Siddhartha “Sid” Ahluwalia, co-founder and Managing Partner of Neon Fund and host of The Neon Show, joins Michael Smith Jr. and Raz Kotler to explain how a podcast that started with a $100 Samsung phone became part of the operating system for a venture fund. Sid shares how he and Nansi Mishra went from podcasting and small SPVs to raising multiple funds, building a portfolio of around 70 companies, and now raising Neon Fund IV.

🛡️Sponsored by https://scouter.sgBringing proven cybersecurity technologies to Singapore🛡️

Sid explains why media is much more than marketing for Neon. The podcast gives the fund access to founders, operators and LPs, while Neon turns that network into customer introductions, deal flow and distribution for its portfolio. He breaks down why the fund targets second-time founders before they even have an idea, why Neon increasingly focuses on companies building for the US market, and how a $300,000 early investment returned $2.1 million and helped shape the fund’s approach to investing.

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The conversation also gets into India’s changing startup and exit ecosystem, why Sid believes great founders create their own “surface area for luck,” and why Neon would be materially weaker without its podcast. Sid shares the economics behind spending heavily on content without trying to monetize it, his ambition to build a $100 billion combined portfolio, why Neon hires operators rather than traditional VCs, and how AI may change the classic startup founding team by allowing deeply technical founders to reach product-market fit before hiring a traditional GTM leader. He also talks candidly about extreme drive, learning from his father’s repeated business failures, Vipassana meditation, and why even successful creators still struggle with the numbers.

🔥 Watch Our Other Videos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fHGsMZv9ZM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDqX49du3mY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFNU_Sbsvyo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snct0XjAavo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=209V_xEBViM

🔔 Listen and Subscribe

• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheGeneralistsPodcast

• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2apfGY403NGr1EyTNkJfG4

• Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-generalists/id1756861150

👤👤 Hosts

• Michael Smith Jr.: https://www.linkedin.com/in/smittysgp/

• Raz Kotler: https://www.linkedin.com/in/razkotler/

👤 Guest

• Siddhartha Ahluwalia: https://www.linkedin.com/in/siddharthaahluwalia/

🔗 Resources

• Neon Fund: https://neon.fund/

• Neon Portfolio: https://neon.fund/investments/

• The Neon Show: https://neon.fund/podcasts/

• Zencastr: https://zencastr.com/

• AWS: https://aws.amazon.com/

• SHEROES: https://sheroes.com/

• Flipkart: https://www.flipkart.com/

• Walmart: https://www.walmart.com/

• Zomato: https://www.zomato.com/

• Ather Energy: https://www.atherenergy.com/

• Blinkit: https://blinkit.com/

• eBikeGo: https://ebikego.com/

• Atomicwork: https://www.atomicwork.com/

• MantisGrid AI: https://mantisgrid.ai/

• Zenduty: https://www.zenduty.com/

• Cyberstarts: https://www.cyberstarts.com/

• SagePilot: https://sagepilot.ai/

• OpenRouter: https://openrouter.ai/

• Ritholtz Wealth Management: https://ritholtzwealth.com/

• Vipassana Meditation: https://www.dhamma.org/

#VentureCapital #StartupInvesting #TheNeonShow

Karina Cady, co-founder and CEO of Nandina REM, joins Michael Smith Jr. and Raz Kotler to explain how a Singapore deep-tech company went from asking what happens to retired aircraft to recovering advanced materials for aerospace, defense, drones, and other high-performance applications.

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Sponsored by https://scouter.sg

Bringing proven cybersecurity technologies to Singapore

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Karina takes us inside the aircraft recycling industry, where valuable components are stripped from retired planes but advanced materials can still end up crushed, incinerated, or discarded. Nandina REM saw a different opportunity: recover high-grade carbon fiber and turn it into new materials for customers that need performance, supply-chain security, and locally controlled production.

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The conversation also gets into the much harder parts of building a deep-tech hardware company: finding manufacturing space in Singapore, navigating US export controls, entering defense supply chains, protecting IP from “vampiring,” and learning when a prestigious innovation opportunity can actually destroy a startup’s runway. Karina also explains how constraints pushed Nandina REM toward portable microfactories and a network of more than 200 manufacturing partners, why Singapore remains a powerful place to develop advanced technology even when growth requires going overseas, and why she remains optimistic about sustainability after spending most of her career in the environmental sector.

