March 27, 2025 • 16 mins
Click here to text me your thoughts about the show!
Join us as we dive into an inspiring journey of personal growth, resilience, and ambition in this episode of My Thick Accent. Our guest shares their experience from the simple joys of waking up with the sun to the art of crafting a flavourful pasta dish that reflects their passion for cooking. We explore cherished childhood memories with grandparents, the mental challenge of solving a Rubik's Cube, and the powerful life lesson from their brother: "You are no less than 100%." These stories highlight perseverance, self-belief, and the unwavering strength to navigate life's challenges.
As the conversation shifts to "Dreaming Bigger," we uncover the guest’s ambitious drive for success. With Akshay’s guidance as a catalyst, they embrace new opportunities, taking bold steps like cold-emailing influential connections. Their journey underscores the power of mentorship, gratitude, and relentless self-improvement. Whether you're seeking motivation to step outside your comfort zone or looking for strategies to take action toward your dreams, this episode offers invaluable insights into embracing growth, seizing opportunities, and making a meaningful impact.
Follow the host and the podcast on Social Media channels below:
- My Thick Accent on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/mythickaccent/
- My Thick Accent on Threads - https://www.threads.net/@mythickaccent?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
- MyThickAccent.com - https://www.mythickaccent.com/
- Gurasis's Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/iamgurasis/
- Gurasis's LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/iamgurasis/
__________________________________________
To contact Akshay:
- Akshay's LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/akshaymaharaj
- AVIEW International - https://aviewint.com
Want to share your story? Or know someone I should invite next on the show? DM us or write to us at Hello@mythickaccent.com
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Gurasis (00:00):
Now we're in the final segment.
Actually I call it Beneath theAccent because we are knowing
each other beneath the accentand I'm going to have a couple
of questions.
You can answer them in one wordor a sentence or however you
feel like.
The idea is just don't moreabout you.
So the first question is areyou an early bird or a night owl
?
Akshay (00:19):
This is a tough one because I feel like I have such
a structure on my mornings andevenings, but if I had to pick,
I would say probably more earlybird than the night owl, to be
honest.
Gurasis (00:35):
Yeah, okay.
A word that describes you best.
Akshay (00:43):
Optimist.
I'm such an optimist I.
I will always try to see thegood in something.
Even if it's the worst thingever, I will try to see the good
in it.
And, uh, that has come back toharm me at times, but for the
most part, um, I love being anoptimist I.
I think if you're a founder,you have to have a glass half
(01:03):
full mentality, or else thisprocess will be very, very
challenging.
Gurasis (01:08):
Very, very relatable.
I can say that, okay, what'syour go-to comfort food apart
from Roro?
Akshay (01:16):
So this has been something that, yeah, roro, yeah
, this has been something thatI've been loving to make lately.
I love cooking in general.
I love it.
I love cooking in general.
I love it.
I love trying out new recipes,trying new foods.
But it's a super, super, supersimple dish that has five
ingredients, four ingredients.
It's pasta either fresh pastaor just regular pasta.
(01:38):
You thinly slice garlic andwith olive oil, you put garlic
and chili and then that's it,and then you put all your pasta.
You put the pasta in with thegarlic and chili oil and then
you top it off with a ton ofparsley and lemon and it is so
simple.
But the flavors because it's sosimple, it's only a few
(02:01):
ingredients are so bright and itis such a amazing dish,
especially before any big gameor anything going on.
I will have that because itjust brings me like peace, it
just like calms me down, it'slike okay, this is like my
comfort.
I love it.
I can eat that every day if Ihad to.
Super simple, super easy.
Gurasis (02:21):
Love that I know what I have to cook tonight.
Thank you for that.
Akshay (02:25):
Yeah, give it a try.
Gurasis (02:26):
Try, you will absolutely love it so what's
your favorite childhood memory,favorite childhood?
Akshay (02:30):
memory, you know, I think I think it has to be some
of the experiences I had with mylike grandparents growing up,
um, in particular, with our likeevents.
Every Sunday we would betogether, we would spend a lot
of time together and just thecommute to Brampton being with
them, either playing pool intheir house, or my grandfather
(02:53):
taking me to hockey games,hockey tournaments, all around
the US, those are experiences Iwill cherish for the rest of my
life and those are parts of mylife that I appreciate so much
and, you know, makes me missthem all the time.
