important criteria. Deals closed faster than ever. Crypto as a sector suck more oxygen in the room that it should. Mostly because too much capital was chasing too few deals and in the process new & some old investors lost track of what is important. Its important for a VC to invest in important things in tech.
Now with AI era on us, the biggest investors in AI are not the VC firms but its the fearsome foursome - Microsoft, Google, Amazon & Nvidia.
The amount of investment commitments from these 4 companies has already exceeded $20B with a conservative estimate.
Big tech companies never really invested in crypto like they are investing in AI.
So what’s the take away here - if you think AI hype cycle is similar to crypto hype cycle, you are wrong. AI is an enduring cycle worthy of hype, unlike crypto which was propped up by VCs with out enough depth.
Topic 3 - My Experiments with AI:One of the reason this newsletter is less frequent than usual (from now on it will be twice a month) is because I am working on writing more on AI as part of a series I am calling 100 days of AI. If you are interested in gen AI experiments, ideas & trends follow along here. Here are some posts I have written about AI.
 - Design Thinking using Semantic Kernel - Get Insights from YouTube Podcast Video using Open AI’s GPT 4 - Build Your Own Chat with Data App
 Till next time, stay above average.
Nataraj

Feb 03, 202403:22
#67 What late stage investors got wrong about investing in Startups? (Insight)

#67 What late stage investors got wrong about investing in Startups? (Insight)

For more unique insights on technology follow Nataraj on Twitter - ⁠⁠https://twitter.com/natarajsindam⁠⁠ & Instagram - ⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/1nataraj/⁠

What late stage investors got wrong about investing in Startups?

  • Confusion in the venture scene, especially with late-stage investments.
  • Some firms raising funds for secondaries in startups, but a twist for LP investors: a cautious approach is needed.
  • Skepticism about firms claiming expertise in both early and late-stage investments.
  • Discussion on the industry mix-up and the need to reconsider how we negotiate prices.
  • Emphasizing the importance of aligning return expectations with industry dynamics.
  • Concerns about the pricing game not adding up in the long run, even with solid companies.
  • Exploration of the industry's potential need for a rethink to optimize returns.
  • Join the conversation at thestartupproject.io/nataraj/


#angelinvesting #youtubeshorts #venturecapital #investing #limitedpartners #vc #startups #tigerglobal


Jan 08, 202400:50
#66 Why Rivian Will Become 2nd Largest EV Company in the US? (Insight)

#66 Why Rivian Will Become 2nd Largest EV Company in the US? (Insight)

For more unique insights on technology follow Nataraj on Twitter - ⁠https://twitter.com/natarajsindam⁠ & Instagram - ⁠https://www.instagram.com/1nataraj/⁠

Why Rivian will become 2nd Largest EV Player in the U.S?

  • Exploring the EV market in the US and the competition between Rivian and Tesla.
  • Rivian stands out with a superior product, a more profitable segment, and a less controversial brand than Tesla.
  • I predict the future paths of Rivian and Tesla, highlighting the crucial significance of the next three years for their survival and Rivian's growth.


#EV #electric #predictions #technology #tesla #rivian #elonmusk #elon #electricvehicles

Jan 01, 202400:60
#65 Why YouTube is Unbeatable? (Insight)
Dec 18, 202300:59
#64 Matt McIlwain – MD Madrona Venture Group on all Things Venture Capital

#64 Matt McIlwain – MD Madrona Venture Group on all Things Venture Capital

Nataraj interviewed veteran VC Matt McIlwain of Madrona Venture Group on Startup Project podcast. Matt shared his insights into the state of venture capital and the impacts of AI, drawn from his 20+ years of experience. Some key takeaways: 1. Venture is a "tale of two cities" now - later stage startups are struggling, earlier stage companies embracing AI are thriving 2. Seattle has unmatched talent but lacks local capital - still over-reliant on Silicon Valley VCs 3. Incumbents have the edge currently in leveraging AI due to data, customers, ability to integrate via APIs - but long term, AI-native startups will win out 4. Partnerships forming between big tech and AI startups provide startups with computing resources while allowing tech giants to take an open, marketplace approach to AI I highly recommend tuning in to hear Matt's take on venture capital, AI, and building an enduring company. Available on all major podcast platforms - link in comments!

Nov 17, 202348:56
#63 Jon Staenberg: Investing in Startups, Venture Funds & Search Funds

#63 Jon Staenberg: Investing in Startups, Venture Funds & Search Funds

In this episode, Nataraj spoke with John Staenberg, a veteran of the tech and venture capital world.