🔥 Watch Our Other Videos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fHGsMZv9ZM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDqX49du3mY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFNU_Sbsvyo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snct0XjAavo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=209V_xEBViM

🔔 Listen and Subscribe

• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheGeneralistsPodcast

• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2apfGY403NGr1EyTNkJfG4

• Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-generalists/id1756861150

👤👤 Hosts

• Michael Smith Jr.: https://www.linkedin.com/in/smittysgp/

• Raz Kotler: https://www.linkedin.com/in/razkotler/

👤 Guest•

Karina Cady: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karinacady/

🔗 Resources

• Nandina REM: https://www.nandinarem.com/

• Southwest Airlines: https://www.southwest.com/

• Halliburton Labs: https://halliburtonlabs.com/

• Halliburton: https://www.halliburton.com/

• U.S. Bureau of Industry and Security: https://www.bis.gov/

• U.S. Department of Commerce: https://www.commerce.gov/

• U.S. Embassy Singapore: https://sg.usembassy.gov/

• CFIUS: https://home.treasury.gov/policy-issues/international/the-committee-on-foreign-investment-in-the-united-states-cfius

• University of Queensland: https://www.uq.edu.au/

• Soilbuild: https://www.soilbuild.com/

• Boeing 787 Dreamliner: https://www.boeing.com/commercial/787

• Airbus: https://www.airbus.com/

• Northrop Grumman: https://www.northropgrumman.com/

• AUKUS: https://www.defense.gov/Spotlights/AUKUS/

• Jennifer Lewis: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0507338/

• Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela: https://www.nelsonmandela.org/

• Calvin and Hobbes: https://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes

#CarbonFiber #CircularEconomy #DefenseTech

Matt Ward, former founder and CEO of Workmate and now founder of Catalyst Six, sits down with Michael Smith Jr. and Raz Kotler for a candid conversation about startup exits in Southeast Asia and what actually happens behind the press release.

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Matt takes us inside the Workmate acquisition process, including the moment the deal was pulled with just three weeks of runway left. He explains how exclusivity left him without alternatives, why the eventual deal came back on different terms, and the lessons he now shares with founders about modeling the downside before entering an acquisition process.

The conversation goes deeper into the mechanics of building for an exit: identifying potential acquirers years in advance, using strategic investment to build relationships, understanding what buyers value differently from VCs, managing boards and preference stacks, and why raising at a higher valuation can sometimes leave founders worse off.

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Matt also makes the case for a different Southeast Asian startup model: staying lean, getting profitable, raising capital to grow rather than survive, and considering whether owning most of a $10–20 million business can produce a better founder outcome than chasing a $100 million valuation.

🔔 Listen and Subscribe

• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheGeneralistsPodcast
• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2apfGY403NGr1EyTNkJfG4

• Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-generalists/id1756861150

👤👤 Hosts

• Michael Smith Jr.: https://www.linkedin.com/in/smittysgp/

• Raz Kotler: https://www.linkedin.com/in/razkotler/

👤 Guest

• Matt Ward: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mathewward/

🔗 Resources

• Workmate: https://www.workmate.asia/
• PERSOL: https://www.persol-group.co.jp/en/
• SEEK: https://www.seek.com.au/
• Job&Talent: https://www.jobandtalent.com/
• Wavemaker Partners: https://wavemaker.vc/
• Catalyst Six: https://www.catalystsix.com/
• Outlive by Peter Attia: https://peterattiamd.com/outlive/
• Peter Attia: https://peterattiamd.com/
• Wait But Why: https://waitbutwhy.com/

#StartupExit #SoutheastAsiaStartup #SellingAStartup

Nadir Izrael, co-founder and CTO of Armis, sits down with Raz Kotler for a candid conversation about winning, ambition, building a $7.75 billion cybersecurity company, and the lessons he learned over a decade of building Armis.

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In this episode, Nadir explains why financial success hasn’t reduced his hunger to win, why the best founders stay both hungry and humble, and how becoming a father has changed the way he thinks about ambition, hardship, and raising resilient children.

🔥 Watch Our Other Videos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tf_dknB50qM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eitqzpiqUs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJDZg3mr684

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0H24ck-is5Y

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SW2bxHjUl-Y

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzdzT_L8zAw

🔔 Listen and Subscribe

• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheGeneralistsPodcast

• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2apfGY403NGr1EyTNkJfG4

• Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-generalists/id1756861150

Nadir also shares the pivotal question from Armis’ difficult Series A that changed how he thought about the company: “What are your customers buying?” He breaks down why founders need to stop describing their technology and instead understand three things from the customer’s perspective: pain, outcome, and value.

