Podcasts about Siddhartha

Most AI failures won't come from a bad model. They'll come from bad data.Shashank Saxena spent most of his career on the buying side of enterprise technology before founding VNDLY which was acquired by Workday for $510 million. He then joined Sierra as a Managing Partner before going full time as Co-founder and CEO of Pantomath, a data operations center for enterprises that are betting their future on AI agents.We discuss why data quality is becoming one of the biggest challenges in enterprise AI. An AI agent fed bad data for 12 hours doesn't go rogue. It just makes 12 hours of wrong decisions: rejecting insurance claims, issuing credit cards, or drilling in the wrong location. As more business decisions are delegated to AI systems, companies will need far greater visibility into what is happening across their data infrastructure.Shashank also shares the decisions that led to VNDLY's acquisition, the advice he'd give founders evaluating acquisition offers today, and why a Michael Jordan analogy continues to motivate him as a second-time founder.If you're building enterprise software, selling to large companies, or trying to figure out whether experience is an asset or a liability in the AI era, this episode is for you.0:00 - Trailer01:00 - How Shashank became a second-time founder07:20 - Where Pantomath sits in the data stack10:55 - How a broken Tableau report turns mission-critical with AI12:55 - Who Pantomath sells to15:35 - Solving for a problem that doesn't exist yet19:03 - How have founder expectations changed today?20:31 - Series B companies pre- and post-AI21:26 - The Michael Jordan example23:57 - How a repeat founder chooses investors25:10 - What value Snowflake adds as a strategic investor27:05 - Data is not an open category today28:34 - The astounding Databricks outcome29:08 - The reality of the $100 million ARR number31:48 - Will non-human workers 100x in the next few years?36:00 - How to protect data in motion37:26 - How comfortable are we giving full access to agents?39:47 - Where is automation fastest today?42:09 - Why entrepreneurs tend to like uncertainty43:28 - Why Shashank chose to be a founder45:48 - A customer-driven $510M acquisition48:32 - Employees vs contractors in any organization51:22 - Building from Ohio vs the Bay Area53:14 - Learnings from selling to enterprises56:31 - How Shashank raised from Tier 1 US VCs59:19 - Heads down or network as a founder?1:02:47 - First-time vs second-time founder edge in AI1:06:22 - Hiring as a repeat founder1:08:08 - How enterprise sales has changed1:10:52 - How do you sell for a problem that isn't visible today?1:12:58 - Best piece of advice1:16:27 - The only advice for a founder considering M&A1:21:06 - Position yourself to be capable of taking risks1:24:51 - What matters to an enterprise buyer?-------------India's talent has built the world's tech—now it's time to lead it.This mission goes beyond startups. It's about shifting the center of gravity in global tech to include the brilliance rising from India.What is Neon Fund?We invest in seed and early-stage founders from India and the diaspora building world-class Enterprise AI companies. We bring capital, conviction, and a community that's done it before.Subscribe for real founder stories, investor perspectives, economist breakdowns, and a behind-the-scenes look at how we're doing it all at Neon.-------------Check us out on:Website: https://neon.fund/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theneonshoww/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/beneon/Twitter: https://x.com/TheNeonShowwConnect with Siddhartha on:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/siddharthaahluwalia/Twitter: https://x.com/siddharthaa7-------------This video is for informational purposes only. The views expressed are those of the individuals quoted and do not constitute professional advice.Send us Fan Mail

Hoy en Ya Párate...La notita Bonita con Claudia Chávez desde Guadalajara.. El Dilema de Rudy desde Monterrey… Siddhartha nos acompañó para hablar de su nueva música... Diego Cárdenas con “El Top” … “El club de los ex”... Operación dejando a la bendi… “Scrolleando”... .. y Lo que no sabías que sabías…

Vamshi Ambati has spent more than two decades in AI, through the symbolic era, statistical era, and the neural wave we're experiencing today. A CMU PhD, founder of LatentStructure and Predera (which was acquired), now an investor at Virama Ventures, he's one of the sharper voices on what's actually happening under the hood of the AI boom.We discuss a simple question: Who wins when models become cheaper and more abundant? And try to answer this by looking at how inference spend v/s compute spend is shifting, and why inference may become the biggest infrastructure opportunity of the next decade.Vamshi explains what actually goes into the cost of a token, why AI is simultaneously getting cheaper and more expensive, and why the inference market alone could reach $1.3 trillion by 2030. If you're building in AI or someone who wants a clear mental model of where this industry is headed, this conversation is for you. 00:00 - Trailer0:45 - How an AI researcher thinks after 20 years05:53 - Where enterprise AI adoption is headed08:35 - Drawing parallels between cloud and AI11:20 - If building is cheap, what's valuable?13:37 - Can computing get cheaper?16:41 - What is inference, really?22:22 - Why coding and customer support got eaten first?26:48 - Which technologies are overvalued and undervalued?29:56 - An accidental entrepreneur's journey33:15 - Why is healthcare slow to adopt technology?38:59 - Landing Walmart as a customer42:36 - Should founders build in services if product isn't visible?43:47 - Is Palantir a product company or a services company?44:15 - How to win as a forward-deployed company46:23 - What it takes to land large enterprise customers49:20 - Building sales muscles as a technical founder-------------India's talent has built the world's tech—now it's time to lead it.This mission goes beyond startups. It's about shifting the center of gravity in global tech to include the brilliance rising from India.What is Neon Fund?We invest in seed and early-stage founders from India and the diaspora building world-class Enterprise AI companies. We bring capital, conviction, and a community that's done it before.Subscribe for real founder stories, investor perspectives, economist breakdowns, and a behind-the-scenes look at how we're doing it all at Neon.-------------Check us out on:Website: https://neon.fund/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theneonshoww/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/beneon/Twitter: https://x.com/TheNeonShowwConnect with Siddhartha on:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/siddharthaahluwalia/Twitter: https://x.com/siddharthaa7-------------This video is for informational purposes only. The views expressed are those of the individuals quoted and do not constitute professional advice.Send us Fan Mail

Qué emoción poder compartirles esto

Will your software soon be a living organism with its own immune system?Animesh Koratana, founder of PlayerZero, started his software career long before he founded the company. Growing up in Atlanta, he spent his childhood inside his father's software business, watching engineers sitting through the unglamorous work of QA and keeping systems alive after launch. He saw early that writing software was only half the problem. Maintaining it was the real battle.Years later at Stanford, he witnessed the birth of GPT-2 and Codex, the very foundation of GitHub Copilot. While much of the world focused on how AI would help engineers write software faster, he became obsessed with a different question: What happens when companies are flooded with AI-generated code that no single engineer fully understands?With PlayerZero, Animesh is building toward what he calls self-healing software: systems that behave less like static machines and more like living organisms with their own immune systems.At the center of that vision are “Context Graphs” which captures the "institutional memory" of a company: the deep knowledge held by a senior engineer who has spent years understanding how complex software breaks, the failure modes it develops, and the decisions behind fixing it.If you are building software today and wondering how reliability, debugging, and ownership will work when machines write most of the code, this episode is for you.0:00 — Trailer0:45 — Building Self-Healing Code2:03 — First Exposure to LLMs Through GPT-23:45 — What Is PlayerZero?5:42 — Institutional Memory of a Senior Engineer7:10 — How Context Is Built10:06 — The Viral “Context Graph” Piece16:24 — The Outcome PlayerZero Delivers19:59 — When the Agent Tells the Human What to Do23:43 — Who Is PlayerZero Selling To?26:56 — Why Software Should Be Treated Like Biology28:54 — The PlayerZero Customer Pitch30:37 — Can Software Really Have an Immune System?35:15 — How Animesh Chose His Investors36:55 — What's Next for PlayerZero?-------------India's talent has built the world's tech—now it's time to lead it.This mission goes beyond startups. It's about shifting the center of gravity in global tech to include the brilliance rising from India.What is Neon Fund?We invest in seed and early-stage founders from India and the diaspora building world-class Enterprise AI companies. We bring capital, conviction, and a community that's done it before.Subscribe for real founder stories, investor perspectives, economist breakdowns, and a behind-the-scenes look at how we're doing it all at Neon.-------------Check us out on:Website: https://neon.fund/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theneonshoww/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/beneon/Twitter: https://x.com/TheNeonShowwConnect with Siddhartha on:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/siddharthaahluwalia/Twitter: https://x.com/siddharthaa7-------------This video is for informational purposes only. The views expressed are those of the individuals quoted and do not constitute professional advice.Send us Fan Mail

In today's podcast Paul has a conversation with Siddhartha (Sid) Jha of Arbol. Arbol provides various types of climate risk insurance alternatives and data analytics to help farmers and agribusinesses manage climate and other risks. They continue to research additional risk management products that can help farmers.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

85% of AI teams will hit a serious production failure this year. The only thing separating them from the 15% who don't? Evals.After nearly two decades of building AI systems at Microsoft, Facebook, and Dropbox, Ameya Bhatawdekar is now Field CTO at Braintrust, the AI observability platform used by Airtable, Notion, Stripe, Dropbox, Vercel, Cloudflare, Lovable, and Replit.We discuss a shift that most teams underestimate. The winners in AI are not just shipping faster. They are building systems that behave predictably, improve continuously, and earn user trust over time. As traditional monitoring breaks down in a probabilistic world, observability now requires learning how an AI system reasons, not just how it performs. This leads to a new paradigm where agents are no longer just executing tasks, but also analyzing and debugging other agents.The episode also traces the evolution of machine learning itself. From feature engineering to deep learning to transformers , each leap increased capability and reduced control. Evaluation is now where control sits.Ameya is clear on one point. Moving fast with weak evaluations feels like velocity, but it compounds into technical debt, unpredictable failures, and ultimately a loss of user trust. The teams that win are the ones that invest early in rigor, especially in understanding context, which is quickly becoming the hardest and most critical layer in AI systems.If you are a founder or engineer moving beyond the demo phase and trying to build durable, high-quality AI systems, this episode will change how you think about shipping.0:00 — Trailer00:55 — What's Braintrust?05:01 — What agents are shipping today07:54 — What evals look like in practice for Notion & Zapier09:44 — Evals vs Classic monitoring11:33 — Who is the Field CTO?16:35 — What goes wrong when agents fail18:26 — Agents analyzing other agents24:17 — Evals are existential in vibecoding25:52 — Ship fast with weak evals or slow with strong evals?25:41 — What makes enterprises trust an LLM?29:25 — Do AI startups know how good their product is?30:23 — 3 ML systems: Microsoft, Dropbox, Meta36:30 — How the 2017 transformer paper changed everything38:20 — All algorithms are predicting the next word43:40 — What LLMs will do in 1 year-------------India's talent has built the world's tech—now it's time to lead it.This mission goes beyond startups. It's about shifting the center of gravity in global tech to include the brilliance rising from India.What is Neon Fund?We invest in seed and early-stage founders from India and the diaspora building world-class Enterprise AI companies. We bring capital, conviction, and a community that's done it before.Subscribe for real founder stories, investor perspectives, economist breakdowns, and a behind-the-scenes look at how we're doing it all at Neon.-------------Check us out on:Website: https://neon.fund/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theneonshoww/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/beneon/Twitter: https://x.com/TheNeonShowwConnect with Siddhartha on:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/siddharthaahluwalia/Twitter: https://x.com/siddharthaa7-------------This video is for informational purposes only. The views expressed are those of the individuals quoted and do not constitute professional advice.Send us Fan Mail

True enlightenment isn't found in teachings or gurus. This Siddhartha book summary reveals the counterintuitive path to self-discovery.

What does it take to build a company that industry giants want to buy?Poojan Kumar built and exited two enterprise infrastructure companies, PernixData to Nutanix and Clumio to Commvault.He began his career at Oracle, where he wrote the original code for Exadata and helped scale it into a billion-dollar product line. But his real founder journey began when he left the corporate world to chase what he calls the “Discontinuity Thesis.”At PernixData, that discontinuity was the shift from hard disks to flash storage. The company scaled to $25 million in revenue before being acquired by Nutanix. At Clumio, the discontinuity was public cloud. Clumio went on to raise $186 million to build a cloud-native backup and cyber resilience platform before being acquired by Commvault, where Poojan now serves as GM of the business line.If you want to understand how enduring enterprise companies are actually built and acquired this episode is for you.0:00 - Trailer0:48 - 25 Years in Enterprise03:02 - Founders Should Look for Discontinuity04:25 - $25M ARR, $60M Funding & an Exit in 6 Years06:28 - The Thesis Behind Clumio's Acquisition07:36 - The Landscape of Data Backup09:08 - What Should Founders in Security & Data Build?11:48 - Cloud vs AI: The New Data & Storage Stack13:59 - The Unanswered Questions Enterprises Have Today16:38 - How Infra Changed Between Pernix, Clumio & Today18:31 - Scaling to $25M Before Acquisition, Twice20:43 - Why is AI Adoption Bottom-Up, Not Top-Down?21:26 - Claude vs Codex vs Copilot22:34 - When Cloud Outgrew the Backup Playbook25:41 - Are Fragmented Clouds Silent Killers?28:06 - Fundraising Takes You from Point A to Point B32:29 - Selling to Commvault vs Nutanix34:33 - What Leads to an 8-Figure Exit?36:55 - How a Technical Founder Excelled at Sales-------------India's talent has built the world's tech—now it's time to lead it.This mission goes beyond startups. It's about shifting the center of gravity in global tech to include the brilliance rising from India.What is Neon Fund?We invest in seed and early-stage founders from India and the diaspora building world-class Enterprise AI companies. We bring capital, conviction, and a community that's done it before.Subscribe for real founder stories, investor perspectives, economist breakdowns, and a behind-the-scenes look at how we're doing it all at Neon.-------------Check us out on:Website: https://neon.fund/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theneonshoww/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/beneon/Twitter: https://x.com/TheNeonShowwConnect with Siddhartha on:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/siddharthaahluwalia/Twitter: https://x.com/siddharthaa7-------------This video is for informational purposes only. The views expressed are those of the individuals quoted and do not constitute professional advice.Send us Fan Mail

In this episode, we sit with Verse Twelve of the Tao Te Ching (Stephen Mitchell translation). We explore the paradox of modern excess: how a world designed to stimulate our senses often leaves us numb, and how the "Master" navigates this noise without withdrawing from it.Colors blind the eye.Sounds deafen the ear.Flavors numb the taste.Thoughts weaken the mind.Desires wither the heart.The Master observes the worldbut trusts his inner vision.He allows things to come and go.His heart is open as the sky.The Irony of Excess: Lao Tzu isn't arguing against beauty or sensory experience; he is diagnosing overexposure. When we drown our senses in constant "signal," we lose the ability to actually perceive the world.Mental Static vs. Thinking: We often mistake a "chronic mental overcrowding" for productive thought. True thinking is a precision instrument, but it becomes dull when forced to process an endless churn of reactions and anxieties.The Wanting Machine: Constant appetite and the accumulation of desires don't expand the heart—they wither it, making our internal world smaller and more reactive.The Master's Orientation: Living "in the world but not of it." The goal isn't to hide in a cave, but to keep one ear tuned to something quieter while allowing the stream of life to move through us without grasping at it."We've taken the most ancient of human senses and drowned it in signal.""Silence stopped feeling like quiet and started feeling like deprivation.""The mind... starts mistaking noise for signal.""His heart is open—not like a wound, but like space."What would it feel like to be genuinely nourished by less?Consider being more selective this week. Instead of a dozen half-attended conversations or a hundred scrolled images, try to find one thing—a meal, a walk, a single page of a book—and give it your full, un-fragmented presence.Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse (for further reflection on the journey toward inner vision)The Way of Zen by Alan WattsBill Evans - Alone (for a musical companion to quiet reflection)Thank you for listening to The Coffee Buzz. Find a chair, pour another cup, and we'll see you next time.

