MindGravity.

The key to evolution and prosperity is all about learning and imparting that knowledge to the world. Never stop learning. 

Have you ever been in a life-threatening or life-ending situation or condition or diagnosis? Do you remember what it feels like? People tend to promise themselves and everyone around them that they will live differently. They promise to live differently because they understand, or rather forced into understanding the fragility of life, and the unfulfilled promises. That is the greatest fear that drives us. Everything comes racing down to your mind -- the people you loved, your family, your friends, the dreams that may remain a dream. When life’s fragility is primed, people’s goals and motives in their everyday lives shift completely. It’s perspective, not age, that matters the most.

Artem Gassan is the General Partner (GP) at SaaS Growth Ventures and has +4 years of early-stage investing and was a founder of 4 startups with 2 exits. Former Partner and EIR at Upshift Partners and 500 Startups where he invested and helped to scale sales, and revenue for over 50+ portfolio companies. He has and reviewed over 1,000 investments for Fund IV at 500 Startups and accelerator.

On today's episode we talk about:

1. What is Artem's backstory? What is SaaS Growth Ventures? What are the focus areas? What is the fund thesis? What do you ultimately want to achieve with the fund?
2. How is COVID reshaping saas businesses? How was it different pre-COVID?
3. How to assess a startup? What are the key metrics that a founder should be obsessed with? What are the metrics investors should be focusing on? What does the decision-making process look like?
4. What do successful startups/founders do differently from the ones that die through a thousand cuts? And for those that succeed, what are the commonalities?
5. What does it mean to have a product-market-fit? How should founders be thinking about it?
6. What is the one piece of advice for the founders during these times? How would that be different under normal circumstances, if at all?

You can reach Artem via Linkedin or email him directly on [email protected]

You can follow or reach out to me, your host Rohan Handa on Twitter, Linkedin, or email me at [email protected].

Ever wonder why we sometimes get so engrossed in certain activities that we lose track of time? Listen on to learn more. 

Dr. Mihaela Ulieru is currently the Chief Alchemist at SingularityNET and President of the IMPACT Institute for the Digital Economy. The broadness of her background and expertise enable Dr. Ulieru to tackle problems from original perspectives which require a high level of interdisciplinarity - such as her large scale international collaborative projects aiming to make ICTs an integral component of policymaking for social innovation generation for a healthier, safer, more sustainable, and innovation-driven world Future of Medicine, Living Technologies - book chapter here and Emulating the Mind, recently coined in a book. 

On this episode we talk about:

1. Dr. Mihaela's backstory and what she is currently working on?
2. What is money? What is the currency? What are cryptocurrencies? Why do we need it?
3. What are stable coins and what is the role of stablecoins? Why do we need it? What’s CBDC?
4. What do stablecoins or CBDC offer that the current currency/monetary system does not? What are the things that people understand, things that people don’t understand about stablecoins?
5. Cash advantage is privacy/anonymity in the face to face transactions, at least -- how CBDC can ensure that?
6. What is preventing the adoption of stablecoins across the globe? Is this the future of money? Why, why not?
7. FSB recently recommended against the use of stablecoins? What are your thoughts on it?
8. How is Libra helping (not helping) the push for the adoption? What are they doing right or wrong?

Reach out to Dr. Mihaela Ulieru via Linkedin.

You can follow or reach out to me, your host Rohan Handa on Twitter, Linkedin, or email me at [email protected].

We are living in a world where no one wants to listen, and everyone wants to be heard. In that world, truth, facts seeking, and credible information doesn't matter as long as you are the loudest voice in the room. There is no intellectual humility, and the race is always on to make a point. This episode discusses the importance of intellectual humility and how we can have better conversations only when we try to be open-minded no matter how polar opposite the thoughts may be. Enjoy!

You can follow me on Twitter, Linkedin, or email me at [email protected]. 

Sankaet Pathak is the Co-founder and CEO of Synapse. Synapse is a San Francisco-based startup that operates a platform enabling banks and fintech companies to easily develop financial services products. It closed a $33 million Series B in 2019 bringing the total funds raised to $50 million, aiming to democratize and become the AWS of financial services. The backers of this startup include Andreessen Horowitz, Core Innovation Capital, and Trinity Ventures.

On this episode you will hear:

1. Sankaet's journey from India to the US, and what made him start Synapse?
2. What is SynapseFi and what are they trying to build?
3. What has taken technology so long disrupt the financial services as we know?
4. What is the future of finance? And how does it compare to the Pre-COVID world? Will trust get disrupted?
5. How should one think about building a product that is sustainable?

Reach out to Sankaet and Synapse to learn more on Linkedin and Twitter.

You can follow or reach out to me, your host Rohan Handa on Twitter, Linkedin, or email me at [email protected].

Sankaet Pathak is the Co-founder and CEO of Synapse. Synapse is a San Francisco-based startup that operates a platform enabling banks and fintech companies to easily develop financial services products. It closed a $33 million Series B in 2019 bringing the total funds raised to $50 million, aiming to democratize and become the AWS of financial services. The backers of this startup include Andreessen Horowitz, Core Innovation Capital, and Trinity Ventures.

On this episode you will hear:

1. Sankaet's journey from India to the US, and what made him start Synapse?
2. What is SynapseFi and what are they trying to build?
3. What has taken technology so long disrupt the financial services as we know?
4. What is the future of finance? And how does it compare to the Pre-COVID world? Will trust get disrupted?
5. How should one think about building a product that is sustainable?

Reach out to Sankaet and Synapse to learn more on Linkedin and Twitter.

You can follow or reach out to me, your host Rohan Handa on Twitter, Linkedin, or email me at [email protected].

Darshan Vaidya a derivatives trader from the UK turned founder of the startup called X-margin. X-Margin is looking to transform the way derivatives are margined and settled, using zero-knowledge technology to disintermediate traditional clearinghouses. X-Margin recently closed its seed round raising capital from renowned venture funds like Polychain Capital, XBTO, and several other angel investors.

I have personally been fascinated by zero-knowledge technology so we go deep into the weeds of it. On this episode, you will hear about:

1. Darshan's backstory and what got him excited about the cryptocurrency space

2. What problems did he see in the traditional financial trading space? How he aims to solve that using zero-knowledge proof and analytics?

3. What are zero-knowledge proofs, and more importantly X-Margin?

4. What is so hard about building a startup? What role does a team play in getting things done?

5. Looking back, what are somethings he would like to change?

Reach out to Darshan and X-Margin to learn more

Twitter: @xmargintrading, @darshanvaidya
Telegram: @darshvaidya
Email: [email protected]

You can follow me, your host Rohan Handa on Twitter, Linkedin, or email me at [email protected].

Loneliness can be emotionally and physically draining. Don't let your loved ones, friends, and family suffer through it alone. Reach out, and be there. 

You can follow me on Twitter, Linkedin, or email me at [email protected].