Right Is that?
You know those moments?
Gurasis (03:11):
Do you have any hidden talents?
Akshay (03:14):
I can solve the Rubik's Cube.
That's one thing I picked upduring the pandemic.
I'm not very fast at it, butsomething fun that keeps my mind
occupied when I'm just watchinga show or something.
I'll just start fiddling aroundwith it.
Gurasis (03:32):
Okay, what's the best piece of advice someone ever
gave you?
Akshay (03:39):
So this was something that my brother told me when I
was in the mix of writing my IBexams and I was so hard on
myself that I was just Icouldn't even get myself to
(04:00):
study because I was just I feltlike so sick to my stomach
thinking about how much work Ihad to do and how behind I felt,
and I just felt like I wasn'tgood enough to do well on these
exams.
I just felt like I wasn't goodenough to do well on these exams
.
For context, my brother is asmartest guy.
I know, he won every academicaward.
He's just a genius when itcomes to that.
He came into my room and he satnext to me.
He said look, you are no lessthan 100%.
You are no less than 100%.
And I took a permanent markerwhich maybe I shouldn't have,
(04:23):
but whatever and wrote it allover my room, on my mirror, on
my desk not on any walls, likethings you can still get rid of.
But every morning when I wakeup, I see that quote you are no
less than 100%.
And that has been on my mirrorsince 2016, 2017.
And so every morning, I realizeI can do 100 of anything I put
(04:45):
my mind to.
I can achieve 100 anything Iput my mind to.
There's no reason why I can't,and that fuels me every single
day.
You are no less than 100 lovethat.
Gurasis (04:57):
Okay, if you could be any creature in the world, what
would it be?
Akshay (05:00):
it's a good one.
I I feel like I would probablybe a lion, uh, lion and this
ties back to my last maharaj.
Just, you know, the kink rightand the lion is like the king of
the jungle and and it has thathas a ferociousness to it, but
it also has that care for itsfamily it takes care of its
family.
It's there, it's there toprovide, it's there to protect
(05:21):
and it's there to lead has theambition that main it represents
so much.
And to me, that's sometimes howI feel.
Whenever I get into like a youknow, a tough place, I think
about okay well, like how thelion do it right, it wouldn't
just back down and and leave itwould.
It would attack, it wouldfigure it out, it would provide,
and that's something that I, Iknow, I try to live by very,
(05:43):
very interesting cam what.
Gurasis (05:45):
Who's your go-to person when you feel stuck?
Akshay (05:50):
you know it's it's, it's a.
It's a good question becausethere's so many different go-to
people based off of the struggle.
I am in right if it's somethingin business that you know, I'll
go to one of our lead mentors,advisors, and he always been
able to help us a lot Ivan Yuen.
He was one of the founders ofWattpad and he's such a great
(06:11):
individual.
But when it comes to likepersonal stuff, when it comes to
just direction is lost, I go tomy brother.
I think he understands me best.
Is lost, I go to my brother.
I think he understands me best.
He's someone I can go to If Idon't know, if I just don't
understand it.
It's not like he evenunderstands the whole business
world either, but he'll providerationale or just help me
(06:32):
understand my thoughts towardsit, and that's someone that
sparingly, if I have theseproblems, I hit him up.
Gurasis (06:41):
So what's the most expensive thing you own?
Akshay (06:45):
The knowledge in my mind , that's the most expensive
thing I own.
Are you kidding me?
No, I would say most expensivething.
I mean probably my car.
I'll be honest, that's probablythe biggest purchase I've made.
Recently I bought an X3M, soBMW X3M 2024.
(07:06):
So that's probably the biggestpurchase, but I mean outside of
that.
You know, I think it's such acop out answer, but I have to
say, know the mentality I have,you know it's taken time to do
that, it's taking resources, uh,and I feel like that is
something that costs the most
(07:28):
and what's the most expensivething you would like to own.
I don't know if this is another cop-out answer, but you
know, I think you cannot put aprice on the pride and the
ability to retire both of myparents comfortably and whatever
(07:48):
that cost might be, that is themost expensive, even if it's
$100,000, it doesn't matter tome because the happiness that
that will bring me will not becontent of anything else in this
world that I can buy myselfmaterialistically.
