The George Pu Show

Episode Summary:

In this episode of The George Pu Show, George and Soham explores into the rarely talked about political debates on the show, including Donald Trump’s potential arrest by the Manhattan District Attorney’s office, and what that means for US and its economy.

The show then discussed a rarely talked about topic in media: China’s President Xi Jinping recently had a trip to Moscow, Russia, where President Xi and President Putin met and said changes that have not happened in hundreds of years are happening now.

The show then dives into the updates on the Nord Stream pipeline, which exploded in 2022 and US intelligence suggested that a pro-Ukraine group did it. However, two co-hosts suggested their doubts and why they believe the United States has a possible role in it.

Episode Timeline:

(0:00) Donald Trump’s potential address

(12:22) China’s Xi visits Russia, implications for the West and the US world dominance

(18:47) Mexico’s President blaming US for the Ukraine war worsening

(25:33) Silicon Valley Bank was bought by First Citizens Bank

(29:25) Lyft Co-Founders Step Down from the Company

Follow the Show

George Pu:

Soham Mehta:

Matthew Black:

The George Pu Show

Want to request to be featured?

If you are building something, let’s talk. Email us at george@getsimpledirect.com to chat more.

Episode Summary:

In this episode, we discussed the recent banking crisis and credit defaults, as well as the spread of contagion. We then shifted the conversation to the advancements in artificial intelligence, particularly GPT-4 and AI-powered Microsoft 365. 

We discussed the potential benefits and drawbacks of these developments, including the potential for AI to replace human jobs. We also touched on the topic of "AI fear" and the potential harm that AI could cause if not regulated properly. Lastly, we discussed the potential monopolistic situation that could arise with the dominance of Google and Microsoft in the AI space.

Episode Timelines

(0:34) Banking crisis, SVB collapse updates, what exactly happened?

(12:42) Reflection on SVB going down and what’s next for the tech sector

(17:15) The moral debate on whether the FED should rescue SVB’s depositors

(24:36) The aftermath: accountability, congressional hearings, other actions

(28:08) Banking contagion: First Republic, Credit Suisse rescued, what’s next?

(33:12) FED’s next actions: rate hikes, the same, or rate declines?

(40:00) GPT-4 is here - our takeaways

(43:23) Is AI the next Frankenstein monster? Our debate

(48:20) Google and Microsoft launching AI into their workplace products, the next AI wave is here?

Key Takeaways:

Follow the Show

George Pu:

Soham Mehta:

Matthew Black:

Follow the Show:

Want to request to be featured?

If you are building something, let’s talk. Email us at george@getsimpledirect.com to chat more.

Episode Summary:

Welcome to another episode of The George Pu Show, a podcast that aims to bring you the latest news and insights on the world of finance and technology.

In this episode, we focus on the recent collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and the closure of Silvergate Bank, two events that have sent shockwaves across the US banking industry.

12 hours after recording this episode, Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) collapsed and has been taken control by Californian regulators, tens of thousands of tech startups are feared to lose their deposits before the Federal Reserve announced on Sunday evening that the depositors would get their money back.

We delve into the causes of these events, analyze the implications for the wider banking system, and provide our predictions for what the future holds.

Our discussion touches on the fragility of community and smaller banks, the role of regulation in preventing another financial crisis, and the potential ripple effects of SVB's collapse on the wider economy.

But that's not all we cover in this episode. We also take a deep dive into why consumer behaviors remain strong despite the economy's downturn, exploring the role of technology, shifting demographics, and changing consumer preferences.

Episode timeline:

(00:04) Silicon Valley Bank and Silvergate Bank’s collapse and what might have caused it

(06:16) As an SVB customer, George’s insight about the days leading to its collapse

(12:12) Traditional banking vs. a more decentralized network that protect depositor assets

(18:05) The implications of SVB and Silvergate’s sudden collapse

(22:05) Potential contagions to consumer-focused banks and the broader economy?

(30:57) The new US-China cold war and what might happen next

(43:50) Elon Musk is considering buying a city in Texas to make his next megacity

(49:17) Matt, George, and Soham’s personal takes on working remotely vs. in the office

Follow the Show:

George Pu:

Soham Mehta:

Follow the George Pu Show:

Want to request to be featured?

If you are building something, let’s talk. Email us at george@getsimpledirect.com to chat more.

Episode Summary:

We are on EP30! What a journey it has been, almost one year in and 30 episodes later, The George Pu Show cannot be here without the support of our great co-hosts, guests, and audiences.

Starting this week, The George Pu Show will update weekly and bring you all the best trends in tech and business, and our three co-hosts’ unique interpretations and perspectives.

We talked about the introduction of ChatGPT by OpenAI, does that mean the jobs that we have been thinking of are at risk of being replaced by AI, such as truck drivers, are finally going to be replaced? What are the human costs and implications of this for our society?