El salto de fe cambia tu mirada. Independientemente del resultado, el salto de fe deja una marca. Es una marca secreta, solo reconocible por quienes pagaron el precio. Luis Alberto lleva esa marca. Recuenco lleva esa marca. Yo llevo esa marca. No sabría explicarte qué es pero puedo reconocer por la calle a los que dieron el paso. Algo cambia en esos ojos, que ya no vuelven a sentir el miedo paralizante. Este podcast tiene muchas similitudes con los dos episodios de Recuenco porque Luis Alberto también se la ha jugado, pagando el precio personal más alto. Las barreras de entrada, en las empresas y en las carreras profesionales, se esconden en las rutas inesperadas. Tomar tus propias decisiones, cometer tus propios errores, es lo que te dará una ventaja. Solo tú puedes emprender ese camino y así construyes el propósito deseado. Es esta una idea que no puede comprender el que nunca tuvo intención de saltar. En el momento de máxima presión, cuando todos te susurran al oído que no lo hagas, tú decides dar el paso. Esa es la decisión más difícil. Esa es la decisión que todo lo cambia.Aquí tienes algunos links para conocer el fantástico proyecto educativo de Value School:La formación de Value School.Los libros de Value School.El podcast de Value School.Mi conferencia en Value School.Kapital es posible gracias a sus colaboradores:⁠⁠El Proyecto K⁠⁠. Despide a tu asesor financiero.⁠La propuesta de El Proyecto K es que puedes llevarte tú mismo tu propia cartera. No es difícil, si te cuentan antes cómo hacerlo. Tu dinero estará protegido de la inflación siempre que sigas una estrategia. Pablo y yo damos las explicaciones y ofrecemos el acompañamiento, pero eres tú quien al final del día tiene que mandar la orden de compra. La teoría es para todos fácil de entender, es la ejecución lo que genera los problemas. Abrimos nuevas plazas para las ediciones de junio. Las fechas son el 9, 11, 16 y 18, en horario de 18.30 a 21.00. Todas las sesiones quedan grabadas. El precio es de 650.La Cartera K⁠. Invierte en lo que no cambia.La Cartera K es la evolución lógica de El Proyecto K. Pablo y yo abrimos el taller de inversión para que los pequeños ahorradores tomaran el control de sus finanzas. El curso ha sido todo un éxito y por eso queremos ahora ofrecer la oportunidad de invertir directamente en una cartera automatizada que siga esos principios K. Lo hacemos de la mano de la plataforma de inversión inbestMe. Con el fin de proteger tu capital en estos tiempos inciertos, La Cartera K sigue una estrategia indexada de bajas comisiones con una diversificación sectorial, añadiendo oro y renta fija. Si estás interesado escríbeme a joan@elproyectok.com o abre tu cuenta en inbestMe.Patrocina Kapital. Toda la información en este link.Índice:0:32 Educación financiera del matrimonio Paramés.10:39 Conocimiento práctico austríaco.14:16 Juan de Mariana en Lanzarote y Mises en Auburn.27:16 Negocios absurdos en tiempos de tipos bajos.36:45 El ahorro como reserva de potencia.44:56 Debes cortar la cuerda como hizo Bruce Wayne.1:01:43 El estigma de Caín.1:14:49 Poner tu propósito en cuarentena.1:20:42 Misfits, rebels, troublemakers.1:30:07 Las pastillas del consumismo.1:37:14 El deseo auténtico sabe esperar.1:48:45 Cuando la opcionalidad te mata.2:00:33 La claustrofóbica vida de los políticos.Apuntes:Conciencia y felicidad. Vernon Howard.Demian. Herman Hesse.Obstinación. Herman Hesse.Siddhartha. Herman Hesse.Así habló Zarathustra. Friedrich Nietzsche.The road not taken. Robert Frost.El sótano. Thomas Bernhard.El chivo expiatorio. René Girard.Walden. Henry David Thoreau.How I got rich on the other hand. Derek Sivers.Invirtiendo a largo plazo. Francisco García Paramés.26 ideas máximas y 1 idea mínima. Francisco García Paramés.Lecciones de economía. Jesús Huerta de Soto.Dinero, crédito bancario y ciclos económicos. Jesús Huerta de Soto.La acción humana. Ludwig von Mises.Lo que se ve y lo que no se ve. Frédéric Bastiat.

Ik ging in gesprek met Bernhard Raeymaekers. Ondernemer, die dat eigenlijk nooit van plan was. Maar die na het verlies van een heel goede vriend, na de wereld rond te reizen (als rechterhand van een president) en na 3 jaar te leven in een monninkenklooster, richtte hij Stitsj en Siddhartha op.Hij noemt zichzelf een zoeker, maar in mijn ogen helpt hij daardoor juist anderen te 'vinden'. Een heel eerlijk gesprek met een inspirator. Zet je in een veld of in het gras en geniet van deze aflevering!Wil je connecteren na deze aflevering? Stuur Bernhard of Helene een berichtje. Meer over wat we doen bij Purebizz vind je hier: ⁠website⁠⁠ of ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠

Ce texte extrait de « Vie et Enseignements du Bouddha », évoque la mort physique du Bouddha et les derniers enseignements qu'il a transmis à ses disciples avant son entrée en paranirvana.Article de la revue Acropolis d'avril 2026, par Laura Winckler, philosophe, co-fondatrice de Nouvelle Acropole en France. Lecture par Noëlle Vannini.Abonnez-vous gratuitement à notre newsletter philosophique :www.revue-acropolis.comSaviez-vous que Nouvelle Acropole est réalisée à 100% par des bénévoles ? Nous dépendons donc beaucoup de nos étudiants et amis pour la divulgation !   N'oubliez pas de vous abonner à la chaîne et si possible de la partager sur vos réseaux sociaux.   Ce sera d'une grande aide !

Ep 237 One World in a New World with Nigel HughesThere's a quiet truth most of us overlook…The clarity we seek isn't out there—it's already within us.In this deeply reflective episode of One World in a New World, Zen Benefiel welcomes Nigel Hughes, CEO of Outstanding Global and founder of Greenlight Trust, for a profound exploration of awareness, nature, leadership, and the power of stillness.From a life-changing moment reading Siddhartha after losing everything while traveling, to guiding global leaders toward authenticity and courage, Nigel shares a journey rooted in one simple truth:We are not separate from nature—we are nature.Together, Zen and Nigel explore what it means to:Pause in a world addicted to speedLead from presence instead of pressureReconnect with nature as a pathway to healingListen deeply—to yourself and othersTransform through breath, awareness, and stillnessAt the heart of it all is a simple practice:Breathe.Because sometimes, the most powerful thing we can do…is nothing at all.

Have we got what it takes to wake up? Sanghagita follows Siddhartha Gautama's extraordinary quest to its turning point. In him we meet a seeker who turns down power, prestige and leadership, turning his back on the received wisdom of harsh asceticism, choosing instead something far more radical: to meditate alone in the comfortable shade of a beautiful tree. Here he meets Māra: tempter, accuser, embodiment of fear, desire, and doubt, unleashing everything he has to prevent Siddhartha's awakening. This talk was given at Sheffield Buddhist Centre, 2026. *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: https://freebuddhistaudio.com/donate Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dharmabytes-from-free-buddhist-audio/id416832097 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UHPDj01UH6ptj8FObwBfB

Healthcare has never moved this fast.Pharma giants are no longer just buying software. They are writing $50 million checks for access to a single foundational model. Systems of record are being replaced, and the shift is unfolding fastest in a place most people did not expect: healthcare.Vignesh Kumar, Partner at Sierra Ventures, has spent 13 years at the center of this enterprise shift. He has sourced and invested early in companies across Enterprise AI, including two unicorns, Phenom and Reify Health, with Reify reaching around a $4B valuation and Phenom crossing $1B.Over 40 years, Sierra has backed 300+ startups, resulting in 11 IPOs, 7 unicorns, and 104 acquisitions, and manages over $2.4B in assets. Today, the firm is a focused early-stage enterprise AI investor, writing first institutional checks while staying disciplined on fund size, growing from $150M to $270M.This episode is on how the next generation of companies in Enterprise AI will be found, funded and scaled. If you are building in AI or exploring healthcare, this will help you see the shift earlier and act on it with more clarity.0:00 – Trailer1:04 – Where Sierra Ventures invests?3:33 – How to keep fund size aligned with stage5:19 – Sierra's historical DPI5:52 – Deals that drove big returns8:25 – Sierra's exits9:53 – The formula for high returns11:47 – The perfect US–India founder example13:07 – What outcomes VCs expects from startups14:34 – How the partner consensus works15:56 – Why Sierra invested in Smallest AI17:28 – From first meeting to term sheet17:57 – Healthcare has never moved this fast23:20 – Where Vignesh invests24:39 – Only one foundational model bet25:28 – Is SaaS dead?27:44 – How PMF changes in the AI era30:16 – How a VC calculates market risk31:19 – What kept Vignesh at Sierra for 13 years33:17 – How to bet on futuristic startups34:58 – The anti-portfolio35:50 – First-time vs second-time founders36:43 – Why great storytellers attract best talent-------------India's talent has built the world's tech—now it's time to lead it.This mission goes beyond startups. It's about shifting the center of gravity in global tech to include the brilliance rising from India.What is Neon Fund?We invest in seed and early-stage founders from India and the diaspora building world-class Enterprise AI companies. We bring capital, conviction, and a community that's done it before.Subscribe for real founder stories, investor perspectives, economist breakdowns, and a behind-the-scenes look at how we're doing it all at Neon.-------------Check us out on:Website: https://neon.fund/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theneonshoww/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/beneon/Twitter: https://x.com/TheNeonShowwConnect with Siddhartha on:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/siddharthaahluwalia/Twitter: https://x.com/siddharthaa7-------------This video is for informational purposes only. The views expressed are those of the individuals quoted and do not constitute professional advice.Send us Fan Mail

Are recessions actually the best time to start your company? Aneesh Reddy, the founder of Capillary Technologies, believes that economic downturns are the ultimate filter for identifying products that have a "right to exist”,which is only earned when a product solves a deep, non-negotiable pain point for the customer. This idea has shaped Capillary's journey that led to a 4500 Crore IPO, 250 million consumers and 100,000+ stores worldwide.We explore the internal culture at Capillary that has not only retained 20% of its core team for over a decade but has also served as a launchpad for 50+ startups. Aneesh offers a contrarian view on leadership that founders should micromanage their teams for the first six months to instill the right DNA before scaling. We also discuss expansion into the US market, detailing the "Risk vs Reference" framework that defines how sales strategies must pivot when moving between continents. He shares what went wrong in Capillary's early attempt to enter the US, the lessons from that experience, and what eventually helped them succeed in the market the second time around, leading to the US now contributing over 50% of their revenue.If you are a founder building in SaaS or looking to scale from India to the world, this episode with Aneesh Reddy is for you.00:00 – Trailer01:50 – What to build that has not been commoditized05:20 – Customer-facing or fast-changing products will survive09:08 – How Capillary hit early PMF13:54 – Risk vs Reference in the US & Asia18:10 – How Capillary won the US market (after failing first)24:56 – Outbound & partnerships that work better in the US30:30 – Right to exist differs in startups vs large companies35:34 – Micromanage in startups for the first 6 months40:47 – How Vipassana changed the founder49:57 – How 1/5th of the team stayed for 10+ years55:29 – The culture that created 50+ startups58:24 – The right metrics to go IPO in India01:01:53 – The choice to build a product company01:05:24 – Pioneering acquisitions of US startups01:09:18 – Why not build a roll-up to get $200 million ARR?01:10:43- 5 major decisions behind Capillary's journey01:14:46 – Why are top SaaS stocks down?-------------India's talent has built the world's tech—now it's time to lead it.This mission goes beyond startups. It's about shifting the center of gravity in global tech to include the brilliance rising from India.What is Neon Fund?We invest in seed and early-stage founders from India and the diaspora building world-class Enterprise AI companies. We bring capital, conviction, and a community that's done it before.Subscribe for real founder stories, investor perspectives, economist breakdowns, and a behind-the-scenes look at how we're doing it all at Neon.-------------Check us out on:Website: https://neon.fund/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theneonshoww/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/beneon/Twitter: https://x.com/TheNeonShowwConnect with Siddhartha on:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/siddharthaahluwalia/Twitter: https://x.com/siddharthaa7-------------This video is for informational purposes only. The views expressed are those of the individuals quoted and do not constitute professional advice.Send us Fan Mail

La vieillesse, la maladie et la mort font partie de la vie. C'est ce qu'a découvert Siddhartha Gautama, le Bouddha, ce qui l'a conduit à un éveil initiatique. N'est-ce pas le même chemin de conscience que nous pouvons découvrir à travers ces trois affections ?Article de la revue Acropolis d'Avril 2026, de Carlos ADELANTADO, philosophe, Président de l'Organisation Internationale Nouvelle Acropole, lecture par Diane Bosc.Abonnez-vous gratuitement à notre newsletter philosophique :www.revue-acropolis.comSaviez-vous que Nouvelle Acropole est réalisée à 100% par des bénévoles ? Nous dépendons donc beaucoup de nos étudiants et amis pour la divulgation !   N'oubliez pas de vous abonner à la chaîne et si possible de la partager sur vos réseaux sociaux.   Ce sera d'une grande aide !

