May 27, 2025 • 50 mins
In this week’s episode of Next Steps Forward, Dr. Chris Meek welcomes Sanjay Puri - entrepreneur, investor, global strategist, and host of the Regulating AI and Indianness podcasts - for an insightful conversation on personal empowerment, technological innovation, and global diplomacy. From founding AutoNebula, an investment firm focused on connected transport startups, to leading the U.S.-India Political Action Committee for over two decades, Sanjay has spent his career at the intersection of technology, policy, and international business. He shares how pivotal moments shaped his entrepreneurial journey, the lessons he learned from early challenges, and the mindset needed to turn vision into action.
Sanjay also dives deep into the future of artificial intelligence, tackling the tough question: How do we regulate AI without killing innovation? He explains the most common misconceptions about AI, its potential impact on the workforce, and the human values we must protect as this technology evolves. In addition, Sanjay reflects on the evolving relationship between the United States and India - from public policy to private enterprise - and offers powerful insights into how mentorship, resilience, and curiosity have fueled his mission-driven work.
Whether you're an aspiring entrepreneur, a tech enthusiast, or a global thinker, this episode will leave you inspired to take your next steps forward with clarity, courage, and purpose.
About Sanjay Puri: After years of guiding the relationship between the United States and India, Sanjay Puri has become a leading advocate guiding the conversation on how to regulate artificial intelligence. Through his weekly podcast, Regulating AI, Sanjay speaks with world leaders about the difficult question of “How do we regulate AI without killing innovation?” Sanjay is the founder and chairman of AutoNebula, an investment firm focused on connected transport startups that bridge the gap between the United States and India. He has served as the chairman of the United States Indian Political Action Committee for 21 years and he is the co-founder of ACEL360, a business accelerator that drives the growth and increases the enterprise value of small and mid-sized federal contractors.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
There are few things that make people successful. Taking a step forward to change their lives is one successful trait, but it takes some time to get there. How do you move forward to greet the success that awaits you? Welcome to Next Steps Forward with host Chris Meek. Each week, Chris brings on another guest who has successfully taken the next steps forward.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Now here is Chris Meek. Hello. Welcome to this week's episode of Next Steps Forward, and I'm your host, Chris Meek. As always, it's a pleasure to have you with us. Our focus is on personal empowerment, a commitment to wellbeing, and the motivation to achieve more than you ever thought possible. We have another outstanding guest this week. After years of guiding the relationship between the United States and India, Sanjay Puri has become a leading advocate guiding the conversation on how to regulate artificial intelligence. Through his weekly podcast, Regulating AI, Sanjay speaks with world leaders about the difficult question of how do we regulate AI without killing innovation? Sanjay is the founder and chairman of Auto Nebula, an investment firm focused on connected transport startups that bridge the gap between the United States and India. He has served as the chairman of the United States Indian Political Action Committee for 21 years, and he's the co-founder of Excel 360, a business accelerator that drives the growth and increases the enterprise value of small and mid-sized federal contractors. Sanjay Puri, welcome to Next Steps Forward. Thank you, Chris. Really a pleasure to be here. We've been trying to schedule this for a while, so I really appreciate your time and your schedule. I know how busy you are, so thank you for being here. Sanjay, you've built a remarkable career at the intersection of technology, entrepreneurship, and global business. If you had to pinpoint one moment or decision that set your journey in motion, what would that be?
Speaker 3 (01:55):
Life is made up of a lot of moments, Chris. I think one moment, if I were to say, was when I had graduated from my master's, I was doing my PhD, and for my thesis, I was building a system to diagnose patients who have Alzheimer's. My PhD was in expert systems AI. I think at that moment, it really struck me that the power of technology that could really serve as a value creator for a lot of people. I could never be a physician or a doctor or any of those things, but I just realized that there are other ways that you can really help one person, 10 people, hundreds and thousands. To me, that was the moment.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
Did that moment feel like a turning point at the time, or is it only in the retrospect that you recognize its importance?
