TechSurge: Deep Tech Podcast

In this episode of TechSurge, host Sriram Viswanathan sits down with Nishant Batra, Chief Strategy and Technology Officer at Nokia, for a deep dive into the evolving landscape of telecom and wireless technology. Nishant shares insights into the seismic shifts transforming network infrastructure—from core networks to edge computing—and discusses how Nokia leverages artificial intelligence to optimize performance and drive innovation. 

The conversation also highlights Nokia's unique innovation framework, spanning its corporate venture investments, internal incubator, and expansion of the legendary Bell Labs. Today Nokia leverages Bell Labs’ groundbreaking research into emerging technology for internal innovation and new venture spinouts in collaboration with venture capital firms, including recently announced inaugural spinout startup, Astranu.

Links:

Discover the groundbreaking Nokia-Celesta spinout advancing healthcare imaging technology - Astranu 

Learn about the legendary innovation powerhouse - Nokia Bell Labs

• (00:00) - The Genesis of Nokia and Bell Labs

Competition, growth, tariffs, hacks, AI – what does it take to be an effective leader today? John Chambers, former CEO and Executive Chairman of Cisco and founder of JC2 Ventures, joins TechSurge host Sriram Viswanathan to share valuable wisdom on leading and growing businesses through times of significant change. As a leader who has transitioned from the c-suite to venture capital and now mentoring founders in emerging technology sectors, John has seen it all. 

He shares lessons from his time leading one of the world’s most influential networking companies at Cisco (the most valuable company in the world at the time), revealing what he learned while growing it from a challenger networking company into a $50 billion tech powerhouse, sharing how Cisco achieved and maintained its market leadership, particularly his bold M&A strategies. 

John offers hard‑won insights on navigating major technology shifts in AI, cloud, security, and more. Today’s founders and executives will find practical frameworks, real‑world war stories, and counterintuitive advice to help survive and thrive in an era of continual disruption. 

If you enjoy this episode, please subscribe and leave us a review on your favorite podcast platform. Sign up for our newsletter at techsurgepodcast.com for exclusive insights and updates on upcoming TechSurge Live Summits.

Links:

Explore John Chambers' family office and venture firm at JC2 Ventures

Read John Chambers' book “Connecting the Dots” on Amazon

Discover the organization John chaired for eight years US-India Strategic Partnership Forum

Learn about the company John and Sriram have invested in together at ParkourSC

Find out about the deep fake detection company Pin Drop

Learn about the cybersecurity company Rubrik

• (00:00) - Navigating the AI Revolution

MIT President Emeritus Dr. Rafael Reif joins host Michael Marks for a discussion about the state of U.S. competitiveness in technology, university research funding, current immigration policy, and more. Reif explains why universities remain the innovation engines of economies, educating top talent and generating the foundational research that powers emerging tech and creates new industries. He candidly assesses U.S.-China competition, warns that Chinese research output is rapidly outpacing our own, and urges renewed federal investment.

The discussion explores how restrictive immigration policies threaten the flow of global talent into the U.S and his own impression of current policies as an immigrant from Venezuela himself. As a TSMC board member, Reif also touches on the strategic need for domestic semiconductor fabs, Intel’s path forward, and TSMC’s edge in advancing cutting-edge nodes. Lastly, he addresses gaps in the venture capital funding space and why he created MIT’s The Engine incubator model to fund “tough tech” startups, which helped launch breakthroughs like Commonwealth Fusion Systems.

If you enjoy this episode, please subscribe and leave us a review on your favorite podcast platform. Sign up for our newsletter at techsurgepodcast.com for exclusive insights and updates on upcoming TechSurge Live Summits.

Connect with Rafael Reif on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/l-rafael-rief-b8977b231

Dive deeper into Reif’s career, publications, and awards. Read his full biography https://reif.mit.edu/biography 

Read Rafael's recent op-ed about government R&D funding: https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/02/17/opinion/science-technology-research-development/

Read Rafael's speech about the role of universities in building a strong U.S. economy: https://reif.mit.edu/speeches-writing/strong-universities-make-strong-united-states

Explore how MIT’s Engine incubator is fueling “tough tech” startups like fusion power. Learn about The Engine https://engine.xyz/

Watch Commonwealth Fusion Systems’ plan to deliver commercial fusion energy. Discover CFS https://cfs.energy/

Understand the roadmap to a 400 MW fusion pilot plant. Read the MIT News report https://news.mit.edu/2024/commonwealth-fusion-systems-unveils-worlds-first-fusion-power-plant-1217

Bobby Yerramilli-Rao, Chief Strategy Officer at Microsoft, joins TechSurge host Sriram Viswanathan to offer a rare glimpse into the strategic playbook of one of the world’s most powerful tech companies. Bobby shares how the company navigates today’s biggest technology paradigm shifts, placing bets with trillion-dollar implications. Touching on Microsoft’s AI strategy, OpenAI partnership, quantum computing, its approach to acquisitions, and much more, this candid and wide-ranging conversation is not to be missed. 

If you enjoy this episode, please subscribe and leave us a review on your favorite podcast platform. Sign up for our newsletter at techsurgepodcast.com for exclusive insights and updates on upcoming TechSurge Live Summits.