If you want to support our podcast please visit this link. Thank you! Welcome to a new episode of The Way Out Is In: The Zen Art of Living, a podcast series mirroring Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh's deep teachings of Buddhist philosophy: a simple yet profound methodology for dealing with our suffering, and for creating more happiness and joy in our lives. The third in a series of six episodes recorded during the In the Footsteps of the Buddha pilgrimage, this instalment was made in Rajgir, India, in February 2026. In it, Zen Buddhist monk Brother Phap Huu and leadership coach Jo Confino are again joined by Dharma teacher Shantum Seth to discuss the foundational initial teachings of the Buddha: the Four Noble Truths, the Noble Eightfold Path, Non-Self, and the Fire Sermon. Together, they also share personal experiences of encountering the Buddha’s teachings, practicing Thich Nhat Hanh's wisdom in daily life, highlighting the transformative power of mindfulness, community, the realization of non-self, and more. About the pilgrimage: In 1988, Shantum Seth was invited by Thich Nhat Hanh (Thay) to organize a pilgrimage to the sacred sites associated with the Buddha's life across India. Subsequently, Thay encouraged Shantum to continue guiding such journeys each year, offering pilgrimage itself as a mindfulness practice—one that the Buddha had suggested. Shantum has been leading these transformative journeys ever since, offering people from around the world the opportunity to follow In the Footsteps of the Buddha with awareness and insight. After 15 years at the United Nations, Shantum left to volunteer with the Ahimsa Trust, which represents Thay's work in India and promotes the practice of “peace in oneself and peace in the world”. Through Buddhapath, his expression of Right Livelihood, Shantum continues to guide pilgrimages and share the wisdom and culture of the places he visits in India and across Buddhist Asia, cultivating community through these deeply meaningful journeys.To learn more about upcoming pilgrimages, visit www.buddhapath.com, or follow Shantum on Facebook and Instagram at @eleven_directions. Shantum Seth, an ordained Dharmacharya (Dharma teacher) in the Buddhist Mindfulness lineage of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, teaches in India and across the world. A co-founder of Ahimsa Trust, he has been a student of Thich Nhat Hanh's teachings for the past 35 years, and, since 1988, has led pilgrimages and other multi-faith, educational, cultural, spiritual, and transformative journeys across diverse regions of India and Asia. He is actively involved in educational, social, and ecological programmes, including work on cultivating mindfulness in society, including with educators, the Indian Central Reserve Police Force, and the corporate sector. Across various Indian sanghas, Dharmacharya Shantum is the primary teacher of different practices of mindfulness from Thich Nhat Hanh's tradition. Co-produced by the Plum Village App:https://plumvillage.app/ And Global Optimism:https://globaloptimism.com/With support from the Thich Nhat Hanh Foundation:https://thichnhathanhfoundation.org/ Recordist: Ann Nguyenhttps://ann.earthSound editor: Joe Holtawayhttps://joeholtaway.comPublisher: Anca RusuProducer: Clay Carnillhttps://claycarnill.comExecutive Producer: Catalin Zorzini List of resources The Way Out Is In: ‘In the Footsteps of the Buddha (2/6) | Enlightenment under the Bodhi Tree (Episode #103)'https://plumvillage.org/podcast/in-the-footsteps-of-the-buddha-2-6-enlightenment-under-the-bodhi-tree-episode-103 The Way Out Is In: ‘In the Footsteps of the Buddha (1/6) | The Buddha: Down to Earth (Episode #102)'https://plumvillage.org/podcast/in-the-footsteps-of-the-buddha-1-6-the-buddha-down-to-earth-episode-102Interbeinghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interbeing Plum Village Traditionhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plum_Village_Tradition Old Path White Cloudshttps://www.parallax.org/product/old-path-white-clouds Sister Chan Khonghttps://plumvillage.org/about/sister-chan-khong Rajgirhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rajgir Bodhi treehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodhi_tree Sujatahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sujata_(milkmaid) Magadhahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magadha Poem: ‘Please Call Me By My True Names'https://www.parallax.org/mindfulnessbell/article/poem-please-call-me-by-my-true-names Dharma Talks: ‘Redefining the Four Noble Truths'https://plumvillage.org/library/dharma-talks/redefining-the-four-noble-truths Vinayahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vinaya Dharma Talks: ‘The Noble Eightfold Path'https://plumvillage.org/library/dharma-talks/the-noble-eightfold-path Duhkhahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Du%E1%B8%A5kha Dignagahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dign%C4%81ga The Anattalakkhaṇa Sutta https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anattalakkha%E1%B9%87a_Sutta The Way Out Is In: ‘The Three Jewels (Episode #89)'https://plumvillage.org/podcast/the-three-jewels-episode-89 Kosala Kingdomhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosala_kingdom Kashyapahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kashyapa Kalachakrahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalachakra Joan Halifaxhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_Halifax Quotes “Suffering is all around us. Hell is in the here and now. We have to collectively have the determination, as the Buddha did, not to deprive ourselves from food, from nutriment, but to understand the sources of our suffering – as well as the sources of the path of liberation.” “The teaching of the Four Noble Truths is the understanding of suffering. We all have suffering. This is the shared experience of us all. We are all equal because we all suffer. In spite of status, class – whatever labels humanity may have for one another – suffering is a truth that none of us can ignore or can escape.” “We only have so much time on this planet. But there’s so much we can direct our attention towards. What are the seeds we are watering every day? The diligence of watering our consciousness and the seeds that become the action.” “We have to see the Buddha a little bit like a doctor. We have to see suffering as a disease, a universal disease. You might think it’s very obvious that we all suffer, that we all get angry, that we are all separated from the ones we love, that we have sickness and old age. But it wasn’t a universal idea. Some people said, ‘This life is bliss.' So when we start with the primacy of suffering, that in itself is a revolutionary moment.” “As somebody who really is imbued with the Buddha’s teachings, I feel that all human beings experience suffering. And that in itself is revolutionary, saying, ‘This is where it starts.' Because a lot of it is about escaping from the present, escaping from this world. Most teachings are around something which will come hereafter – but the Buddha is saying, ‘Come back to now; feel, understand your mind, see that your mind is creating your reality.'” “Thich Nhat Hanh always emphasized that people talk about Buddhism being about suffering. But he said, ‘No, it’s the third noble truth. It is about the releasing of suffering and the transforming of suffering into joy and happiness. That’s very important; don’t get stuck in the suffering. That’s why the first noble truth is a noble truth, because you use the suffering as a compost for happiness.” “Siddhartha touched the reality that life and death are just a game of hide and seek. They are just labels.” “Acceptance, and being with all the conditions in the present moment, is a superpower. You cannot escape the present moments – except by being in your suffering and your wishful thinking. But once you arrive in the here and now, and you embrace these realities, you are free.” “This is because that is. This is not because that is not.” “‘Thay, what happens when I die?' Thay said, ‘I haven’t died yet, I don’t know. But what I can tell you is what happens when we are very much alive.' Let’s come back to that present moment, to that insight.” “Thay spoke so eloquently of the second teaching, the Anattalakkhaṇa Sutta; the sutra on non-self. Under the tree, the Buddha looked at the Bodhi leaf and said, ‘Ah, in that leaf is the sunshine, the earth, the rain, the seed, everything. And if you take one of those elements out of that leaf, the leaf won’t exist as we know it now.' And that was his deep realization.” “One Buddha is not enough.” “The Buddha is the sangha.” “I’d been a political activist looking for a way of being peace, not fighting for peace. I had a lot of anger in me and I really felt I touched peace for the first time in that walking meditation – as a visceral experience, not as an idea, not as the concept of wanting peace, but as something that I could embody.”

From employee #16 to $1B ARR at Nutanix, then scaling ThoughtSpot to $150M ARR and a $4B+ valuation now building for a world where agents will drive the internet.Sudheesh Nair joins the Neon Show.The internet as we see it today was optimized around human strengths and weaknesses, using algorithms to monetize our greed and fear. But as agents take up more of the internet, that playbook starts to break. We are moving from a web of discovery to an outcome-driven internet, where agents care only about the destination, not the journey.As an operator who has scaled companies, Sudheesh believes sales is a noble profession where there is no middle ground. You are either a hero or a zero. Sales is not a function at the edge of the company, it is the primary job of every employee in a company. When that happens, teams stop acting like mercenaries chasing targets and start behaving like missionaries focused on customer outcomes.Beyond agents, we also discuss building companies and whether there are right or wrong reasons to start. Sudheesh's view is simple. There are no right or wrong reasons, but you have to be brutally honest with yourself about why you are doing it.This episode is one hour of clear thinking on agents, sales, and the realities of company building.00:00 – Trailer01:49 – What % of the internet is agents today?10:25 – How far are we from trillions of agents?12:47 – Why isn't the internet ready for agents?18:31 – Consumer is a tough game19:49 – Selling to enterprises = high value / low risk22:14 – A noble profession with only heroes or zeroes24:41 – Only 3 reasons why people buy anything26:14 – How we got Fortune 500 customers in just 18 months27:28 – The wrong reasons to start a company31:05 – Cursor vs Claude vs Codex34:30 – Do investors prefer failed founders over first-time founders?35:06 – 3 reasons why an enterprise will sign your startup39:52 – PMF has to be proven every day41:21 – What's the play b/w OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic?45:12 – Drivers vs passengers in companies47:17 – The muscles you build as an operator50:45 – Hire one person when you actually need four51:41 – Why is marketing the most in-demand skill?53:50 – Nutanix: from 0 to $1B ARR in 26 quarters54:55 – The hardest choice Nutanix made59:25 – Talent is universal. Opportunities are not01:04:08 – Selling is everyone's job01:05:58 – Passion comes from value creation-------------India's talent has built the world's tech—now it's time to lead it.This mission goes beyond startups. It's about shifting the center of gravity in global tech to include the brilliance rising from India.What is Neon Fund?We invest in seed and early-stage founders from India and the diaspora building world-class Enterprise AI companies. We bring capital, conviction, and a community that's done it before.Subscribe for real founder stories, investor perspectives, economist breakdowns, and a behind-the-scenes look at how we're doing it all at Neon.-------------Check us out on:Website: https://neon.fund/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theneonshoww/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/beneon/Twitter: https://x.com/TheNeonShowwConnect with Siddhartha on:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/siddharthaahluwalia/Twitter: https://x.com/siddharthaa7-------------This video is for informational purposes only. The views expressed are those of the individuals quoted and do not constitute professional advice.Send us Fan Mail

Can AI Rebuild the $1 Trillion Construction Industry?Construction is one of the largest industries in the world, yet most projects still run on Excel sheets, fragmented tools, and disconnected workflows.Sneha Kumari (Co-founder, Merlin) and Graham Blake (CPO, Merlin) break down why construction has remained one of the least digitized industries and why that is finally starting to change.We explore why traditional ERP systems like NetSuite or Dynamics fail construction companies, how Merlin is rethinking enterprise software for builders, and why AI may finally make it possible to coordinate the massive complexity behind modern construction projects.Sneha also shares her journey from industry operator to first-time founder, how Merlin found early product-market fit, the power of word-of-mouth growth in construction, and what it takes to build a vertical SaaS company in a “non-sexy” but trillion-dollar industry.If you're curious about how AI can transform deep, complex industries this conversation is for you.00:00 – Trailer00:40 – Merlin x Neon 02:07 – Software for construction04:37 – What convinced Graham to join06:25 – Founder insights that discovered the pain points08:43 – The team behind Merlin10:15 – Challenges of building tech in construction11:51 – Biggest pain points for Merlin's customers17:16 – Does ERP need a revolution?17:55 – Merlin's end-to-end ERP approach20:39 – Why customers aren't happy with existing solutions24:36 – Why an AI-native approach makes sense28:23 – What % of construction budget goes to tech30:37 – How Y Combinator changed a first-time founder31:50 – The role Neon played in Merlin33:34 – Current players that excite the founders36:43 – What it takes for Merlin to reach $10M ARR39:57 – How to build with zero sales constraints43:06 – Why become a founder?45:56 – Build only for an industry you truly understand47:41 – Why construction over manufacturing48:38 – When customer called previous software a “black box”-------------India's talent has built the world's tech—now it's time to lead it.This mission goes beyond startups. It's about shifting the center of gravity in global tech to include the brilliance rising from India.What is Neon Fund?We invest in seed and early-stage founders from India and the diaspora building world-class Enterprise AI companies. We bring capital, conviction, and a community that's done it before.Subscribe for real founder stories, investor perspectives, economist breakdowns, and a behind-the-scenes look at how we're doing it all at Neon.-------------Check us out on:Website: https://neon.fund/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theneonshoww/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/beneon/Twitter: https://x.com/TheNeonShowwConnect with Siddhartha on:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/siddharthaahluwalia/Twitter: https://x.com/siddharthaa7-------------This video is for informational purposes only. The views expressed are those of the individuals quoted and do not constitute professional advice.Send us Fan Mail

