Warm Intro

Thomas Percy Kim is a 25-year-old filmmaker who's already won critical acclaim at Sundance, been selected for the Oscars, and raised $1.6 million from retail investors to fund his feature film. But here's what makes him different: he didn't wait for permission. When he wanted to make a stop-motion film in high school, he taught himself. When he wanted a name actor, he cold-emailed agents. When studios wouldn't fund his vision, he went straight to his community.What emerges is a conversation about the immigrant experience, the difference between chasing badges and doing the work, and what it actually means to be obsessed with something. Thomas grew up as the only Korean-American kid in a predominantly white Massachusetts town, arrived at USC film school with a clear mission to become a director (and then skipped most of his required classes to do exactly that), and has spent the last decade proving a simple thesis: you don't have to wait for the gatekeepers to let you in.Join us for a wide-ranging conversation about being named after Thomas the Tank Engine, what changed when he first saw a room full of successful Korean-Americans his age, why film school actively discourages you from becoming a director, how to raise money by proving competence in small steps, the difference between wanting badges and doing the work, what makes a film actually move people, and what he hopes someone will feel when they watch a film made about his life.Warm IntroA conversation, not an interview. Warm, sometimes weird, conversations with interesting people doing big things. Warm Intro is a video podcast. We're available on every major podcast app and YouTube.YouTube: @warmintroInstagram: @warm.introHosted by Chai MishraChai is the Founder of The Essential, an ethical commerce company funded by the leading lights of Silicon Valley.Chai served on the board of UNICEF, and has advised cities, universities, national sports teams and Fortune 500 corporations. A Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree, Chai’s work has also been covered in publications ranging from the SF Chronicle to Business Insider.Presented by WefunderWefunder created The Community Round.— allowing founders to raise funds directly from their communities  — allowing anyone to support their favorite founders and join their success.Raise on WefunderViews here are those of the host and the guest. Wefunder makes the show possible but doesn't control who we have on or what we say.

Isabella Sun gave up a job on Wall street to solve fashion’s fit problem — one hiding in plain sight — nearly half of American women are 5'4" or under, yet almost nothing is made to fit them.With no fashion background whatsoever, Isabella founded Short Story — a personal styling service for petite women — out of her apartment in 2019. She packed boxes until 3 AM, ran to the post office so often her doorman thought she was losing it, and got into Y Combinator that first summer. Today, Short Story has dressed hundreds of thousands of women.In this cathartic conversation, we talk about growing up in a family of founders, the many horrors of running an ecommerce company, why the fashion industry ignored petite women for so long, and what it actually means when a piece of clothing fits you for the first time.Warm IntroA conversation, not an interview. Warm, sometimes weird, conversations with interesting people doing big things. Warm Intro is a video podcast. We're available on every major podcast app and YouTube.YouTube: @warmintroInstagram: @warm.introHosted by Chai MishraChai is the Founder of The Essential, an ethical commerce company funded by the leading lights of Silicon Valley.Chai served on the board of UNICEF, and has advised cities, universities, national sports teams and Fortune 500 corporations. A Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree, Chai’s work has also been covered in publications ranging from the SF Chronicle to Business Insider.Presented by WefunderWefunder created The Community Round.— allowing founders to raise funds directly from their communities  — allowing anyone to support their favorite founders and join their success.Raise on WefunderViews here are those of the host and the guest. Wefunder makes the show possible but doesn't control who we have on or what we say.

Windy Chien is one of San Francisco's greatest living artists. But that's just her most recent life.In a previous life, Windy owned San Francisco's coolest record store, Aquarius Records. In yet another, she was on the original iTunes team, building the way we all now experience music. Today, as the undisputed queen of knots, her work proudly hangs everywhere from the MoMa to Google's HQ. Her path here took her through every possible complication in the line.Join us for a rich conversation about what it feels like to call yourself an artist, Steve Jobs' motorcycle, the zen of art and the best Cambodian Beatles cover bands.Warm IntroA conversation, not an interview. Warm, sometimes weird, conversations with interesting people doing big things. Warm Intro is a video podcast. We're available on every major podcast app and YouTube.YouTube: @warmintroInstagram: @warm.introHosted by Chai MishraChai is the Founder of The Essential, an ethical commerce company funded by the leading lights of Silicon Valley.Chai served on the board of UNICEF, and has advised cities, universities, national sports teams and Fortune 500 corporations. A Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree, Chai’s work has also been covered in publications ranging from the SF Chronicle to Business Insider.Presented by WefunderWefunder created The Community Round.— allowing founders to raise funds directly from their communities  — allowing anyone to support their favorite founders and join their success.Raise on WefunderViews here are those of the host and the guest. Wefunder makes the show possible but doesn't control who we have on or what we say.

