Steven Puri and Sukha - Episode 47

Software engineer to Hollywood powerhouse and back to software.Raised $21M to fund startups and was a senior executive in Hollywood studios. Independence Day, Transformers 1/2, Star Trek, Eagle Eye, Wolverine, etc - all movies where Steven's teams contributed to special effects. The man has worked with legends (and he has a great sense of humor).We talked engineering, Office Space, leadership, and a few movie insights :-)‬‭ Steven is the Founder and CEO of The Sukha Company with the mission to help millions of‬‭ people find their focus, achieve more and have a healthy work life.‬‭Steven's career started as a newscaster/interviewer for the #1 youth news show in the‬‭ DC/Baltimore market (on WTTG-TV) and then as a junior software engineer & Thomas J.‬‭ Watson Scholar at IBM.After attending USC in Los Angeles, he began working in film‬‭ production and produced computer-generated visual effects for 14 movies including‬‭ Independence Day which won the Academy Award for Visual Effects.‬‭Steven’s first tech company was Centropolis Effects that produced those CGI effects, and he‬‭ eventually sold it to the German media conglomerate Das Werk when he was 28.‬‭Steven then produced some indie films and eventually went studio-side to develop and produce‬‭ live-action features as a VP of Development & Production at 20th Century Fox (running the Die‬‭ Hard and Wolverine franchises) and an EVP at DreamWorks Pictures for Kurtzman-Orci‬‭ Productions where he worked on Star Trek, Transformers and more.‬‭After Fox, Steven returned to building tech companies and founded The Sukha Company -‭‘sukha’ means ‘happiness from self-fulfillment’ in Sanskrit. The Sukha is a focus app that‬‭ bundles all the tools necessary to have a focused experience and a healthy, productive‬‭ workday.‬‭Steven lives in Austin, TX now.‬‬