Wantra Podcast

We are back from our hiatus with a very exciting episode! In this interview, I sat down with Palak Vani - founder and CEO of Curated Goals and author of Vlnrbl. Curated Goals is a phone coaching enterprise that helps clients that are struggling with anxiety and stress. In this episode, we talk about her origin story, the difficulties associated with innovating in such a unique industry, and how she has dealt with building and handling all aspects of her company. I hope you enjoy this one as much as I did. Follow the podcast on @wantrapodcast and visit wantrapod.com for more content. Please subscribe, share, rate, reprimand, glorify, download and listen to the show! Editing/Mixing/Engineering by: Justin Saintil | @jfsaint_ Original Music Produced by: Woodshelm | @woodshelm --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/justin-saintil/support

Who says social media is a wormhole? While scrolling through my Twitter feed (@justinsaintil), I came across a gif of two people sending rap lines to each other. I follow some innovative accounts, so on the daily I run through the gambit of seeing the new decentralized technologies, uses for the sexy magic leap, voice platforms, etc — but when I came across a way to send rap lyrics to your friends, I stopped what I was doing and immediately contacted the founders. Like all great things in this world, Rapbits (@spitrapbits) started with students freestyling in their room and has now grown into a beautiful application that allows for users to send bits of music to their friends. I video-conferenced the co-founders, Zuhayeer (@zuhayeer) and Nour (@nour_eldifrawy), to talk about how a midterm procrastination project turned into a dorm room venture, how the bay area mindset has rocked the campus of UC Berkeley, new projects, and much more on this episode of #OnTheSide! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/justin-saintil/support

What do you tell your employees when your bank account is empty and payroll is tomorrow? What do you tell MJ when you find yourself sitting next to him at his Birthday party uninvited? In the first ever recorded episode of Wantra, I sat down with investor, founder, UPenn compsci major who can't code, bucket-getter, and blogger, Vasu Kulkarni. Vasu is the managing partner and co-founder of Courtside Ventures, a Dan Gilbert backed 35 million dollar fund focused on early stage sports companies. This is a special episode. Follow the podcast on Instagram & Twitter @wantrapodcast. Please subscribe, share, rate, and support the show on Anchor.fm! Editing/Mixing/Engineering by: Justin Saintil | @jfsaint_ Original Music Produced by: Woodshelm | @woodshelm --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/justin-saintil/support

On Episode 3 of Wantra, I sat down with Vladimir Vukicevic, the founder and CEO of Meural, to talk about art, the various phases of NY tech, and the difficulties of building a hardware startup. From the 15 million dollar acquisition of his first company Rockethub to his unique view on the power of nostalgic capital, we delve right into what makes this founder tick and how his new digital canvas will not only revolutionize but more importantly democratize the art world. You won't want to miss this episode. Follow the podcast on @wantrapodcast and visit wantrapod.com for more content. Please subscribe, share, rate, reprimand, glorify, download and listen to the show! Editing/Mixing/Engineering by: Justin Saintil | @jfsaint_ Original Music Produced by: Woodshelm | @woodshelm --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/justin-saintil/support

I have a special episode for you today. For Episode 2 of Wantra I sat down with Sumeet Shah, the resident VC at Galvanize, to talk about his venture capital origin story [3:10], how successful companies build brand [17:25], confident vs. arrogant founders [25:55], competitor relationships in the sex toy industry [38:15], locating your entrepreneurial community [43:30], scooters [1:03:00} and many more topics. Whether you are a founder trying to dissect what VCs are looking for or a VC trying to break into the NY scene, this is the episode for you. Follow the podcast on @wantrapodcast and visit wantrapod.com for more content. Please subscribe, share, rate, reprimand, glorify, download and listen to the show! Editing/Mixing/Engineering by: Justin Saintil | @jfsaint_ Original Music Produced by: Woodshelm | @woodshelm --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/justin-saintil/support

The 11th employee at Lyft, Nick Greenfield, sits down with me in the inaugural episode of the Wantra Podcast to discuss his life in Silicon Valley, the differences between the west coast and east coast tech start-up scenes, and the obstacles he has faced in building his revolutionary teeth straightening orthodontics startup Candid Co — a year-old company that has already raised 15 million in funding. Follow the podcast on @wantrapodcast and visit wantrapod.com for more content. Please Subscribe, share, rate, reprimand, glorify, and listen to the show. Editing/Mixing/Engineering by: Justin Saintil | @jfsaint_ Original Music Produced by: Woodshelm | @woodshelm --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/justin-saintil/support