Professor Purushottama Billimoria is a philosopher, historian, and one of the people most responsible for getting the world of philosophy to take Indian and Eastern thought seriously, not as spirituality or religious studies, but as philosophy proper. He's also my former professor and friend. Join us for a deeply human conversation about philosophy, the corrupting power of wealth, the Parsi Diaspora, and Bob Dylan.Warm IntroA conversation, not an interview. Warm, sometimes weird, conversations with interesting people doing big things. Warm Intro is a video podcast. We're available on every major podcast app and YouTube.YouTube: @warmintroInstagram: @warm.introHosted by Chai MishraChai is the Founder of The Essential, an ethical commerce company funded by the leading lights of Silicon Valley.Chai served on the board of UNICEF, and has advised cities, universities, national sports teams and Fortune 500 corporations. A Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree, Chai’s work has also been covered in publications ranging from the SF Chronicle to Business Insider.Presented by WefunderWefunder created The Community Round.— allowing founders to raise funds directly from their communities  — allowing anyone to support their favorite founders and join their success.Raise on WefunderViews here are those of the host and the guest. Wefunder makes the show possible but doesn't control who we have on or what we say.

Connie Chan is running for the most important house seat in the country. Her path here has been unlike anyone else's.Connie is an immigrant and a daughter of San Francisco's Chinatown. She rose through the ranks of its city government, eventually coming to represent a large portion of it. She's a proud progressive from a very proudly progressive city, now in a race for mainstream power.Join us for sentimental conversation about how Connie got her name, what went wrong in San Francisco and Chai's question that made Connie pause.0:07 Chai's Warm Intro to Connie1:50 Origin of her name3:29 Moving to the US at 134:50 First time in San Francisco6:30 SF Chinatown7:15 Connie's childhood hero8:43 Starting out as a translator14:19 How Connie won her campaigns17:30 Connie's view of SF politics20:02 Connie's district 121:20 Daughter of Chinatown22:50 Immigrant civil rights movement27:54 Why run for Congress29:26 What makes a good campaigner37:02 Debate with Saikat Chakrabarti and Scott Wiener38:40 SF's problems44:42 Loss of civic pride in SF48:10 SF is the future49:28 Role of SF's Congresswoman53:44 What to say to 13 yo Connie54:45 Name after Connie ChanWarm IntroA conversation, not an interview. Warm, sometimes weird, conversations with interesting people doing big things. Warm Intro is a video podcast. We're available on every major podcast app and YouTube.YouTube: @warmintroInstagram: @warm.introHosted by Chai MishraChai is the Founder of The Essential, an ethical commerce company funded by the leading lights of Silicon Valley.Chai served on the board of UNICEF, and has advised cities, universities, national sports teams and Fortune 500 corporations. A Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree, Chai’s work has also been covered in publications ranging from the SF Chronicle to Business Insider.Presented by WefunderWefunder created The Community Round.— allowing founders to raise funds directly from their communities  — allowing anyone to support their favorite founders and join their success.Raise on WefunderViews here are those of the host and the guest. Wefunder makes the show possible but doesn't control who we have on or what we say.