Speaker 3 (02:47):
I think it's retrospect, because when you're in the moment, it is the moment. As I said, there are inflection points in everybody's life, and maybe that was an inflection point. Was entrepreneurship something you always knew you wanted, or did it evolve over time? Chris, my dad was an entrepreneur. The conversations generally at dinner were about entrepreneurship. It was really about what he did. There were summer times he would drag me to his place of work, which I kind of hated, but somehow, and you know, Chris, those days, we didn't have sexy terms like entrepreneurship and VC funding and things like that. It just felt like it would be something that I would do that would be creating something of my own. I knew that.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
It's interesting how you say entrepreneurship or VC. Those are sort of more modern terms. I didn't think about that. Back then, it would be considered a struggling small business, pretty much. Yes, and the key word is struggling.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
What was your first entrepreneurial challenge? There were so many, but if I were to really think of one, Chris, and as I said, at that time, there was no VC funding and stuff like that, so it was really money. I said, how do I solve that problem? I said, okay, I won't take a salary myself, so that's partly solved, but then what about the others? I think my biggest challenge was to convince others not to take a salary, so that was my first entrepreneurial challenge. Nobody in my MBA courses had ever taught me anything about that, but it was something I had to do. How do you do that?
Speaker 2 (04:47):
We've heard about all these successful startups like Microsoft, Apple, Dell. They don't do it. They're living in the garage and using tin cans, whatever scrap pieces they have, but How do you convince people that they're part of something bigger and to invest in it now for rewards later on?
Speaker 3 (05:05):
I think first, Chris, you've got to believe in it yourself, and you really have to passionately believe in that because people can – passion is infectious. Whatever you call it, passion, belief, whatever that feeling is, it's infectious. I think if you believe in something and you see a big vision and a big opportunity and you're credible and you come across as honest, there are others who want to believe in things too, and there are people who want to have a shared vision. So I think be honest and also be honest that you don't have all the answers, but together we can figure it out. And what lessons did you learn early that still guide you today? Lessons that I learned early were, be focused. I think, again, I speak for myself and I work with a lot of startup entrepreneurs. It's very, very easy to get distracted. The other thing is play to your strengths. Everybody has some strengths. Again, there are people like Elon who have multiple, multiple strengths. But I'm just saying there are people – so if you have an expertise in certain areas, really hone in on that, and those things will carry you across. And also, don't fear a setback. There will be setbacks. I think, Chris, you and I both know that. There will be good days, but there will be bad days. And I think ultimately the good days outnumber the bad days. Otherwise it's time to get out if they don't.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
I guess going back to your point or your statement about how the phrase entrepreneur, entrepreneurship didn't exist when you're getting started, nowadays it's a very common word. There are courses being taught on it. There are majors in universities and colleges now. What makes somebody or what entices an individual to say, hey, you know what? I'm going to go be a startup. I'm going to go risk everything I have even though I've got student loan debt and I'm not going to go work for the government or go into finance or go be a teacher?
Speaker 3 (07:32):
I think a little bit of insanity is absolutely, absolutely a necessary thing as my friends would tell me that I'm certifiably nuts. And also seeing something that others don't and believing in things that maybe others don't and just maybe sometimes doing things when others say no. But I think that's obviously you don't want to jump off the cliff also, but sometimes there are a few cliffs that you need to jump without a parachute before you actually figure out how to use a parachute too. But I think what makes an entrepreneur is, you know, you see around the edges that nobody does because you have that optimism that, you know, that things will be better than they are today. If you don't have that sense of optimism, it's really, really hard to be an entrepreneur. When you have creditors chasing you, when you have employees in some cases leaving you or not being able to recruit employees, just a range of things. Your lawyer says that your trademark was rejected or this and that. You got to have an optimism that, hey, I'll find a way.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
So being the optimist self-starter entrepreneur, you're everything from CEO to accountant to the guy taking the garbage out. When you have those bad days, which to your point, more often than not, hopefully are fewer than the good days, how do you take care of yourself? What's your self-care? Because things have to wait. And like you said, the creditors are coming, you've got employees looking for a paycheck, your patent is delayed or whatever it may be. And so how do you fight through all that so you keep yourself going and seeing to your point through everything and around the edges and keeping your optimism?
Speaker 3 (09:31):
I think one, again, I only speak for myself in a way that one has to keep the big picture in mind that when you look around the world, there are a lot of bad things happening around the world. So I think each one of us is blessed in more ways than we know of. So keeping things a little bit in perspective and also that faith that you have in yourself, you got to have faith in yourself that were you able to get out of bad situations before? And then also have a little bit of a system or some core people around you that can be your sounding board also tell you when the emperor has no clothes also. That's also very, very important. So I think those are the important things, Chris.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
The phrase is kitchen cabinet I like to use and so I totally relate to that. So as a follow-up, I know we have some entrepreneurs, inspiring entrepreneurs in our audience today. What makes a startup investment worthy in your book?
