How sustainable are your fashion choices? With all the insanity happening across the world right now, what can you do to play your part in consuming clothes that respect the planet?

“As eco-conscious consumers realize the environmental toll of fast fashion, there's an increased focus on making clothes that are better for the planet. This can be using less resource intensive manufacturing processes, committing to recycled or sustainable materials, designing more durable fabrics, and even creating markets for clothing resale.”

The audio app space has been booming in India. India has about 150 million daily listeners. They’re the third largest podcast market after the US and China, and they're growing at 50% annually. In fact, the majority of our listeners are from India!

While listening to podcasts is a great way to escape mentally, the third and probably most important topic we discuss on this episode is companies set up to support mental health. Following the year we’ve just had, the demand for mental health services has risen exponentially.

“The mental health market will probably be worth around $250 billion by 2027. So there's a lot of room to grow here.”

Finally, we discuss trading baseball cards on Stock X, creating your own Avatar and the importance of stretching your calves out via a wooden slant box. This episode is jam packed full of great Indian companies you should check out. Download and listen today. 

On today’s podcast:

• Sustainable fast fashion brands
• The audio app space
• Taking care of your mental health
• Trading baseball cards
• Stretching your calves

Links:

• The August Company
• No Nasties
• North Mist
• KuKu FM
• Pocket FM
• Mind House
• Stock X

We are super excited for this episode of Halo Drop. At the start of the pandemic we hosted an amazing conversation with American football player, Jerry Rice, who imparted a wealth of wisdom gleaned during his time both on and off the football field.

“I never thought I would get drafted and go on to live the ultimate dream of playing professional football. You know, a guy out of Mississippi who goes to Mississippi Valley State University and gets drafted by the greatest team ever: The San Francisco 49ers.”

Jerry is a Hall of Famer, was a part of three winning Super Bowl teams and holds over 100 NFL records. Today he’s the CEO and founder of GOAT Fuel (Greatest Of All Time). 

“You're not always going to win. But it's like, what do you do when you don't? And that's when I think you realize that you have to be tougher, you gotta be stronger. You have to be able to fight through adversity.”

In this episode, Jerry shares his journey from football dream to reality, the power of working together as a team, winning the Super Bowl three times, why losing makes you stronger, how to prepare mentally and physically for greatness and longevity, and why the GOAT mindset is for everyone. 

“I'll do what others won't, so tomorrow I can accomplish what others can’t. That's what I'm all about. That's what I did in football. I always tell people to love what you do, and always give 100%.”

On today’s podcast:

• From football dream to reality
• Winning and losing the Super Bowl
• Why fear of failure is his biggest motivator
• The importance of leading by example
• Fueling the GOAT mindset

Links:

• Jerry Rice
• https://goatfuel.com/

If you’re an Indian entrepreneur or you're thinking about founding a startup in India, don’t miss Venktesh Shukla this week on Halo Drop. Venk is a general partner in Monta Vista Capital, a VC company focused on seed stage B2B companies, bringing a hands-on operational approach to the first years of a company's life.

As President of TiE, a nonprofit that exists to promote wealth creation through entrepreneurship, Venk presides over one of the most powerful networks focused on technology startups in Silicon Valley. Venk is also the founding chair and active member of the TiE angels, one of the most active angel investor groups in the Valley.

“In those 3 years that the group invested in 25 companies, I wrote only 5 checks, but those 5 companies turned out to be the best of those 25, and nobody else in that 100% investor group got those 5 right.”

Venk is also involved in Startup India, an initiative designed to make it easier to startup, fund and grow a company in India.

“I used to write extensively, criticising [startup] policies in newspapers in India. The government thought that the best way for them to prevent me from writing all these things is to bring me inside.”

In this latest episode, Venk shares his incredible journey: from his boyhood dream of being an engineer, to coming to the US for his MBA. How he became Teradyne’s most successful sales person having never sold before. Why he became a VC. How he became involved in Startup India. Why having a wide network of people is invaluable. And how meditation gets his head back in the game. 

“I sit down and try to figure out where I want to be two years from today. That frames how I should be spending my time today. What do I want to see happen in two years from today, and then work backwards from there.”

On today’s podcast:

• Finding product market fit
• Becoming a TiE angel
• The advantage of being a distributed company
• Startup India
• His advice for new entrepreneurs 

Links:

• Venktesh Shukla 
• https://tie.org
• @vshukl
• https://www.montavc.com/
• Steve Blank - The Four Steps To The Epiphany
• Bertrand Russell - In Praise Of Idleness
• Ries & Trout - Positioning

The longer we’re all working from home, the more we figure out how to be self-sufficient, and one thing that’s becoming increasingly popular is 3D printing, in particular, printing things at home. 

In fact, you can even 3D print your new home if you want.

“There's a bunch of interesting new startups that are 3D printing houses, where they'll prefab all of it, pre-print it and then essentially move an entire house to wherever the location you want to build it is.”