Noor Siddiqui is building technology that people call "designer babies"—and she's thought more carefully about the ethics than most of her critics. At 16, she decided she wanted to screen embryos for genetic disease. Today, as founder of Orchid, she does exactly that: scanning the full genome of IVF embryos to identify thousands of genetic risks, letting parents make more informed choices about which embryo to transfer. The result has divided the tech world, the medical world, and honestly, everyone in between.What started as a personal mission—sparked by her mother's diagnosis with retinitis pigmentosa and the realization that genetic screening could prevent catastrophic outcomes like stillbirth and infant death—has become one of biotech's most polarizing frontiers. Orchid has helped hundreds of thousands of families, yet the company faces fierce pushback from people who see technology touching birth as inherently wrong. Siddiqui doesn't dismiss that discomfort; she engages with it, and she's surprisingly sympathetic to the concerns that matter most.Join us for a searching conversation about what it means to grow up loved unconditionally, how a pole-vaulting face-plant teaches you to fail productively, why she's spent nearly two decades thinking about embryo screening, which criticisms of her field actually cut deep, the stranger at a party who told her she saved his life, and what legacy really means when you're hoping to someday just be a grandmother.0:00 Chai's warm intro to Noor1:40 Parents’ unconditional love7:35 Chai’s thoughts on parenting8:16 Noor’s childhood12:29 Orchid was always the goal18:46 What’s Orchid and why?25:30 Early Users and Haters30:52 Criticism that Noor understands34:35 Orchid’s accidental life changing storyWarm IntroA conversation, not an interview. Warm, sometimes weird, conversations with interesting people doing big things. Warm Intro is a video podcast. We're available on every major podcast app and YouTube.YouTube: @warmintroInstagram: @warm.introHosted by Chai MishraChai is the Founder of The Essential, an ethical commerce company funded by the leading lights of Silicon Valley.Chai served on the board of UNICEF, and has advised cities, universities, national sports teams and Fortune 500 corporations. A Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree, Chai’s work has also been covered in publications ranging from the SF Chronicle to Business Insider.Presented by WefunderWefunder created The Community Round.— allowing founders to raise funds directly from their communities  — allowing anyone to support their favorite founders and join their success.Raise on WefunderViews here are those of the host and the guest. Wefunder makes the show possible but doesn't control who we have on or what we say.

Jack Kuveke is a spitting image of the disgraced CEO Adam Neumann. At 20, he ran a 50 million dollar crypto fund in Belgrade, Serbia. His meme factory is called Jabroni Capital. All of this and almost everything else about Jack is objectively hilarious.Jack is an absurd man who has had an absurd career in an absurd industry. This has given him the ability to ridicule tech and finance better than anyone else. He sincerely roasts CEOs, he ironically broetry praising Elizabeth Holmes and his fake VC firm can’t invest in you “because you’re too early”. He does all of this on the most unintentionally funny platform, Linkedin.Join us for a ridiculous conversation about how Jack made a career posting memes, why Peter Thiel is so worried about the anti-christ, and why VCs and CEOs (including Chai) love getting roasted by Jack.Warm IntroA conversation, not an interview. Warm, sometimes weird, conversations with interesting people doing big things. Warm Intro is a video podcast. We're available on every major podcast app and YouTube.YouTube: @warmintroInstagram: @warm.introHosted by Chai MishraChai is the Founder of The Essential, an ethical commerce company funded by the leading lights of Silicon Valley.Chai served on the board of UNICEF, and has advised cities, universities, national sports teams and Fortune 500 corporations. A Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree, Chai’s work has also been covered in publications ranging from the SF Chronicle to Business Insider.Presented by WefunderWefunder created The Community Round.— allowing founders to raise funds directly from their communities  — allowing anyone to support their favorite founders and join their success.Raise on WefunderViews here are those of the host and the guest. Wefunder makes the show possible but doesn't control who we have on or what we say.