Speaker 3 (10:46):
I think the first thing at least that I look at is the entrepreneur themselves. Have they been in this journey before? And it's okay if they've not been. But if they've not been, have they been punched before or have they had some kind of setback in their life story? I'm not looking for people just who had setbacks alone, but found a way because you will have to find a way. There will be many pivots that will come along. So I think that's one absolute quality that I look from an investment standpoint and is this a market that has some huge potentials, that has the potential for some winners? If it's too crowded a market, then why? Or is this a solution looking for a problem? Or is this a problem where you are going to solve some, there's a crying need for that? So I think those are the things that generally, but also, is there a team around this person, whether it's already in there or is on in the wings? I think those are the things, Chris, that make it investable.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
What are the biggest misconceptions that new founders have about starting or scaling companies and what are their most common mistakes?
Speaker 3 (12:24):
I'll rattle off, like I said, I have 106 mistakes of my own, but I don't think your show has got the length for those mistakes, but generally, again, and I use the word entrepreneurship is become a little bit of a sexy term in today's lingo. It's still a lot of work, a lot of work, a lot of sacrifices, a lot of opportunity costs that you have to give up. And it's also involves sometimes putting your ego in check, because if you're an entrepreneur, you need to obviously have a healthy ego because if you don't, then it's going to be hard. But there are times when you've got to keep your ego in check, whether it's with investors, potential employees, etc. So those become some of the things, Chris, that one has to really think about. And also, if you think that you have a great technology and it's going to solve all the problems, no, it's a customer maybe just wants a very simple solution. So I think those are some of the challenges that come across.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
What's the best advice you ignored, but wish you hadn't as you were launching a startup?
Speaker 3 (13:52):
Again, there were many such, Chris, but I would say one of the things that I had advice was focus and focus on the core problem that you're trying to solve. I got carried away with, and this I see with a lot of entrepreneurs, you always look at the next shiny object and it's the next shiny object syndrome I always see with entrepreneurs and I've seen it with myself also. Hey, if it's AI, then everybody is chasing AI. If it was metaverse, everybody's chasing metaverse, you know, on and on and on. If it's agentic AI, it's everybody's chasing. And I'm not saying there is not huge, there are trillion dollar opportunities, but there are trillion companies chasing those trillion dollar opportunities. Where is your niche? Stick to that niche. Maybe it might not be the latest and the greatest and the sexiest thing, but heck man, if it's got big client base, if your clients need it, you have the subject matter expertise and that's one of the things with entrepreneurs. Do they have domain knowledge? You asked me, what do I look at entrepreneurs? Do they have domain knowledge and what the problem they're trying to solve? If you have that domain knowledge, then go for that. That's what I would say, Chris.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
Well, I like how you said for people to stay in their niche because you can't be all things to all people. Yeah, I've been there. Number 104 out of the 106. Sanjay, if you could go back and give your younger self one piece of advice, what would that be?
Speaker 3 (15:39):
One piece of advice, I think it would be that hire, you know, people always say hire people smarter than you. I would say, yes, hire very smart people, but, and this is something I learned along the way, hire people whose values align with you because most people forget, even in this time of remote work and stuff like that, if you're in an early stage company, a startup or whatever you want to call it, you're going to spend a lot of time with your co-founders or your early stage employees and if their values don't align, it is going to lead to bad results because you can teach somebody Python, you can teach somebody, you know, many different things. Obviously, there's some foundational skills that people need to have, but your value alignment is either there or not there and the chemistry that you have, but the value alignment is to me is critical because what happens is those shiny resumes and CVs with those fantastic backgrounds, people really tend to overlook the EQ, they tend to overlook the values and especially the values because you, Chris, have a certain value set that aligns with you and it's really hard to change that. So you need people who kind of align that. So that to me was something I need.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
You mentioned at the beginning of the show how you would go to work with your father begrudgingly. What inspired you to become an entrepreneur, knowing what your thoughts were at that point and then specifically in the tech space?