We also talked about Goldman Sachs’ Investor Day 2023, which has shown the Wall Street giant looking to convince its investors that it is a boring business, due to the failures of its consumer businesses Marcus and Greensky.

With the introduction of ChatGPT gradually entering our daily lives, the legal trouble facing its parent company OpenAI is also mounting. What’s next for their legal issues and how might they respond to that?

Finally, we talked about how AI companies can monetize AI and make revenue from AI, and not just work on AI for the sake of it.

Episode timeline:

(0:04) Introduction

(0:36) This week in bitcoin and web3

(5:21) Privacy in web3: is it gone?

(9:30) Goldman Sachs’ Investor Day: our analysis

(29:19) ChatGPT update: release of ChatGPT API, and more

(34:13) Will AI Finally Replace Our Jobs?

(37:32) How will society change after the replacement of jobs by AI?

(42:33) The replacement of middle managers in tech companies: good or bad?

(52:36) Upcoming legal troubles facing ChatGPT and OpenAI

(56:20) How AI companies can monetize their product into revenue

Follow the Show

George Pu:

Soham Mehta:

Matthew Black:

Follow the Show:

Want to request to be featured?

If you are building something, let’s talk. Email us at george@getsimpledirect.com to chat more.

Episode Summary:

Today is probably one of our longest and most interesting episodes! We talked about many topics that have just happened and are super relevant to our topics.

We have first of all how NFTs are coming onto bitcoin, and how that might post an existential threat to bitcoin and the communities behind it. We then talked about decentralized Twitter and how that’s posing a challenge to Elon Musk as well.

Plus, Meta (Facebook)’s stock erupted high, beating all analyst estimates. We then talked about the macro events with the unemployment rate and the rate hikes and how they are not in-sync anymore.

We then talked about the ‘Chinese Spy Balloon’ that got shot down by the US fighter jets. Short-term focus from the politicians in the west and long-term focus from countries like Saudi Arabia and the UAE in the Middle East.

Finally, we discussed how Netflix proposed a reversal on its plan for password sharing, and how Google is publishing its own AI to challenge OpenAI finally.

Great show as always, and thank you for your support!

Episode timeline:

(0:22) NFT is coming to bitcoin

(13:34) Decentralized Twitter

(23:03) Meta’s stock erupted high

(26:00) Unemployment rate and rate hikes are not in sync

(30:16) Black swan events and why they matter

(35:11) The ‘Chinese Spy Balloon’

(41:08) Saudi Arabia’s plan to build a ‘mile-long city’

(45:39) The ‘ESG’ scams by developed nations

(52:35) Netflix just proposed and reversed its plan on password sharing

(1:01:20) Google to challenge OpenAI with own AI frameworks

Follow the Show

George Pu:

Soham Mehta:

Matthew Black:

Follow the Show:

Want to request to be featured?

If you are building something, let’s talk. Email us at george@getsimpledirect.com to chat more.

Episode Summary:

Hope you're having a great week so far!

We've got some big news to share: this is our first in-person recording for the George Pu Show! We're excited to kick off this episode with George Pu, Soham Metha, and Matthew Black.

We discussed ChatGPT and OpenAI's existential problem, which could potentially lead to their demise.

Although this show isn't political, we did an in-depth analysis of the 'Biden Papers' and the bias in our political systems today.

Breaking news: a U.S. judge ruled that Celsius Network, now a bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange, 'owns' its customer deposits. This means that Celsius' customers are last in line to get their money back from the bankruptcy court.

From the bottom of our hearts, we hope you're having a great January and we appreciate your support for the show!

Episode timeline:

(0:04) First in-person recording for the show!

(1:15) Celsius Network owns its customer deposits, a U.S. judge rules

(9:44) Binance’s ‘near-death’ experience? Matthew’s take on Binance’s $7B withdraws

(20:06) U.S. Treasury Secretary announces changes to accounting standards to avoid a debt default

(28:29) Analyzing the ‘Biden Papers’ and what it means for our polarized society

(39:00) ChatGPT and OpenAI’s existential crisis - our analysis

(42:41) Google’s contribution to the birth of OpenAI

Follow the Show

George Pu:

Soham Mehta:

Matthew Black:

Follow the Show:

Want to request to be featured?

If you are building something, let’s talk. Email us at george@getsimpledirect.com to chat more.

Episode Summary:

The first week of 2023 is full of surprises and turns for business and finance, with Saudi Arabia and China announcing new Chinese Yuan crude oil deals, Goldman Sachs announcing sweeping layoffs and the economy signaling layoffs is finally coming to non-tech sectors.

Co-host Soham and George also take a look at the Blackstone Real Estate fund BREITs crisis, and how they had to be bailed out by the University of California to ‘stay afloat’.