If you want to support our podcast please visit this link. Thank you! Welcome to a new episode of The Way Out Is In: The Zen Art of Living, a podcast series mirroring Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh's deep teachings of Buddhist philosophy: a simple yet profound methodology for dealing with our suffering, and for creating more happiness and joy in our lives. The second in a series of six episodes recorded during the In the Footsteps of the Buddha pilgrimage, this instalment was made in Bodh Gaya, India, in February 2026. In it, Zen Buddhist monk Brother Phap Huu and leadership coach Jo Confino are joined again by Dharma teacher Shantum Seth to discuss the journey of the Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama, before he reached enlightenment under the Bodhi Tree in Bodh Gaya. It covers Siddhartha’s early life, the various ascetic practices he tried, his finding of the middle way between extreme asceticism and hedonism and going through various stages of meditation and insight, to becoming the awakened one, and his first teaching. Together, the three participants further reflect on the relevance of the Buddha’s journey to their own spiritual practices; the challenges of maintaining mindfulness and presence in the modern world; the importance of the sangha in the Buddhist tradition; and how the Buddha’s teachings emphasize the interconnectedness of all things. About the pilgrimage: In 1988, Shantum Seth was invited by Thich Nhat Hanh (Thay) to organize a pilgrimage to the sacred sites associated with the Buddha's life across India. Subsequently, Thay encouraged Shantum to continue guiding such journeys each year, offering pilgrimage itself as a mindfulness practice—one that the Buddha had suggested. Shantum has been leading these transformative journeys ever since, offering people from around the world the opportunity to follow In the Footsteps of the Buddha with awareness and insight. After 15 years at the United Nations, Shantum left to volunteer with the Ahimsa Trust, which represents Thay's work in India and promotes the practice of “peace in oneself and peace in the world”. Through Buddhapath, his expression of Right Livelihood, Shantum continues to guide pilgrimages and share the wisdom and culture of the places he visits in India and across Buddhist Asia, cultivating community through these deeply meaningful journeys.To learn more about upcoming pilgrimages, visit www.buddhapath.com, or follow Shantum on Facebook and Instagram at @eleven_directions. Shantum Seth, an ordained Dharmacharya (Dharma teacher) in the Buddhist Mindfulness lineage of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, teaches in India and across the world. A co-founder of Ahimsa Trust, he has been a student of Thich Nhat Hanh's teachings for the past 35 years, and, since 1988, has led pilgrimages and other multi-faith, educational, cultural, spiritual, and transformative journeys across diverse regions of India and Asia. He is actively involved in educational, social, and ecological programmes, including work on cultivating mindfulness in society, including with educators, the Indian Central Reserve Police Force, and the corporate sector. Across various Indian sanghas, Dharmacharya Shantum is the primary teacher of different practices of mindfulness from Thich Nhat Hanh's tradition. Co-produced by the Plum Village App:https://plumvillage.app/  And Global Optimism:https://globaloptimism.com/With support from the Thich Nhat Hanh Foundation:https://thichnhathanhfoundation.org/ Recording by Ann Nguyenhttps://ann.earthSound editing by Joe Holtawayhttps://joeholtaway.comPublishing by Anca RusuProduced by Clay Carnillhttps://claycarnill.comExecutive Producer: Catalin Zorzini List of resources Interbeinghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interbeing Plum Village Traditionhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plum_Village_Tradition Old Path White Cloudshttps://www.parallax.org/product/old-path-white-clouds Kaundinyahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaundinya Sister Chan Khonghttps://plumvillage.org/about/sister-chan-khong Bodhi treehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodhi_tree Bodh Gayahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodh_Gaya Sujatahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sujata_(milkmaid) Mahavirahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahavira Kumbh Melahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kumbh_Mela Maulana Azadhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maulana_Azad Dalithttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalit Dharma Talks: ‘Redefining the Four Noble Truths'https://plumvillage.org/library/dharma-talks/redefining-the-four-noble-truths Dharma Talks: ‘The Noble Eightfold Path'https://plumvillage.org/library/dharma-talks/the-noble-eightfold-path Quotes “We think we’re practicing for ourselves only, but there are invisible connections that we may not see. So your own practice, your own transformation, your decision-making can shift a whole lineage that precedes you. Without even doing much. It’s just some decisions; it’s almost like the turning of the dharma wheel, something in our whole lineage. And it’s true for a lot of my Western monastics; they might be the first in their whole ancestral lineage to be on the path of love and understanding. So you’re not doing this for yourself only, you’re doing this for your whole lineage.” “Everyone on this pilgrimage, in this room right now, sitting, I invite you to plant that seed to see that this journey is not yours alone. There’s a deep interbeing and it’s a weaving of past, present, and future.” “I got involved in activist politics, organizing big demonstrations, going to jail, organizing in a big way. But then I burnt out and found that I was very angry. And that anger was actually infusing my action, and I realized I was also part of the problem. So I had to find a way of being peace, not just fighting for peace.” “In the Indic civilizational system, at least in some traditions, and especially in the Brahmanical system – I don’t call it Hinduism – we have four stages of life. The first is what we call brahmacharya: the celibate life, when you’re a student. The second stage is the grahasthi, where you become a family person and have children and build up the family. And the third is vanaprastha: sort of a forest dwelling, but more like social work; your children are getting married and you get involved more in society, like a philanthropist. And the fourth stage is sannyas, where you actually leave the family, break your ties, and become, in effect, dead to the family and take the path of a monastic. So the Buddha is saying, ‘You don’t need to wait till you’re an older person. Start now. Don’t waste your life. The path of awakening can be walked when you’re young, too.'” “Having children is courageous; you’re taking on responsibility for future generations, and that's not easy. I feel that’s why we need a sangha of parents, friends. They say it takes a village, but it takes the global humanity, eight billion people, to create a civilizational shift. And that’s what we’re trying to do, to make the world a better place.” “Courage is a moment-to-moment act. It’s not just a moment; it’s each day we get up and say, ‘Okay, it’s a blessing we have this life for these 24 hours. Can I, in some way, make it better? Can I not make it worse? Can I enhance the life of people around me and keep being mindful?' The word ‘Buddha' just means to be awake. So how can we really be awake? We can be awake by being mindful: being attentive, breathing in, breathing out. That’s a moment of awakening, to be present. The Buddha became a full-time Buddha, but we can do it moment-to-moment, as little, part-time Buddhas. I think all of us can touch it – and that requires courage, too, to be diligent in our practice; it’s very easy to get distracted so we need to watch our mental state of irritation, anger, jealousy, whatever comes up. I have eyes to see – wow, that’s a miracle. That’s, again, a type of awakening. So I think this path is the path of courage.” “You can share the same bed with someone, but if you don’t share an aspiration, it can cause immense suffering.” “The problem with the middle path is that it’s not a single line. It is an appropriate response to a particular situation. The middle part requires attentiveness, mindfulness, moment-to-moment. You might think drinking water is an appropriate action, but if you’ve had a stomach operation, drinking water might kill you. So something simple like that has to be appropriately done; the middle way is appropriate to time and place.” “We can’t start off on the middle path. We have to understand our suffering deeply in order to know the middle path, to know the two extremes in order to find that path.” “That’s why retreats are so important: we step away from the world to realize what our deepest aspiration is. And then we can go back with a new set of eyes.”

What if the biggest mistake you can make as a founder is signing Apple as your first customer?Manish Jindal spent 10 years at Cloudflare as employee #45, helping take the company from $10 million revenue to a $60 billion public company. Manish breaks down the Cloudflare playbook: why they intentionally said “no” to Fortune 500 companies early on to protect their product, and how a single phone call from a CIO birthed their entire enterprise motion.Throughout his career, Manish has joined companies that already showed early product–market fit in large markets, allowing him to spend a decade helping scale them. Now as the President at Arize, he is building the “plumbing” that allows giants like Walmart and Uber to move from building AI agents to real-world production.We discuss why “boring” infrastructure is a more durable bet than flashy AI apps, and why owning the data remains the ultimate competitive edge. Manish also shares insights on building Go-To-Market (GTM) teams in the Cloudflare era and how that strategy has shifted in the AI era.If you are a founder or leader trying to scale a startup, this episode with Manish Jindal is for you.00:00 – Trailer01:00 – How Manish chose companies with early PMF03:45 – Founder's belief is most important04:35 – Entering dev tooling when it wasn't popular08:20 – Never leave a Co. you believe in for wrong reasons09:45 – The “boring” industries that do well in Long run12:40 – It's easy to build an agent, but hard to scale one15:06 – Why infra won't be winner-take-all18:02 – The keepers of data will win20:20 – From million to billion in Cloudflare's journey21:32 – The “holy sh*t” moment happens fast for Cloudflare24:30 – The CIO call that led to Cloudflare's enterprise plan27:04 – $50M and $100M ARR path of Cloudflare28:33 – Build enterprise motion slowly or aggressively?29:51 – Why Cloudflare didn't want Apple as customer32:10 – Early PMF at Splunk, Cloudflare, and Arize35:40 – Choosing only decade-long stints39:01 – Why Manish didn't start his own company43:37 – How GTM has changed in the AI world54:25 – What agents need to work well in production01:00:51 – Which enterprise use cases qualify for AI?01:03:52 – What went wrong with Air Canada Agent?01:04:52 – How customers are discovered01:09:01 – Claude & Cursor are the most powerful agents today01:10:55 – How Manish chooses companies to invest in01:15:15 – Why acquisitions will become the Norm01:18:35 – Technology is not a moat anymore-------------India's talent has built the world's tech—now it's time to lead it.This mission goes beyond startups. It's about shifting the center of gravity in global tech to include the brilliance rising from India.What is Neon Fund?We invest in seed and early-stage founders from India and the diaspora building world-class Enterprise AI companies. We bring capital, conviction, and a community that's done it before.Subscribe for real founder stories, investor perspectives, economist breakdowns, and a behind-the-scenes look at how we're doing it all at Neon.-------------Check us out on:Website: https://neon.fund/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theneonshoww/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/beneon/Twitter: https://x.com/TheNeonShowwConnect with Siddhartha on:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/siddharthaahluwalia/Twitter: https://x.com/siddharthaa7-------------This video is for informational purposes only. The views expressed are those of the individuals quoted and do not constitute professional advice.Send us Fan Mail

What does it look like to run the same playbook across five venture funds?That is the bet Ashmeet Sidana has made at Engineering Capital. From Fund One to Fund Five, he has written the first check into founders solving problems with Technical insight.His portfolio includes Rubrik, now a public company, SignalFx which was acquired by Splunk for $1 billion, and CodeRabbit, last valued at $550 million. Ashmeet runs Engineering Capital as a solo GP and the fund has been oversubscribed since Fund One.Ashmeet says that the most common way technical founders fail is by “playing house.” Founders who build beautifully organized systems and clean processes, but don't obsessively seek product market fit. His view is that founders should ruthlessly prioritize finding PMF above everything else.Ashmeet is an investor who has seen enough cycles to know what actually compounds, and is still early-stage enough to care about the details that most people have moved past.00:00 – Trailer01:15 – Where does Engineering Capital place its bets?10:07 – How the VC landscape has evolved11:20 – Are technical founders the norm in AI?16:23 – Why the name Engineering Capital?16:50 – What every VC looks for in a founder21:34 – Why Founders Choose Your Term Sheet26:26 – Rule of 1-2 in-person meetings daily with founders31:42 – Does AI give younger founders an edge?32:59 – Founders must ruthlessly prioritize35:58 – The trap of “playing house”37:40 – PMF can change overnight, Ex: Facebook40:13 – 1 in 10 companies fail due to lack of PMF43:17 – The most valuable skill a founder can have44:19 – Why have a Chief Engineer at a VC firm?45:44 – The job of every CEO is to learn46:09 – Solo founders are much riskier48:15 – An accidental entry into VC49:52 – Solo GP: risks and rewards53:34 – $250M across funds54:43 – Why solo GPs work better in the US58:25 – Where Ashmeet's portfolio companies are located01:00:57 – Be very careful of vanity metrics01:02:15 – Vibe coding will change the face of software01:03:36 – Don't chase trends in how companies are built01:05:58 – $100M ARR is the outcome of a strong package01:06:35 – How affordable is Bay Area for young founders?01:11:32 – AlexNet, not ChatGPT, was the real AI inflection point01:12:57 – US Public Companies Are Down 50% in 40 years-------------India's talent has built the world's tech—now it's time to lead it.This mission goes beyond startups. It's about shifting the center of gravity in global tech to include the brilliance rising from India.What is Neon Fund?We invest in seed and early-stage founders from India and the diaspora building world-class Enterprise AI companies. We bring capital, conviction, and a community that's done it before.Subscribe for real founder stories, investor perspectives, economist breakdowns, and a behind-the-scenes look at how we're doing it all at Neon.-------------Check us out on:Website: https://neon.fund/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theneonshoww/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/beneon/Twitter: https://x.com/TheNeonShowwConnect with Siddhartha on:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/siddharthaahluwalia/Twitter: https://x.com/siddharthaa7-------------This video is for informational purposes only. The views expressed are those of the individuals quoted and do not constitute professional advice.Send us Fan Mail

Send us Fan MailSend a textEpisode Focus: Exploring the Parallels Between Jesus and the Buddha Theme: Spiritual awakening, the heart and mind connection, and the essence of compassionEpisode OverviewIn this enlightening episode of Evolving Humans, host Julia Marie invites listeners to delve into the intriguing question: Are Jesus the Christ and the Buddha conveying the same universal truths despite their diverse backgrounds and teachings? This episode offers a comparative exploration of two of history's most profound spiritual figures, highlighting their unique messages while uncovering the common threads that connect them.Julia begins by examining the contrasting lives of Jesus and the Buddha—one born into poverty and the other into wealth, yet both embarking on a journey of profound spiritual discovery. She reflects on Siddhartha's quest for understanding suffering and the path to enlightenment, juxtaposing it with Jesus' teachings of love, compassion, and the Kingdom of God. Throughout the discussion, Julia emphasizes the essence of Christ consciousness and Buddha nature, illustrating how both concepts point towards a deeper understanding of our human experience.Listeners will be encouraged to consider how these two philosophies converge and diverge, particularly in their approaches to compassion, ego, and the nature of reality. Julia provides a reflective exercise to help individuals identify their own tendencies toward heart-centered or mind-centered practices, fostering a greater awareness of their spiritual journey.Key Themes & Highlights✨ Contrasting Lives, Common MessagesExploring the unique backgrounds of Jesus and the BuddhaIdentifying shared themes of compassion and awakening✨ Heart vs. Mind: Different Paths to AwakeningUnderstanding Christ consciousness as a heart-centered approachExploring Buddha nature as a pathway to mental clarity and transcendence✨ Reflection ExerciseGuided self-reflection to identify personal tendencies toward heart or mindEncouragement to cultivate balance between emotional warmth and mental clarity✨ Weekly ExperimentPractical suggestions for integrating heart and mind practices into daily lifeEncouraging listeners to explore both approaches for a more holistic awakeningMany thanks to Pixabay's Relaxing Time for Relaxing Music Pt 1-141198 for the music bed for this episode.Support the showSupport the showThank you for listening to Evolving Humans! For consultations or classes, please visit my website: www.JuliaMarie.usEvolving Humans with Julia Marie is now on YouTube, and will offer more than the podcast episodes there, so give us a "SUBSCRIBE"!https://www.youtube.com/@EvolvingHumans731You can find my book, Signals from My Soul: A Spiritual Memoir of Awakening here: https://tinyurl.com/Book-Signals-from-My-Soul

