Our Future Podcast

In #53, Michael and Simmy talk to Sieva Kozinsky, the founder and CEO of holding company Enduring Ventures. Sieva built two startups before reading a book about Warren Buffet and focusing his efforts on buying businesses to hold forever. In this episode, Sieva talks about his early ventures, why he doesn't believe in the venture capital model, the kinds of businesses he buys and looks to buy, comp...

In this episode of Our Future Podcast, hosts Simran Sandhu and Michael Sikands interview special guest Stan Garber, the co-founder of ScoutRFP (Acquired by Workday) and Levelpath. Stan shares insights into his entrepreneurial journey, highlighting his past successes like selling ScoutRFP for $540M and building a stealthy but huge restaurant tech business, as well as his current AI + procurement ve...

In #51, Michael and Simmy aggregate exciting business case studies in the world of consumer hardware. The boys analyze hot new products hitting the market like robotic shoes, VR desktops, and bio-hacking wearables. They also peel back the hardware-as-a-service business model that's made it easier to succeed with physical products and the marketing advantage hardware startups have on software. Tune...

In #50, Michael Sikand (@michaelsikand) and Simran Sandhu (@simmy) dive into the booming cybersecurity market, highlighting recent incidents and opportunities. They discuss the CrowdStrike internal error that impacted major companies and the potential $23 billion acquisition of Wiz by Google. The hosts emphasize the financial potential in cybersecurity, noting the industry's growth from $182 billi...

In this episode of Our Future Podcast, Michael and Simmy dive into the journeys of young entrepreneurs like Arib Khan and Dhruv Bindra discussing their unique distribution strategies that enable them to be bootstrapped. We explore the importance of founder-led marketing, the value of investing in distribution, and the evolving landscape of startup success. We also touch on the need for modern cont...

In #48, Michael Sikand and Simran Sandhu discuss mid-twenties founders Edward Tian and Alex Cui, the co-founders of AI detection startup GPTZERO which has raised $13.5M and is already profitable. They explore the dynamics of shows like Shark Tank and the success of startups that didn't secure deals. The conversation shifts to the importance of distribution in the success of AI tools. They also tou...

After nearly 50 episodes, in #47 Michael Sikand and Simran Sandhu share their own entrepreneurial journey, from starting their media company Our Future to getting acquired by Morning Brew. They discuss the lessons they've learned, the strategies they employed, and challenges faced along the way. 0:00 Intro & Cold Open 2:07 Michael and Simmy's first idea: Jet Coffee 03:16 Being scrappy and lessons...

Inn #46, Michael Sikand and Simran Sandhu delve into the stories of two young founders, Blake Resnick and Mohak Nahta. Blake Resnick, a 23-year-old entrepreneur, has built a police drone startup called Brinc. He's raised $80M from investors like Sam Altman and Peter Thiel and the company is now valued at over $300M. Next up is Mohak, the founder of Atlys, who has created a platform to expedite the...

In #45, Michael Sikand (@michaelsikand) and Simran Sandhu (@simmy) discuss the founders of Folk and ConvertWire. First up is Simo Lemhandez, a late-twenties entrepreneur from France, who is building Folk, a next-gen CRM designed to manage all types of relationships—sales, recruiting, partnerships, and investors. With a sleek, Notion-like UI, Folk has raised millions from top investment firms like...

In #44, Michael Sikand (@michaelsikand) and Simran Sandhu (@_simmy_) discuss the founders of Diddo and Fina. Founded by NYU grads, Diddo has raised $2.8M to let you shop for products featured in your favorite TV shows and movies. Using AI, Diddo identifies the clothing worn on screen and allows viewers to purchase exact items or lookalike products. Next up is Clay Ratterman, the co-founder of Fina...

In #43, Michael Sikand (@michaelsikand) and Simran Sandhu (@_simmy_) discuss the founders of Halla and DeepScribe. Founded by mid-twenties entrepreneurs Henry Michaelson, Spencer Price, and Gabriel Nipote, Halla is the only human preference engine built for groceries. In other words, the trio raised $10M to build a white-labelled recommendation algorithm that powers the e-commerce storefronts of s...

In #42, Michael Sikand (@michaelsikand) and Simran Sandhu (@_simmy_) discuss the founders of Swimply and Distribute. Founded by 25-year-old Bunim Laskin, Swimply has raised $50M to be the "Airbnb for Pools". So far the platform has served over 1M bookings across three countries and is now expanding into other categories like pickleball courts. Next up is Andy Mewborn, who built and sold a Linkedin...

In #41, Michael Sikand (@michaelsikand) and Simran Sandhu (@_simmy_) discuss the founders of LANDED and Krepling. Founded by Vivian Wang, Landed is a recruitment platform helping fast food and retail establishments hire top-notch hourly workers faster and cheaper. So far, the platform has raised over $7M and counts 700K+ users as well as clients like Taco Bell and Chick-Fil-A. Next up is Krepling,...