Sidra Qasim created the internet’s favorite sneaker. In getting there, she has lived a life that no one could have predicted.Born and raised in rural Pakistan, Sidra clawed her way out of a system that afforded her no opportunities. Through sheer will, she made it to America and started a company that no one believed she could run.But now, at 39, Sidra is the founder CEO of Atoms — notoriously the world’s most comfortable sneaker brand, with over 1,000,000 pairs sold, worn by celebrities from Malala to Marques Brownlee, funded by Silicon Valley’s greatest minds.Join us for a deeply sentimental conversation about what true courage looks like, how things go viral, and how just about every founder deals with depression at one point.Warm IntroA conversation, not an interview. Warm, sometimes weird, conversations with interesting people doing big things. Warm Intro is a video podcast. We're available on every major podcast app and YouTube.YouTube: @warmintroInstagram: @warm.introHosted by Chai MishraChai is the Founder of The Essential, an ethical commerce company funded by the leading lights of Silicon Valley.Chai served on the board of UNICEF, and has advised cities, universities, national sports teams and Fortune 500 corporations. A Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree, Chai’s work has also been covered in publications ranging from the SF Chronicle to Business Insider.Presented by WefunderWefunder created The Community Round.— allowing founders to raise funds directly from their communities  — allowing anyone to support their favorite founders and join their success.Raise on WefunderViews here are those of the host and the guest. Wefunder makes the show possible but doesn't control who we have on or what we say.

Sebastian Fischer is a different kind of Silicon Valley engineer. He’s not a coder. He builds physical objects that move fast, blow up and generally bring about shock and awe. Sebastian started by building tiny rockets in his parents' backyard with his little brother. But those rockets eventually took him to NASA, Lockheed Martin, Amazon Prime Air and Cruise Self Driving. Now, he's onto his most wildest project yet, Wardstone — building satellites that detect missiles and shoot them down before they reach America. Join us for a fast-moving conversation about the ethics of building defense tech, whether America’s military is falling behind, what happens if we get lose the threat mutually-assured-destruction and the tiny California town that's building the future of war. Warm IntroA conversation, not an interview. Warm, sometimes weird, conversations with interesting people doing big things. Warm Intro is a video podcast. We're available on every major podcast app and YouTube.YouTube: @warmintroInstagram: @warm.introHosted by Chai MishraChai is the Founder of The Essential, an ethical commerce company funded by the leading lights of Silicon Valley.Chai served on the board of UNICEF, and has advised cities, universities, national sports teams and Fortune 500 corporations. A Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree, Chai’s work has also been covered in publications ranging from the SF Chronicle to Business Insider.Presented by WefunderWefunder created The Community Round.— allowing founders to raise funds directly from their communities  — allowing anyone to support their favorite founders and join their success.Raise on WefunderViews here are those of the host and the guest. Wefunder makes the show possible but doesn't control who we have on or what we say.

Skyler Chan wants to make humanity intergalactic and he's not entirely sure why anyone would want to work on anything else. At 22, Skyler has already lived a life. He flew airplanes with the Canadian Air Force, started a company, worked at Tesla, NASA and every major space organization, got into YC and had a dozen brushes with death all before he could legally drink. Now, he's sure. He knows what he wants to build: the first hotel on the moon. And that's just step one. Join us for a soaring conversation about why space is worth working on, the strange but common experience of being a 22 year old founder in SF and how Skyler wants to die.Warm IntroA conversation, not an interview. Warm, sometimes weird, conversations with interesting people doing big things. Warm Intro is a video podcast. We're available on every major podcast app and YouTube.YouTube: @warmintroInstagram: @warm.introHosted by Chai MishraChai is the Founder of The Essential, an ethical commerce company funded by the leading lights of Silicon Valley.Chai served on the board of UNICEF, and has advised cities, universities, national sports teams and Fortune 500 corporations. A Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree, Chai’s work has also been covered in publications ranging from the SF Chronicle to Business Insider.Presented by WefunderWefunder created The Community Round.— allowing founders to raise funds directly from their communities  — allowing anyone to support their favorite founders and join their success.Raise on WefunderViews here are those of the host and the guest. Wefunder makes the show possible but doesn't control who we have on or what we say.

A message from Chai.Warm IntroA conversation, not an interview. Warm, sometimes weird, conversations with interesting people doing big things. Warm Intro is a video podcast. We're available on every major podcast app and YouTube.YouTube: @warmintroInstagram: @warm.introHosted by Chai MishraChai is the Founder of The Essential, an ethical commerce company funded by the leading lights of Silicon Valley.Chai served on the board of UNICEF, and has advised cities, universities, national sports teams and Fortune 500 corporations. A Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree, Chai’s work has also been covered in publications ranging from the SF Chronicle to Business Insider.Presented by WefunderWefunder created The Community Round.— allowing founders to raise funds directly from their communities  — allowing anyone to support their favorite founders and join their success.Raise on WefunderViews here are those of the host and the guest. Wefunder makes the show possible but doesn't control who we have on or what we say.

