

Startup Project: Build the future
Nataraj
Conversations with founders, operators and investors who are building the future. Listen to find the stories, ideas, tactics & investments behind the products that will define the future of technology.
https://startupproject.substack.com/
https://startupproject.substack.com/
Episodes
Mentioned books

Feb 20, 2023 • 45min
#30: Jacob Colker - Co-Managing Director AI2 Incubator
To stay up to date checkout thestartupproject.io & follow us on twitter: @natarajsindam
In this episode of Startup Project Nataraj spoke to Jacob Colker - Co-Managing Director AI2 Incubator.
Inaugurated five years ago by the late Paul Allen and Professor Oren Etzioni, the commercialization arm of the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence was tasked with creating an incubator program for the brightest minds in AI to launch the next wave of technology companies that would change the world. Jacob Colker, Vu Ha, and Bryan Hale were tasked to fulfill this mandate.
Full conversation includes:
Origin story of Allen Institute Incubator
Hype in AI
Will LLM's disrupt search business model
AI effects on knowledge work
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Past guests of Startup Project podcast include Ali Moiz (stonks.com), Kirby Winfield (Ascend.vc), Eric Bahn (Hustle Fund), and others.

Jan 29, 2023 • 41min
#29: Jacques Fu - Co-founder at Stax, Author of "Time Hacks"
To stay up to date checkout thestartupproject.io & follow us on twitter: @natarajsindam
In this episode of Startup Project Nataraj spoke to Jacques Fu Co-founder at Stax, Author of "Time Hacks".
Stax is an all-in-one payment solution for small business. Stax has raised $245 million in fresh funding, taking its valuation up to $1 billion. The investment saw participation from Greater Sum Ventures (GSV), HarbourVest Partners and Blue Star Innovation Partners, all of which will serve as strategic partners to Stax.
Full conversation includes:
Journey of Stax
Opportunities in Fintech
Crypto
Angel Investing
Time Hacks
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Past guests of Startup Project podcast include Ali Moiz (stonks.com), Kirby Winfield (Ascend.vc), Eric Bahn (Hustle Fund), and others.

Dec 14, 2022 • 28sec
Google Got Chat Right 10 Years Back, But Didn't Know (TSP Insights)
Google started and ended about 5 chat application in last 10 years, but the best chat application was already made by them before every one else. It was GTalk!
To stay up to date checkout thestartupproject.io & follow us on twitter: @natarajsindam

Dec 7, 2022 • 55sec
Netflix No Longer Controls the Streaming Story (TSP Insights)
Netflix for long dictated the streaming story, they set the narrative that other media companies scrambled to follow. But all that is changed now.
To stay up to date checkout thestartupproject.io & follow us on twitter: @natarajsindam

Dec 3, 2022 • 48min
#28: Build In Public or Not? w/ KP
In this episode of Startup Project we spoke to KP, Build In Public guy on Twitter.
Full conversation includes:
What is Build In Public?
Cornering Keywords on Internet
The Good, Bad & Ugly of Build In Public
& more.
To stay up to date checkout thestartupproject.io & follow us on twitter: @natarajsindam
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Past guests of Startup Project podcast include Chris Devore (Investor in Remitly, Auth0 & Outreach), Ali Moiz (stonks.com), Kirby Winfield (Ascend.vc), Eric Bahn (Hustle Fund), Todd Bishop (geekwire.com) and others.

Oct 24, 2022 • 50sec
Venture Fund is a Startup (TSP Insights)
To stay up to date checkout thestartupproject.io & follow us on twitter: @natarajsindam
Launching a, a venture fund is not for the faint of heart, uh, and it is very much a startup activity.
Geoff Harris & Nataraj talk about the challenges of launching a venture fund. Geoff spent 15 years at Microsoft in engineering leadership and executive leadership positions. His career at Microsoft began in digital media where he ran the Windows Media Player team.
Full conversation includes is available here and includes:
Developing Natural language processing at Microsoft
Angel investing to raising a fund
Core insight behind Flying Fish
AI Use cases for future
Web3 & Venture
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Past guests of Startup Project podcast include Ali Moiz (stonks.com), Kirby Winfield (Ascend.vc), Eric Bahn (Hustle Fund), and others.

Oct 1, 2022 • 32min
#27 Geoff Harris: Managing Partner Flying Fish VC
In this episode of Startup Project we spoke to Geoff Harris, Managing Partner Flying Fish VC. Flying Fish is a thesis driven fund focused on Al/ML.
Geoff Harris spent 15 years at Microsoft in engineering leadership and executive leadership positions. His career at Microsoft began in digital media where he ran the Windows Media Player team.
Full conversation includes:
Developing Natural language processing at Microsoft
Angel investing to raising a fund
Core insight behind Flying Fish
AI Use cases for future
Web3 & Venture
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Past guests of Startup Project podcast include Ali Moiz (stonks.com), Kirby Winfield (Ascend.vc), Eric Bahn (Hustle Fund), and others.
To stay up to date checkout thestartupproject.io & follow us on twitter: @natarajsindam

Sep 19, 2022 • 45sec
NFTs in Games? (Bonus Clip)
What problems are NFTs solving in games, Liron & Nataraj (twitter.com/natarajsindam) discuss.
Liron Shapira is known as the guy who write twitter threads about web3 use cases including Axie Infinity & Helium.
But before becoming twitter famous, he is also a founder & angel investor and currently runs a YC backed startup called Relationship Hero.
The irony in his angel investments is he made life changing money by investing in Coinbase which was a 500x return on his investment.
Full conversation includes:
Failure with Quixey (50M+ Series C)
Relationship Hero (YC Backed)
Seed Investment in $COIN (listen for exit multiple)
Investing in Russian Bonds
Web3 Use cases (cross border payments, helium, NFTs in gaming, Uber on Web3, Identity)
Nataraj is a PM at Azure, investor & host of thestartupproject.io podcast. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/natarajsindam.
Full conversation Link: https://thestartupproject.io/2022/08/05/24-liron-shapira-web3-critique-founder-early-investor-in-coinbase/

Sep 11, 2022 • 2min
Democratizing Education (Bonus Clip)
Nataraj & Eric (Hustle Fund) talk about how an Indian company BYJU's despite its flaws is helping democratizing education.
For Full conversation with Eric check out Episode 21 of Startup Project. https://open.spotify.com/episode/5ceRBSjtTP8ROl8nR9AoT0?si=bf937a7778d24236

Sep 5, 2022 • 39min
#26 Mohan Belani: Co-Founder of E27.co
Todays guest is Mohan Belani the co-founder of E27.co. E27 is tech publication covering SEA startups.
Full conversation includes:
Origins of e27
Startups in SEA (Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia & Vietnam)
Businesses model of e27
Events business
Angel investing and starting seed stage fund
YC effect in SEA startups
Starting a Seed Fund
& many more
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Past guests of Startup Project podcast include Ali Moiz (stonks.com), Kirby Winfield (Ascend.vc), Eric Bahn (Hustle Fund), and many more.
To stay up to date checkout thestartupproject.io & follow us on twitter: @natarajsindam
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