Welcome to a new episode of The Way Out Is In: The Zen Art of Living, a podcast series mirroring Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh's deep teachings of Buddhist philosophy: a simple yet profound methodology for dealing with our suffering, and for creating more happiness and joy in our lives. The first of a series of six episodes recorded during the pilgrimage ‘In the Footsteps of the Buddha’, this instalment was made in Varanasi, India, in February 2026. In this opening episode, Zen Buddhist monk Brother Phap Huu and leadership coach Jo Confino are joined by Dharma teacher Shantum Seth to discuss the importance of understanding the Buddha as a fully human being; a boat journey on the sacred Ganges river at sunrise, from which it was possible to witness cremation and devotion; teachings on death and impermanence as daily practice; the importance of living in the present moment; and much more.The speakers also share personal experiences and reflections on their spiritual journeys, the role played by the community, and the continuation of the Buddha’s teachings through their own lives and practice.About the pilgrimage: In 1988, Shantum Seth was invited by Thich Nhat Hanh (Thay) to organize a pilgrimage to the sacred sites associated with the Buddha's life across India. Subsequently, Thay encouraged Shantum to continue guiding such journeys each year, offering pilgrimage itself as a mindfulness practice—one that the Buddha had suggested. Shantum has been leading these transformative journeys ever since, offering people from around the world the opportunity to follow In the Footsteps of the Buddha with awareness and insight. After 15 years at the United Nations, Shantum left to volunteer with the Ahimsa Trust, which represents Thay's work in India and promotes the practice of “peace in oneself and peace in the world”. Through Buddhapath, his expression of Right Livelihood, Shantum continues to guide pilgrimages and share the wisdom and culture of the places he visits in India and across Buddhist Asia, cultivating community through these deeply meaningful journeys.To learn more about upcoming pilgrimages, visit www.buddhapath.com, or follow Shantum on Facebook and Instagram at @eleven_directions. Shantum Seth, an ordained Dharmacharya (Dharma teacher) in the Buddhist Mindfulness lineage of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, teaches in India and across the world. A co-founder of Ahimsa Trust, he has been a student of Thich Nhat Hanh's teachings for the past 35 years, and, since 1988, has led pilgrimages and other multi-faith, educational, cultural, spiritual, and transformative journeys across diverse regions of India and Asia. He is actively involved in educational, social, and ecological programmes, including work on cultivating mindfulness in society, including with educators, the Indian Central Reserve Police Force, and the corporate sector. Across various Indian sanghas, Dharmacharya Shantum is the primary teacher of different practices of mindfulness from Thich Nhat Hanh's tradition. List of resources The Way Out Is In: ‘Ancient Path for Modern Times: Active Nonviolence (Episode #70)'https://plumvillage.org/podcast/ancient-path-for-modern-times-active-nonviolence-episode-70 Interbeinghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interbeing Plum Village Traditionhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plum_Village_Tradition ‘The Fourteen Mindfulness Trainings'https://plumvillage.org/mindfulness/the-14-mindfulness-trainings Sarnathhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarnath Dharadunhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dehradun_district Bodh Gayahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodh_Gaya Rajgirhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rajgir Old Path White Cloudshttps://www.parallax.org/product/old-path-white-clouds Federico Fellinihttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federico_Fellini Ghathttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghat Alara Kalama https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%80%E1%B8%B7%C4%81ra_K%C4%81l%C4%81ma Jack Kornfieldhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Kornfield Upanishadshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upanishads Sister Chan Khonghttps://plumvillage.org/about/sister-chan-khong Bodhi treehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodhi_tree Mokshahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moksha Rishi Joan Halifaxhttps://www.joanhalifax.org/ Daily Contemplations on Impermanence & Interbeinghttps://plumvillage.org/daily-contemplations-on-impermanence-interbeing#the-five-remembrances Sutras: ‘Discourse on Knowing the Better Way to Live Alone'https://plumvillage.org/library/sutras/discourse-on-knowing-the-better-way-to-live-alone Sutrashttps://plumvillage.org/genre/sutras Leila Sethhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leila_Seth On Balancehttps://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1754796.On_Balance_an_Autobiography Quotes “Every step is a miracle. Every breath is an offering.” “The transformation is both individual and collective – and not just right now; it is something which seeps into our understanding and informs our life. The real journey begins when you get home. When you see your familiar surroundings with these pilgrimage lenses, those are very, very important moments. When you see your familiar surroundings slightly differently, and you see what brings you suffering, what brings you joy, what brings a sense of ease, then you can tweak your life.” “Siddhartha always says, ‘I’m on this path not for power, not for leadership, but to find liberation within us.' And that means we have to be ready to let go of all of the ideology that we have received from our ancestors, not from just us, but from the lineage of our whole ancestors and society.” “We can be free amidst the suffering. We can still find our calm, our peace with every storm that arises, that manifests. We find a way to understand it, to embrace it even, because we see that that storm is a part of us.” “In the Mahaparinirvāṇa Sutta, the Buddha said, ‘Go to the places where I was born, died, where the first teachings were given, where I awakened.' But I think he’s saying, ‘Leave your familiar surroundings and explore, and you’ll find different seeds in your consciousness being touched, which are not touched when you go every day to work or in your familiar surroundings.' And that is the learning of yourself. It’s an interior journey on this exterior part.” “In India, your path to God is through your guru – but in the Buddha Dharma, the guru shows you the path, and you walk it. In the classic example of the Buddha pointing to the moon, he says, ‘Don’t get caught looking at my finger; look at the moon.'” “Somebody once asked Thay, ‘What happens when we die?' He said, ‘I don’t know, but I can tell you what happens when we’re alive.'” “The only ingredient that you have any control about for the future is the present. We can only act in the present. As you know, the past is gone, the future is an idea – but all these situations that arise in our lives, how do we respond appropriately? With ethics, with a sense of calm, with a sense of love, how can we respond appropriately to each situation? Because that is the ingredient for the future.” “The Buddha is saying, ‘Stay open, stay alive. This is the most precious moment. This is a gift. And when we die, we’ll have no control over it.'” “In Indian philosophy, we don't have only yes or no. We say, yes, no, neither yes or no, both yes and no. So it’s the idea that I am the same person, I’m a different person, I’m neither the same or a different person, and both the same person and the different person. That’s the Buddha Dharma’s understanding of continuity, birth and death, and in that we don’t get caught.” “Awakening is a collective awakening.” “The Buddha was teaching us how to be a human being, how to take both the joy and the happiness of being a human being, but also to understand the suffering of a human being, and then take suffering as a noble truth. But it’s a noble truth only because we can transform it – otherwise it’s just plain old suffering. Use suffering as the compost for liberation. Looking at the cause, knowing the path to overcome suffering. And that’s key in Buddha. Otherwise, death is suffering, loss is suffering. The Buddha is saying, ‘Take that and look at it deeply, transform it, and live your life today as if it’s your last moment, your first moment, your present moment, our present moment.'” “Secular in India means different from secular in the West. Secular in India means respecting all religions. It doesn’t mean non-religious. I was brought up in a household like that, where we had Hindu icons, Christian icons, Islamic icons, everything. And we would go to midnight mass or go to a mosque or go to a temple, but we were not religious. It was just respecting people like that. And we had friends from every religion.”

Over 1 Trillion AI tokens pass through Portkey every single day.Every AI product eventually runs into the same problem. The prototype works, but once it goes live the system has to manage multiple models, rising token costs, unpredictable latency, and infrastructure that was never built for AI workloads.That is the problem Rohit Agarwal is solving with Portkey, an AI gateway that sits between applications and the models, whether that's GPT-4, Claude, or Gemini.With 24,000 companies routing their AI through Portkey, Rohit sits on ground-level data on how AI is actually being used in production. Which models enterprises are betting on. Where costs are quietly climbing. How usage patterns shift as companies move from pilots to real products.When AI spend surpasses cloud spend, and Rohit believes it will, the infrastructure running underneath it becomes one of the most important bets in tech. This episode explores what it takes to run AI systems at that scale.00:00 – Trailer01:05 – 500 billion AI tokens every day04:05 – First to call an "AI gateway"07:26 – Where did the Gateway insight come from?12:08 – How Portkey is winning this space13:05 – Picking the right gambles over wrong ones14:16 – What are LLM endpoints?15:21 – AI will 100% surpass cloud spend19:00 – Hype is coming from people still in Q&A mode19:33 – AI employees over humans in customer support?23:00 – For AI startups, traffic > revenue24:43 – The bubble is in valuations, not utility26:05 – How Rohit built his personal automations28:38 – Costliest model is most used now33:21 – What's going right and wrong for AI companies37:49 – Hiring a VP of sales after $15M is possible today39:57 – What edge does Claude have over other models?43:35 – Founders need a "why me vs. why Anthropic" story52:56 – What if Anthropic or AWS builds a gateway?55:41 – Predictions for the next 12 months59:40 – How big is the opportunity in Agents?01:00:48 – Startups now have to prove it's not a weekend project01:01:54 – Is Build v/s Buy no longer a Debate?01:03:50 – What would Rohit build if starting up today?01:05:58 – How Portkey is different from an API gateway01:08:26 – MCP / tool calling enables agentic workflows01:12:00 – Portkey's Community-driven early GTM01:13:34 – Startups have only 2 reasons for Open core-------------India's talent has built the world's tech—now it's time to lead it.This mission goes beyond startups. It's about shifting the center of gravity in global tech to include the brilliance rising from India.What is Neon Fund?We invest in seed and early-stage founders from India and the diaspora building world-class Enterprise AI companies. We bring capital, conviction, and a community that's done it before.Subscribe for real founder stories, investor perspectives, economist breakdowns, and a behind-the-scenes look at how we're doing it all at Neon.-------------Check us out on:Website: https://neon.fund/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theneonshoww/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/beneon/Twitter: https://x.com/TheNeonShowwConnect with Siddhartha on:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/siddharthaahluwalia/Twitter: https://x.com/siddharthaa7-------------This video is for informational purposes only. The views expressed are those of the individuals quoted and do not constitute professional advice.Send us Fan Mail

No mere Merchant and Ivory for us: we're going much further afield with Siddhartha (1972), based on the Herman Hesse novel and directed by American Conrad Rooks, and Sammy and Rosie Get Laid (1987), directed and written by Brits Stephen Frears and Hanif Kureishi. These films have more in common than we thought, but one of them is much less irritating than the other. Either way, these are films that only Shashi Kapoor could have done, and we are so glad he gave them a try. What a career!Both films are available on Youtube! Watch Siddhartha here https://youtu.be/OrH8BMVs0LM?si=A46CxoX3xtzpYDvc and Sammy and Rosie here https://youtu.be/kRsm1jGjScs?si=AA31zKimYXpyu8eK.Subscribe to Filmi Ladies on Spotifyhttps://open.spotify.com/show/7Ib9C1X5ObvN18u9WR0TK9 or Apple Podcastshttps://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/filmi-ladies/id1642425062@filmiladies on Instagram Pitu is @pitusultan on InstagramBeth is @bethlovesbollywood on BlueskyEmail us at filmiladies at gmailSee our letterboxd for everything discussed on this podcast. https://boxd.it/qSpfyOur logo was designed by London-based artist Paula Ganoo @velcrothoughts on Instagram https://www.art2arts.co.uk/paula-vaughan

Have we got what it takes to wake up? Sanghagita invites us to follow Siddhartha Gautama's extraordinary quest to its turning point. In him, we meet a seeker who turns down power, prestige and leadership, turning his back on the received wisdom of harsh asceticism, choosing instead something far more radical: to meditate alone in the comfortable shade of a beautiful tree. Here he meets Māra: tempter, accuser, embodiment of fear, desire, and doubt, unleashing everything he has to prevent Siddhartha's awakening. How does he respond to each attack? Could we do as well? Are we ready to take our seat as he did, on the diamond throne of The Eternal Buddhas? This talk was given at Sheffield Buddhist Centre, 2026. *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: https://freebuddhistaudio.com/donate Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dharmabytes-from-free-buddhist-audio/id416832097 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UHPDj01UH6ptj8FObwBfB

What's seen as inspiring in the world are ego's triumphs. But there's another kind of inspiration we can feel when we hear about people who give themselves for others. We can also be inspired by those who exhibit essential qualities on the spiritual path. We innately feel an urge to embody qualities that feed a higher purpose. We can work to develop a “Work I” by observing ourselves and not letting lower qualities rule. This part of ourselves can arise out of conscience and be strengthened by practice. Inspirational stories are impression food that can enliven essential qualities that are in all of us. Whether any story is factually true in all of its details isn't the point. Stories are told about forgiveness, generosity, service, and the importance of working with childish parts of ourselves. There is discussion of inspiring circumstances including the request the Dalai Lama made to never to speak badly about the Chinese after the brutal takeover of Tibet; Garchen Rinpoche's training to generate loving kindness in a way that seemed impossible when he was young; the Zen master Hakuin's lack of concern for reputation; Orage's response to strong criticism by the enigmatic mystic Gurdjieff; the need for the character Siddhartha in Hesse's book to experience ordinary life in order to spiritually develop; the courage of Meher Baba's disciples to leave their lives behind in deciding to follow their master on the New Life; the all-consuming love in the Sufi tale of Layla and Majnun; the commitment of Gandhi to Hindu-Moslem unity which he demonstrated by fasting; the wandering of Swami Ramdas who viewed everything as divine after his realization; and the magical events that occurred in the relationship of Yogi Ramsuratkumar and Lee Lozowick. VJ Fedorschak is the organizer of the Western Baul Podcast Series and author of The Shadow on the Path and Father and Son.