Speaker 3 (17:31):
I want to be clear about begrudging. My dad used to have a chemicals and a paint business and I hated the smell. I'm very smell sensitive. So that was part of the issue and I, anyway, so he… Harsh of a word. Thank you. Yeah. Fine. So when I discovered that I was going to be an entrepreneur, Chris, I just, again, like I said, I didn't think of it as entrepreneurship. I thought that I wanted to create something from nothing, something that did not exist or something from scratch. That was my desire. Then it became, okay, it's going to be a new company or it's going to be a startup or it's going to be a new product. So whatever the term it is, my desire early on, and I had some entrepreneurial gigs growing up that we will not talk about, but it was really about creating, trying to create something from nothing or something where there was a gap or something like that. That was my feeling.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
So if you haven't gone down the entrepreneur route, where do you think life might have taken you instead?
Speaker 3 (18:59):
Probably in that chemical factory or paint factory, you know, holding my nose up, probably. So maybe that would be, I have no idea, you know, I don't look back. One of the things you want from entrepreneurs, look forward. Look forward. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
Visionary, not through the rear view mirror. Yeah. So being inspired is one thing. Having the personal power, being empowered to make your personal and professional dreams happen is often quite something else. How did you empower yourself to achieve so much and what was your first step to personal empowerment?
Speaker 3 (19:38):
You know, again, how did I, you know, empower myself? You know, that's, you know, personal empowerment, Chris, is first, you kind of have to have a personal mission statement. And to me, one of the things that I always believe in is if you treat people the way you want to be treated and you build bridges with people, I think that really is a very empowering thing because ultimately it is really people and you need teams, you need people around you. No matter today we are in the world of technology, AI agents, et cetera, there's still people who really need that. And so, you know, I had to create my own personal mission statement and that was really about treating people the way I wanted to be treated and also building bridges, you know, that would, you know, create relationships. And to me, that's very, very important.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
I love you talking about building bridges, you know, could be much longer and harder to build a bridge than to burn one, but they last longer.
Speaker 3 (21:01):
Absolutely, last a lot longer. And remember, sometimes you might burn the bridge, but you might have to go back to that bridge at times. And that happens a lot in life.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
And to that point, one thing I found is I've gotten older in my industry, the older you get, the smaller the world gets. And so, yeah, you're better off building, not burning. Absolutely. What inner qualities have mattered most to you when it came to turning ideas into reality?
Speaker 3 (21:34):
I think for me, being curious, Chris, I think is something, I'm just a very curious person and not just about a specific thing, it's not about technology, it's about politics, it's about policies, it's about the world. I think that is really very, very important. And then that ability to be resilient because, you know, there are going to be good times and bad times. So how do you go through that? And, you know, curiosity, the ability to be resilient, and again, being optimistic, I think that those are things that matter to me most.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
And I love, you and I have had a handful of conversations on politics, on policy, on technology and business. And so, to your earlier point, sort of birds of a feather, if you will, get connected and they build a bridge together. And so, again, your earlier statement as well, you know, get people with core values around you and life gets a bit easier. There will still be challenges, but at least you're not walking through those challenges by yourself. And so I really appreciate you being reflective in that sense. Absolutely. And maybe to that point, looking back over your career, what have you learned about taking ownership of your own path, and especially when that road isn't clear?
Speaker 3 (23:07):
You know, I would say, you know, when the road is not clear and taking you, one has to, you know, you have to embrace a little bit of uncertainty, and you have to break things down into shorter steps, because and then make adjustments. So I would say is, I don't mind uncertainty. In fact, sometimes it's good to embrace a little bit of uncertainty or ambiguity, and then, you know, embrace the journey, and then break it down into smaller pieces. Because sometimes it seems like an exceptionally long road, but if you break it down, and then I think the results do come, Chris. Field saying how to eat a whale, one bite at a time. One bite at a time.
Speaker 2 (24:08):
That's true.
Speaker3: But you'll be eating for a while.
Yes, you will. Sanjay, who were your mentors, role models, and influences to help guide you early on?
Speaker 3 (24:20):
You know, family is a big thing. So, you know, again, my dad, again, I saw him do a lot of things. He made a lot of mistakes, too. But I think that role model part of him and learning from the things he did right and some of the things he didn't write, my mom, my mom was a big, big role model for me, because Chris, what she was able to do in her time, when, you know, probably she didn't have as many opportunities as, let's say, a man would have had. But what she did, I think the things, whatever little I have in terms of the ability to be optimistic, to be fearless in face of uncertainty, I really learned from her. And the ability to really build relationships and building relationships, not with just with your peers, but across the spectrum and across different fields, because I think that becomes very, very important. So to me, my parents have really been a big, big role model for me.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
It's interesting. But I didn't realize until much later in life. And so, you know, there's a few regrets there in terms of not realizing or acknowledging and learning it at that point. So I absolutely understand that. After someone becomes as accomplished as you are, do you still have or need mentors?
