Ep 89 - Anil Varanasi from Meter on AI and networking hardware, spotting talent early, on China and Cinema
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!
The Aarthi and Sriram Show · Anil Varanasi, Meter, Aarthi and Sriram, Sriram Krishnan, Aarthi Ramamurthy
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Show Notes
Some helpful links
Meter - https://www.meter.com/
Meter command - https://command.meter.com/
Link to Tyler’s book on culture - https://www.amazon.com/Praise-Commercial-Culture-Tyler-Cowen/dp/0674001885
Sam Hinkie - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Hinkie
0:00 - Intro
3:48 - Anil’s early years and background
5:23 - Unconventional parenting
9:35 - Anil's journey to entrepreneurship
12:30 - Sleeping in factories in China
15:22 - China VS U.S.
18:30 - Why Networks are so important
21:35 - Why networking is still an unsolved problem
24:10 - Is hardware too hard?
26:11 - What does Meter do?
37:17 - How does Meter work?
41:08 - Future of enterprise software
44:00 - Human interaction with AI models
46:30 - Why Meter is building AI models
50:50 - Spotting young talent
54:00 - Anil's framework to find good talent
57:30 - How Anil helped Dwarkesh Patel start his podcast
1:02:00 - The “X factor” in Anil’s investments
1:02:00 - Raising the ambition bar
1:06:55 - Escaping the competitive Indian dynamics
1:08:38 - How cinema influences entrepreneurship
1:17:25 - Why don't we know how planes fly
1:19:20 - Lessons from Sam Hinkie
1:21:04 - Kindness as an operating principle
1:22:10 - Why hasn’t Anil had a more public brand?
1:24:03 - US Immigration
1:28:00 - Aarthi, Sriram and Anil show?
1:30:44 - Best Indian restaurant in London
1:32:50 - Has sneaker culture peaked?
1:34:25 - Why don’t wealthy people build monuments anymore?
1:38:04 - London’s rich history
1:40:30 - Why does Sriram have sriramk.eth?
1:42:00 - Should all startups go direct on comms?
1:47:07 - Are Aarthi and Sriram “too online”?
1:49:10 - Sriram’s Silicon Valley groupchats
1:49:46 - Will Aarthi and Sriram move back to India?
1:48:12 - Aarthi and Sriram’s failures in tech
1:53:55 - Netflix’s 3D and streaming software
1:58:18 - Popfly
1:59:55 - Microsoft success under Satya
2:02:00 - On tech execs
2:03:10 - Nonfiction book that Aarthi and Sriram would write
2:06:27 - Aarthi and Sriram’s favorite Indian movie before 2000
2:09:48 - The End
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