So that is, that is, inwhatever way possible, the most
expensive thing I want toprovide.
(08:09):
I want to be able to provide.
Gurasis (08:09):
And the best answer award goes to
I think they know that too,which is why they support
everything.
I love that answer.
All right.
So what's that one Canadiantradition that you have adopted
wholeheartedly and what's onefrom your home country that you
have introduced to Canadians?
Akshay (08:30):
I think the one that I've adopted, as probably more
than some Canadians, is my lovefor hockey.
You know I've played hockeysince I was four years old.
Started skating when I wasthree years old.
Played competitively allthroughout my life, even
sponsored a hockey team that.
I play on On Monday.
I played three times a week,four times a week, even in some
(08:53):
weeks, and so that is somethingthat I embody and I love, love,
love, love the game of hockeyjust as much as.
I love MMA.
In terms of things that I haveprovided, and I'd say this is
something that I've gotten myco-founder on, and Garnet grew
up in more of a Caucasianhousehold where wasn't
(09:13):
necessarily really exposed to alot of different cultures and
foods, and so one thing thatI've gotten him into is the love
for, like vegetarian food.
As a vegetarian growing up, youknow, culturally, you know
because there's no meat, a lotof different spices, a lot of
different vegetables, the waysof eating vegetables that we
never even thought, and cookingprocesses and everything around
that.
(09:33):
And something that I like toshare with anyone I meet that
has never really experienced thetraditional Indian style food
or Fijian style food or evenethnic food in general, is let's
bond over a dish, let's bondover something when it comes to
food.
Let me show you that it's notthis curry smelly thing, that
this stereotype is around, nolet me show you, let me let me
(09:56):
show you how delicious this canbe.
And, um, that's something that Ilove.
Maybe that's a lot of mypassion for cooking is to do
that, taking different spins oncanadian dishes and adding like
an air flare to it, like anethnic flair to it.
But I would say that'ssomething that I continuously
love to give back to theCanadian culture.
(10:17):
Is that love for food, lovethat?
Gurasis (10:20):
If you could have any superpower, actually, what would
it be?
Akshay (10:24):
Read people's minds.
I think for twofold.
One is you know I'm anoverthinker.
I really am.
I tend to overthink so much andunless it's clearly said to me,
I will start thinking about ahundred different scenarios and
ideas and whatever it might be.
And if I can read someone'smind, I know exactly what
(10:44):
they're thinking.
I can make a decision on that.
The second thing is I thinkit'd be really cool to
understand the perspective andthe mindset of some of the
wealthiest people in the world.
Understand the mindset of someof the biggest athletes in the
world.
How do they compete in theirgame?
What's going through their mindthe second they enter the
octagon?
(11:04):
What goes through their mind asthey hop onto the ice, as they
enter the basketball court?
Whatever it might be, it wouldbe so amazing Again, I'm so
obsessed with that mindset to beable to read that mind.
Gurasis (11:14):
It'll be unbelievable and what's your favorite
canadian slang or phrase?
Akshay (11:23):
a, a.
I say a all the time.
Uh, I.
Maybe it's because I amsurrounded by a bunch of hockey
guys all the time I, I wouldn't.
I would be interesting to seeif, if I said it during this
conversation, because I wouldn'tbe surprised if I if I hadn't.
But uh, a is probably the theone phrase I have adopted, and
(11:45):
it's can you use it in asentence um?
so if someone says uh, someonesays how's it going, I'm like
hey, hey, it's, it's going allright.
Or uh, uh, you know, I feellike it's sometimes just a
filler word at the end ofsentences.
If you say something the end ofthe day, um, I think there's
(12:06):
different ways to navigate it.
But even at home I I catchmyself sometimes even saying to
my mom like hey, what are yougonna do?
Gurasis (12:13):
right, like it's just, it's become part of my
vocabulary, funny enough okay,and finally, how would you
describe canada in one word or asentence opportunity
opportunity and you know I ambeyond grateful to have grown up
in an environment here whereopportunity is available.