Congressman Mike Lawler holds a seat that no other Republican had held since the year he was born (he is a 39-year-old Republican from deep-blue New York).The reason he was able to win — and keep — that seat is the same reason he's been ranked one of the most bipartisan members of Congress: he understands the assignment. He knows politics is about persuasion, not purity. It's about talking to people you disagree with and finding areas of agreement so you can make progress.Join us for our final conversation of the season about Americans' love of flipping off the president, the worst part of campaigning, whether bipartisanship is even a virtue worth aspiring to anymore, what President George W. Bush is proudest of, and why you shouldn’t give up on America just yet.Warm IntroA conversation, not an interview. Warm, sometimes weird, conversations with interesting people doing big things. Warm Intro is a video podcast. We're available on every major podcast app and YouTube.YouTube: @warmintroInstagram: @warm.introHosted by Chai MishraChai is the Founder of The Essential, an ethical commerce company funded by the leading lights of Silicon Valley.Chai served on the board of UNICEF, and has advised cities, universities, national sports teams and Fortune 500 corporations. A Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree, Chai’s work has also been covered in publications ranging from the SF Chronicle to Business Insider.Presented by WefunderWefunder created The Community Round.— allowing founders to raise funds directly from their communities  — allowing anyone to support their favorite founders and join their success.Raise on WefunderViews here are those of the host and the guest. Wefunder makes the show possible but doesn't control who we have on or what we say.

Matt Flannery’s work has uplifted over six million families across a hundred countries.That’s because Matt is one of the godfathers of microfinance. His creations, Kiva and Branch, have delivered billions of dollars in small loans to some of the most forgotten and overlooked people in the world.But Matt doesn’t see himself as a philanthropist. In fact, he’s pretty down on the concept of nonprofits altogether.Join us for a deeply honest conversation about Matt’s religious childhood, how he had over $8,000,000 stolen from him, how his board betrayed him, the strange magic of Bill Clinton, and why Matt keeps on going.Warm IntroA conversation, not an interview. Warm, sometimes weird, conversations with interesting people doing big things. Warm Intro is a video podcast. We're available on every major podcast app and YouTube.YouTube: @warmintroInstagram: @warm.introHosted by Chai MishraChai is the Founder of The Essential, an ethical commerce company funded by the leading lights of Silicon Valley.Chai served on the board of UNICEF, and has advised cities, universities, national sports teams and Fortune 500 corporations. A Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree, Chai’s work has also been covered in publications ranging from the SF Chronicle to Business Insider.Presented by WefunderWefunder created The Community Round.— allowing founders to raise funds directly from their communities  — allowing anyone to support their favorite founders and join their success.Raise on WefunderViews here are those of the host and the guest. Wefunder makes the show possible but doesn't control who we have on or what we say.

Nick Tommarello has probably helped fund more American founders than almost anyone alive.But Nick’s not a businessman — he’s a founder. That distinction matters a lot to him and it defines everything about him. See, Nick loves risk and he thrives on uncertainty and chaos. He’s good at helping founders because he literally can’t imagine having a regular job.Join us for a loose conversation about Nick’s childhood working at his dad’s nightclub, how his dad became a millionaire and went broke over and over, how Nick got congress and President Obama to sign a bill and what Nick wants his tombstone to read.Warm IntroA conversation, not an interview. Warm, sometimes weird, conversations with interesting people doing big things. Warm Intro is a video podcast. We're available on every major podcast app and YouTube.YouTube: @warmintroInstagram: @warm.introHosted by Chai MishraChai is the Founder of The Essential, an ethical commerce company funded by the leading lights of Silicon Valley.Chai served on the board of UNICEF, and has advised cities, universities, national sports teams and Fortune 500 corporations. A Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree, Chai’s work has also been covered in publications ranging from the SF Chronicle to Business Insider.Presented by WefunderWefunder created The Community Round.— allowing founders to raise funds directly from their communities  — allowing anyone to support their favorite founders and join their success.Raise on WefunderViews here are those of the host and the guest. Wefunder makes the show possible but doesn't control who we have on or what we say.