Hedge funds however had a great year, with Ken Griffin’s Citadel earning $28 billion in revenue in 2022. We also discussed our bullish and bearish stocks in 2023.

Have a great week and if you are available, please give us a 5-star rating to keep our momentum going!

Episode timeline:

(00:37) Layoffs extend into other parts of the economy with Goldman Sachs layoffs

(06:44) Why are consumer behaviors still strong when the economy is going downhill?

(08:07) The Blackstone Real Estate crisis and why commercial real estate is failing

(19:06) Our real estate predictions into 2023

(22:39) Ken Griffin’s hedge fund made $28 billion in revenue in 2022, why?

(27:31) Saudi Arabia’s new Chinese Yuan crude oil deal with China: the end of USD world dominance?

(37:37) Stocks we are bullish and bearish on in 2023

Follow the Show:

George Pu:

Soham Mehta:

Follow the George Pu Show:

Want to request to be featured?

If you are building something, let’s talk. Email us at george@getsimpledirect.com to chat more.

Episode Summary:

Happy New Year! In this first episode of 2023, co-hosts George and Soham explore a range of exciting topics. They review their biggest lessons and takeaways from 2022 and look ahead to 2023 to predict who will be the biggest winners and losers, and what the year will look like.

The show also examines the recent news that Tesla has lost 65% of its stock value, and Elon Musk has personally lost more than $200 billion in net worth. Soham and George also explore the trend of founders stepping down as CEOs of their own startups and provide top fin-tech predictions for 2023. They also discuss how startups should destigmatize down rounds in 2023.

We're thrilled to be here for this episode, and from the depths of our hearts, we wish you a Happy New Year!

Episode timeline:

(0:04) What did you do for the new year holidays?

(0:37) Biggest lessons learned from George and Soham

(7:40) Summarizing 2022 and its key takeaways

(9:17) First key event: Ukraine Russia War, how will it go into 2023

(13:11) Second key event: Elon Musk buying Twitter, prediction for Twitter in 2023

(16:15) Predictions for 2023: who will be the biggest winner?

(23:25) Predictions for 2023: who will be the biggest loser?

(28:32) Elon Musk losing $200b after Tesla losing 65% in market value

(35:11) The Great Startup CEOs Resignations: what happened?

(45:21) Recession and Inflation in 2023: where are we now

Follow the Show:

George Pu:

Soham Mehta:

Follow the George Pu Show:

Want to request to be featured?

If you are building something, let’s talk. Email us at george@getsimpledirect.com to chat more.

References used:

https://techcrunch.com/2023/01/02/fintech-predictions-and-opportunities-for-2023/

Episode timeline:

(00:01) Special intro from Co-Host Soham Mehta

(00:31) Sam Bankman-Fried is out of prison after posting a $250M bond for his bail

(06:21) Binance’s super tough week, explained

(12:19) Elon’s Twitter Poll and him stepping down as Twitter Chief

(14:48) What is it like to be a Tesla shareholder right now?

(24:44) 8 months of tech downtown: where are we now?

(36:37) Password manager LastPass hacked, passwords of customers stolen

Follow the Show:

George Pu:

Soham Mehta:

Want to request to be featured?

If you are building something, let’s talk. Email us at george@getsimpledirect.com to chat more.

Guest Intro:

Michael Mire (https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelmire/) is a fintech entrepreneur, investor, advisor, and the Co-Founder and CEO of Pillar Financial (https://www.gopillar.ca/).

He helps entrepreneurs live their dreams by creating small business bank accounts that save time and energy for businesses through simplicity and convenience.

Pillar is Canada's first neobank dedicated to business owners. Pillar is a digital-first business account integrated with all the financial tools a business needs to get paid, make payments, manage expenses and cashflow.

Episode timeline:

(00:29) Why becoming an entrepreneur to begin with?

(02:19) What is a Neobank and why do consumers and businesses need it?

(04:44) Difference between a Neobank and a Traditional bank

(09:14) Are consumers better served with traditional banks? Yes?

(15:00) Finding the right market for Neobank customers

(17:23) Growing a fintech business

(20:09) Moving fast and slow and their impact on a team’s culture

(22:39) Challenges of working remotely and its impacts on culture

(25:18) Why building a startup when you already have a successful exit?

Follow the Show:

George Pu:

Soham Mehta:

Want to request to be featured?

If you are building something, let’s talk. Email us at george@getsimpledirect.com to chat more.

Episode timeline:

(0:04) Guest host Matthew Black intro

(0:36) Sam Bankman-Fried Arrested by Bahamian Authorities

(7:46) What is it like to run a web3 business after FTX’s collapse

(11:36) Why FTX’s collapse is great for web3 and consumers

(15:08) Kevin O'Leary paid $15M to promote FTX before its collapse

(22:23) Decoding and analyzing the ‘Twitter Files’

(28:55) Does governments overused its power and is it scary?