Will smaller AI models win over large language models?Sudarshan Kamath grew up in Mumbai, taught himself AI before most Indian companies were even hiring for it, and bought the domain "smallest.ai" for $100 in 2022, two years before the company existed. Today, he runs Smallest AI, a startup focused on real time voice AI.He started with self-driving cars, training large models and compressing them to run on vehicle hardware in real time. That's where he first saw what small models could do: a hundredth of the size, almost no loss in accuracy.Two years later he put in his own $150K, got some GPUs, and started training. Eighteen months later he had a seed round, a Series A, a seven-figure enterprise deal, and a $150M acquisition offer he turned down.Most of the data that goes into large models is noise. Strip it out, train small, and you get a model that matches a giant at a fraction of the size and runs in real time. That insight is what Smallest AI is built on.00:00 – Trailer 00:51 – Sudarshan's journey before Smallest AI 05:00 – Arjun Jain & Yann LeCun 08:20 – Why build in voice AI in 2024? 15:09 – Why move the company from India to the US? 17:25 – Hiring talent via LinkedIn and X 18:49 – What large US funds actually bring to startups 21:03 – Raising a seed round with zero revenue 26:06 – Strong intros from US VCs 28:23 – What the first enterprise customer teaches you 31:50 – Raising Series A with Seligman Ventures 32:19 – The $150M acquisition offer 34:32 – When should founders sell secondaries? 36:24 – Who are Smallest AI's customers? 38:28 – What are state space models? 40:16 – Are GEPA models closer to AGI? 41:23 – Growing 10× in three months 48:03 – This is not a winner-takes-all market 49:32 – Why this is a trillion-dollar market 50:08 – Why large AI labs are not building in voice 51:26 – What it takes to reach $100M ARR 54:21 – The biggest goal for 2026 57:11 – Voice costs 1000× more than text 01:02:04 – How Smallest AI cracked large enterprises-------------India's talent has built the world's tech—now it's time to lead it.This mission goes beyond startups. It's about shifting the center of gravity in global tech to include the brilliance rising from India.What is Neon Fund?We invest in seed and early-stage founders from India and the diaspora building world-class Enterprise AI companies. We bring capital, conviction, and a community that's done it before.Subscribe for real founder stories, investor perspectives, economist breakdowns, and a behind-the-scenes look at how we're doing it all at Neon.-------------Check us out on:Website: https://neon.fund/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theneonshoww/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/beneon/Twitter: https://x.com/TheNeonShowwConnect with Siddhartha on:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/siddharthaahluwalia/Twitter: https://x.com/siddharthaa7-------------This video is for informational purposes only. The views expressed are those of the individuals quoted and do not constitute professional advice.Send a text

What if AI can learn the “why” behind decision making of humans?Ashu Garg and Jaya Gupta recently wrote one of the most discussed articles on AI this year. Their idea drew public responses from Dharmesh Shah, Aaron Levie, and Arvind Jain.Enterprise software has always captured what happened. It records the order, the ticket, and the approval. But it has never captured why it happened. It does not store the reasoning, the exception, or the past decisions that shaped the outcome. Ashu argues that this missing layer is the biggest opportunity in enterprise AI right now, and that the startups that capture it will be the biggest winners in AI.In this episode, we go deeper into what context graphs really are, how they get built, why startups have an edge over incumbents, and how close we are to seeing this work in practice.00:00 – Trailer00:42 – What are context graphs?03:57 – Why agents haven't lived up to the hype?07:03 – The “why” of Decision Making10:47 – How agents will store data for context graphs13:17 – What will be possible for Digital twins?17:32 – Can context graphs reveal a company's moat?19:48 – Guardrails on Access for agents24:47 – Managing agents vs being managed by agents28:46 – Will winners be vertical or horizontal players?32:20 – The future is agent swarms35:54 – Finding PMF is what makes a great CEO39:34 – What will set apart successful enterprises of 203042:10 – Where Foundation Capital is investing44:05 – Why AI won't be winner-takes-all47:03 – Where will the context graph reside?50:56 – Will systems of record be replaced?53:22 – Human in the loop → hands-off execution55:57 – A reality check on where we are today58:24 – Where startups will win in orchestration-------------India's talent has built the world's tech—now it's time to lead it.This mission goes beyond startups. It's about shifting the center of gravity in global tech to include the brilliance rising from India.What is Neon Fund?We invest in seed and early-stage founders from India and the diaspora building world-class Enterprise AI companies. We bring capital, conviction, and a community that's done it before.Subscribe for real founder stories, investor perspectives, economist breakdowns, and a behind-the-scenes look at how we're doing it all at Neon.-------------Check us out on:Website: https://neon.fund/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theneonshoww/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/beneon/Twitter: https://x.com/TheNeonShowwConnect with Siddhartha on:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/siddharthaahluwalia/Twitter: https://x.com/siddharthaa7-------------This video is for informational purposes only. The views expressed are those of the individuals quoted and do not constitute professional advice.Send a text

Samay Kohli spent 12 years at GreyOrange, scaling it to over $100 million in revenue and a $3 billion valuation at its peak, making it one of the world's largest warehouse robotics companies. Two years ago, he started again with Budy, this time in the US senior care industry.In this industry, decisions are emotional, sales cycles can run for years, and multiple stakeholders are involved. While the market sits at the intersection of real estate, healthcare, and hospitality, most sales still depend on manual follow-ups and scattered tools.Budy builds digital workers for sales teams: AI teammates that handle follow-ups, scheduling, and lead management across CRMs, calendars, and inboxes. Instead of adding another layer of software, Budy went zero UI-UX and focused on enabling sales teams in an industry with 99% inbound leads to manage their cold leads better.Today, Samay joins Siddhartha (Partner at Neon Fund, and a proud investor in Budy) and shares his journey from building robots to building digital teammates for a very non-traditional industry.00:00 – Trailer01:00 – What Budy is building for senior care05:15 – Real Estate × Healthcare × Hospitality06:25 – Zero UI UX technology10:09 – AI teammates not assistants12:03 – How sales teams operated before Budy12:51 – A ninety nine percent inbound industry13:45 – The real cost of senior care homes15:35 – Can a CRM alone solve this17:55 – Direct benefits of a digital worker20:49 – Two founder archetypes22:06 – Can lights out operations become real24:49 – What Samay underestimated about the market25:58 – The largest players in the industry29:07 – Treat your customer's company like your own30:52 – Entrepreneurship as a profession35:36 – Unlearnings as a second time founder37:30 – What digital workers actually are39:47 – The original promise of SaaS42:04 – The next decade of digital workers45:25 – Digital workers that read best selling books47:26 – Will Claude build CRMs49:38 – Business etiquette across the world55:18 – How a second time founder chooses investors01:01:00 – Why every team member should track the P and L01:02:14 – How Samay's view on growth evolved-------------India's talent has built the world's tech—now it's time to lead it.This mission goes beyond startups. It's about shifting the center of gravity in global tech to include the brilliance rising from India.What is Neon Fund?We invest in seed and early-stage founders from India and the diaspora building world-class Enterprise AI companies. We bring capital, conviction, and a community that's done it before.Subscribe for real founder stories, investor perspectives, economist breakdowns, and a behind-the-scenes look at how we're doing it all at Neon.-------------Check us out on:Website: https://neon.fund/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theneonshoww/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/beneon/Twitter: https://x.com/TheNeonShowwConnect with Siddhartha on:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/siddharthaahluwalia/Twitter: https://x.com/siddharthaa7-------------This video is for informational purposes only. The views expressed are those of the individuals quoted and do not constitute professional advice.Send a text

Do startup valuations today make sense?Umesh Padval, an early investor in Cohere, now valued at about $7 billion shares why Cohere stood out at the time of his investment. He shares what he saw early that made him believe this was not just another AI model company.Umesh is the Founding Managing Partner, Seligman Ventures and previously at Thomvest and Bessemer Venture Partners. He brings experience from investing across multiple tech cycles, from chips to cloud to AI. Umesh talks about how deals are really done in venture capital and what he looks for when everything feels noisy and crowded in AI.He also shares why many strong companies are choosing to stay private and what has changed in the IPO market. Public markets now demand cash flow and durability, not just fast growth.Umesh talks about why open source has become a powerful sales funnel for modern AI companies. Developers become the first users, and community adoption turns into long-term enterprise revenue.After four decades in Silicon Valley and 20 years as a VC, Umesh shares what keeps him in building and investing.0:00 – How big is the scope for investing in AI startups?04:04 – Do unit economics justify large AI valuations?06:00 – Thomvest's LLM investment thesis (Cohere case study)09:18 – Are CTO roles changing in AI11:21 – Traits of the best AI founding teams13:40 – Timeline to find the best founders16:52 – Partnership with Jyoti Bansal19:07 – Where is the IPO market headed?23:40 – Salesforce–Clari acquisition25:18 – Is profitability a prerequisite to go public?26:00 – Can the India–US corridor beat US–Israel?28:53 – Umesh's investment philosophy31:08 – Open source as a sales funnel33:38 – IIT → Stanford → Startups41:45 – The only CEO with 60 direct reports43:43 – Why Jensen never does 1-on-1s?48:23 – What ultimately drives Umesh Padval?-------------India's talent has built the world's tech—now it's time to lead it.This mission goes beyond startups. It's about shifting the center of gravity in global tech to include the brilliance rising from India.What is Neon Fund?We invest in seed and early-stage founders from India and the diaspora building world-class Enterprise AI companies. We bring capital, conviction, and a community that's done it before.Subscribe for real founder stories, investor perspectives, economist breakdowns, and a behind-the-scenes look at how we're doing it all at Neon.-------------Check us out on:Website: https://neon.fund/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theneonshoww/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/beneon/Twitter: https://x.com/TheNeonShowwConnect with Siddhartha on:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/siddharthaahluwalia/Twitter: https://x.com/siddharthaa7-------------This video is for informational purposes only. The views expressed are those of the individuals quoted and do not constitute professional advice.Send a text

Gabe Ravacci, CTO and co-founder at Internet Backyard, breaks down what the “computer economy” really looks like when you zoom in on data centers, billing, invoicing, and the financial plumbing nobody wants to touch. He shares how a rejected YC application, a finance stint, and a handful of hard lessons pushed him from hardware curiosity to building fintech infrastructure for compute.If you care about where compute is headed, or you are early in your career and trying to find your path without overplanning it, this one will land.Key Takeaways• Startups often happen “by accident” when your competence meets the right problem at the right time• Compute accessibility is not only a chip problem, it is also a finance and operations problem• Rejection can be data, not a verdict, treat it as feedback to sharpen the craft• A real online presence is less about networking and more about being genuinely useful in public• Time blocking and single task focus beats grinding when you are juggling school, work, and a startupTimestamped Highlights00:28 What Internet Backyard is building, fintech infrastructure for data center financial operations01:37 The first startup attempt, cheaper compute via FPGA based prototyping, and why investors passed04:48 The pivot, from hardware tools to a finance informed view of compute and transparency gaps06:55 How Gabe reframed YC rejection, process over outcome, “a tree of failures” that builds skill08:29 Building a digital brand on X, what he posted, how he learned in public, and why it worked13:36 The real balancing act, dropping classes, finishing the degree well, and strict time blocking20:00 Books that shaped his thinking, Siddhartha, The Art of Learning, Finite and Infinite GamesA line worth keeping“The process is really more important than any outcome.”Pro Tips for builders• Treat learning like a skill, ask better questions before you chase better answers• Make focus a system, set blocks, mute distractions, and do one thing at a time• Share what you are learning in public, not to perform, but to be useful and find signalCall to ActionIf this episode sparked an idea, follow or subscribe so you do not miss the next one. Also check out Amir's newsletter for more conversations at the intersection of people, impact, and technology.

How do I interpret my rollercoaster ride on the yogic path?

The Story of Sri Buddha – From Prince to the Enlightened OneThis episode tells the timeless story of Sri Buddha, the great teacher who transformed human thought with compassion and wisdom.Born as Prince Siddhartha to King Śuddhodana and Queen Māyā, his birth itself was surrounded by divine signs and prophecies. Sheltered within palace walls from sorrow and suffering, the young prince lived a life of luxury—until a series of encounters changed his destiny forever.Moved by the realities of old age, illness, and death, Siddhartha renounced his royal life in search of truth. His long journey through asceticism, doubt, and inner struggle finally led him to sit beneath the Bodhi Tree, where, after a night of deep meditation, he attained Enlightenment and became the Buddha — the Awakened One.This episode explores his birth, renunciation, awakening, and the moment when compassion replaced desire, and wisdom replaced fear—marking the beginning of a path that would guide millions toward peace and liberation.