The conversation also covers building an early team, why Armis isn’t the right company for someone optimizing primarily for work-life balance, maintaining a decade-long co-founder relationship through heated disagreements, and why Nadir still makes time to answer founders who reach out for help.

👤👤 Hosts

Michael Smith Jr.: https://www.linkedin.com/in/smittysgp/

Raz Kotler: https://www.linkedin.com/in/razkotler/

👤 Guest

Nadir Izrael: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nadiriz/

🔗 Resources

Armis: https://www.armis.com/

ServiceNow: https://www.servicenow.com/

ServiceNow acquisition of Armis ($7.75B): https://newsroom.servicenow.com/press-releases/details/2026/ServiceNow-completes-Armis-acquisition-closing-the-gap-between-asset-visibility-and-cyber-risk/default.aspx

Yevgeny Dibrov: https://www.linkedin.com/in/y-dibrov/

Gili Raanan: https://www.cyberstarts.com/team/gili-raanan

Cyberstarts: https://www.cyberstarts.com/

Google: https://www.google.com/

XM Cyber: https://xmcyber.com/

Deep Instinct: https://www.deepinstinct.com/

For All Mankind: https://tv.apple.com/sg/show/for-all-mankind/umc.cmc.6wsi780sz5tdbqcf11k76mkp7

Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/

#FounderMindset #StartupLessons #Cybersecurity

Michael Smith Jr. and Raz Kotler celebrate the 100th episode of The Generalists with an honest conversation about what it really takes to build a podcast from Singapore. Rather than celebrating milestones, they unpack the realities behind long-form content, why most podcasts never make it past eight episodes, and whether building media is even worth it.

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In this episode, Michael and Raz reflect on two years of The Generalists, discuss why consistency beats chasing virality, debate the economics of podcasting in Southeast Asia, and share why they continue despite the challenges. They also explore why video still matters in an audio-first world, the search for great short-form editors, and how AI is changing the way both of them build.

Raz also shares the launch of Scouter, his new cybersecurity company connecting leading Israeli security vendors with enterprise customers in Singapore, along with lessons learned from building his business almost entirely with AI.

🔥 Watch Our Other Videos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tf_dknB50qM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eitqzpiqUs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJDZg3mr684

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0H24ck-is5Y

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SW2bxHjUl-Y

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzdzT_L8zAw

🔔 Listen and Subscribe

• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheGeneralistsPodcast

• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2apfGY403NGr1EyTNkJfG4

• Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-generalists/id1756861150

👤👤 Hosts

Michael Smith Jr.: https://www.linkedin.com/in/smittysgp/

Raz Kotler: https://www.linkedin.com/in/razkotler/

Links:

Scouter: https://scouter.sg/

Attio: https://attio.com/

Cloudflare: https://www.cloudflare.com/

Claude: https://claude.ai/

OpenAI: https://openai.com/

Warp: https://www.warp.dev/

Wiz: https://www.wiz.io/

Mate: https://mate.ai/

Oligo Security: https://www.oligo.security/

Harry Stebbings: https://www.linkedin.com/in/harrystebbings/

#Podcasting #SingaporeStartups #AIBusiness

Beliefs alone don't scale, and neither do systems alone. Parin Mehta, executive and founder coach (ex-Airbnb, ex-Google), returns to The Generalists to break down why founders burn out when their identity and their company drift apart — and how to fix it.

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In this episode of The Generalists (Thrive series), Parin returns to unpack the psychological side of scaling a company — from the founder/business identity split, to why "nice" isn't the same as "kind," to the safe antagonist role every founder needs but rarely has. Drawing on 500+ hours of coaching founders and executives per year over the past 15 years, plus his own time at Google and Airbnb, Parin gets into what actually breaks founders as they climb from seed to Series A and beyond.

🔔 Listen and Subscribe

• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheGeneralistsPodcast

• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2apfGY403NGr1EyTNkJfG4

• Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-generalists/id1732609164

🔥 Watch Our Other Videos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tf_dknB50qM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eitqzpiqUs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJDZg3mr684

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0H24ck-is5Y

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SW2bxHjUl-Y

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzdzT_L8zAw

We get into:

- Why systems thinking and belief-driven leadership need each other and what happens when they diverge

- The parenting analogy for scaling: why mastering one stage doesn't prepare you for the next

- Nice vs. kind, the reframe that changed how Parin coaches founders

- The "safe antagonist": how to build a relationship where hard questions land without defensiveness