Speaker 3 (26:04):
I think you need mentors all throughout your life. And mentors, Chris, they come in all shapes, size and at points in life. I continually seek out mentors and they can be direct, indirect mentors, people either I've worked with, people who work with me sometimes, they are mentors to me. And the startups that I get engaged in, I mean, there's a reason why I'm engaged with startups, because, I mean, I learn a lot from them. And sometimes you learn from the people who you're mentoring to. Your mentees in many, many ways end up being your mentors. So I would say is keep an open mind throughout your life journey. They'll teach you along the way, whether it is your spiritual guide, whether it is your business person, whether it is somebody in your family. I think there is, one has to have the ability to absorb and take incoming and sometimes take incoming criticism too, because that's very hard, especially as you grow older. But it helps you a lot.
Speaker 2 (27:27):
My kids criticize me all the time. It's getting harder and harder as I get older, so I can relate to that too. And the other side of mentorship in your field involves helping the next generation of leaders and innovators reach their full potential. What qualities do you look for in someone you're going to mentor as you're deciding whether you're going to invest your finite and very valuable time in them?
Speaker 3 (27:49):
You know, Chris, the same things that I talk, are they coachable? And are they going to take action ultimately? Am I just, you know, are we going to have a session with them that, okay, great advice. Are they going to act on some of the things? I'm not expecting them to act on everything, but heck man, I'm not there just to talk and talk. Well, if it is just a yapping session, I have no issue, but if it's a mentoring session, then maybe they act on some of the things we have jointly discussed. Again, there has to be some alignment of values too, because if my North Star is here and if their North Star is different, then maybe that won't work.
Speaker 2 (28:46):
You've shared a lot of your own personal beliefs and philosophies with us, but what's a belief you hold that most people would find surprising that we haven't talked about?
Speaker 3 (28:55):
What's a belief that I hold that people would find surprising? I haven't heard any yet. I would say, Chris, that, you know, we are living in the world of incredible technology and I'm an entrepreneur at the core. I believe that technology innovation really is changing society, whether it's in personalized medicine, education, you name it, farming, etc. But everything has to have some kind of guardrails and we have social media as a great experiment that has had a lot of challenges, especially for our young people. So I really believe, and that's, you know, when I have this organization called Regulating AI, the idea is not to kill innovation, the idea is to innovate. And so I really believe as somebody who's really hardcore, you know, I'm a hands-on technology person, I really believe that we can do amazing things in our lifetime. I really believe every disease will be cured in our lifetime because of technology and so many other things. But we just need some guardrails and we owe it to our children and their children, etc. When you look at social media, and I see this just across the board, in terms of, you know, the breaking up of the human connection and so many other things, the peer pressure it causes on young people, etc., I just think there could be more significant consequences. So I don't know if that helps. No, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (31:05):
What technologies or industries are you most excited about right now? And then what do you expect to do in those areas?
Speaker 3 (31:13):
So there are, I mean, you know, as I said, it takes very little for me to get excited. I get excited about a lot of things, Chris. But you know, I'm very excited about space technology because I really, really believe the combination of space and AI is going to be incredible in terms of whether it is using, you know, space technology with GIS and all kinds of other things for predicting climate, for farming, for, you know, natural disasters and so many other things. So I'm very excited about the use of robotics and AI because you're going to see, not in the too distant future, humanoids in large volumes of numbers, humanoids that would help seniors who have mobility issues, humanoids who would help disabled and humanoids who solve labor-ish challenges that we have. Very interested and excited about, you know, personalized and precision health and drug discovery using AI, so many different molecules, using AI to expedite clinical trials of personalized education. And you and I have talked a little bit about this because, you know, Chris, you probably are stronger in so many subjects, whether it's bio or physics or math. I might be, you know, weak in some of those, but you are still being taught the same things as I am, which it's like, you know, if you're diabetic and I've got high cholesterol, you should be kind of taking different medicines. So personalized medicine, the access to healthcare around the world today, you can have a GP, a general practitioner, on your phone anywhere in the world and think about people in inner cities or farming communities where doctors do not want to go in and practice. So those are things, and I can just, like I said, rattle off, but that, the use of innovation to solve so many of our problems, I think that's what gets me excited.
