Rahul Chari is a leader in India’s tech evolution, from building Flipkart’s foundations, to architecting PhonePe’s planet-scale platform. Simply put, there are very few people in a country of over a billion, who have not used what he built.
In this episode of Minus One, he reflects on forming lasting partnerships, building for the future, and building to last.
Connect with us here:
1. Prateek Mehta- https://www.linkedin.com/in/prateek-mehta-a571972/
2. South Park Commons- https://www.linkedin.com/company/southparkcommons/
After years of operating at scale at companies like Facebook and Dropbox, Ruchi Sanghvi, founding partner of South Park Commons, and Aditya Agarwal, General Partner, turn the mic on each other to revisit the early days that grew this community to over 1,000 founders and technologists.
They reflect on what it takes to build something enduring together, and why the best ideas rarely emerge from comfort.
Apply to SPC membership- https://airtable.com/appxDXHfPCZvb75qk/pagIZspLSFX7QrXcn/form
Connect with us here:
1. Ruchi Sanghvi- https://www.linkedin.com/in/rsanghvi/
2. Aditya Agarwal- https://www.linkedin.com/in/adityaagarwal3/
3. South Park Commons- https://www.linkedin.com/company/southparkcommons/
(00:00) Trailer
(01:15) The Journey of Founding SPC
(05:33) The Importance of Constructive Conflict
(15:51) Scaling and Leadership Insights
(28:39) Embracing the Learning Journey
(29:43) The Power of Storytelling in Startups
(33:19) Balancing Optimism and Realism
(49:13) Navigating the Complexities of Markets
Akshay Kothari has built tools that transform the everyday by making technology feel effortless, like Pulse and Notion.
He joins Aditya Agarwal to share the counterintuitive lessons behind enduring products, why selling can sometimes be the braver choice, and how constraints often spark lasting creativity.
Apply to SPC membership - https://airtable.com/appxDXHfPCZvb75qk/pagIZspLSFX7QrXcn/form
Connect with us here:
1. Akshay Kothari- https://www.linkedin.com/in/akothari/
2. Aditya Agarwal- https://www.linkedin.com/in/adityaagarwal3/
3. South Park Commons- https://www.linkedin.com/company/southparkcommons/
00:00 Trailer
01:02 Welcome to the Minus One Podcast
01:49 Navigating the Early Days of Pulse
06:59 The Silicon Valley Influence and Ambition
21:07 The LinkedIn Journey and Its Impact
22:39 Balancing Patience and Urgency in Silicon Valley
25:25 The Vision and Early Days of Notion
36:46 Personal Reflections and Philosophies
Tarun Mehta, co-founder and CEO of Ather Energy, joins Prateek Mehta, to unpack how Ather lived the “minus one” philosophy. By taking risks, locking in on what they truly wanted to build for the next 10 years, and then proceeding to just doing it - with India’s first smart electric scooter.
Connect with us here:
1. Tarun Mehta- https://www.linkedin.com/in/tarunsmehta/
2. Prateek Mehta- https://www.linkedin.com/in/prateek-mehta-a571972/
3. South Park Commons- https://www.linkedin.com/company/southparkcommons/
Facebook’s early culture was chaotic, fun, and fueled by a belief that "you can just do things."
Andrew Bosworth, Meta CTO, joins Aditya Agarwal to revisit that foundational energy. He covers the creation of News Feed, the grit behind the pivot to mobile, and how Meta is tackling long-term hardware innovation for the AR/VR future.
Apply to SPC membership -https://airtable.com/appxDXHfPCZvb75qk/pagIZspLSFX7QrXcn/form
Connect with us here:
1. Andrew Bosworth - https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-bosworth-8247a01/
2. Aditya Agarwal - https://www.linkedin.com/in/adityaagarwal3/
3. South Park Commons - https://www.linkedin.com/company/southparkcommons/
After building companies that made their mark, Joe Lonsdale launched 8VC to tackle institutional decay, backing ambitious startups and encouraging the next generation to build what’s missing.
