Wharton Tech Toks

"To maintain your position as a market leader in the tech space means that you have to constantly innovate...you can't rest on your laurels. So we have to constantly push the envelope in what we do in this space. What we've been doing is really being a tech partner for educators and school systems... we have many educators in our app and many schools want that help. They want to understand what can they do with all these AI [tools] and it's changing every day... so [we're] pairing [up] with schools to help them deploy AI safely in the classroom and evolve their coursework, homework, and assessment... and we're very glad to be the partner in all this." Join Sophie Wang for an interview with Dr. Minh Tran, Vice President of Operations at Goodnotes, as they delve into the transformative journey of this beloved note-taking app. Minh reveals how Goodnotes is turning its visionary ideas into reality, empowering students, professionals, and educators alike with innovative AI tools and a dedication to serving as a thought leader in the field. Minh also offers invaluable advice on navigating the entrepreneurial landscape, drawing from his own rich career path.

“It ends up being about: is this truly a venture investable business? You need to be in a massive market and have the ability to scale quickly…the company should grow with speed and accelerate.”  Join Manasi Patwa in her conversation with Arjun Arora, Founder and Managing Partner at Format One, where he advises transformational companies on their growth strategies through hands-on and impactful collaboration. Prior to starting FormatOne, Arjun was a Partner at 500 Startups, where he invested in technology companies at the pre-seed and seed stages.  In this interview, Manasi and Arjun discuss valuable tips for founders at the earliest stages of their journeys, common challenges faced by entrepreneurs and ways to address them, and what tech investors look for as differentiators of success.

"We don't always need an AI person [to] come up with a new transformer-like model, but we do need people who have a good intuition on understanding where these models do well and where these models can fail." In this episode, Cynthia and Leon interviewed Dr. Kanu Gulati, partner at Khosla Ventures. Kanu started her career as a research scientist at Intel, was a founding engineer at a number of early start-ups, and has since been investing at the forefront of AI/ML applications, robotics and hardware acceleration. In this episode, we talked about how Khosla Ventures became one of the earliest backers of OpenAI, Kanu's investment thesis in AI and Robotics, and what traits she looks for in founders. Whether you're an aspiring entrepreneur, an investor, or just intrigued by the rapid advancements in AI, tune into this episode to learn more!

“On the sustainability side, [we’re] helping our members understand the benefits and positive impact they’re having… How much are they able to reduce their carbon footprint? How much waste is diverted from landfills by shopping from our platform?... Being able to present that information is critical to helping [customers] feel good about their membership and really helps provide value that goes beyond the boring utility of grocery shopping.” This week, Leon and Zoë are joined by Sasha Siddhartha, the Co-Founder and CTO of Thrive Market, a membership-based market that makes high-quality, healthy, and sustainable products available for every budget, lifestyle, and geography. Prior to Thrive Market, Sasha began his career as an engineering leader at Microsoft before founding  a venture-backed fashion technology company. In this episode, Sasha explains Thrive Market’s approach to building mission-driven, highly personalized, customer experiences. Tune in to learn how Thrive Market weaves their key values into every aspect of a scalable business model.

“It’s alot of reacting to the situation, but we don’t run these companies. I think that as a minority investor you have to have the mentality that you backed a set of entrepreneurs to do it, and you have to coach them and support them as best as you can, but you can’t run the company.” In today’s episode, Cynthia and Zoë welcome Wharton alumni Charles Birnbaum to the podcast. After beginning his career on Wall Street, Charles moved into the venture capital space. As a partner at Bessemer Venture Partners, he invests in early stage fintech, consumer and education companies including Alloy and Brightwheel. Listen in to learn more about Charles’s experience breaking into venture capital, major industry trends, and advice for investor-founder relationship management.

“Space Traffic Management is not just about avoiding collisions, it’s about ensuring the sustainability of space for future generations.” In this podcast episode, Emma Robinson converses with Araz Feyzi, co-founder and CTO of Kahan Space. They discuss the critical issue of space traffic coordination, highlighting Kahan's pioneering Pathfinder platform for automated space traffic management. Feyzi delves into the challenges of avoiding orbital debris and satellite collisions, emphasizing the importance of data sharing and international cooperation in space sustainability. The episode also explores Feyzi's journey from a non-space background to a key player in the industry, offering insights into the broader potential and challenges of the rapidly evolving space sector.

"When you go out to raise...you have to think about if you have a story to tell...think like an investor. Why are you the best person to solve this?" Join Manasi Patwa and Cynthia Zhou as they chat with Vivien Ho, Partner at Pear VC (Wharton '21). Listen to dive into the world of early-stage investing, tips for founders and entrepreneurs, and insights on the tech sphere as it stands today.

Learn in this episode from Muhammad Shahzad, CFO of Relativity Space. With a valuation of over $4B, Relativity is one of the few companies positioned to challenge SpaceX. "Our long-term goal, and as audacious as those sounds, is to create humanity's industrial base on Mars." Emma Robinson and Shahzad delve into financial strategy and risk in a capital intensive industry with some of the longest time horizons, Relativity’s unique position, and his journey from Wharton to leading the financial helm of a groundbreaking space venture.

“We were the last ones in the market by years… and yet our investors have an unrealized IRR that is significantly better than anyone else’s” Join Emma Robinson as she dives into conversation with Gabe Dominocielo, co-founder and president of Umbra Space. Discover how Umbra's innovative technology is reshaping our view from space, offering unprecedented clarity and detail. Learn about their unique business strategy that prioritizes quality and affordability, setting a new standard in the industry and democratizing access to earth imagery.

"To be a great investor, you need to be deeply curious...you need to be great at operating in ambiguity. Show your ability to drive to an outcome. And it's very important to have that empathy or EQ." Join Manasi Patwa and Cynthia Zhou in a conversation with Meera Clark, Principal at Redpoint Ventures. Listen to learn about Meera's remarkable career journey in the investing world, her view on key drivers in the tech-enabled sustainability and wellness sectors, and advice to founders and investors hoping to make an impact.