Ethan Agarwal is the youngest and strangest candidate running for Governor.Ethan’s not a politician, he’s a founder. And a very successful one. He grew his first company to $100M in revenue, and then sold it. He then raised $50M for a second company — which he then also sold in 2025Within months of that exit, he launched a run for governor as a proud capitalist and meritocrat (his words) to restore the entrepreneurial dream of California.Join us for a freewheelin’ conversation about how what went wrong in CA, Katie Porter’s mashed potato controversy,  how Ethan raised millions, and what it takes to succeed as a founder.Warm IntroA conversation, not an interview. Warm, sometimes weird, conversations with interesting people doing big things. Warm Intro is a video podcast. We're available on every major podcast app and YouTube.YouTube: @warmintroInstagram: @warm.introHosted by Chai MishraChai is the Founder of The Essential, an ethical commerce company funded by the leading lights of Silicon Valley.Chai served on the board of UNICEF, and has advised cities, universities, national sports teams and Fortune 500 corporations. A Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree, Chai’s work has also been covered in publications ranging from the SF Chronicle to Business Insider.Presented by WefunderWefunder created The Community Round.— allowing founders to raise funds directly from their communities  — allowing anyone to support their favorite founders and join their success.Raise on WefunderViews here are those of the host and the guest. Wefunder makes the show possible but doesn't control who we have on or what we say.

Todd Masonis makes the best chocolate in America—but he took an unexpected path to get there.Todd co-founded a startup with Sean Parker (yes, that Sean Parker from The Social Network). After selling it for over $150 million, he walked away from Silicon Valley to make chocolate in his friend’s garage.Seventeen years later, that experiment became Dandelion Chocolate—considered by many to be America’s best chocolate maker (not just a chocolatier, mind you).In this conversation, we talk about:– Building fast vs. crafting slow– What makes good chocolate truly good– Chocolatiers Vs Chocolate Makers– Why Chai thinks that Dandelion is the "Mike Tyson of chocolate makers"– Why thinking in centuries, not weeks, might be the secret to building truly big thingsIf you love stories about craftsmanship, purpose, and the pursuit of excellence—this one’s for you.Warm IntroA conversation, not an interview. Warm, sometimes weird, conversations with interesting people doing big things. Warm Intro is a video podcast. We're available on every major podcast app and YouTube.YouTube: @warmintroInstagram: @warm.introHosted by Chai MishraChai is the Founder of The Essential, an ethical commerce company funded by the leading lights of Silicon Valley.Chai served on the board of UNICEF, and has advised cities, universities, national sports teams and Fortune 500 corporations. A Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree, Chai’s work has also been covered in publications ranging from the SF Chronicle to Business Insider.Presented by WefunderWefunder created The Community Round.— allowing founders to raise funds directly from their communities  — allowing anyone to support their favorite founders and join their success.Raise on WefunderViews here are those of the host and the guest. Wefunder makes the show possible but doesn't control who we have on or what we say.

fnnch is San Francisco's Banksy; the most loved and hated artist in the city. People who love him believe that he made the city a more joyous, beautiful place to be. His haters think he is an outsider who helped gentrify the city.One thing is for sure — fnnch is opinionated and controversial. He is also thoughtful, whip-smart and incredibly prolific.Join us for a whirlwind conversation about the purpose of art, getting death threats for painting honey bears, and how he might just be the Andy Warhol of his generation.Warm IntroA conversation, not an interview. Warm, sometimes weird, conversations with interesting people doing big things. Warm Intro is a video podcast. We're available on every major podcast app and YouTube.YouTube: @warmintroInstagram: @warm.introHosted by Chai MishraChai is the Founder of The Essential, an ethical commerce company funded by the leading lights of Silicon Valley.Chai served on the board of UNICEF, and has advised cities, universities, national sports teams and Fortune 500 corporations. A Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree, Chai’s work has also been covered in publications ranging from the SF Chronicle to Business Insider.Presented by WefunderWefunder created The Community Round.— allowing founders to raise funds directly from their communities  — allowing anyone to support their favorite founders and join their success.Raise on WefunderViews here are those of the host and the guest. Wefunder makes the show possible but doesn't control who we have on or what we say.