• (00:00) - The Nature of Technology and AI's Economic Impact

In this episode of TechSurge, host Sriram Viswanathan sits down with Charlie Giancarlo, Chairman and CEO of Pure Storage, to discuss the evolution and future of data storage in the digital age. Charlie shares insights from his career spanning his pivotal role in Cisco's success as a networking pioneer, to his leadership in transforming Pure Storage into a leader in innovative storage solutions.

They explore the evolution of data center infrastructure, and the critical role of storage architecture in enabling AI and cloud technologies. Charlie also explains how Pure Storage's software-driven approach is creating new efficiencies and opportunities for enterprises, offering a compelling vision for a unified "data cloud" that breaks down data silos and unlocks new insights.

This episode delves into the intersections of networking, compute, storage, and AI, providing an essential perspective for anyone interested in the future of technology infrastructure.

If you enjoy this episode, please subscribe and leave us a review on your favorite podcast platform. Sign up for our newsletter at techsurgepodcast.com for exclusive insights and updates on upcoming TechSurge Live Summits.

Links:

Pure Storage Official Website: Explore Pure Storage's innovative data storage solutions. Pure Storage Data
Charlie Giancarlo's Biography: Learn more about Charlie Giancarlo, Chairman and CEO of Pure Storage. ​Charlie Giancarlo
Portworx by Pure Storage: Discover Portworx, the Kubernetes data services platform acquired by Pure Storage. ​Wikipedia Portworx ASBIS – IT Distributor

FlashBlade//EXA Announcement: Read about Pure Storage's FlashBlade//EXA, designed for high-performance computing and AI workloads. FlashBlade//EXA: The Future of AI and HPC Storage Performance

Many in venture capital and biopharma are anointing artificial intelligence the savior of drug discovery—but what can AI actually do?

In this eye-opening episode, Michael Marks sits down with Mike Nohaile, CEO of Prellis Biologics, to explore the hype versus reality in AI-enabled drug discovery. Mike details why, despite significant breakthroughs like AlphaFold and recent Nobel Prize win for computational protein design, fully AI-generated medicines still present challenges. He also discusses why we urgently need more effective medicines and details Prellis’ unique system which combines laser printed human organoids and an externalized human immune system with AI, enabling the discovery of fully human antibodies. 

If you enjoy this episode, please subscribe and leave us a review on your favorite podcast platform. Sign up for our newsletter at techsurgepodcast.com for exclusive insights and updates on upcoming TechSurge Live Summits.

Links:

Explore Prellis Biologics

https://prellisbio.com/

Understand AlphaFold, DeepMind’s AI model for predicting protein structures

https://deepmind.google/alphafold

Read about the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry 

https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/2024/press-release/ 

• (00:00) - The Reality of AI in Drug Discovery

Artificial intelligence is evolving at an unprecedented pace—what does that mean for the future of technology, venture capital, business, and even our understanding of ourselves? 

Award-winning journalist and writer Anil Ananthaswamy joins us for our latest episode to discuss his latest book Why Machines Learn: The Elegant Math Behind Modern AI.

Anil helps us explore the journey and many breakthroughs that have propelled machine learning from simple perceptrons to the sophisticated algorithms shaping today’s AI revolution, powering GPT and other models. The discussion aims to demystify some of the underlying mathematical concepts that power modern machine learning, to help everyone grasp this technology impacting our lives–even if your last math class was in high school. 

Anil walks us through the power of scaling laws, the shift from training to inference optimization, and the debate among AI’s pioneers about the road to AGI—should we be concerned, or are we still missing key pieces of the puzzle? The conversation also delves into AI’s philosophical implications—could understanding how machines learn help us better understand ourselves? And what challenges remain before AI systems can truly operate with agency?

If you enjoy this episode, please subscribe and leave us a review on your favorite podcast platform. Sign up for our newsletter at techsurgepodcast.com for exclusive insights and updates on upcoming TechSurge Live Summits.

Links:

Read Why Machines Learn, Anil’s latest book on the math behind AI
https://www.amazon.com/Why-Machines-Learn-Elegant-Behind/dp/0593185749

Learn more about Anil Ananthaswamy’s work and writing

https://anilananthaswamy.com/

Watch Anil Ananthaswamy’s TED Talk on AI and intelligence

https://www.ted.com/speakers/anil_ananthaswamy

Discover the MIT Knight Science Journalism Fellowship that shaped Anil’s AI research

https://ksj.mit.edu/

Understand the Perceptron, the foundation of neural networks

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perceptron

Read about the Perceptron Convergence Theorem and its significance

https://www.nature.com/articles/323533a0

• (00:00) - The Future of AI: Agency and Exponential Growth

With global economic alliances shifting and new threats emerging, will the U.S. maintain its dominance in an increasingly complex world? 

From chips to cyberterrorist threats to cryptocurrency, battles for global dominance are no longer only fought on the battlefield—they're playing out in markets, boardrooms, and cyberspace. In this episode, we sit down with Juan Zarate, a key member of the post-9/11 Bush Administration team who architected how we combat terrorist financing and think about modern financial warfare.