(30:42) Why are some COVID ‘misinformation’ turned out to be true

(43:35) Bitcoin vs. Web3 vs. Crypto

(48:51) Decoding the economy and this week’s FED meeting on raising rates

Follow the Show:

George Pu:

Matthew Black:

Soham Mehta:

Want to request to be featured?

If you are building something, let’s talk. Email us at george@getsimpledirect.com to chat more.

Guest Highlight:

Sam Steyer is the Co-Founder and CEO of GreenWork (https://www.joingreenwork.com/), a software company that helps climate companies hire the best construction contractors.

Sam came up with the idea of Greenwork on the campaign trail with his father Tom Steyer, who ran for President of the United States for the 2020 Democratic nomination.

On the trail, Sam saw that blue-collar workers would lead the clean energy transition, and that helping people in the skilled trades thrive would be the key to clean energy's success in the US.

Episode Timestamp:

(00:19) Introduction

(00:43) The idea of Greenwork comes from the 2020 Presidential Campaign

(02:43) Connecting to rural America and lessons learned from the campaign trail

(07:46) Is climate tech and clean tech cyclical in nature?

(13:02) Electric Vehicles vs. Hydrogen, which one is better?

(14:35) Cleantech and politics: how to keep out distractions and keep on building

(18:08) How to find common grounds with people who disagree with you on climate

(20:28) How Greenwork create clean jobs

(24:35) OpenAI’s ChatGPT and thoughts from Sam, Scott and George

(26:50) Connect with Greenwork

Connect with Sam:

Connect with Scott and George:

Episode timeline:

(0:04) New guest host intro

(0:31) Updates from Scott Tomlinson from Choir (from E16)

(6:01) iPhone 14 Pro Shortage

(8:20) Doordash lays off 1,250 corporate workers

(11:12) Working at Intel in 1990s vs. big tech in the 2020s

(22:54) Inverted Yield Curve: What That Means for Our Economy?

(28:55) Reports on Pipe founders putting $80M (now worth $0) in crypto mining startup

(32:14) Did Founders Have Too Much Power?

Follow the Show:

George Pu:

Scott Tomlinson:

Soham Mehta:

Want to request to be featured?

If you are building something, let’s talk. Email us at george@getsimpledirect.com to chat more.

Soham Mehta is the guest-host (Soham J. Mehta, MAcc | LinkedIn), a management consultant that has recently finished his Master’s in Accounting. 

In this week's episode, we discussed the recent wide ranging tech layoffs, the recent news on inflation peaking, Disney's decision to fire its CEO and replace him with the former CEO, potential media bias with SBF vs. Elon Musk, and rumors on Mark Zuckerberg's potential resignation.

(02:39) How the wave of tech layoffs started

(07:23) Why FANG companies are conducting layoffs

(12:10) Tech winter coming? What that means
(13:08) Has inflation peaked?
(21:44) Disney firing its CEO Bob Chapek
(27:15) Media bias covering SBF vs. Elon Musk?
(38:44) Rumor on Mark Zukerberg's potential resignation in 2023

Connect with Soham:

Matthew Black (Matthew Black | LinkedIn) is the Co-Founder and CEO of Atomic Finance, a web3 startup that helps bitcoin holders to earn returns on their bitcoins without giving up custody.

Soham Mehta is the guest-host (Soham J. Mehta, MAcc | LinkedIn), a management consultant that has recently finished his Master’s in Accounting. 

In the podcast, we discuss the implications of FTX’s bankruptcy, how they ended up in this position, and what will happen next in the crypto world. 

Bonus content: What’s next for Twitter under Elon Musk as CEO?

(01:26) FTX implosion: before and after it happened

(05:08) How to be certain an exchange is holding your funds?

(10:48) Is unsecured lending viable for crypto markets?

(12:50) Is there a way to save lending in web3?

(25:03) The FED’s digital dollar pilot, what next happen next?

(30:26) What’s going to happen in the crypto space in the future?

(34:57) Twitter’s massive layoffs

(40:55) What’s going to happen to the Blue Checkmark?

Connect with Matthew and Atomic Finance:

Connect with Soham:

Soham’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/soham-j-mehta/ 

Melissa Durrell is the CEO and Chief Strategist of Durrell Communications. She's known for her distinctive storytelling techniques honed at her former career as an award-winning Canadian broadcast journalist.

She now uses her unique skillset to amplify changemakers through brand storytelling, media training, crisis communications, executive communications, public relations and media outreach.

Melissa have been a startup mentor and coach for more than 6 years, she also invests directly in startups.

In today's episode, we discussed:

- How 'Quiet Quitting' is affecting every company.
- How can leaders deal with 'Quiet Qutting'.
- Best ways founders can pitch to investors.
- How can founders work with journalists.

