The Aarthi and Sriram Show

The one where our show becomes the Aarthi, Sriram and Anil show? Sriram and Aarthi are joined by Anil Varanasi, the CEO and co-founder of Meter, the company building networking hardware. In this wide-ranging conversation, Anil shares his fascinating journey from his and his brother’s unconventional upbringing, his ability to find and fund talent early, to building Meter, including stories of sleeping in Chinese factories and why Meter is building AI models. And then, the tables turn and Anil asks the hosts some great questions. Enjoy!

Sriram and Aarthi are joined by Gokul Rajaram who is a Silicon Valley icon. Gokul has done it all - founder, angel investor, executive at the best of the best technology companies such as Facebook and Google, and best of all, a good friend and guide to Aarthi and Sriram during their career inflection points. We covered everything from Paul Graham’s famous essay on Founder Mode, Gokul’s experience working with Mark Zuckerberg and Larry and Sergey, his hot takes on AI startups, and the current fundraising climate.

Rio Ferdinand is a football legend who spent over a decade playing for Manchester United and was a cornerstone of the England national team. With six Premier League titles, two League Cups, and a UEFA Champions League trophy under his belt, Rio is no stranger to the highs and pressures of elite football. He joined Sriram and Aarthi for a deep dive into the trials and tribulations of a career in competitive sports, the mental and physical demands of playing for one of the world’s most prestigious clubs, and the new wave of young athletes rising to stardom. From his experiences with legends like Sir Alex Ferguson to his thoughts on modern football, Rio shares what it takes to truly be the greatest, not just in sports, but in life.

Show Notes:

(0:00) Intro

(2:03) The English experience during the Euros

(3:21) What’s it going to take for England to bring it home

(7:19) Jude Bellingham is different

(9:23) What separates young prodigies that make it vs. those that don’t

(12:01) The all-timers are not normal

(15:17) Underdog mentality and fighting for recognition

(17:13) Handling the pressure of playing for Man Utd

(19:18) Rio rewatches the 2008 UCL Final

(21:06) Rio learned this while playing for Sir Alex

(21:38) How Sir Alex managed the egos of the best players

(28:17) A great team needs experienced players

(30:43) Mbappe’s challenge ingraining to Real Madrid

(34:06) Parallels between sports and tech

(38:06) Tech CEOs and founders are receptive to Rio’s opinions

(40:39) Clubs still need to improve how to connect with fans

(41:23) Ted Lasso and Rio’s new show

(42:10) Ronaldo smashes YouTube records

(42:48) Ryan Reynolds and Wrexham are modeling the way for football clubs

(48:17) Changing the conversation around mental health in sports

(54:52) Rio’s penalty-taking strategies

(57:40) How Rio would fix Man Utd

(59:33) Biggest lesson from running a restaurant

(1:00:47) Rio defends ballet

(1:01:59) Meeting a young Drake at Old Trafford

Other episodes you might enjoy:

EP 63 - Lessons From Networking In Silicon Valley

EP 59 - Why We Moved to London, The Elon Musk Book, Should You Get An MBA

Follow Sriram:

https://www.instagram.com/sriramk/

https://twitter.com/sriramk

Follow Aarthi:

https://www.instagram.com/aarthir/

https://twitter.com/aarthir

Follow the podcast:

https://www.instagram.com/aarthiandsriramshow/

https://twitter.com/aarthisrirampod

A math undergraduate from the University of Waterloo, Hudhayfa Nazoordeen, constructed a miniature fusion reactor, known as a fusor, in his bedroom. He completed the project over several weeks, utilizing the Claude 3.5 Sonnet AI assistant from Anthropic, which he provided with relevant data. In a series of tweets, he detailed the entire process of building the reactor from start to finish.

Show notes:

(00:00) This is an unusual episode

(01:20) Welcome HudZah to the show!

(01:35) Who is HudZah?

(02:35) Using AI tools natively

(03:49) Using Claude to build an MVP in one minute - Page Summarizer project as an example

(05:12) What is a nuclear fusor?

(06:10) Does Hudzah have any prior knowledge to build a nuclear fusor?

(07:10) Why build a nuclear fusor in your dorm room?

(08:40) Using Claude to build the nuclear fusor

(11:18) Week to week progress

(13:50) Is building a nuclear fusor safe? 3 ways to die!

(16:00) Why use Claude Sonnet? Power of Projects in Claude.

(18:50) Trusting your AI model and why is it ok

(20:40) Feature requests for Claude

(21:45) What’s next in the process to build a fusor?

(22:50) How are people reacting?

(23:10) Tyler, if you’re watching, please fund Hudzah!

(24:40) How are people using AI tools natively?

(28:48) Learning from kids

Other episodes you might enjoy:

EP 74 - How To Fix Google's WOKE AI Disaster

EP 63 - Lessons From Networking In Silicon Valley

EP 59 - Why We Moved to London, The Elon Musk Book, Should You Get An MBA

Follow Sriram:

https://www.instagram.com/sriramk/

https://twitter.com/sriramk

Follow Aarthi:

https://www.instagram.com/aarthir/

https://twitter.com/aarthir

Follow the podcast:

https://www.instagram.com/aarthiandsriramshow/

https://twitter.com/aarthisrirampod