The One Percent Project- Entrepreneurship, Leadership & Resilience

About Sanjay Mehta:My next guest on The One Percent Project is Sanjay Mehta, Founder & Partner at 100X.VC and Mehta Ventures Family Office. Sanjay has invested in 150+ Start-ups across sectors with a 86% internal rate of return. In his words “Most startups will fail, so you can say everything sucks and be right most of the time. Although you never lose money with that strategy, you never make any either.”In this conversation:He shares his learning from investing in Start-upsThe ethos of 100X.VCHis advice for new angel investors & VC on brand building and mentorshipHis “So What” strategy while evaluating a business ideaRapid Fire:One book or a blog that has made the most difference to you?Straight from the Gut, Jack Welch. That's a book which I read in my earlier days in my college times, and that that had a good impact.Your most favourite superhero?Peter Thiel.How do you see competition?Most welcome. Competition should exist. That grows the market.

About Abhinav Jain:My next guest on The One Percent Project is Abhinav Jain, Founder CEO Shop101 & Dash101. A graduate of IIT Kanpur and IIM Ahmedabad. Abhinav in this conversations talks about: His entrepreneurial journey from Bain & Company to Shop101Building for Bharat How to create a reseller ecosystemHow Shop101 has been able to generate a positive contribution margin as the business has grownRapid Fire:The hardest thing about your job?Not knowing what the next day will entail. Every single day is very different.One book or a blog that has changed your professional and personal outlook.The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz.Your most favorite superhero?Iron Man.Three ways to support the podcast:#1 Share the episode with family and friends on social media with #OnePercentProj using the share button on the site.#2 Take a few seconds to give us a rating on Apple Podcasts. This helps new folks find us organically. Rate#3 Leave a review if you feel inclined. We read every single message and love feedback. Review

About Devaiah Bopanna:My next guest on The One Percent Project is the hilarious and talented Devaiah Bopanna, Co-Founder at All Things Small and Former Head writer at AlB. I was introduced to Devaiah and his work through an article about his recent nationally acclaimed CRED IPL ads series that he co-wrote with his ex-AIB colleagues. The series is a bold attempt by CRED, the Celebrities and the Script-Writer using celebrities to poke fun at advertisers’ obsession with celebrity endorsements.”. Devaiah in this conversations talks about:About His Career from Engineering to Creative WritingHow he failed his first interview with AIB and then went on to being AIB’s Head WriterWhat it takes to lead a group of highly talented and ambitious writersThe impact of OTT platforms in the new media worldHis process of creative thinking and script writingRapid Fire:The hardest thing about your job?Thinking.One book or a blog that has changed your professional and personal outlook.The Illicit Happiness of Other PeopleHow would you define your career in one word in the next 10 years?Interesting.The most creative person you have ever worked with?Everyone at AIB, definitely Tanmay BhatDefine Tanmay Bhat in one word.Relentless.

My next guest on The One Percent Project is Matthew Lee, partner Progression Fund. This is an interesting conversation on many fronts. Matt defines his career in Venture Capital as an early-stage startup from pre-seed to now at product-market-fit with Progression fund that he built with musical.ly / TikTok alums, what he learnt about his himself and the VC space when he was in the pre-seed learning stage with a 67M fund and investing as an angel.His take on why Progression Fund is a consumer-focused fund, when the YCs and Greylocks of the world are bullish on B2B. How Gen Alpha are digital natives, treat Alexa as a human and could turn out to be the richest generation ever.We also discuss the opportunity that foundations such as Bill & Melinda Gates bring for Venture Capital funds through the startups these foundations are funding which is solving hard problems with a bottom-up approach in emerging economies. 

About Frank Lantz:My next guest on The One Percent Project is Frank Lantz, Director at the NYU Game Center and Owner of Everybody House Games. Frank was a creative director at Zynga as well after his social gaming company Area/Code was acquired by Zyna in 2011. I discovered him and his work while reading The Biggest Bluff: How I Learned to Pay Attention, Master Myself, and Win by Maria Konnikova. Maria in the book talks about him and his expertise in game design as she mastered Poker. This led me to explore game design and understand how does this new age discipline work and impact our lives. This is an interesting conversation with Frank on: How games are designed and built and their impact on societyThe brilliance of games such as Chess, Go and PokerHow entertainment companies such as Netflix see Epic Games and sleep as their primary competitorRapid Fire:What is the hardest thing about your job?Email A book or a blog that has transformed your personal and professional life.meaningness.com a wonderful website by a guy named David Chapman, who was an early researcher in AIIf not a game designer, then what?CartoonistThree ways to support the podcast:#1 Share the episode with family and friends on social media with #OnePercentProj using the share button on the site.#2 Take a few seconds to give us a rating on Apple Podcasts. This helps new folks find us organically. Rate#3 Leave a review if you feel inclined. We read every single message and love feedback. Review