How do you find a mission actually worth spending your life on? Are most startup “mission statements” complete BS?Niles Lichtenstein wants everyone to own a home and he’s dedicating his career to making it possible.Niles lost his dad at 13. His mom rented out rooms to make ends meet. As a result, he grew up with a revolving circus of people living in his home, with his family.Decades later (and after several successful startups) Niles has turned that experience into an incredible company.Join us for a sentimental conversation about why everyone needs a home (not just a house), how to design a good life and the note that Niles’ dad wrote to him before he passed.Warm IntroA conversation, not an interview. Warm, sometimes weird, conversations with interesting people doing big things. Warm Intro is a video podcast. We're available on every major podcast app and YouTube.YouTube: @warmintroInstagram: @warm.introHosted by Chai MishraChai is the Founder of The Essential, an ethical commerce company funded by the leading lights of Silicon Valley.Chai served on the board of UNICEF, and has advised cities, universities, national sports teams and Fortune 500 corporations. A Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree, Chai’s work has also been covered in publications ranging from the SF Chronicle to Business Insider.Presented by WefunderWefunder created The Community Round.— allowing founders to raise funds directly from their communities  — allowing anyone to support their favorite founders and join their success.Raise on WefunderViews here are those of the host and the guest. Wefunder makes the show possible but doesn't control who we have on or what we say.

What is the point of a business? Is it exclusively to make money? Or could there be more variables in this equation?Sana Javeri Kadri is on a mission. She started a company at 22 to build an entirely new model for one of the oldest trades in the world. Her company, Diaspora Co is building a new Silk Route for spices.Join us for a wide-ranging conversation about what someone’s pantry tells you about them, the sheer insanity of the modern spice trade and if you were a spice, which one you’d be.Warm IntroA conversation, not an interview. Warm, sometimes weird, conversations with interesting people doing big things. Warm Intro is a video podcast. We're available on every major podcast app and YouTube.YouTube: @warmintroInstagram: @warm.introHosted by Chai MishraChai is the Founder of The Essential, an ethical commerce company funded by the leading lights of Silicon Valley.Chai served on the board of UNICEF, and has advised cities, universities, national sports teams and Fortune 500 corporations. A Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree, Chai’s work has also been covered in publications ranging from the SF Chronicle to Business Insider.Presented by WefunderWefunder created The Community Round.— allowing founders to raise funds directly from their communities  — allowing anyone to support their favorite founders and join their success.Raise on WefunderViews here are those of the host and the guest. Wefunder makes the show possible but doesn't control who we have on or what we say.

Harrison Cheney might be the best chef of his generation.His restaurant (Sons and Daughters) recently earned its second Michelin star and a green star, and Harrison himself won the Michelin Guide’s Young Chef of the Year award. He has worked in some of the world’s greatest kitchens, from Gastrologik to Quince.And he has done all of this in record time. Harrison is just 32. At 16, he sold his Xbox to work in a fine dining restaurant. In the 16 years since, he has risen to the top of the industry.Join us for an open conversation about why so many chefs are jerks, how to give feedback in a Michelin-starred kitchen, how to get hired by your favorite chef (or startup), and how to raise kids who aren’t afraid of risks, what to do when you don't know how to pronounce a dish at a nice restaurant and why you should probably order pizza after you have a fancy meal.Warm IntroA conversation, not an interview. Warm, sometimes weird, conversations with interesting people doing big things. Warm Intro is a video podcast. We're available on every major podcast app and YouTube.YouTube: @warmintroInstagram: @warm.introHosted by Chai MishraChai is the Founder of The Essential, an ethical commerce company funded by the leading lights of Silicon Valley.Chai served on the board of UNICEF, and has advised cities, universities, national sports teams and Fortune 500 corporations. A Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree, Chai’s work has also been covered in publications ranging from the SF Chronicle to Business Insider.Presented by WefunderWefunder created The Community Round.— allowing founders to raise funds directly from their communities  — allowing anyone to support their favorite founders and join their success.Raise on WefunderViews here are those of the host and the guest. Wefunder makes the show possible but doesn't control who we have on or what we say.