We explore how the U.S. has used its economic dominance as a powerful weapon—and whether countries like China and Russia are now using the same playbook to push back. Juan shares insights on the weaponization of the dollar, how financial crime networks are evolving in the digital age, and why strategies around cryptocurrency could either threaten or reinforce U.S. economic power.

The conversation dives into the intersection of technology, economic, and national security strategy, tackling key issues like cyber threats, semiconductor supply chains, and the growing role of AI in financial security. Juan also introduces his latest venture, Consilient, which is pioneering federated AI to revolutionize the fight against financial crime.

If you enjoy this episode, please subscribe and leave us a review on your favorite podcast platform. Sign up for our newsletter at techsurgepodcast.com for exclusive insights and information about upcoming TechSurge Live Summits.

Links:

Check out our video episodes on YouTube

Follow Celesta Capital on LinkedIn and X

Discover how K2 Integrity is shaping the future of financial crime prevention and cybersecurity

https://www.k2integrity.com

Read Juan Zarate’s Treasury’s War to explore the rise of financial warfare in global security
https://www.amazon.com/Treasurys-War-Unleashing-Financial-Warfare/dp/1610391152

Explore Consilient’s groundbreaking approach to financial crime detection using federated AI

https://www.consilient.com

Learn how Coinbase is driving the future of cryptocurrency and digital finance

https://www.coinbase.com

The world is evolving faster than ever – how will we keep up?

From AI breakthroughs to global supply chain disruptions, the forces shaping business and technology today are relentless. In this episode of the TechSurge Deep Tech VC Podcast, we sit down with Bob Sternfels, Global Managing Partner of McKinsey & Company, the global consulting firm who has been on the frontlines of helping businesses and industries navigate relentless change for the past 100 years.

We explore the shifting landscape of venture capital and opportunities for VCs, startups, and consultancies to explore new partnership models. Bob shares his view on shifting global supply chain strategies, why full economic decoupling between the U.S. and China is a dangerous and difficult proposition, and how India may be on track to become the economic powerhouse of the twenty-first century. The discussion digs into the complexities of housing affordability and why the future of housing insurance is at risk – could our homes of the future soon be uninsurable due to climate change?

Bob helps us dive into the evolving demands of 21st-century leadership, where resilience, adaptability, and even humor are becoming essential CEO traits. Bob explains why today’s leaders must rethink their approach to disruption, risk, and innovation – or risk being left behind.

If you enjoy this episode, please subscribe and leave us a review on your favorite podcast platform. Sign up for our newsletter at techsurgepodcast.com for exclusive insights and information about upcoming TechSurge Live Summits.

Links:

Check out our video episodes on YouTube

Follow Celesta Capital on LinkedIn and X

Learn more about Bob Sternfels’ leadership at McKinsey & Company

https://www.mckinsey.com/our-people/bob-sternfels

Explore McKinsey’s insights on AI and economic disruption

https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/mckinsey-digital/our-insights/the-economic-potential-of-generative-ai-the-next-productivity-frontier

Learn how climate change is affecting insurance markets

https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/risk-and-resilience/our-insights/navigating-shifting-risks-in-the-insurance-industry

Learn about India’s digital transformation through UPI and Aadhaar

https://www.npci.org.in/what-we-do/upi/product-overview

https://uidai.gov.in/

• (00:00) - Introduction to Bob Sternfeld and McKinsey's Vision

The future of wireless technology is unfolding, are you ready for what's next?

How can Intel regain market dominance? How will AI and IOT shape the next generation of wireless? What are the challenges in transitioning to 5G, NextG, and beyond? How will academia and the startup world intersect in the 21st century economy? 

We explore these questions and more in our latest episode of the TechSurge Deep Tech VC Podcast, as we sit down with Dr. Andrea Goldsmith, Dean of Princeton University’s School of Engineering and Applied Science and a pioneer in wireless communication. Dr. Goldsmith shares insights from her groundbreaking research in multi-antenna systems, the evolution of wireless networks, and the future of cellular technology. We explore her journey as a successful entrepreneur behind Quantenna and Plume WiFi, and her current leadership role as Dean working to build a vibrant engineering and startup ecosystem around Princeton. Dr. Goldsmith also shares her thoughts on the future of Intel, the strategic choices that lie ahead, and its important role within the U.S. tech economy, as well as the broader geopolitical landscape.Enjoyed this conversation? Subscribe now and leave a review to help us grow! Join our newsletter for exclusive insights and upcoming TechSurge Live Summits at techsurgepodcast.com.

Links:

Check out our video episodes on YouTube

Follow Celesta Capital on LinkedIn and X

Learn more about Dr. Goldsmith’s pioneering research at Princeton: https://ece.princeton.edu/people/andrea-goldsmith

Discover Intel's latest innovations: https://www.intel.com/

Explore how Plume WiFi is redefining smart home connectivity: https://www.plume.com/ 

See how Medtronic is shaping the future of healthcare innovation: https://www.medtronic.com/

Experience the future of autonomous mobility with Zoox: https://zoox.com/