  • John took Nataraj through his early days growing up in Omaha and attending Stanford University, where he was inspired by the culture of creativity and trying new things.
  • After graduating, John worked in real estate and then got his MBA, also at Stanford. He became fascinated by the nascent world of venture capital and startups in Silicon Valley.
  • John landed a job at Microsoft in the late 1980s, when the company was still small and growing fast. He described the exciting “change the world” energy there, where people worked tirelessly to spread personal computers.
  • After Microsoft, John started his own venture funds focused on bridging Seattle and Silicon Valley. He's been involved with around 200 startups over his venture career.
  • John reflected on missing out early on companies like Google and Amazon that became huge wins. But he's also had some big successes, like Seagate. He emphasized that surprise and timing are always at play in VC investing.
  • Nataraj and John also discussed how venture capital has matured and become overcrowded, making it hard to generate outsized returns. So John has pulled back on direct startup investing.
  • Pivoting gears, they talked about John's passion project - starting a wine business in Argentina 17 years ago. He saw it as a way to pursue his interests and bring people together.
  • John then explained his latest venture to Nataraj - launching a search fund to invest in other funds that acquire small businesses for entrepreneurs. He believes this model can provide great returns and opportunities.
  • Throughout his wide-ranging career, John has stayed focused on connecting people and giving back, including through the many events he has hosted.


Follow Jon at https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonstaenberg/

Follow Nataraj at https://www.linkedin.com/in/natarajsindam/

Oct 28, 202354:18
#62 Ashmeet Sidana - Founder of Engineering Capital on Investing in Technical Insights

#62 Ashmeet Sidana - Founder of Engineering Capital on Investing in Technical Insights

In this episode of the podcast, we feature Ashmeet Sidana, the founder and Chief Engineer of Engineering Capital. Ashmeet has an extensive background in engineering and venture capital, with experience as the Director of Product Management at VMWare and as a venture capitalist.


During the conversation, Ashmeet discusses various topics, including his experience developing the ESx Server at VMWare and leading seed rounds of companies like Azure Power and Tubi. He also shares insights into why venture capitalists prefer startups to stay private and the importance of investing in technical insights.


Ashmeet also talks about his approach to getting in front of future founders and explains why he chooses not to invest in blockchain. He discusses the significance of large funding rounds in the AI seed stage and the value of investing in open-source companies.


To learn more about Ashmeet Sidana and his perspectives on investing in startups with technical risks, you can listen to the full episode on platforms like YouTube, Spotify & Apple.


Full conversation includes:

- Being Director of PM at VMware & Venture Capitalist

- Developing ESx Server at VMWare

- Leading seed rounds of azure power (public & valued at $2B)

- Leading seed investment at Tubi

- Starting Engineering capital

- Why vcs want startups to stay private

- What it means to invest in technical insights

- Getting infront of future founders

- Not investing in blockchain?

- Large funding rounds in AI seed stage

- Investing in opensource companies

Aug 27, 202350:24
#61 Joe Heitzeberg - From Tech Whiz to Sustainable Meat Entrepreneur

#61 Joe Heitzeberg - From Tech Whiz to Sustainable Meat Entrepreneur

To stay up to date checkout ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠thestartupproject.io⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ & follow Nataraj on twitter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠@natarajsindam and on LinkedIn at ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/natarajsindam⁠

Join us in this captivating episode as we sit down with Joe Heitzeberg, a multifaceted entrepreneur who has navigated the world of technology and business with remarkable success. From his early days in the tech industry to founding his acclaimed venture Crowd Cow, Joe shares his incredible journey and valuable insights on various topics.

1. Joe's Entry to Technology 2. Working for Paul Allen 3. Import Furniture Business 4. Opportunity Cost of MBA 5. Building Viral VoIP App for MySpace 6. Selling Media Piston to Upwork 7. Starting Crowd Cow 8. Problems with Chicken in the U.S 9. Fundamental Shifts from AI 10. AI Tinkerers

Follow Joe on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/joeheitzeberg

To stay up to date checkout ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠thestartupproject.io⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ & follow Nataraj on twitter ⁠⁠⁠@natarajsindam and on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/natarajsindam

Aug 06, 202353:58
#60 Tim Chen - From Open Source Contributor to Investor in Infrastructure Startups

#60 Tim Chen - From Open Source Contributor to Investor in Infrastructure Startups

Tim Chen is the Managing Partner at Essence VC, an early-stage fund focused on data infrastructure and developer tool companies. He has over a decade of experience leading engineering in enterprise infrastructure and open source communities and companies. Prior to Essence, Tim was the SVP of Engineering at Cosmos, a popular open source blockchain SDK. Prior to Cosmos, Tim co-founded Hyperpilot with Stanford Professor Christos Kozyrakis, leveraging decades of research to disrupt the enterprise infrastructure space, which later exited to Cloudera. Prior to Hyperpilot, Tim was an early employee at Mesosphere and CloudFoundry. He is also active in the open source space as an Apache Software Foundation core member, maintainer of Apache Drill and Apache Mesos, and CNCF TOC contributor.

Jul 02, 202301:03:43
#59 - Aseem Datar - Partner at Madrona Ventures - From Intern to General Manager at Azure
Jun 03, 202330:58
#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:

  1. Origin story of Allen Institute Incubator
  2. Hype in AI 
  3. Will LLM's disrupt search business model
  4. 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:

  1. Journey of Stax
  2. Opportunities in Fintech
  3. Crypto
  4. Angel Investing
  5. 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:

  1. Developing Natural language processing at Microsoft
  2. Angel investing to raising a fund
  3. Core insight behind Flying Fish
  4. AI Use cases for future
  5. 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