What should you work on as a young person? The smaller, achievable thing that builds your track record? Or the big bold thing that probably won't work?Saikat Chakrabarti is running to unseat Nancy Pelosi — the most powerful, feared, and respected democrat in the country. Saikat is less than half of Pelosi's age but he has big ideas and a track record to back them up.Before this, Saikat recruited AOC to run for congress, wrote the Green New Deal, ran tech for Bernie's presidential campaign and was the founding engineer at one of Silicon Valley's most legendary companies, Stripe.In this free-flowing conversation, he talks about growing up Indian-American in Texas, Going to Harvard, working on Wall Street, making millions in Silicon Valley, leaving it all behind to join Bernie, recruiting AOC, trying to recruit an entirely new Congress, writing the Green New Deal, challenging Nancy Pelosi, getting cancelled, learning from Zohran and his grand philosophy of what America needs and why more young people must run for office.Disclaimer: This is not an endorsement or a fundraiser. We host interesting people doing important things. Saikat matches both criteria. He’s a compelling person with a vision for the country and tech and he might well end up representing San Francisco in Congress.Visit Saikat's Website HereSaikat's InstagramKey Moments0:00 Why are Indian Americans so political?1:02 The Bengali concept of "adda"3:27 How Saikat's dad got to America8:38 How immigrants think about America11:44 Saikat's childhood and upbringing14:22 Getting to Harvard17:16 Experiencing extreme wealth on Wall Street & Silicon Valley22:54 Joining Bernie Sander's 2016 presidential campaign25:59 How the DNC sabotaged Bernie27:38 Starting Justice Democrats28:57 Building a brand new congress29:33 Recruiting AOC33:17 The reaction to AOC37:51 Legislators Vs Influencers38:40 The Green New Deal41:27 Did the Green New Deal actually work?42:37 Saikat's favorite president of all time46:02 Deciding to challenge Nancy Pelosi49:37Warm IntroA conversation, not an interview. Warm, sometimes weird, conversations with interesting people doing big things. Warm Intro is a video podcast. We're available on every major podcast app and YouTube.YouTube: @warmintroInstagram: @warm.introHosted by Chai MishraChai is the Founder of The Essential, an ethical commerce company funded by the leading lights of Silicon Valley.Chai served on the board of UNICEF, and has advised cities, universities, national sports teams and Fortune 500 corporations. A Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree, Chai’s work has also been covered in publications ranging from the SF Chronicle to Business Insider.Presented by WefunderWefunder created The Community Round.— allowing founders to raise funds directly from their communities  — allowing anyone to support their favorite founders and join their success.Raise on WefunderViews here are those of the host and the guest. Wefunder makes the show possible but doesn't control who we have on or what we say.

Hey! This is Chai. I'm a founder in Silicon Valley and I've spent a third of my life running my company. In all those years, I found that the only cure for the pain of building something big is talking to others who are doing the same thing. I've been lucky to have a lot of these conversations and I wanted to find a way to bring them to more builders. That's how we came up with Warm Intro. These are honest conversations with interesting people who are building big things — from entrepreneurs to artists, politicians and chefs. As you listen, I hope you'll see how these incredible folks think. But I also hope you'll feel a little more seen yourself — less alone as you're out building.Thank you for listening,ChaiWarm IntroA conversation, not an interview. Warm, sometimes weird, conversations with interesting people doing big things. Warm Intro is a video podcast. We're available on every major podcast app and YouTube.YouTube: @warmintroInstagram: @warm.introHosted by Chai MishraChai is the Founder of The Essential, an ethical commerce company funded by the leading lights of Silicon Valley.Chai served on the board of UNICEF, and has advised cities, universities, national sports teams and Fortune 500 corporations. A Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree, Chai’s work has also been covered in publications ranging from the SF Chronicle to Business Insider.Presented by WefunderWefunder created The Community Round.— allowing founders to raise funds directly from their communities  — allowing anyone to support their favorite founders and join their success.Raise on WefunderViews here are those of the host and the guest. Wefunder makes the show possible but doesn't control who we have on or what we say.