Making Note

Sebastian Serrano — CEO of Ripio, Latin America's largest Bitcoin exchange and wallet — returns to the show to talk with Avish about new developments in the cryptocurrency market. Who's issuing coins and who's buying? What are developers working on? What's new in the area of securitized tokens and nonfungible tokens? Will the decentralized computational model common in the crypto world ever work for Google-style, machine-learning-driven applications? Listen to find out!

Avish’s guest this week is Ramin Ettehad, co-founder and chief revenue officer at Oomnitza, a San Francisco-based startup offering an automated asset tracking platform. Ramin is a black belt in Brazilian jujitsu. And his conversation with Avish—which ranges from martial arts to nutrition to enterprise software sales— reveals that there are surprising tie-ins between jujitsu and startup life.

Avish's guest for this episode is Alec Ross, a candidate in the Democratic primary for governor of Maryland. Alec is the author of the 2016 New York Times bestseller "The Industries of the Future," a guide to industries such as robotics and AI that will shape the future economy. He wrote the book after serving for many years as Senior Advisor for Innovation to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and, before that, campaign advisor to Barack Obama. He chats with Avish about the rigors of campaigning and fundraising, the parallels between campaigns and startups, and the arguments for a deeper level of political engagement among Silicon Valley entrepreneurs.

This week Avish talks with Igor Hiller, a comedian and self-described "Internet sensation" who's using Instagram and YouTube to build his personal brand. Avish and Igor talk about family and spirituality, the challenges of social media, and the psychology of staying motivated for big creative projects. Follow Igor on Instagram at www.instagram.com/igorhiller/ and on YouTube at www.youtube.com/igorigorigor. For news about Sonia check out sonia.ai or @soniadotai.

This week Avish talks product development strategy with product designer and entrepreneur Brian Pullen, who co-founded and led the Toronto-based digital agency Playground and is now a VR designer at Google. Pullen shares insights from his work with startups about the ingredients of successful Web and software development projects.

Avish's guest this week is Dr. Lakshmi Sridharan, a cardiologist. Avish and Lakshmi discuss the discrimination faced by women who enter male-dominated medical specialties such as cardiology, and compare it to the gender bias that affects women in the technology world.

In the third episode of Making Note, Avish welcomes Navin Gupta, co-founder Peerwell. The San Francisco-based digital health company provides customized lessons that help patients prepare for surgery and recover faster. The conversation starts with Buddhism and its benefits as part of the startup founders' mentality, and goes on to cover personal health, the digital healthcare marketplace, and the risk-taking that goes into entrepreneurship.

Avish talks with Sebastian Serrano, CEO and co-founder of Ripio Credit Network, the leading Bitcoin exchange and wallet in Latin America. Born in Argentina, Sebastian is a relentless, persistent, and thoughtful entrepreneur. He shares his insights on the cryptocurrency market, managing rapid growth inside startups, and how AI could affect human evolution.

In this introductory episode of Making Note, host Avish Bhama talks with startup consultant, executive coach, teacher, and author Ellen Petry Leanse. Ellen's approach to advising innovators is grounded in neuroscience and evolutionary biology, and the conversation hits on the anxieties and fears that can keep entrepreneurs from trying risky new things, or keep them from abandoning unproductive old activities. Ellen's book "The Happiness Hack: How to Take Charge of Your Brain and Program More Happiness into Your Life" will be published in November 2017.