Akshay (12:35):
And you know I've done a lot of travels to the US and
there's opportunity there.
But I feel like in Canada theopportunity for immigrants is
here, especially recently.
What I've been exposed to froma startup perspective the
funding, the grants,opportunities for startup
founders is phenomenal and I canwith confidence say that I
(12:58):
would not be in the sameposition I am today if it wasn't
for the support of those aroundme and the community ecosystem
that has helped me thrive towhere I am today.
Gurasis (13:07):
And if you could leave me with one piece of advice,
what would it be.
Akshay (13:12):
I think you're on such a phenomenal path when it comes
to this podcast and everythingyou're doing outside of this
podcast.
One thing I say to you, onething I say to anyone that's
aspiring to do something andcontinue to do something, is
dream bigger, dream bigger,dream bigger.
That's it.
That consistent mantra isalways chanting in my head of
(13:34):
dream bigger, believe bigger.
What's the biggest dream guessyou can potentially have?
And how do we get that for you?
Dream that big.
And when we were starting thiscompany in high school, the
biggest customer Logan Pauldream bigger.
Okay, who's next?
That's one thing I'll say is Ilove the journey you're on right
(13:55):
now and I'm so, so, so excitedto see your name and headlines
saying this podcast hasinterviewed the biggest people
in the world and I cannot waitto see that, and so I am like
excited about that.
But I want you to continue todream big, dream bigger.
Gurasis (14:10):
I, I love that.
Thank you for saying that, andhow would you describe your
experience of being on thispodcast today?
Akshay (14:16):
amazing.
I've been on maybe fourpodcasts now and this has been
one that I love because I'vebeen able just so relatable
talking to you about theheritage, the growing up as a
South Asian.
You know the transition I mean.
A lot of the podcasts and I'mso grateful for the
opportunities I've been on havebeen so focused on the business
and the growing.
The business has been adifferent spin to it, which has
(14:37):
been really cool, and somethingthat I really haven't talked
about publicly at all ever isthe upbringing and my family
side and some of the beliefs andvalues in the mind, mind, my
mindset, where it was reallyneat sharing this information
and hopefully I've been able tohelp some of the viewers that
(14:58):
100 and uh, thank you.
Gurasis (15:00):
Thank you actually for all your kind words and I I
think I'm going to definitelysleep on your advice of dreaming
bigger.
I think I'm gonna have somecold emails to send tonight.
I'm gonna do that, butdefinitely it's.
It's a.
It was a pleasure having you.
Akshay, absolutely love talkingto you and I look forward to
have you not only the nextseason, all my coming seasons.
(15:21):
I would love to unfold moreabout your journey and the
things that I've achieved.
Thank you so much for being onthe podcast and adding value to
my listeners and to me.
Akshay (15:28):
Thank you thank you so much.
Now we're in the final segment.
Actually I call it Beneath theAccent because we are knowing
each other beneath the accentand I'm going to have a couple
of questions.
You can answer them in one wordor a sentence or however you
feel like.
The idea is just don't moreabout you.
So the first question is areyou an early bird or a night owl
?
Akshay (00:19):
This is a tough one because I feel like I have such
a structure on my mornings andevenings, but if I had to pick,
I would say probably more earlybird than the night owl, to be
honest.
Gurasis (00:35):
Yeah, okay.
A word that describes you best.
Akshay (00:43):
Optimist.
I'm such an optimist I.
I will always try to see thegood in something.
Even if it's the worst thingever, I will try to see the good
in it.
And, uh, that has come back toharm me at times, but for the
most part, um, I love being anoptimist I.
I think if you're a founder,you have to have a glass half
(01:03):
full mentality, or else thisprocess will be very, very
challenging.
Gurasis (01:08):
Very, very relatable.
I can say that, okay, what'syour go-to comfort food apart
from Roro?
Akshay (01:16):
So this has been something that, yeah, roro, yeah
, this has been something thatI've been loving to make lately.
I love cooking in general.
I love it.
I love cooking in general.
I love it.
I love trying out new recipes,trying new foods.
But it's a super, super, supersimple dish that has five
ingredients, four ingredients.
It's pasta either fresh pastaor just regular pasta.