Matt MacInnis spent 6 years as COO at Rippling and now leads as CPO. He joined Rippling in 2019, when there were only 70 people, and has led the company across multiple stages.Before that, Matt was a founder for 9 years, building Inkling after 7 years at Apple. These three chapters of his career shape this conversation. We focus on how to build and operate teams as a company scales. Matt explains how he thinks about speed versus real progress, and which parts of building a company should move fast and which should move slowly. He shares how he decided when to introduce processes at Rippling, when to keep things informal, and how to recognize when a process that once helped the company had started to slow it down.We discuss how his role changed as Rippling grew from around 70 people to 100, then to 500, and now to thousands. He explains what he paid attention to at each stage and which metrics he deliberately did not obsess over.These are practical lessons for founders, from the earliest days of a startup to the challenges of scaling a large organization.0:00 - Trailer01:11 – One thing people get wrong about building a business?04:01 – Great founders find markets that already exist06:36 – What does a “death march” mean at Apple?10:11 – How to build a good team in early-stage startup?12:33 – Learnings from Apple to Inkling18:11 – Processes to set up in startups25:20 – Humans always optimize for comfort (and why that's bad instinct)33:09 – Why success teaches you more than failure36:01 – How should processes change as company scales?42:11 – How is AI changing the software industry?54:03 – If Matt were starting up today, how would he do it?57:07 – How would Next-gen PM roles look like?01:01:51 – Matt shares about Rippling CEO Parker01:04:32 – Founder instinct vs Data01:06:06 – Over-optimizing for employee comfort01:07:27 – If building a startup feels comfortable, it's probably dead01:08:36 – One thing only CEO's should do forever01:11:15 – One piece of startup advice Matt doesn't trust-------------India's talent has built the world's tech—now it's time to lead it.This mission goes beyond startups. It's about shifting the center of gravity in global tech to include the brilliance rising from India.What is Neon Fund?We invest in seed and early-stage founders from India and the diaspora building world-class Enterprise AI companies. We bring capital, conviction, and a community that's done it before.Subscribe for real founder stories, investor perspectives, economist breakdowns, and a behind-the-scenes look at how we're doing it all at Neon.-------------Check us out on:Website: https://neon.fund/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theneonshoww/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/beneon/Twitter: https://x.com/TheNeonShowwConnect with Siddhartha on:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/siddharthaahluwalia/Twitter: https://x.com/siddharthaa7-------------This video is for informational purposes only. The views expressed are those of the individuals quoted and do not constitute professional advice.Send us a text

Episode #480: Michael Santi Keezing, a former Thai Forest monk, describes himself as both a Buddhist and a “post-Buddhist,” shaped by a lifelong effort to understand the mind, culture, and the limits of spiritual practice for someone raised in an intensely individualistic Western society. He recalls that before he ever meditated, he felt a persistent longing to understand consciousness, a “free-floating yearning” that led him into Eastern spirituality through books like Be Here Now, Siddhartha, and the works of Carlos Castaneda. Discovering a nearby monastery in the Ajahn Chah lineage, he eventually ordained, believing he was pursuing clear insight through what he calls Buddhist phenomenology. Only later did he recognize that trauma and a desire for safety also influenced his decision, as the monastery offered structure, belonging, and a refuge from uncertainty. Inside monastic life he set aside the intellectual world that once defined him, devoting himself to meditation and the Vinaya. Meditation gave him emotional clarity, while the discipline cultivated humility and restraint. Yet he also saw rigidity within Western monastic communities—an absolutism around hierarchy and rules that sometimes obscured compassion. A turning point came when he lived among Indonesian and Thai monks in Queens, where identical rituals felt more human and flexible, revealing that Western monastics inadvertently reshaped the tradition through their WEIRD conditioning. That conditioning, he says, produces inward-focused individuals burdened by psychic wounds, often misreading Buddhism through a modern psychological lens. Returning to the act of reading late in his monastic years, he encountered books on neuroscience, which reframed experiences he once interpreted through Buddhist metaphysics. Realizing that no single framework held all answers, he eventually moved beyond monasticism. Michael now emphasizes a practical understanding of not-self, rejects political quietism, and argues that wisdom must express itself as action and responsibility. Reflecting on Burma's struggle, he affirms that “justice can be achieved for the Burmese people,” holding hope while remainingcommitted to engagement.

This is a special episode from the Neon Fund.In 2025, the US saw $1.8 trillion worth of M&A deals, around 25× more than India. But India's startup ecosystem is much younger, which makes every acquisition a playbook for founders on process, pricing leverage, and stakeholder management.Neon backed Zenduty in 2020, when the founders had been bootstrapping profitably for two years and were already growing at a pace many VC-backed startups aspire to.Today, founders Ankur Rawal and Vishwa Krishnakumar join Siddhartha, Partner at Neon, to discuss one of the most untalked acquisitions of 2025.Over a 10-year journey, Zenduty pivoted to SRE in 2020. Vishwa and Ankur also share insights on the future of the DevTools space, which they believe will always be a strong choice to build great products, because engineers are among the hardest end users to please.This episode is a founders' view on how acquisitions work in Indian SaaS.00:00 – Trailer01:00 – Initial years of a decade-long journey07:12 – How Zenduty chose its investors11:04 – How much should founders dilute?12:24 – Building with profitability before & after fundraise14:45 – Six years of survival before the pivot17:01 – Why the pivot to the SRE space?18:39 – How Zenduty differentiated from PagerDuty19:12 – End users are the toughest to please in engineering20:39 – Is market attractive if biggest player is valued only $1.5B?25:22 – Why acquisition and not a Series A?27:18 – The process before acquisition29:23 – How pricing negotiations work31:51 – Should devtool companies build from India or US?34:58 – Three types of connects at physical events37:06 – What physical presence at events signals39:06 – Founders' feedback on Neon Fund41:41 – “Don't build in silence”43:50 – How to build a core AI-native company today47:54 – Do first-time founders have an edge in the AI era?52:08 – Cost to PMF has drastically gone down54:48 – What hard problems are startups solving today?55:37 – Why are acquisitions rare in India?1:00:20 – How US investors are facilitating M&As1:01:14 – How to make your brand visible to potential acquirers-------------India's talent has built the world's tech—now it's time to lead it.This mission goes beyond startups. It's about shifting the center of gravity in global tech to include the brilliance rising from India.What is Neon Fund?We invest in seed and early-stage founders from India and the diaspora building world-class Enterprise AI companies. We bring capital, conviction, and a community that's done it before.Subscribe for real founder stories, investor perspectives, economist breakdowns, and a behind-the-scenes look at how we're doing it all at Neon.-------------Check us out on:Website: https://neon.fund/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theneonshoww/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/beneon/Twitter: https://x.com/TheNeonShowwConnect with Siddhartha on:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/siddharthaahluwalia/Twitter: https://x.com/siddharthaa7-------------This video is for informational purposes only. The views expressed are those of the individuals quoted and do not constitute professional advice.Send us a text

Kanwal Rekhi first came to the US in the 1960s. He took his company public on Nasdaq in 1987. As a young Indian in the US, he was laid off from his first three jobs. That experience pushed him towards entrepreneurship. At the time, Indians were known and hired for technical and mathematical skills, not as founders building companies on US soil.But Kanwal and his co-founders decided to bet on themselves. They faced rejection from nearly 50 investors before one VC agreed to invest $2 million for 50% of the company. In just five years, the company went public.From being appointed CEO overnight to being removed by the board two months before the IPO for a more “wall street-acceptable” CEO, this is a story of many firsts.After Excelan, Kanwal co-founded TiE in 1992 and has mentored tens of thousands of entrepreneurs. Beyond a personal story, Kanwal Rekhi is a turning point in how Indian founders came to be seen in Silicon Valley.0:00 – Trailer01:11 – How TiE was formed07:11 – DoT Hatao, Desh Bachao11:31 – Career opportunities in the 70s13:41 – When Indians weren't trusted to build companies15:44 – Pioneers in computer networking16:51 – Finding an Investor after 50 rejections20:31 – Becoming CEO overnight23:29 – Spare the story, show the numbers24:17 – The “Wall Street acceptable” CEO for IPO27:30 – Founders have to be financial thinkers28:14 – How Excelan could go public in just 5 years29:27 – Cost is unrelated to pricing in software31:12 – Do Indian companies need Americans to lead?34:05 – Benefits of registering in the US36:53 – $1 trillion to solve India's problems40:49 – Policies for India's startup ecosystem42:01 – Enabling entrepreneurs in villages44:41 – India in the 80s v/s today50:36 – US vs India vs China01:04:52 – How did IITs start allowing donations?01:07:25 – AI investments of Silicon Valley Quad01:18:29 – What Kanwal Rekhi looks for in founders?-------------India's talent has built the world's tech—now it's time to lead it.This mission goes beyond startups. It's about shifting the center of gravity in global tech to include the brilliance rising from India.What is Neon Fund?We invest in seed and early-stage founders from India and the diaspora building world-class Enterprise AI companies. We bring capital, conviction, and a community that's done it before.Subscribe for real founder stories, investor perspectives, economist breakdowns, and a behind-the-scenes look at how we're doing it all at Neon.-------------Check us out on:Website: https://neon.fund/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theneonshoww/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/beneon/Twitter: https://x.com/TheNeonShowwConnect with Siddhartha on:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/siddharthaahluwalia/Twitter: https://x.com/siddharthaa7-------------This video is for informational purposes only. The views expressed are those of the individuals quoted and do not constitute professional advice.Send us a text

Where did the journey of iD Fresh start?It began when a 19-year-old Abdul Nazer decided to run away from home to Bangalore with ₹100 in his pocket. He did any job that came his way: cook, cleaner, conductor and sold anything he could, from clothes and vegetables to spices and peanuts. Along the way, he brought his three brothers to Bangalore.Even with huge losses in business, they never stopped looking for new opportunities. Their first real glimpse of success came from a tea stall run out of a rented room that cost ₹80 a month. Despite strong demand, the tea business was still running at a loss. The turning point came when they started opening the stall at 2 in the morning: a disruptive business model, says PC. Those ₹2 cups of tea taught them lessons they would carry forward.Abdul Nazer and PC Mustafa together share these stories for the first time. Their journey reminds us that no success is overnight, especially not for these brothers. It was at their kirana store in Indiranagar that the idea of iD Fresh was born. Five brothers with no background in food technology spent six months experimenting with recipes before finding their hero product. This is the story of five founders who pushed past their circumstances. Today, iD Fresh is at a scale the founders never dreamed of growing up in Wayanad. 00:00 – Trailer00:55 – Dropping out of studies02:32 – 19 Year Old that Runaway to Bangalore04:35 – First job as a cook11:25 – When Nazer decided to become an entrepreneur14:01 – Huge loss in Vegetable business16:15 – Starting the kirana store that led to iD18:00 – On the verge of shutting down20:10 – How Lambu Tea Stall became profitable24:16 – When PC decided to do business with Nazer25:14 – All the (failed) businesses that led to iD27:04 – Why PC decided to come back to India28:23 – The origin story of the idli batter idea31:40 – The first $50k investment32:57 – Cracking the batter without any food tech expertise34:38 – The first recipe that became iD's hero product35:35 – Why iD failed to sell 100 packets in 6 Months41:15 – The first customer approval43:06 – Building awareness was the biggest challenge44:35 – Lack of cold storage in supermarkets45:22 – The inventory model of iD46:25 – How the initial team was built48:35 – Story of team spirit50:15 – When iD Fresh Chennai & Mumbai Failed52:27 – How the chemistry worked between the five brothers56:52 – The buyout offer of ₹20+ crores57:35 – How founders build the mindset to hire experts1:00:50 – Did the runaway child achieve his dream?1:03:09 – How Nazer's choices directly led to iD1:04:45 – Building within value systems1:07:26 – Summary: what really worked for iD Fresh-------------India's talent has built the world's tech—now it's time to lead it.This mission goes beyond startups. It's about shifting the center of gravity in global tech to include the brilliance rising from India.What is Neon Fund?We invest in seed and early-stage founders from India and the diaspora building world-class Enterprise AI companies. We bring capital, conviction, and a community that's done it before.Subscribe for real founder stories, investor perspectives, economist breakdowns, and a behind-the-scenes look at how we're doing it all at Neon.-------------Check us out on:Website: https://neon.fund/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theneonshoww/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/beneon/Twitter: https://x.com/TheNeonShowwConnect with Siddhartha on:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/siddharthaahluwalia/Twitter: https://x.com/siddharthaa7-------------This video is for informational purposes only. The Send us a text

The third of the Four Immeasurables of Buddhism, as defined online, is sympathetic joy, or empathy, I have long taken to indicate the kind of genuine delight that one can feel at the good fortune of others.Unfortunately, in the context of our prevailing dog-eat-dog, winner-take-all, loser-victim mentality—the emerging tribal take on social and economic standing in America—this fulsome embrace of the success of others has become a diminishingly rare commodity, if we are to believe the daily reporting. Your winning at the game of life means that I must be losing. As if there is a finite store of happiness, from which any one'sindividual achievement, or gain, necessarily takes away from the total available to others.However, if empathy has a more substantial base than its conventionally positive, but dualistic or relativistic meaning—reduced to like-mindedness, or even pity—it must also be operative in negative mode. In certain cases, when and where we are not at all sympathetic, but stubbornly indifferent; we may even find ourselves opposed to others. In which case, empathy for oneself tends to trump — no pun —any possibility of empathy for others.Shakyamuni Buddha was reputed to have been able to read minds. One of the ten honorifics accorded him during his lifetime translates as something like “controller of men,” which is roughly the meaning of Matsuoka Roshi's first dharma name, “Soyu.” Empathy plays a central, determinative part in this ability to win friends and influence people. But our inborn, naturally altruistic empathy may need an occasional boost from the nurturing, tender loving care of meditation.My supposition is that Siddhartha Gautama was already a highly sensitive youngster, becomingestranged from existence itself, owing to the pain and suffering he had witnessed in his life. Like MasterDogen, he witnessed the death of his own mother at an early age. But his realization in meditation during hismid-thirties must have engendered the emergence of an even deeper and broader sensibility for the suffering of others. He clearly was a natural empath, born of magnanimous and nurturing mind, innately endowed with compassionate traits. Which were only amplified in, and by, his intense meditation under that fig tree.In the Surangama Sutra, attributed to Buddha, he suggests that it is possible, and even probable, that his followers will themselves develop such paranormal powers (Skt. siddhis) through their own meditation. One of which would be this ability to “know others' minds.” In the Fifty Warnings attached to this sutra, cautionary tales against falling into certain states of delusion (Skt. mara), he offered specific spoiler alerts,flagging the likelihood of getting stuck at various stages of the process, ten in each of the Five Skandhas.By misinterpreting fifty gobsmackingly vivid meditative experiences that Buddha describes in meticulous detail—occurring at remote passes on the parallel track of transcending ordinary perception of reality—your average monk or nun might come to believe, falsely, that they are now fully enlightened. When, truth be told, they still have a long way to go, before finally getting off the train at anuttara samyak sambodhi, the end of the line.He also admonished them not to demonstrate any such abilities to others, as their audience might also get the wrong idea, that gaining such seemingly mystical or magical powers is what the practice of the Noble Eightfold Path is all about. Too soon. Wait—there's more. Just keep on keepin' on, no matter whateverfantastic or fabulous transformation seems to have taken place. You are not home free, yet.It is worth mentioning that at this time there were apparently any number of clever charlatans andwould-be magicians plying their trades of trickery in the public marketplace, masquerading as genuine sages (Skt. sadhu) or seers. Buddha apparently did not want his followers to settle for a “me too” position in the contemporaneous war of ideas, competing for the attention of the hoi polloi.This throughline of the teaching further suggests that in Buddha's case, he had persevered, making itall the way down and through the rabbit hole, and all the way back. In other words, he did not fall for thevarious offramps that Mara (the spirit of delusion), offered up to sidetrack him, that long dark night under the Bodhi tree. Even the daughters of Mara, with their seductive wiles, were unable to distract the young prince from his single-minded focus on penetrating the primordial koan of suffering existence. According to the story, he had already been there, done that, with many a merry maid, under the direction of his doting father. Whose game plan was to keep him in thrall to the sensory pleasures of the world, so that he would succeed to his inheritance, the leadership of theShakya clan. But young Siddhartha was not buying it. He had other fish to fry, starting with himself.Because Buddha was able to resist the temptations of fantasy and overcome the nightmares of fear, ifwe are to believe the story—doggedly persisting in the face of all resistance—he eventually emerged from the other side of the wormhole. In other words, he went full circle through the looking glass, returning to whence he had launched his excellent adventure, exploring the new frontier of mind-only. He came home again, the prodigal son, but home had been miraculously transformed into the entire universe. Yet nothing special, indicated by his touching the Earth.But his enhanced empathy, for himself and his intimately personal causes and conditions, extended to include all beings. It had to be an even more painful embrace of universal suffering, than had been his initial, self-centered view of suffering that drove him to the cushion. Fortunately, his profound, newfoundinsight swayed him to try to help all others, the very beginning of the bodhisattva vow.So compassion turns out to be just one of those things—as one of the Supremes famously said of pornography—difficult to define definitively. But you know it when you feel it. When you feel true compassion, however, it will not be compassion for others. It will be compassion for your sorry self. And it will not be coming from yourself. In other words, it will not yet manifest as true empathy.Along with all the other findings, conclusions, and recommendations that formed the deliverables of Buddha's contract with humanity, empathy fits all three. He found that it constitutes a description of reality, concluded that it is a fundamental law of sentient existence, and recommended a big dose as a prescription for negotiating the Path. At once a cause, as well as an effect, empathy is a natural attribute of the Way. It is only natural that we realize it, the sooner the better.