Now overseeing $6B+ in assets, he joins Aditya Agarwal to break down where the Valley lost its way, and what real builders must remember.
Connect with us here:
1. Joe Lonsdale- https://www.linkedin.com/in/jtlonsdale/
2. Aditya Agarwal- https://www.linkedin.com/in/adityaagarwal3/
3. South Park Commons- https://www.linkedin.com/company/southparkcommons/
00:00 Trailer
00:52 Introduction
01:24 Warrior mindset
07:36 Paving the way
13:38 Early stage eligibility
19:57 Rocket ships are rare
22:52 8VC
26:49 Great founders and discipline
29:43 Cicero Institute
33:04 Hairy messy real-world problems
38:18 Outro
What does it take to build great companies?
Mukesh Bansal, founder of giants like Myntra and Cure.fit, and now building at the frontier of deep tech with Meraki Labs and Nurix, joins Prateek Mehta in a chat at SPC Bangalore. He shares lessons from his early Silicon Valley “startup MBA”, the pivots that defined his journey, and how culture, trust and health have shaped his approach to building generational companies driven by resilient teams.
Connect with us here:
1. Prateek Mehta - https://www.linkedin.com/in/prateek-mehta-a571972/
2. South Park Commons - https://www.linkedin.com/company/southparkcommons/
Baiju Bhatt helped millions learn to invest through Robinhood. He’s since taken the leap to aerospace with his new company Aetherflux.
Baiju joins Aditya Agarwal to cover what building from first principles looks like the second time around, the true meaning of the American Dream, and how he aims to make space a functional layer of the global energy system.
Connect with us here:
1. Baiju Bhatt- https://www.linkedin.com/in/bprafulkumar/
2. Aditya Agarwal- https://www.linkedin.com/in/adityaagarwal3/
3. South Park Commons- https://www.linkedin.com/company/southparkcommons/
(00:00) Trailer
(01:10) Introduction
(02:30) Early history
(07:12) Huge courage
(11:54) Extraordinarily driven
(17:31) Making the system work
(24:09) Enamored by space
(29:36) Energy company in space
(35:41) Power scaling
(39:54) Keeping the momentum up
(43:14) Outro
How do brands like PepsiCo and Chanel convert consumer attention into real business growth?
Gary Vaynerchuk, CEO of VaynerMedia and multiple New York Times Bestselling Author, joins Dylan Itzikowitz to share how his agency helps these brands turn culture, AI, and data into measurable impact.
Apply for the SPC Founder Fellowship by August 3rd: https://airtable.com/appxDXHfPCZvb75qk/pagdT5QLZFC3weCJq/form
Connect with us here:
1. Gary Vaynerchuk- https://www.linkedin.com/in/garyvaynerchuk/
2. Dylan Itzikowitz- https://www.linkedin.com/in/dylanitzikowitz/
3. South Park Commons- https://www.linkedin.com/company/southparkcommons/
(00:00) Trailer
(00:50) SPC's Founder Fellowship
(01:35) Introduction
(03:36) Kindness and business
(07:12) AI tech and the human spirit
(11:11) “Google search is dead”
(13:58) Obsessed with today
(14:59) Posting in today’s world
(22:15) AI influencers
(24:01) Nice guys finish first
(26:34) Q&A: Directionally correct
(30:27) Q&A: Preserving humanity
(34:29) Q&A: Consumer mind
(39:17) Q&A: Businesses distribution
(43:19) Q&A: Creator-owned brands
(47:15) Q&A: Crypto
(52:02) Outro
“If there's one lesson I wish I could give my younger self, it's to focus less on the technology and more on the customer need.”
Bret Taylor has helped shape how billions interact with the internet, and now with Sierra, he’s rethinking customer interactions through AI that feels more human.
Connect with us here:
1. Bret Taylor- https://www.linkedin.com/in/brettaylor/
2. Aditya Agarwal- https://www.linkedin.com/in/adityaagarwal3/
3. South Park Commons- https://www.linkedin.com/company/southparkcommons/
What does it take to build a global ad-tech company from India?