(01:38):
You thinly slice garlic andwith olive oil, you put garlic
and chili and then that's it,and then you put all your pasta.
You put the pasta in with thegarlic and chili oil and then
you top it off with a ton ofparsley and lemon and it is so
simple.
But the flavors because it's sosimple, it's only a few
(02:01):
ingredients are so bright and itis such a amazing dish,
especially before any big gameor anything going on.
I will have that because itjust brings me like peace, it
just like calms me down, it'slike okay, this is like my
comfort.
I love it.
I can eat that every day if Ihad to.
Super simple, super easy.
Gurasis (02:21):
Love that I know what I have to cook tonight.
Thank you for that.
Akshay (02:25):
Yeah, give it a try.
Gurasis (02:26):
Try, you will absolutely love it so what's
your favorite childhood memory,favorite childhood?
Akshay (02:30):
memory, you know, I think I think it has to be some
of the experiences I had with mylike grandparents growing up,
um, in particular, with our likeevents.
Every Sunday we would betogether, we would spend a lot
of time together and just thecommute to Brampton being with
them, either playing pool intheir house, or my grandfather
(02:53):
taking me to hockey games,hockey tournaments, all around
the US, those are experiences Iwill cherish for the rest of my
life and those are parts of mylife that I appreciate so much
and, you know, makes me missthem all the time.
Right Is that?
You know those moments?
Gurasis (03:11):
Do you have any hidden talents?
Akshay (03:14):
I can solve the Rubik's Cube.
That's one thing I picked upduring the pandemic.
I'm not very fast at it, butsomething fun that keeps my mind
occupied when I'm just watchinga show or something.
I'll just start fiddling aroundwith it.
Gurasis (03:32):
Okay, what's the best piece of advice someone ever
gave you?
Akshay (03:39):
So this was something that my brother told me when I
was in the mix of writing my IBexams and I was so hard on
myself that I was just Icouldn't even get myself to
(04:00):
study because I was just I feltlike so sick to my stomach
thinking about how much work Ihad to do and how behind I felt,
and I just felt like I wasn'tgood enough to do well on these
exams.
I just felt like I wasn't goodenough to do well on these exams
.
For context, my brother is asmartest guy.
I know, he won every academicaward.
He's just a genius when itcomes to that.
He came into my room and he satnext to me.
He said look, you are no lessthan 100%.
You are no less than 100%.
And I took a permanent markerwhich maybe I shouldn't have,
(04:23):
but whatever and wrote it allover my room, on my mirror, on
my desk not on any walls, likethings you can still get rid of.
But every morning when I wakeup, I see that quote you are no
less than 100%.
And that has been on my mirrorsince 2016, 2017.
And so every morning, I realizeI can do 100 of anything I put
(04:45):
my mind to.
I can achieve 100 anything Iput my mind to.
There's no reason why I can't,and that fuels me every single
day.
You are no less than 100 lovethat.
Gurasis (04:57):
Okay, if you could be any creature in the world, what
would it be?
Akshay (05:00):
it's a good one.
I I feel like I would probablybe a lion, uh, lion and this
ties back to my last maharaj.
Just, you know, the kink rightand the lion is like the king of
the jungle and and it has thathas a ferociousness to it, but
it also has that care for itsfamily it takes care of its
family.
It's there, it's there toprovide, it's there to protect
(05:21):
and it's there to lead has theambition that main it represents
so much.
And to me, that's sometimes howI feel.
Whenever I get into like a youknow, a tough place, I think
about okay well, like how thelion do it right, it wouldn't
just back down and and leave itwould.
It would attack, it wouldfigure it out, it would provide,
and that's something that I, Iknow, I try to live by very,
(05:43):
very interesting cam what.
Gurasis (05:45):
Who's your go-to person when you feel stuck?
Akshay (05:50):
you know it's it's, it's a.
It's a good question becausethere's so many different go-to
people based off of the struggle.
I am in right if it's somethingin business that you know, I'll
go to one of our lead mentors,advisors, and he always been
able to help us a lot Ivan Yuen.
He was one of the founders ofWattpad and he's such a great
(06:11):
individual.
But when it comes to likepersonal stuff, when it comes to
just direction is lost, I go tomy brother.
I think he understands me best.