Connect with Melissa:

- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissadurrell/
- Website: https://durrellcomm.com/

Dr. Nahid Jetha is the Chief Executive Officer and Principal of QTS. As a Quantitative Researcher & Trader working with top-tier hedge funds and quant trading firms in North America and Europe.

Nahid has extensive experience in research, development and deployment of fully automated AI-based quantitative trading systems.

Formerly COO of QTS and Professor of Physics at the University of British Columbia, Nahid has 18+ years of experience in research and technology development in a diversity of fields ranging from quantitative investment management to molecular and cellular biophysics.

Nahid holds a PhD in Physics and a BASc in Mechanical Engineering from the University of British Columbia.

Disclaimer:

The Information in this podcast (E17: How to Start a Quant Hedge Fund w/ Nahid Jetha) is provided for information purposes only. The Information is not intended to be and does not constitute financial advice or any other advice, is general in nature and not specific to you. None of the information is intended as investment advice, as an offer or solicitation to buy or sell any products or services, or as a recommendation, endorsement, or sponsorship of any security, company, or fund. 

Scott Tomlinson is the Founder and CEO of Choir. Choir Energy is allowing real-time energy control, regardless of source, manufacturer or device. We bring disparate systems from the grid, solar, HVAC, pool, EV, storage, appliances, etc into one easy-to-manage and control application. 

Before starting Choir, Scott is a Co-Founder of Beyond Limits, a unicorn company building a symbolic AI that emulates human intuition to deliver cognitive reasoning and intelligence.

While building Choir, Scott has raised capital, not from VCs, but directly from Limited Partners (LPs), who usually put money into VCs.

Ernest Chan is an award-winning quantitative hedge fund manager and quant finance author.

Previously he has applied his expertise in machine learning at IBM T.J. Watson Research Center, Morgan Stanley, and Credit Suisse.

We invited Ernest on the show to talk about the impact Machine Learning (ML) will have on society, and how we can use ML to predict everything in life if we can access enough data with his startup PredictNow.

We also talked about has Google's AI became sentient, whether AI has reached general intelligence, and what that means for humanity going forward. We also discussed Deep Learning and why it will likely fail.

Connect with Ernest:
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/chanep
- LinkedIn: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/epchan
- Website: https://predictnow.ai/

Ignat and Danila are co-founders of Ylide (www.ylide.io), a web3 communication protocol that helps other projects to easily integrate communication in their applications.

Ignat and Danila found an elegant solution how to connect crypto users and web3 projects across different blockchains directly rather than through web2 platforms.

Danila, serial entrepreneur and CTO, and Ignat, ex-portfolio manager in DeFi, shared what inspires them in web3, how they started Ylide and what are the long-term views on crypto and web3 in general.

Connect with Ylide: team@ylide.io
Website: https://ylide.io
Discord: https://discord.com/invite/XfKfKhbvHS

Jay Harris is the Founder of the Web3 Podcast Network, which produces audio shows to educate and edify Web3 communities.

Jay describes himself as an artist who uses podcasts as a medium for sharing his creativity with the world. He is also an engaging public speaker who can connect with his audience's needs to inspire performance, collaboration, and change.

Today we invite Jay on the Builders Build podcast to be everyone's podcast coach and showcase why it's now possible to launch a successful podcast from the comfort of your home.

We discussed:

0:00 Introduction
5:08 Can you do podcasting while working full-time?
7:47 How to define success in podcasting?
10:08 What does success look like in podcasting?
25:38 Monetization for your podcasts
31:01 How long should your podcast be?
32:48 How frequent should your podcast be?

Connect with Jay:
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/podmasterjay/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/podmasterjay
- Website: https://web3podcastnetwork.xyz/

Vance Roush is the Founder and CEO of Overflow (www.overflow.co) and is on a mission to inspire the world to give. 

Specifically, Overflow.co unlocks unprecedented levels of generosity by empowering Nonprofits, Foundations, and Corporations to accept non-cash assets like stocks & crypto with ease. 

90% of wealth is in non-cash assets and organizations are still mainly fundraising for cash. Overflow is fixing that. 

Outside of Overflow, Vance serves on the board of Nonprofits such as needhelp.online, on VIVE Church as a Founding member, and has a tech background from companies like Google. Him & his wife, Kim, live in Silicon Valley with their 4 children.

We discussed Vance's journey from Co-Founding the VIVE Church, to then starting Overflow during the toughest times in COVID, and growing it to where it is today.

I'm especially impressed by Vance's life principles and his devotion to spirituality and using it as a lens to see through challenges in both life and work.

We also discussed how founders today can avoid burnout, what differentiates the best founders and founders who just want to make a quick buck, and tackling the startup talent problem in the startup downturn in 2022.