In this episode, Naveen Tewari, Founder & CEO of InMobi and Glance, gets candid about his early failures and the grit it took to bet on mobile before India was ready. He’s now reimagining commerce on lock screens through AI-powered platform Glance.
Connect with us here:
Rana Adhikari, winner of the 2019 New Horizons in Physics Breakthrough Prize, joins Aditya Agarwal to discuss his 'minus one' journey as an experimental physicist, the current state of LLMs, and the vision that led to the creation of India’s own LIGO facility.
Connect with us here:
1. Rana Adhikari- https://www.linkedin.com/in/rana-adhikari-26bb73165/
2. Aditya Agarwal- https://www.linkedin.com/in/adityaagarwal3/
3. South Park Commons- https://www.linkedin.com/company/southparkcommons/
00:00 Trailer
01:03 Introduction
01:58 Figuring things out
07:30 Toughest lesson
12:27 Bad mentor
15:33 LIGO and Quantum Science
19:34 Intuition
26:01 LLMs
30:47 Learning the outcome = winning
35:07 Learnings from LIGO
43:43 Black hole myths
47:12 Outro
In this episode of Minus One, Facebook’s second designer, Soleio shares how he helped build the emotional layer of the internet and is now backing tools like Figma and Framer to push it further.
Connect with us here:
00:00 Trailer
01:00 Introduction
01:41 Early days
07:37 Paradigm shift and the moments
13:45 Undirected expression and exploration
21:45 Greatness has a high bar
25:46 Expressing emotions
32:17 Back to -1
44:10 More founders
47:54 Outro
Balaji Srinivasan, angel investor and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of The Network State, joins Aditya Agarwal on Minus One to challenge prevailing assumptions about global tech and opportunity.
Connect with us here:
1. Balaji Srinivasan- https://x.com/balajis
2. Aditya Agarwal- https://www.linkedin.com/in/adityaagarwal3/
3. South Park Commons- https://www.linkedin.com/company/southparkcommons/
00:00 Trailer
00:59 Introduction
02:07 Building Counsyl
03:40 The science and math
08:45 Founder energy
12:38 Funding opportunities
16:47 Geographical connectivity
23:47 Recentralize tech
26:21 Millionaire migration
33:07 Outside success
39:08 Outro
In this episode of Minus One, host Dylan Itzikowitz sits down with Roblox’s chief blocksmith to trace a minus one to zero prototype that evolved into a full blown digital economy, now serving more than 100M DAUs.
Connect with us here:
1. David Baszucki- https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidbaszucki/
2. Dylan Itzikowitz- https://www.linkedin.com/in/dylanitzikowitz/
3. South Park Commons- https://www.linkedin.com/company/southparkcommons/
00:00 Trailer
01:06 $275M Fund III
01:56 Two-year "minus one"
05:32 Platform of creation
06:59 More than lifestyle
08:03 Motivation = obsession?
09:09 Investing in growth
10:45 Virality hack
14:44 Building an ecosystem
20:32 Roblox in education
21:30 Building for all ages
22:48 Dress to Impress
24:58 Augmented and virtual reality
27:09 Non-boring AI
30:26 Safety and mental health
33:21 Vibrant economy
34:32 Founders should build
37:05 Q&A
57:32 Outro
What unfolds when those who imagine the future sit across from those building it?
In this special SPC panel, worlds converge. Sci-fi legends Neal Stephenson and Ken Liu join visionary investor Cyan Banister and researcher Joscha Bach to explore how narratives shape reality, how fiction becomes a roadmap, and how builders and dreamers influence each other across time.