Is lost, I go to my brother.
I think he understands me best.
He's someone I can go to If Idon't know, if I just don't
understand it.
It's not like he evenunderstands the whole business
world either, but he'll providerationale or just help me
(06:32):
understand my thoughts towardsit, and that's someone that
sparingly, if I have theseproblems, I hit him up.
Gurasis (06:41):
So what's the most expensive thing you own?
Akshay (06:45):
The knowledge in my mind , that's the most expensive
thing I own.
Are you kidding me?
No, I would say most expensivething.
I mean probably my car.
I'll be honest, that's probablythe biggest purchase I've made.
Recently I bought an X3M, soBMW X3M 2024.
(07:06):
So that's probably the biggestpurchase, but I mean outside of
that.
You know, I think it's such acop out answer, but I have to
say, know the mentality I have,you know it's taken time to do
that, it's taking resources, uh,and I feel like that is
something that costs the most
(07:28):
and what's the most expensivething you would like to own.
I don't know if this is another cop-out answer, but you
know, I think you cannot put aprice on the pride and the
ability to retire both of myparents comfortably and whatever
(07:48):
that cost might be, that is themost expensive, even if it's
$100,000, it doesn't matter tome because the happiness that
that will bring me will not becontent of anything else in this
world that I can buy myselfmaterialistically.
So that is, that is, inwhatever way possible, the most
expensive thing I want toprovide.
(08:09):
I want to be able to provide.
Gurasis (08:09):
And the best answer award goes to
I think they know that too,which is why they support
everything.
I love that answer.
All right.
So what's that one Canadiantradition that you have adopted
wholeheartedly and what's onefrom your home country that you
have introduced to Canadians?
Akshay (08:30):
I think the one that I've adopted, as probably more
than some Canadians, is my lovefor hockey.
You know I've played hockeysince I was four years old.
Started skating when I wasthree years old.
Played competitively allthroughout my life, even
sponsored a hockey team that.
I play on On Monday.
I played three times a week,four times a week, even in some
(08:53):
weeks, and so that is somethingthat I embody and I love, love,
love, love the game of hockeyjust as much as.
I love MMA.
In terms of things that I haveprovided, and I'd say this is
something that I've gotten myco-founder on, and Garnet grew
up in more of a Caucasianhousehold where wasn't
(09:13):
necessarily really exposed to alot of different cultures and
foods, and so one thing thatI've gotten him into is the love
for, like vegetarian food.
As a vegetarian growing up, youknow, culturally, you know
because there's no meat, a lotof different spices, a lot of
different vegetables, the waysof eating vegetables that we
never even thought, and cookingprocesses and everything around
that.
(09:33):
And something that I like toshare with anyone I meet that
has never really experienced thetraditional Indian style food
or Fijian style food or evenethnic food in general, is let's
bond over a dish, let's bondover something when it comes to
food.
Let me show you that it's notthis curry smelly thing, that
this stereotype is around, nolet me show you, let me let me
(09:56):
show you how delicious this canbe.
And, um, that's something that Ilove.
Maybe that's a lot of mypassion for cooking is to do
that, taking different spins oncanadian dishes and adding like
an air flare to it, like anethnic flair to it.
But I would say that'ssomething that I continuously
love to give back to theCanadian culture.
(10:17):
Is that love for food, lovethat?
Gurasis (10:20):
If you could have any superpower, actually, what would
it be?
Akshay (10:24):
Read people's minds.
I think for twofold.
One is you know I'm anoverthinker.
I really am.
I tend to overthink so much andunless it's clearly said to me,
I will start thinking about ahundred different scenarios and
ideas and whatever it might be.
And if I can read someone'smind, I know exactly what
(10:44):
they're thinking.
I can make a decision on that.
The second thing is I thinkit'd be really cool to
understand the perspective andthe mindset of some of the
wealthiest people in the world.
Understand the mindset of someof the biggest athletes in the
world.
How do they compete in theirgame?
What's going through their mindthe second they enter the
octagon?
(11:04):
What goes through their mind asthey hop onto the ice, as they
enter the basketball court?
Whatever it might be, it wouldbe so amazing Again, I'm so
obsessed with that mindset to beable to read that mind.