- Asset owner vs. operator — untangling the founder's three identities

- Why delegation fails when founders can't let go of the dopamine hit- Startup envy, gratitude, and why self-help logic breaks down under real pressure

- Using AI coding tools (Codex vs. Claude) as antagonistic collaborators

- Why intuition sometimes beats the data — and the danger of "should"

Host:

Michael Smith Jr.: linkedin.com/in/smittysgp

Guest:

Parin Mehta: linkedin.com/in/parinjmehta

🔗 Links & Resources From This Episode

- Parin's TEDx Talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qq2foM6QKs

- Parin's Newsletter: https://coachparin.substack.com

Technology isn't enough to win. Gal Elbaz, co-founder and CTO of Oligo Security, breaks down why the technical founder's biggest mistake is confusing a great product with a great business.

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🔔 Listen and Subscribe

• YouTube: youtube.com/@thegeneralistspodcast

• Spotify: The Generalists on Spotify

• Apple Podcasts: The Generalists on Apple Podcasts

In this episode of The Generalists, Gal takes us inside the journey of scaling a cybersecurity startup from founding team to market leader. He shares the brutal realities of building a security company in production environments, how Log4Shell validated Oligo's runtime security vision, and why solving a problem isn't the same as solving "the" problem.

We get into:

- The CTO's responsibility to look six months ahead of the market

- What Got You Here Won't Get You There: evolving leadership as you scale

- The best interview question Gal uses to separate brilliant talent from the right fit

- How research (like the ShadowRay attack on AI workloads) builds credibility marketing can't buy

- Whether AI really makes developers 10x faster — and where it falls short

- Selling security inside production when everyone calls you crazy

Hosts:

Michael Smith Jr.: https://www.linkedin.com/in/smittysgp/

Raz Kotler: https://www.linkedin.com/in/razkotler/

Guest:

Gal Elbaz: http://linkedin.com/in/gal-elbaz

🔗 Links & Resources From This Episode

• Oligo Security: https://www.oligo.security

• ShadowRay Research: https://www.oligo.security/blog/shadowray-attack-ai-workloads-actively-exploited-in-the-wild

• ShadowRay on MITRE ATT&CK: https://attack.mitre.org/campaigns/C0045/

• AirBorne Research: https://www.oligo.security/blog/airborne

• Log4Shell Guidance from CISA: https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/cybersecurity-advisories/aa21-356a

• Check Point Research: https://research.checkpoint.com

• eBPF: https://ebpf.io

• Wiz: https://www.wiz.io

• MITRE ATT&CK: https://attack.mitre.org

• Black Hat: https://www.blackhat.com

• The Hebrew University of Jerusalem: https://www.huji.ac.il

In this episode of The Generalists, we sit down with Greg Armshaw, Enterprise Commercial Lead at Secret Sauce - the AI platform spun out of Singapore game studio We Are Mighty (formerly Mighty Bear Games). Greg explains how years of building AI-powered creative workflows for game development became an enterprise platform helping brands generate consistent, on-brand marketing at scale.

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The conversation goes beyond AI tools. We explore why consistency is still AI's biggest challenge, why successful AI users need to be opinionated about outcomes, what it takes to build a global AI company from Singapore, and why generalists may become even more valuable in the AI era.

🔔 Listen and Subscribe

• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheGeneralistsPodcast

• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2apfGY403NGr1EyTNkJfG4

• Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-generalists/id1732609164

🔥 Watch Our Other Videos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tf_dknB50qM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eitqzpiqUs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJDZg3mr684

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0H24ck-is5Y

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SW2bxHjUl-Y

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzdzT_L8zAw

What you'll learn:

- How Secret Sauce evolved from Mighty Bear's internal AI workflows

- Why AI-generated content still struggles with brand consistency

- The difference between using ChatGPT and building an AI-native creative platform

- How marketers can produce hundreds of brand assets without growing their teams

- Why enterprise and consumer AI products can share the same core platform

- Lessons from taking an AI startup global from Singapore

- Why the best AI users know exactly what outcome they're aiming for

- How AI is empowering small businesses, from butter brands to pizza restaurants

- Why Greg believes generalists become more valuable, not less, in the AI era

- Singapore's opportunity to become Asia's AI hub

Hosts:

Michael Smith Jr.: https://www.linkedin.com/in/smittysgp/

Raz Kotler: https://www.linkedin.com/in/razkotler/

Guest:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregarmshaw/

#AIContent #BrandConsistency #AIforBusiness