Episode timestamp:

0:16 Introduction
0:38 Starting Overflow to help people find more ways to give
3:37 Innovating in a traditional industry: what is it like?
6:07 Pay-as-you-go vs. SaaS
8:00 Founding the VIVE Church in Silicon Valley
14:25 Use spirituality to become a better person and founder
19:19 Lead with spirituality and life principles
24:05 Why everyone is having burnout in tech
27:47 Why it's harder for startups to recruit now
30:01 What should aspiring founders do before quitting their jobs
32:55 Why are there more immigrant founders leading unicorns?
37:15 Growing and validating during COVID
39:02 Is startups all about revenue now?
40:55 Making a better culture and how it prepares you to scale

Peter Hazlehurst, Co-Founder, and CEO of Synctera, is a global FinTech entrepreneur and philanthropist with nearly 30 years of experience creating financial products for banks, FinTechs, and large tech companies. 

Peter moved from Australia to the US for his first startup in 1993, building core banking technology, Phoenix, that still powers companies today. 

Since then, Peter has served as Head of Uber Money, Chief Operating Officer at Postmates, Senior Director of Product Management at Google, CEO and Board Member of Google Payments Corporation, and Chief Product Officer at Yodlee. Peter also led Product at Nokia for Enterprise Mobility and Mobile email and has served as a CTO and consultant at several startups.

Today, Peter is CEO at Synctera - a company providing the platform, experiences, and programs for FinTech builders and community banks to launch great products together. Peter has an MBA from the University of Maryland.

Episode timestamp:

0:11 Introduction
1:23 Building Synctera
6:01 Being an expert: yes or no
13:43 Navigating this tech downturn
19:11 2000 vs. 2001 vs. 2008 vs. 2022
22:12 The future of crypto and web3
28:13 The Evolution of Money
29:41 Scaling Uber
33:01 The future for Synctera
35:45 Building a better society for all

Jay Krishnan is a globally successful entrepreneur, investor, innovation ecosystem builder, and Chief Executive Officer of the Accelerator Centre (acceleratorcentre.com).  

An executive leader with over 20 years of experience, Jay boasts an impressive resume of international success. With experience spanning the venture capital space, entrepreneurship, and product development and management, Jay knows firsthand what it takes to turn a good idea into a great one and to grow a company from a startup to a globally competitive business.

Having been involved in the founding stages of 3 startups himself, he has experienced the full startup lifecycle - from failure to success- spanning seeding, raising capital, scaling, and exit; with one company ultimately acquired by a multi-national conglomerate. 

Episode timestamp:

0:51 Introduction
3:41 How an Accelerator can help founders validate and grow
5:30 Jay's entrepreneurial journey and his successful exits
8:18 Principle #1: Working with the right set of people
10:46 How to evaluate whether you are building with the right people
14:37 Principle #2: Having alignments with your Investors: alignment of culture, alignment with goals, alignment with the mission statement
18:27 How to evaluate whether an investor is right for you
22:41 When is the right time for a founder to raise
24:44 How Jay decided to switch from a VC to an Accelerator CEO
29:56 When should founders think about joining an Accelerator, and whether accelerators are right for founders

Tory Reiss is Co-Founder and CEO of Equi (Equi.com), Equi uses technology to unlock elite investing for most accredited investors, representing about 1 in 10 American households today. 

Equi allows most accredited investors to be able to have access to:

- Exclusive opportunities with a proven track record.
- Diversified portfolios of elite alternative investments.
- Professional risk management to deploy capital effectively.

Tory is an experienced three-time startup leader. He has scaled from a small founding team to a team of more than 40 people. Along his journey, he has strived to develop the skills that go into creating the conditions for a successful and productive team. 

As an individual contributor and Sales Leader, Tory has held everything from $1M to $89M+ quotas and have surpassed every quota he has ever been given. 

Episode timestamp:

1:06 Democratizing investor access with Equi
6:53 Finding additional return drivers for everyday investors
11:23 For experienced founders: when to start another startup?
14:06 Tory's unique way to tackle product market fit
16:02 Clarify your doubts before you start a new company
19:01 The third-time founder approach to hiring world-class talent
22:19 Building a kick-ass co-founder team as a third-time founder
24:24 How founders can deal with the daily stress
28:18 Tory's unique way to grow the team initially with contractors
29:52 Why founders should hire a recruiter early on if they are serious about growth
31:34 How much time do you spend on recruiting as a CEO
33:43 For founders: how to let values and principles drive you forward
36:28 Tory's way of growing a distributed team and maintaining high morale
38:30 'Minimum Vacation Policy' and why that matters
43:28 The next 5 years for Equi - the de factor destination for world-class alternative investments

Henry is CEO and Co-founder of Rocket Dollar, a web platform that lets people invest tax-advantaged retirement dollars into private alternative investments. 

He is a Certified Financial Planner™ professional, licensed Realtor®, and has 20 years of experience in finance. 