Gurasis (11:14):
It'll be unbelievable and what's your favorite
canadian slang or phrase?
Akshay (11:23):
a, a.
I say a all the time.
Uh, I.
Maybe it's because I amsurrounded by a bunch of hockey
guys all the time I, I wouldn't.
I would be interesting to seeif, if I said it during this
conversation, because I wouldn'tbe surprised if I if I hadn't.
But uh, a is probably the theone phrase I have adopted, and
(11:45):
it's can you use it in asentence um?
so if someone says uh, someonesays how's it going, I'm like
hey, hey, it's, it's going allright.
Or uh, uh, you know, I feellike it's sometimes just a
filler word at the end ofsentences.
If you say something the end ofthe day, um, I think there's
(12:06):
different ways to navigate it.
But even at home I I catchmyself sometimes even saying to
my mom like hey, what are yougonna do?
Gurasis (12:13):
right, like it's just, it's become part of my
vocabulary, funny enough okay,and finally, how would you
describe canada in one word or asentence opportunity
opportunity and you know I ambeyond grateful to have grown up
in an environment here whereopportunity is available.
Akshay (12:35):
And you know I've done a lot of travels to the US and
there's opportunity there.
But I feel like in Canada theopportunity for immigrants is
here, especially recently.
What I've been exposed to froma startup perspective the
funding, the grants,opportunities for startup
founders is phenomenal and I canwith confidence say that I
(12:58):
would not be in the sameposition I am today if it wasn't
for the support of those aroundme and the community ecosystem
that has helped me thrive towhere I am today.
Gurasis (13:07):
And if you could leave me with one piece of advice,
what would it be.
Akshay (13:12):
I think you're on such a phenomenal path when it comes
to this podcast and everythingyou're doing outside of this
podcast.
One thing I say to you, onething I say to anyone that's
aspiring to do something andcontinue to do something, is
dream bigger, dream bigger,dream bigger.
That's it.
That consistent mantra isalways chanting in my head of
(13:34):
dream bigger, believe bigger.
What's the biggest dream guessyou can potentially have?
And how do we get that for you?
Dream that big.
And when we were starting thiscompany in high school, the
biggest customer Logan Pauldream bigger.
Okay, who's next?
That's one thing I'll say is Ilove the journey you're on right
(13:55):
now and I'm so, so, so excitedto see your name and headlines
saying this podcast hasinterviewed the biggest people
in the world and I cannot waitto see that, and so I am like
excited about that.
But I want you to continue todream big, dream bigger.
Gurasis (14:10):
I, I love that.
Thank you for saying that, andhow would you describe your
experience of being on thispodcast today?
Akshay (14:16):
amazing.
I've been on maybe fourpodcasts now and this has been
one that I love because I'vebeen able just so relatable
talking to you about theheritage, the growing up as a
South Asian.
You know the transition I mean.
A lot of the podcasts and I'mso grateful for the
opportunities I've been on havebeen so focused on the business
and the growing.
The business has been adifferent spin to it, which has
(14:37):
been really cool, and somethingthat I really haven't talked
about publicly at all ever isthe upbringing and my family
side and some of the beliefs andvalues in the mind, mind, my
mindset, where it was reallyneat sharing this information
and hopefully I've been able tohelp some of the viewers that
(14:58):
100 and uh, thank you.
Gurasis (15:00):
Thank you actually for all your kind words and I I
think I'm going to definitelysleep on your advice of dreaming
bigger.
I think I'm gonna have somecold emails to send tonight.
I'm gonna do that, butdefinitely it's.
It's a.
It was a pleasure having you.
Akshay, absolutely love talkingto you and I look forward to
have you not only the nextseason, all my coming seasons.
(15:21):
I would love to unfold moreabout your journey and the
things that I've achieved.
Thank you so much for being onthe podcast and adding value to
my listeners and to me.
Akshay (15:28):
Thank you thank you so much.
Popular Podcasts
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Therapy Gecko
An unlicensed lizard psychologist travels the universe talking to strangers about absolutely nothing. TO CALL THE GECKO: follow me on https://www.twitch.tv/lyleforever to get a notification for when I am taking calls. I am usually live Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays but lately a lot of other times too. I am a gecko.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.