Silicon Subcontinent

Abhishek Sethi is a co-founder of gradCapital, where he is investing in the next generation of Indian entrepreneurs - current and recent college students. 

Timestamps:

0:00 Intro

0:45 Why are BITS, Manipal, and IIT Roorkee producing so many successful founders?

7:45 What is the biggest constraint while building a company?

10:33 Democratizing access to capital with gradCapital

13:30 Founders v/s the World, and what gradCapital looks for in founders 

15:27 Grit 

19:06 Abhishek's career before starting gradCapital 

24:06 Biotech research and translation to businesses

27:24 How does one start a VC firm to fund startups?

38:45 Abhishek's venture into biology, finding the laws of motion for water beetles (and why this is important)

49:30 As a founder, maximise upside instead of mitigating risks 

Cathy Guo is an investor, author, and founder. She currently manages Indian investments for Antler, the world's fastest growing VC firm.

Timestamps:

0:00 Intro

0:48 Cathy's journey from China to India via the West, writing Myth of the Entrepreneur, and who an entrepreneur really is

5:07 Entrepreneurship in India v/s the U.S., and how "mission-focused" companies should think about giving back

9:16 Cathy's perspective on Indian Entrepreneurship today, and how yoga ties into this

12:37 Antler and its vision for early stage investing in India

18:42 The mental models Antler uses to identify investments

23:43 Identifying exceptional people

26:07 What separates a VC business from a traditional business?

28:49 Common characteristics of great founders

32:48 Exciting spaces in India (hint: a big one is crypto)

34:02 What is DeFi?

38:01 Developments in crypto this cycle, and Cathy's work at Dunya Labs

42:01 Opportunities in crypto

44:46 Government intervention in crypto

49:40 How can India benefit from crypto?

53:47 Cathy on her First Principles

59:46 Promises of Immortality

1:02:17 Meditation

1:07:32 What problem would you solve if money was not a constraint?

Rohit Mittal is old fashioned in some ways, and extremely progressive in others. His company, Stilt, is enabling immigrants to lead easier lives in the U.S., and he hopes that some of his customers will go on to work on future-facing problems in climate change and biotech. Having said that, he still prefers taking notes on pen and paper, and prints documents out instead of reading PDFs online. We learnt what it takes to start a company in the U.S. as an immigrant, the role of luck (and preparation) in becoming successful, and how Stilt is going to revolutionize financial services for the under-served in America. Some sound bites -

On starting a company or even a project: Don’t ask for permission. Everything is allowed.

Remove all distractions that don’t help in building the company.

Change your network to be amongst people working on their own companies.

Timestamps:

0:00 Intro

0:58 What Stilt is and How it was Started

6:24 Choosing the First Problem to Solve {Takeaway - Constrain a Problem so much that the Solution becomes Straightforward}

8:33 Starting a Company in the U.S. as an Immigrant 

12:53 The Risks Rohit had to Take {More here}

14:29 Getting the First Round of Funding as Someone Without Many Connections 

24:08 First steps with Stilt

26:00 Getting into Y Combinator, and facing Impostor Syndrome

35:17 Luck = Preparation + Opportunity, Taking Asymmetric Bets, and the Importance of Consistency while Working on a Startup

42:27 The Present and Future of Stilt

46:06 Growing Stilt, and the Operational Aspect of Running a Company {Takeaway - A lot of doing something new is just Method Acting}

50:43 Rohit's Connection with The Indian Startup Ecosystem

54:03 If Money Wasn't An Issue, What Problem Would Rohit Work On?

Rahul Subramaniam is living the Indian dream! After growing up in America, Rahul moved to India about a decade ago. Rahul has started two companies in India — Athena Education, that mentors students for college abroad, and Florence Capital, a microcredit service for women in India. Rahul is passionate about the Indian growth story and has worked extensively to understand the education and fintech landscapes in India. In this episode, he discusses what shaped his decision to move to India, and how he he manages two companies side by side.

0:55 What made Rahul move to India from the U.S.

Abhishek Singh is the CEO of MyGov, President & CEO of the National e-Governance Division, and MD & CEO of the Digital India Corporation (DIC) at the Government of India. After an illustrious career as an IAS Officer that saw him work extensively with Chief Ministers and Governors in Nagaland and Uttar Pradesh, Abhishek is now leading the Indian Government's efforts to build digital services for all Indian citizens. In this episode, we discuss how India is shifting from providing Software Services to building Software Products, how the Government is democratising business opportunities for new companies, and what Abhishek thinks is the future of entrepreneurship in India.

0:00 - Intro and Abhishek's journey from IIT to IAS

10:00 - How India is becoming a Product-based Software economy

18:00 - Indian Government's Policy Changes to Support Startups and Manufacturing

25:42 - The Government's Initiatives to improve the Ease of Doing Business in India (hint: https://www.mygov.in & https://www.startupindia.gov.in/)

29:02 - Operating the Government like a Startup and New Initiatives like DigiLocker 

39:02 - Which Digital Initiatives will have the Most Impact in the Future, and how Startups can take Advantage

46:23 - Abhishek's Day-to-Day, how he chooses what to work on, and Engaging Citizens 44:39

54:08 - What it will take for India to become the next Silicon Valley (or as Abhishek calls it, the Indian Valley)

Angad Daryani is an entrepreneur building one of India's hottest climate tech startups — Praan. After building 3D printers from scratch and working with Ramesh Raskar of MIT Media Lab, Angad studied Electrical Engineering at Georgia Tech, where he built a filterless purification device and soon became popular on his college campus. This device would eventually lead to Praan.

Today, when he's not solving fluid dynamics problems or raising VC money, you can find him translating innovative solutions from a Western context to an Indian one. We chat about his life, his interests, and what it takes to solve one of the most important problems we face not just as a nation, but as a species -- Climate Change.

If you're interested in solving Climate Change, go to https://www.praan.io/jobs or https://www.praan.io/connect 

Timestamps:

0:00 Intro to Angad and Praan

5:14 Angad on the impact of a 1.5C rise in temperatures

13:30 Angad on carbon capture versus re electrification of the grid

20:20 Early life, Mentors, and Problem Solving

40:29 Mental Models at Praan

54:20 Engineering Challenges at Praan

This clip was taken from Episode 2 of Silicon Subcontinent with Meeta Sengupta

This clip was taken from Episode 2 of Silicon Subcontinent with Meeta Sengupta

More details at https://www.thehindu.com/education/maths-physics-no-longer-mandatory-for-engineering-entry/article34056089.ece

This clip is taken from Episode 2 of Silicon Subcontinent with Meeta Sengupta