In the past, Henry was the founder of venture-capital-backed Robo-advisor Honest Dollar (acquired by Goldman Sachs), was the founder of MY Group LLC ($2.6B AUM retirement plan advisory firm), and spent 10 years at Merrill Lynch. 

He graduated from The University of Texas at Austin, has an MBA from Cornell University, and lives in Austin with his wife and two daughters.

We talked about Henry's journey of being a multi-founder, and what is it like for his company to be acquired by Goldman Sachs and now become Goldman Sachs Marcus. Advice for founders on whether to raise or explore exit strategies and many more interesting prospects!

Episode timestamp:

0:33 Introduction
1:55 How Henry got into the world of entrepreneurship
11:31 A founder's journey: from employee to CEO
13:22 Working in traditional finance vs. working in fin-tech
15:01 When's the best time to start a startup in someone's career
16:24 Multi-Founder Mindset: lessons from building 3 startups
18:41 When should founders think about acquisition vs. continuously raising
22:25 A founder's decision: bootstrapping, raising growth rounds, weighing the decisions on acquisition/merger, IPO.
24:58 Who should founders talk to to get advice on a potential acquisition
26:20 Henry's personal experience on his recent exit
29:30 Approaching the board about a potential acquisition
31:38 What to do when a potential acquirer is interested
33:21 Founder-investor: angel investing while being a founder
37:36 Why not raise more capital? Potential problems with over-raising

Cato is the co-founder and CEO of Loop (getloop.ca). Cato has been building financial products for Canadian businesses for the better part of a decade. 

Coming from a family of entrepreneurs and small business owners, Cato has an acute awareness of the challenges SMBs face and has advocated for banking reform, pioneered low-cost funding methods for SMBs, and lent more than $100M to businesses across the country.

Loop Card is a corporate card that has features and benefits that are specifically designed to support the growth of e-commerce businesses. 

In this episode, we discussed how to build innovative features in fin-tech, whether to bootstrap or raise funding in the early days of a fin-tech startup, challenges facing fin-tech founders, and many more great topics!

Episode timestamp:

0:45 Entering the world of entrepreneurship
2:26 Introduction to Loop
8:23 Building innovative fin-tech product features
10:41 Challenges in innovating in fin-tech
12:17 Building Loop's own infrastructure in fin-tech
13:56 The Opening Banking movement and why it matters
18:19 From idea to launch as a founder
23:58 Buy now pay later with Loop for e-commerce
28:34 Upcoming innovations for Loop
31:26 Lending and fin-tech, innovating in lending
37:27 Roadmap for Loop in the upcoming months
40:07 Bootstrapping in fin-tech: is it possible
41:31 Building a fin-tech MVP

Jeff Parks is the CEO of Stack Capital (TSX: STCK).

Stack Capital Group Inc. (TSX:STCK) is democratizing access into some of the world's most innovative and disruptive pre-IPO businesses - giving all investors the opportunity to participate; and providing shareholders with a valuable liquidity option.

Sectors that Stack Capital is focused on include SAAS, mobile, robotics, AI, travel/leisure, space, cybersecurity, crypto, and more.

In today's episode, we will discuss Jeff's innovative approach to providing liquidity to a traditionally illiquid industry, and democratizing access for growth-stage investors.

This is a great episode for any current and prospective investors looking to get into private equity & venture capital, and for early and late-stage founders looking to see how late-stage investors evaluate a new deal.

Episode timestamp:

0:52 What is Stack Capital
5:21 How to evaluate growth-stage deals
10:43 Taking a 'VC' public
12:11 Providing liquidity as a 'VC'
13:55 Who should founders put on their cap tables
16:59 Backing Varo Bank, SpaceX, and Bolt
23:45 What does the future for PE and VC look like
33:56 How is 2022 going to change everything (we recorded our episode in March 2022)
36:17 What should founders do to stay above the curve in the current market environment

Connect with Jeff:

- LinkedIn: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/parksjeff
- Profile: https://www.stackcapitalgroup.com/management-team

Connect with Stack Capital:

- Website: https://www.stackcapitalgroup.com/
- LinkedIn: https://ca.linkedin.com/company/stack-capital-group

Justin is the Co-Founder and CEO of Rize Money.

Rize is building AWS for financial services, offering fintech developers access to all the financial capabilities they need across both banking and brokerage verticals through a single API integration, and providing custodians a complete risk management platform so that they can work with fintechs at scale while maintaining regulatory compliance.

Justin is a dedicated entrepreneur – He Co-founded and worked at several startups in an operating capacity. He acted as an advisor to numerous other early-stage companies, including as an investor and board member.

We discussed transitioning from traditional finance to fin-tech, the 'walls' fin-tech founders have to break through, navigating through compliance in fin-tech, and how Justin and his team at Rize are here to help fin-tech founders build their apps 10 times easier.