Best of 3500 Minutes in 45 Minutes2025 was a great year for The Neon Show. 60 episodes, 72 guests, and thousands of minutes of insightful conversations on everything around building a business.You'll hear perspectives from Founders scaling companies across the world, sharing the real challenges behind building high-growth startups; Investors on how they spot opportunities and make bold bets; and Ecosystem leaders who have navigated multiple cycles and understand what truly lasts.This episode is a carefully curated highlight reel. The sharpest ideas, boldest bets, and timeless lessons that defined this year. Watch it for clear takeaways to carry into 2026 on building companies that last for decades.0:00 – Trailer01:26 – Paras Chopra03:37 – Avanish Bajaj06:53 – Vijay Rayapati08:33 – Ashu Garg11:39 – Kiran Darisi16:40 – Asha Jadeja20:33 – Sanjeev Bikhchandani23:22 – Alok Goyal26:41 – Shiv Shivumar29:34 – Saurya Prakash31:59 – Raviteja37:21 – Ashish Toshniwal43:54 – Bhaskar Gosh47:32 – Somesh Dash-------------India's talent has built the world's tech—now it's time to lead it.This mission goes beyond startups. It's about shifting the center of gravity in global tech to include the brilliance rising from India.What is Neon Fund?We invest in seed and early-stage founders from India and the diaspora building world-class Enterprise AI companies. We bring capital, conviction, and a community that's done it before.Subscribe for real founder stories, investor perspectives, economist breakdowns, and a behind-the-scenes look at how we're doing it all at Neon.-------------Check us out on:Website: https://neon.fund/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theneonshoww/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/beneon/Twitter: https://x.com/TheNeonShowwConnect with Siddhartha on:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/siddharthaahluwalia/Twitter: https://x.com/siddharthaa7-------------This video is for informational purposes only. The views expressed are those of the individuals quoted and do not constitute professional advice.Send us a text

Harish Bhat spent 38 years with the Tata Group, working across businesses that reach millions of Indians every day, including Titan, Tanishq, and Tata Tea.He joins Neon Show for a 3rd time and reflects on what it meant to build inside a 150+ year-old institution. The conversation begins in 1991, the year Ratan Tata took over as Chairman, a role he would hold for 21 years. Harish explains how Ratan Tata prepared Tata Sons at a time when the Indian economy was opening up and competition was changing rapidly.We discuss landmark moments in the group's history, including the Tetley acquisition in 2000, the first time an Indian company acquired a major global consumer brand. Harish shares how this decision transformed not only the Tata Group's mindset but also the way ambitious Indian businesses think about their potential.Harish speaks about Ratan Tata not as a distant icon, but as a leader he worked closely with. He shares stories of how decisions were made, how conflicts were handled, and why dignity, compassion, and keeping one's word were always non-negotiable for Ratan Tata.The conversation also draws from his book Doing the Right Thing, where he transfers these experiences into practical lessons on leadership shaped over decades.https://www.amazon.in/Doing-Right-Thing-Bestselling-Tatastories/dp/014347985700:00 — Trailer01:07 — Paying tribute to Mr. Ratan Tata05:53 — The Tata family legacy06:53 — Early childhood and education of Ratan Tata07:48 — The decision to return to India08:44 — How Ratan Tata prepared the Group for a liberalised economy14:35 — How Tata Sons became a global business16:45 — The $450 million Tetley acquisition20:08 — Tata Group's acquisition of Global Brands23:33 — A visionary leader who chose to remain deeply private25:04 — How Ratan Tata dealt with Conflict28:58 — Dignity above all31:29 — The only concern on renovation of Bombay House34:41 — How the Tata Group gives back to Mumbai39:44 — Four lessons from Ratan Tata's Life42:50 — The deeper purpose that drives the Tata Group44:45 — Emotional gestures that speak to people's hearts48:45 — Ratan Tata as a philanthropist51:26 — A life guided by the principle: “Do the right thing”53:06 — The story behind the book-------------India's talent has built the world's tech—now it's time to lead it.This mission goes beyond startups. It's about shifting the center of gravity in global tech to include the brilliance rising from India.What is Neon Fund?We invest in seed and early-stage founders from India and the diaspora building world-class Enterprise AI companies. We bring capital, conviction, and a community that's done it before.Subscribe for real founder stories, investor perspectives, economist breakdowns, and a behind-the-scenes look at how we're doing it all at Neon.-------------Check us out on:Website: https://neon.fund/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theneonshoww/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/beneon/Twitter: https://x.com/TheNeonShowwConnect with Siddhartha on:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/siddharthaahluwalia/Twitter: https://x.com/siddharthaa7-------------This video is for informational purposes only. The views expressed are those of the individuals quoted and do not constitute professional advice.Send us a text

Founders are often seen as superhumans. In this new series, we look at the humans behind the superhuman journey. The thrill of building, the guilt of missing out, the learnings, the failures, and why they still do it and would do it all over again.Arpita is a second-time founder, now building Mysa. Her first startup, Mech Mocha, was acquired by Flipkart. Ananda is the Co-Founder and CTO of Astra Security. They are building in two different spaces, finance and cybersecurity, but the journeys are similar, that of a founder.This is an unfiltered conversation between two founders about what building a company really looks like: the choices they didn't make, the people who bet on them early, and how their identities, relationships, and sense of self changed along the way.This episode is for anyone who is building, thinking of building, or simply curious about what being a founder really feels like.0:00 – Becoming a Founder in 20s05:10 – The odd realities of being a founder young07:51 – Placements we got, but never took10:56 – Learning to ask for help as founders16:39 – The people who bet on you early23:05 – Co-founder dynamics as life partners25:40 – Handling co-founder conflict27:21 – Making it to Forbes 30 Under 3031:54 – How the PM award helped during house-hunting34:10 – Being a Topper is Not Important anymore35:45 – How close should founders be to their teams?37:40 – Why advice hasn't worked much for me39:27 – Getting addicted to the thrill of being a founder41:27 – When a founder's identity becomes tied to their company43:18 – Setting boundaries as founders43:40 – Why I don't share my Instagram with my team44:07 – Realising that your team may not be forever49:10 – Startups are marathons, not sprints50:24 – Why founders need to be humanized53:43 – Living life in the limelight as a founder57:55 – Why work friends often don't exist for founders59:09 – Would you do it all over again?01:01:36 – How family react when one decides to be a founder?01:02:32 – Is it easier the second time as a founder?01:03:27 – Why not knowing was actually a gift-------------India's talent has built the world's tech—now it's time to lead it.This mission goes beyond startups. It's about shifting the center of gravity in global tech to include the brilliance rising from India.What is Neon Fund?We invest in seed and early-stage founders from India and the diaspora building world-class Enterprise AI companies. We bring capital, conviction, and a community that's done it before.Subscribe for real founder stories, investor perspectives, economist breakdowns, and a behind-the-scenes look at how we're doing it all at Neon.-------------Check us out on:Website: https://neon.fund/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theneonshoww/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/beneon/Twitter: https://x.com/TheNeonShowwConnect with Siddhartha on:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/siddharthaahluwalia/Twitter: https://x.com/siddharthaa7-------------This video is for informational purposes only. The views expressed are those of the individuals quoted and do not constitute professional advice.Send us a text

The Story of Buddha — The Awakened One

Composer Siddhartha Khosla joins Emily to discuss scoring Only Murders in the Building, what bonded him with Steve Martin, and his epic This is Us crossover with rock band Chicago. Emily reveals an embarrassing Linda Cardellini story, we talk about Siddhartha's hilarious meet-cute with Martin Short, and Emily gets an invite to cross something off her bucket list. So find your trailer, bleach your hair, and compose yourself as you enjoy Chapter 36 of How To Make It.Follow us on Instagram: @HowToMakeItPodcastSubscribe to our YouTube channel: @HowToMakeItPodcast

Dan Millman's book: The Way of the Peaceful Warrior,⁠ Blends fact and fiction as he recounts his day's training as a college gymnast in his bid to become a World Champion, along with all the hardships he faced.The fiction format of the novel magnifies the impact of the lessons contained within, allowing us to envision our transformation whilst tapping into our deep, primal urge for immersive storytelling. Drawing parallels with Siddhartha, which effortlessly combines timeless wisdom with a compelling narrative, this book is a joy to read, taking the reader on a profound spiritual journey.“A warrior does not give up what he loves, he finds the love in what he does”Dan Millman, Way of the Peaceful WarriorSHOW OUTLINEINTROWe all have inner battles, prepare yourself for themSpiritual weight training (1m18)FOUNDATIONAL IDEASummary of Book by GainKnowledgeMeditation and purpose (2m36)HOW TOLearn to enjoy the journey of your life, and don't let your ego drive your emotionsWhat makes you happy (2m23)Finding time to rest and find peaceHow to Overcome the Fear of Wasting TimeFocus on the now, rather than letting yourself become overwhelmed by too many thoughtsOne thing at a time (2m07) CLIP CREDITS ⁠https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDL85fzdc1g&ab_channel=TEDxTalks⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DA4twJiaWVw⁠TRANSCRIPT⁠https://www.moonshots.io/episode-127danmillman-transcript-1⁠Thanks to our monthly supportersMikeEdwin DeitchJamie DorwardEmily Rose BanksMalcolm MageeNatalieRyan N.Marco-Ken Möller孤鸿 月影FabianJasper VerkaartAndy PilaraolaAustin HammattZachary PhillipsMike Leigh CooperGayla SchiffLaura KERoar Nikolay Ytre-EideStefRoger von Holdtvenkata reddyIngram CaseyOlarahul groverRavi GovenderCraig LindsaySteve WoollardDeborah SpahrSamoelaJo HatchardKalman CsehBerg De BleeckerPaul AcquaahMrBonjourKonnor Ah kuoiMarjan ModaraDietmar BaurBob Nolley⁠★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Friends,When I was on my book tour for Hawk Mountain, I did an event with Andrea Lawlor where we spoke, at length, about horror. In the Q&A, someone raised a hand and asked:WHAT IS HORROR?Andrea and I both laughed. We found ourselves at a loss.Horror :Once you consider it, it's not clear.There's the assumption that horror is scary. Sometimes that's true. But obviously what's scary for you might not be scary for me, and vice versa, so that can't define the genre. We say horror has certain elements, but there are different kinds of horror to define its contours, whether it's body horror, slasher horror, cosmic horror...We might turn to the familiar face of horror - the monster - to see what they reveal to us. But while vampires, werewolves, zombies express, through their differing powers and weakness, different theories about horror, they can't give us a picture of what it is really. They're contained by it.Horror: Always on, always available, always around us. So… what is it?I asked my friends PHIL FORD and J.F. MARTEL - the cohosts of the WEIRD STUDIES PODCAST - onto the show to walk into the dark - or is it the blinding, malevolent light? - with me, and with you, to see what we would find there.Weird Studies is, in my experience of it, anyway, a horror podcast. In fact, my last conversation with Phil and J.F. was on Weird Studies and about horror: on Weird Studies 144, we looked into Clive Barker's Hellraiser and the book it's based on, The Hellbound Heart.But it's not a horror podcast because it's always focused on horror; many episodes are about topics and artworks that seem less than horrific (their series on each card in the major arcana of the tarot, for instance, or their episode on Herman Hesse's novel about enlightenment, Siddhartha). But there is a quality on each episode - a quality which we discuss in this conversation - of the threat of art, philosophy, image and sound. The way they invade our lives. Rearrange our organs Destroy the world we knew. In other words, we might think of horror as a position in time, something approaching or orbiting. Or as something creates shadows by blocking the light, or by creating a void where an object once was. You can hear me going in many directions again. Conversation with Phil and J.F. inspires that in me - being pulled in many directions at once. That's another way of thinking of horror: horror as blob; as spreading epidemic, as destroying giant, vaster than the safety of our shelters.This is what I love about talking with Phil and JF and about Weird Studies, and also why I often think of their podcast as the only true sibling to mine. In conversation with them, everything a springboard for everything. A web of connections. Or maybe better said, a transforming activity, everything metamorphosing into everything else through membranous, visceral, and expansive moves.Please support this show on patreon.PATREON.COM/CONNERHABIBYou can also find an almost complete list of the books, movies, etc we mention on this episode there.