DTC brands are really shaking up the marketplace right now. By going direct to consumers, they’re cutting out the middleman and one thing that makes them super successful, is they are creating a community around the brand too, building awareness and encouraging advocacy. 

“Live Tinted is a beauty brand started in the US and it’s basically beauty products that are catered towards tinted skin. One of the amazing things they've done is built this really powerful community across social media that is driving all their success.”

Finally, if you're looking for a hydration multiplier, try Liquid IV. You can also find a hydration multiplier with immune support, there’s another with energy, and another to help you sleep. 

Don’t miss this latest episode of Halo Drop, it’s eclectic, educational and cheeky in all the right places. 

On today’s podcast:

• 3D printing
• Jinx dog food
• Gender neutral perfume
• The rise of DTC brands
• Hydration multipliers

Links:

• 3Dexter
• Think Jinx
• Mamaearth
• Live Tinted
• Liquid IV

Getting back to in-person meetings after a year of working from home means having to find clothes that aren’t athleisure wear and ‘proper shoes’. We’ve become so accustomed to wearing sweats day in and day out, it’s tough setting them aside. 

“In India we've seen the rise of athleisure outfits by over 1500% over the last year. And as you guys pointed out, Amazon searches for men's loungewear have increased by over 1100% as well.”

From athleisure brands, to Peloton sleep meditations, to ASMR meditation, to our increasing energy consumption, today’s episode of Halo Drop discusses pertinent topics of interest from the last week.

On today’s podcast:

• The rise of athleisure 
• Forge clear ice system

Links:

• Forge » FirstBuild

We are thrilled to chat with serial entrepreneur Peter Pham, one of L.A.’s most prominent early-stage investors and the co-founder of Science Inc. For those not in the know, Science Inc. is a Santa Monica startup studio and early-stage venture fund that manages over $100 million and recently launched a $310.5 million SPAC (they’re also behind Dollar Shave Club).

“You know what you’re going to get with me, you're going to get a neurotic person who's passionate beyond belief. You want me on your team.”

As an operator, Peter grew Photobucket to become the largest photo sharing site in 2007, exiting to Myspace for $300 million. He repeated that success as a co-founder and CEO of BillShrink, which was acquired by MasterCard. But how did he start out, what shaped him as a kid to become the preeminent VC he is today?

“I think what shaped me in terms of growing up, not having anything and the classic American dream. No one’s gonna give it to me, I’m gonna go earn it, work my ass off. I had three jobs to pay for college, as a waiter.”

He spent 9 years jumping between 13 different enterprise software companies, but his advice for wannabe entrepreneurs today is this: “Go work at a startup, pick it up, try different things and just be the motivated person who's willing to learn and do whatever it takes, and don't get sucked into titles.”

From finding your superpower, to founding Photobucket, BillShrink and Color, to choosing a co-founder, the qualities he looks for when he meets a founder, to the ideal company he’s looking for. 

“Across all three categories for us, it's mobile, marketplaces, and consumer brands, those are the types of companies we're looking for.”

If you’re an entrepreneur, you don’t want to miss this. Download and listen now. 

On today’s podcast:

His journey to entrepreneur

• Find your superpower
• Founding Science Inc.
• What makes a desirable founder
• Miami vs LA vs Austin vs Bay Area

Links:

• Peter Pham
• Science Inc.

Restrictions are slowly beginning to lift, the vaccine is being rolled out both in the US and across the world, but that doesn’t mean we’re going to go right back to how we were pre-pandemic. Virtual events are likely to be an ongoing feature of life as we know it, for the foreseeable future at least. 

“With revenue totaling over $330 million in 2019, Zoom expects a total revenue of over $620 million by the end of fiscal year 2020. With such growth and further uncertainty ahead regarding the pandemic and working from home, there's definitely an opportunity for competitors to enter the market.”

In today’s episode of Halo Drop, we discuss the rise of virtual events, from conferences and trade shows, to virtual workouts and cooking classes, before jumping into clean cosmetics, drone technology and surveillance.

“Drones are a $23 billion industry right now. And it's going to double in the next five years. So 2025, you're looking at a $42 billion industry, which is pretty, pretty amazing.”

Finally, love him or hate, you’ve gotta check out Dave Portnoy’s Barstool Fund (link below). Someone on Twitter challenged him to put his money where his mouth is and help raise funds for struggling restaurants. To date he’s raised over $32m, in under two months, from 200,000 people and supported close to 200 different businesses.

On today’s podcast:

• Virtual events and conferences
• Drone technology and surveillance
• Indian video conferencing companies
• Clean cosmetics
• The Barstool Fund

Links:

• https://www.barstoolsports.com/the-barstool-fund
• New Yorker Suspends Jeffrey Toobin for Masturbating on Zoom Call
• China takes surveillance to new heights with flock of robotic Doves, but do they come in peace?

Hosts Twitter
Vishal - https://twitter.com/vgurbuxani
Krishna - https://twitter.com/ksub15
Sunil - http://twitter.com/vermasun

Show Social
Twitter https://twitter.com/halodropfm

As more and more people have to work from home, there have been pluses and minuses across the board. Whether you’ve embraced it or not, the general feeling is that productivity has increased with everyone being at home. 