Connect with us here:
1. Neal Stephenson- https://x.com/nealstephenson
2. Ken Liu- https://x.com/kyliu99
3. Cyan Banister- https://x.com/cyantist
4. Joscha Bach- https://x.com/Plinz
5. Cristian Cibils Bernardes- https://x.com/life_of_ccb
6. Jonathan Brebner- https://x.com/JPBrebner
7. South Park Commons- https://x.com/southpkcommons
00:00 Trailer
01:03 Introduction
04:25 AI and nuclear tech parallel
10:26 Progress. Disappointing? Significant?
13:31 The present and the future
17:04 Wrong specifics, right methodology
25:13 Satire and reality
33:14 World building
40:19 Parallels and perpendiculars
44:19 Artificial general intelligence
54:02 Searching for something not forward-looking
57:20 Understanding consciousness
1:04:08 Lightning round
1:14:13 Outro
In conversation with Aditya Agarwal, Adam D’Angelo reflects on his early days at Facebook, the founding of Quora, his early conviction in OpenAI, and why he believes the recursive nature of AI is grounded in a first-principles approach.
Connect with us here:
1. Adam D’Angelo- https://www.linkedin.com/in/dangelo/
2. Aditya Agarwal- https://www.linkedin.com/in/adityaagarwal3/
3. South Park Commons – https://www.linkedin.com/company/southparkcommons/
During his three-decade career in academia, Niall Ferguson has explored the critical inflection points that have shaped the course of history — and the future it continues to inform.
In this conversation, hosted by Aditya Agarwal and Jonathan Brebner, he delves into why we may be living through a civilizational minus one, how history leaves subtle traces of what’s to come, the rise of AI, and much more.
Connect with us here:
1. Niall Ferguson- https://x.com/nfergus
2. Aditya Agarwal- https://x.com/adityaag
3. Jonathan Brebner- https://x.com/JPBrebner
4. South Park Commons- https://x.com/southpkcommons
00:00 Trailer
00:59 Introduction
02:02 Civilizational -1
05:33 Warfare
08:45 Media and history
13:05 Tech doesn't want the past
17:26 Our awesomeness knows no bounds
19:34 Narrativizing your personal history
26:55 Big moves framework
33:22 Institutions
37:15 Artificial general intelligence
39:52 Vision for the future
45:30 Outro
In this episode of Minus One, Vinod Khosla joins Aditya Agarwal to reflect on his four-decade journey shaping Silicon Valley.
They discuss making high-conviction bets, why the team you build becomes the company you build, Khosla’s first investment in OpenAI, and why he is convinced that AGI sits among us now.
Connect with us here:
00:00 Trailer
00:58 Introduction
01:53 Aligned values
07:59 The early conviction
11:29 Did Silicon Valley lost its edge?
14:46 10x better
16:21 Top down or bottoms up
19:45 What does a great investor look like
23:17 What's not going well
25:41 AI and a belief system
38:23 AGI and the future generation
40:46 Reasoning model
46:55 Consequences of success
49:24 Questions and answers
55:57 Outro
In this episode of Minus One, Aditya Agarwal and Jonathan Brebner sit down with Blake Scholl, who went from Groupon product leader to founder & CEO of Boom Supersonic, to discuss his pursuit of reviving supersonic travel.
With a vision to make high-speed air travel accessible to millions, Scholl is working to bring back a capability many believed was lost after the Concorde era.
They explore the key factors in building a legacy company (hint: it’s not funding or technology), Boom’s pivotal challenges—and how he continues to push forward, and the “slacker index”.
Connect with us here:
1. Blake Scholl- https://x.com/bscholl
2. Aditya Agarwal- https://x.com/adityaag
3. Jonathan Brebner- https://x.com/JPBrebner
4. South Park Commons – https://x.com/southpkcommons
00:00 Trailer
01:56 Introduction
05:46 From Amazon to supersonic flight
09:39 Overcoming challenges and fear of failure
16:44 The importance of shorter gratification cycles
23:35 Storytelling in hard tech
25:09 Building a dream team
27:42 Lessons learned in progress
29:52 Building our own jet engines
38:53 Challenging conventional wisdom
44:01 Inspiration and legacy
45:55 Future plans