About Ayush Jaiswal:My next guest on The One Percent Project is the young and dynamic founder of Pesto Tech- Ayush Jaiswal. This is an intriguing conversation with Ayush who is on a mission to give everyone equal access to opportunity.In this chat we explore how his personal background of coming from a 2 tier city and early professional hustle helped him find purpose, value time and build a business with impact.We talked about:Ayush’s background and early lifeWhat do Time and Purpose mean to Ayush?Growth and Future of Pesto TechHis three learnings from building Pesto Tech and observing other start-upsBuilding a company cultureHow should someone from Tier 2 or 3 be thinking of starting a business todayRapid Fire:The toughest thing about your job?DelegationOne book or a blog that has influenced you personally, as well as professionally?paulgraham.comThree ways to support the podcast:#1 Share the episode with family and friends on social media with #OnePercentProj using the share button on the site.#2 Take a few seconds to give us a rating on Apple Podcasts. This helps new folks find us organically. Rate#3 Leave a review if you feel inclined. We read every single message and love feedback. Review

About Victor Lang:My next guest on The One Percent Project is the co-founder and COO of Gini, Victor Lang. This interview is especially insightful and interesting for young startups because Victor shares how within 4 years of Gini’s existence they have been able to build a network of 3000 banks in 60 countries with a small team based in HK through afflictions and partnerships and consumer adoption through word of mouth marketing.Victor also shares his insights on businesses he built previously and how he managed a successful exit after going insolvent 3 times.We talked about:His careerHow they have built their network of banks in 60 countriesHow they moved from spending money on Social Media marketing to Word of Mouth marketingWhat is product market fit and how do gauge itHow can young start-ups build and scale in such a competitive environment where Tech Giants and Incumbents are playing in the same fieldHow his previous biotech business went insolvent  three times before being acquired

About Vikram Chandra:My next guest on The One Percent Project is the world-renowned author, professor and tech entrepreneur Vikram Chandra.  His first book Red Earth and Pouring Rain, published in 1995 was received with outstanding critical acclaim. It won the Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best First Book and the David Higham Prize for Fiction. In 2006, he published Sacred Games,  which won the Hutch Crossword Award for English Fiction and a Salon Book Award. In 2016, Sacred Games was chosen by Netflix to be their first original series from India. Vikram has been teaching creative writing for 25+ years first at George Washington University and now at UC Berkley. He is the co-founder and CEO of Granthika Co., a  revolutionary software startup that is re-inventing writing and reading for the digital age. I enjoyed speaking to Vikram about his early life, his work and his entrepreneurial journey.Rapid Fire:Most favorite comic book.I have to say ‘Phantom’- ‘Vetal’Advice that you would like to give Arthur Doyle, Sherlock Holmes?Get more women in there.A book, blog, or an author other than you who you will highly recommend for creative writing?Book, that's a tough one. I actually have a list of like 12 books. I guess, you know, I would say... okay, probably I guess I would say the book that I recommend to everyone is Janet Burroway’s ‘Writing Fiction’. It's a wonderful craft book. Absolutely, it covers the field in a really clarify... I mean, a really clear way without dumbing it down.The hardest thing about your job?Well, actually writing every day. So, I have a friend. He's a colleague in the Department of English at Berkeley, Robert Hass, Bob Hass. He's a great American poet. And he has this... this lines that he says, “Writing is hell, but not writing is also hell. The only tolerable state is just having written.”Is there a third season of ‘Sacred Games’?The writer is the last one to know. So, unless there’ll be an answer, I won’t know. And if I knew, I couldn't tell you because they will send their ninjas after me.

About Jayant Sinha:On the momentous occasion of India’s 73rd independence day, I have with me a very special guest on The One Percent Project, Mr Jayant Sinha, Member of Indian Parliament and former Minister of state of finance & civill aviation government of India.  Mr Sinha is alumni of some of the most prestigious universities across the world, the Indian Institute of Technology, the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard Business School. He had a remarkable corporate career prior to joining politics, from heading the global IT practise at McKinsey to impact investing at Courage Capital and Omidyar Network.We talked about:His early life and career;How his education and corporate experience has helped him with good governance;His views on grass-root entrepreneurship and if migrant workers will become the new micro-entrepreneurs;The recent success of Jio in attracting foreign capital;How governments need to plan for the future based on the learnings of COVID-19;  And finally, his vision for India and its youthRapid Fire:A book or a blog that has influenced your work and personal life.Lord of the Rings.The hardest thing about your job.Making sure that I have enough time for my family as well.What do you know that you didn't know before you joined politics?How hard you have to work as a member of parliament.Three ways to support the podcast#1 Share the episode with family and friends on social media with #OnePercentProj using the share button on the site.#2 Take a few seconds to give us a rating on Apple Podcasts. This helps new folks find us organically. Rate#3 Leave a review if you feel inclined. We read every single message and love feedback. Review

About Utsav Somani:My next guest on The One Percent Project is the young and brilliant head of AngelList India Utsav Somani. Utsav talks about his early career, his mentor and AngelList co-founder Naval Ravikant, the evolution of the Indian start-up investment space, building AngelList India, and his view on COVID and its impact. Thank you to all our listeners for their feedback and questions, especially to Varun, Mahesh, Ashish and Aakriti for questions Utsav has answered in this conversation.Our Conversation:His early career and learnings of India and Start-up Investment Ecosystem.Naval Ravikant his mentor and building AngelList India.Setting up a Micro fund and learning from investments thus far. Need for EquityList- AngelList’s- Equity Management System for Indian companies.His view on COVID and its impact.How to grow and add value in a market with similar investment eco-systems.The growth potential of Indian Cryptocurrency start-ups?