0:00 Introduction
1:31 From hedge fund to building in fin-tech
5:32 Do founders from trad. finance build better startups?
6:47 What Rize can do for all fin-tech founders
13:53 Fin-tech infrastructures and why it matters
17:47 Key to success: make complicated things simple
27:59 Are Super-Apps the next big thing in fin-tech?
31:00 Does fin-tech founders need financial backgrounds?
35:41 Growing and scaling Rize in a year
37:34 Building a co-founder team in fin-tech
40:02 Dealing with fin-tech regulations
44:47 Is Fin-Tech becoming more saturated?

Connect with Justin:

- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/howelljustin
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/howelljustin

Connect with Rize:

- Website: https://rizefs.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/rizefs

Darshan Vaidya is the Co-Founder & CEO at Credora (Formerly known as XMargin).

Credora is the world's first distributed private credit oracle that can facilitate loans to trading firms at scale without needing to see their sensitive data. This delivers high yields to investors with unparalleled risk management and transparency.

We discussed Darshan's humble journey of coming from traditional finance to starting his own business in web3, the early days of crypto, and what innovating in the web3 space looks like.

Today, X-Margin has already facilitated over $400 million of uncollateralized loans and monitoring on lenders' behalf of around $3 billion of assets.

Today we discussed how is it like to start a web3 firm, how it it to navigate the market ups and downs with crypto market volatilities, and how is it like to stay true to your mission.

We discussed everything from building and innovating in web3, how X-Margin has facilitated hundreds of millions of dollars of credit transactions to date, and what web3 founders can build in the new world of web3.

We also discussed many topics that are relevant to today's fin-tech and web3 founders, such as how to find ideas worth innovating in web3, how to build a team fit for web3, and whether crypto firms should do ICOs or not.

2:09 What is web3 like in 2016 and 2018
10:00 Introduction to Credora (formerly X-Margin)
17:08 Building an infrastructure company in web3
20:12 Scaling a web3 company
32:51 Finding ideas worth innovating in web3
37:15 Building a team fit for web3
42:19 ICO vs. Not ICO, which one is better?

Connect with Darshan:

- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/darshanvaidya

Connect with Credora:

- Website: https://credora.io/
- Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/credoraplatform

Danielle Strachman is the Co-Founder and General Partner of 1517 Fund.

Danielle has worked with young entrepreneurs for about a decade. In 2010, during the founding of the Thiel Fellowship, Danielle joined to lead the design and operations.

Danielle has worked with some of the most prestigious founders like Vitalik Buterin (Ethereum) and Ritesh Agarwal (OYO Rooms).

Previous to her work with Peter Thiel, Danielle founded and directed Innovations Academy in San Diego, a K-8 charter school serving 400 students, with a focus on student-led project-based learning and other alternative programs.

In today's episode, we talked about how Danielle built her fund from scratch, and we also discussed how to build a VC firm that is different from the others by putting a community-first approach.

We discussed a range of interesting topics below:

0:00 Introduction
0:42 Huge exclusive updates from 1517 fund
2:09 What the 1517 name stands for
3:54 How 1517 Fund invests
4:49 Having fun while investing
7:30 How to be comfortable writing the first check
11:00 Do younger founders build better startups?
13:33 Is dropping out of college worth it?
17:08 Do only wealthier students can afford to drop out?
20:52 Pursuing a community while building in VC
23:05 Solving 'let me know how I can be helpful' syndrome
32:37 Are founders and investors on the same team?
37:55 Unique journey in starting a VC fund
42:15 How VC firms raise capital to fund startups
47:56 What is a typical day like for a VC general partner

Connect with Danielle:

- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniellestrachman
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/DStrachman

Connect with 1517 Fund:

- Website: https://www.1517fund.com/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/1517fund

Caleb Avery is the Co-Founder and CEO of Tilled (https://tilled.com/).

Caleb started the idea of Tilled with his experience in the payments industry for nearly a decade. He was often asked to help software companies who were looking to monetize their payments.

Unable to find a solution that didn’t require his clients to compromise on either technology, user experience, or economics, he decided that he needed his own solution. That led him to build Tilled and create PayFac-as-a-Service.

In today’s episode, we will discuss how Caleb went from having the idea of Tilled, to building it, getting early traction, and raising subsequent seed and Series-A rounds from investors.

You will also learn what is it like to go from a team of 4 to 40 in less than a year, and what is it like to start a technology business.

Episode timestamp:

0:48 Why choose the route of a founder
38:25 What is building in public
44:37 Dealing adversity as a founder
50:00 Lessons from scaling Tilled as a startup

Connect with Caleb:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/caleb-avery/

Connect with Tilled:

https://www.linkedin.com/company/tilled/

https://tilled.com/