In #40, Michael Sikand (@michaelsikand) and Simran Sandhu (@_simmy_) discuss the founders of Zette and Vizcom. Founded by 28-year-old Yehong Zhu, Zette is best described as "Netflix for News". By installing the Zette chrome extension and paying a monthly subscription, users can bypass the article paywall on over 100+ publisher sites including Forbes. So far, Yehong has raised $2.7M+ for the compan...

In #39, Michael Sikand (@michaelsikand) and Simran Sandhu (@_simmy_) discuss the founders of Atmos and Reframe. Backed by Sam Altman, YC, and Khosla Ventures with a recent $12.5M Series A, Atmos's young co-founders (led by 25-year-old CEO Nick Donahue) are helping Americans build a custom home from scratch without spending millions. The next company discussed was started by Vedant Pradeep, the 27-...

In #37, Michael Sikand (@michaelsikand) and Simran Sandhu (@_simmy_) discuss the founders of Sweetspot and Bluedot. YC-backed Sweetspot is bringing AI to the complex and outdated world of government contract discovery and bidding. Last year, the U.S. allocated over $765B to government contracts and Sweetspot is helping businesses earn more work from Uncle Sam. Next up is Bluedot, an EV charging ap...

In #37, Michael Sikand (@michaelsikand) and Simran Sandhu (@_simmy_) discuss Spencer Scott (@AKASpencerScott). Getting his start working his way up sales at a telecom company, Spencer quit the corporate grind to become a 7-figure, non-technical bootstrapped SaaS founder, building sales software platform Loup and scaling screen-sharing tool Median after purchasing it on MicroAcquire. More recently,...

In #36, Michael Sikand (@michaelsikand) and Simran Sandhu (@_simmy_) discuss Whop and EasyA. Started by 25-year-olds Jack Sharkey, Steven Schwartz, and Cameron Zoub - Whop is "Etsy for Digital Products" - and has raised $17M from investors like Peter Thiel and James Harden. The platform has facilitated $300M of transactions for software tools, community memberships, and courses developed by an arm...

In #35, Michael Sikand (@michaelsikand) and Simran Sandhu (@_simmy_) discuss Myko AI and Lula. Started by Trevor Lee and Zheng Li, Myko has raised $2.7M from investors like Khosla Ventures to create conversational AI for sales teams. Myko syncs across all the software in a revenue organization and can surface key metrics and insights via text prompts with the ability to then execute actions based...

In #34, Michael Sikand (@michaelsikand) and Simran Sandhu (@_simmy_) discuss Slope Pay and Rogo. Slope has raised a whopping $187M in funding led by Sam Altman to digitize B2B payments with a focus on bringing buy-now-pay-later mechanics to invoicing and was started by late twenties co-founders Alice Deng and Lawrence Lin Murata. Next up is Rogo, a fintech software setting its sights on beating Bl...

In #33, Michael Sikand (@michaelsikand) and Simran Sandhu (@_simmy_) discuss  Antimetal and Rainmaker. Antimetal was started by now 25-year-old HS dropout Matthew Prakhurst, who has seemingly sold everything under the sun in his career. Now he’s built a huge tech company saving 1000+ startups millions on their cloud hosting costs via AWS. Next up is deep-tech startup Rainmaker, led by 23-year-old...

In #32, Michael Sikand (@michaelsikand) and Simran Sandhu (@_simmy_) discuss Owner.com and Pipedream Labs. Led by 24-year-old high school dropout Adam Guild, Owner.com has raised $60M+ from investors like Naval Ravikant and Jack Altman to empower restaurant owners with technology to grow revenue and cut dependence on delivery giants. Next up is Pipedream Labs, led by twenty-something CEO Garret Mc...

In #31, Michael Sikand (@michaelsikand) and Simran Sandhu (@_simmy_) discuss Hypercard and Integral. Backed with $15M in funding led by Sam Altman and a blockbuster partnership with American Express, Hypercard is building the first credit card backed by your employer. The company was started by two Gen Z business prodigies–Niko Ioannou and Marc Baghadjian–who've already had tremendous success. Nex...

In #30, Michael Sikand (@michaelsikand) and Simran Sandhu (@_simmy_) interview Morning Brew Co-Founder and CEO Austin Rief (@austin_rief). At age 25, Austin sold Morning Brew to Insider at a $75M valuation and has continued to lead the company since. Morning Brew no doubt continues to be the dominant player in the email newsletter space and now increasingly across formats like podcasts and social...

In #29, Michael Sikand (@michaelsikand) and Simran Sandhu (@_simmy_) discuss Felux and Tulu. Started by former tech sales exec Dallas Hogensen, Felux is the new way the world buys and sells steel. It's a digital marketplace that facilitates steel transactions from A-Z, from discovery to negotiation to financing to transportation. So far, Felux has raised over $20M and now processes $500M+ in GMV....