That’s great news for the companies, not so much for the workers. Productivity has increased because people can work longer hours because they aren’t having to do two hour commutes, they aren’t taking breaks, they aren’t socializing. And while increased productivity translates to increased revenue for companies, it also increases instances of burnout. 

Which begs the question - what happens when we move into the next phase and people can start to go out again? How does it affect productivity? And how can startups who don’t have the luxury of a large HR department, manage output?

“In China, you have the idea of 996, which is you work from 9am to 9pm, six days a week. That is something that a lot of people talk about. To some degree, I feel like the West is now starting to feel that pressure.” 

Finally, in the company section we discuss top Indian startups on the disfold list, and in the tips section we recommend some awesome books. Another fantastic episode and we are only three into the series!

On today’s podcast

• How to work from home
• The impact of WFH on creativity
• Asian culture of 6 day work weeks
• Managing camaraderie over Zoom
• The top 30 Indian startups
• TikTok doesn’t exist in India

Links:

• https://disfold.com/top-indian-startups/
• InMobi
• Pipe
• Dream With Your Eyes Open
• Billion Dollar Loser

Hosts Twitter
Vishal - https://twitter.com/vgurbuxani
Krishna - https://twitter.com/ksub15
Sunil - http://twitter.com/vermasun

Show Social
Twitter https://twitter.com/halodropfm

We are hugely excited to welcome Vishal Gondal onto Halo Drop. Vishal is an Indian entrepreneur and angel investor. Vishal founded his first company, IndiaGames, at the tender age of 16, a company that was later acquired by the Walt Disney Company. Following his success with IndiaGames, Vishal launched Sweat and Blood Venture group in 2008, to invest in startups at seed level, to help build out youth and entrepreneurship in India. He launched his most recent company, GOQii, in 2014, a fitness technology company, focused on preventative healthcare

“I had absolutely no idea about valuation stock, liquidation preference, I mean, all these complex things, which people talk about right now, in the whole world of startups and venture capital, I only knew one thing, I knew how to build products.”

And that’s how the father of Indian gaming has the edge in the preventative healthcare space, and it’s the idea behind GOQii - using gaming to motivate people to think about preventative healthcare. 

From starting in the gaming realm, to approaching Pepsi, hiring underdogs to work at IndiaGames, to founding GOQii, this is a fascinating interview with the guy who modestly says ‘I just build the products’. 

So how is he so wildly successful? 

“I figured out the problem in the business of health and wellness and fitness is not the lack of apps or devices, or gyms or diets. The fundamental problem is people lack motivation. And the other problem is engagement.”

To find out more, subscribe and follow Halo Drop wherever you get your podcasts. 

On today’s podcast:

• Getting into the gaming realm
• Raising investment for IndiaGames
• The preventative healthcare space
• Scale and growth of GOQii
• What entrepreneurs can learn from spirituality

Links:

• Vishal Gondal
• GOQii
• Book - The Bhagavad Gita

Hosts Twitter
Vishal - https://twitter.com/vgurbuxani
Krishna - https://twitter.com/ksub15
Sunil - http://twitter.com/vermasun

Show Social
Twitter https://twitter.com/halodropfm

Welcome back to another jam packed episode of Halo Drop. Today in the ‘what’s keeping everyone refreshed and reset section’, we’re talking about mental health burnout, and how to stay sane. Quite literally, what works for us to bring us back into ourselves when the stress levels are rising. 

“We have two lives. And the second begins when we realize we only have one.”

From going for walks, to following the 10/10 rule, finding your anchor is key to relieving stress. And the reason we might want to relieve stress? We spend over $1 trillion on healthcare annually. Just knowing that’s enough to make you want to think about preventative medicine, right?

There’s a wealth of tech available to help you live a more healthy life, such as a continuous glucose monitor that tells you whether your diet is healthy. And then there are the alternative medicine companies in the health and wellness space, dealing with the surge in mental health cases that have emerged with the ongoing pandemic. 

“Alternative medicines exist everywhere in the world. These can be everything from vitamins and supplements, to acupuncture, to specific kinds of massages, you know, really trying to augment what normal health would be.”

From the app that delivers customized self help and provides digital therapy, to the clinic providing online chat support and call sessions, to the startup that’s created AI chatbots for mental health. We discuss the places you might want to turn to, outside of standard healthcare.

On today’s podcast:

• Mental health burnout & how to recalibrate
• The cost of healthcare
• The benefits of continuous glucose monitors
• Alternative medicine startups 
• AI chatbots for mental health
• Celebrity workout apps

Links:

• www.replika.ai

Hosts Twitter
Vishal - https://twitter.com/vgurbuxani
Krishna - https://twitter.com/ksub15
Sunil - http://twitter.com/vermasun

Show Social
Twitter https://twitter.com/halodropfm