Speaker 2 (33:53):
So I mentioned earlier in the show, you have a podcast, Regulating AI, you just talked about how AI is reshaping workplaces, industries, you know, entire economies right now. You said how excited you are about it, as am I, and a lot of us are, and, you know, perhaps still making us quite nervous about AI. What do you think people are getting wrong about artificial intelligence?
Speaker 3 (34:17):
Well, you know, what people are getting wrong about artificial intelligence is that it is basically, Chris, you know, obviously it's a foundational technology, and it's just, you know, when you look at foundational technologies like the internet and things of that nature, you know, what people are getting, so it's like the internet, or it's like electricity, etc. There are people who think it's going to solve all the problems in the world with AGI and everything else, and there are people who think it's going to take over the world. And I have a feeling that the answer might actually be somewhere in between, or maybe neither of them might be the right answer. So I would say the challenge is where AI gets too hyped up, or people get too paranoid, you know, about AI. I think that's my biggest thing regarding AI, that let's keep the perspective, but it is transformational technologies, as I've told you, and probably one of the most consequential technologies, at least in my lifetime, that I've seen.
Speaker 2 (35:46):
There have been several articles written lately about how students, whether it be in high school or college, are using AI to help do their math problems, write their essays. There's an article, is it on Friday or Saturday, in the Wall Street Journal about, I grew up with these, the blue book, they're bringing back the blue book, so it's going to be an in-person test, you have to do the writing there, there's nothing online, and so I love We're going back to old school teaching methods, which is long overdue. You've talked a lot about where you see AI helping us. Where's artificial intelligence headed in terms of five years, 10 years, and then what's it going to be able to do after that?
Speaker 3 (36:28):
I think five years, 10 years, we will stop talking about AI, because it'll be completely immersed in what we do. I don't think we talk about electricity, I don't think, because the lights here, we just take it for granted. We don't talk about the internet, per se, because you and I are connected to the internet, because everything that we do is going to be completely woven in, whether you search for something, whether you get something on your work, on everything else, there will not be any industry or any activity in our life that will not have some element of whatever you call that artificial intelligence, generative AI, whatever it is, but some form of that, and you're going to have access to so much productivity, and some of it, Chris, I'm sure you have seen yourself in your daily use. Just imagine what's coming down the pike. This is two and a half years of what we have seen, that we have access to so much knowledge. Our behavior will change, because now, what do we do with that knowledge? I think that's where we will see an evolution that will be happening, is we have tremendous knowledge at such fast speed, high speed. You have, Chris, 1,000 PhDs working for you, what do you do with that? You have the best medical surgeons from Mayo Clinic advising you, what do you do with that? It is now just going to be a given that I have all that access, information, tools available to me, where is life going to be? Is it going to give us more free time, more time to actually interact with each other, because we lost some of that because we were all running towards making things happen. We were running and spending an hour and a half in traffic if you're in Washington, D.C., etc. Maybe we don't need to do that, so again, that's the optimistic in me, saying that hopefully things will be a lot for the better, Chris, whether it's in healthcare, medicine, farming, you name it, manufacturing, oil and gas, hopefully we're going to see some really good things happening for us.
Speaker 2 (39:12):
We've been talking about technology and what people need to know about it. Let's shift gears for a minute if we can. Let's talk about India. Most Americans might be able to find India on the globe, but probably don't have a depth of knowledge about the country. What are some misconceptions about India that you'd like to see corrected, and what do Americans need to know about modern India and its future?
Speaker 3 (39:37):
What would I like to see? The conceptions have changed over time. Well, so I'll just give you, since you talked about a globe, I'm very fond of globes, so I sit with a globe next to me, and I have a huge map behind me because it tells me all the places I still want to see. Again, birds of a feather, there's my globe, and the map behind. Yes, and I have a map behind too. So many places to see, so many cultures to learn from. So Chris, India is a country of 1.4 billion people. It's the most populated country in the world. There is a fairly large English-speaking population in that country. It's also a country where education is put at a premium, where every parent's dream is that the child absolutely has to have a college degree. Now, whether that translates into jobs or things like that, we don't know. But one of the misconceptions is that when you look at India, there are many, many parts of India. So when you go from one state to another, there are 26 states and other Union territories. Chris, it's almost like going from one country to another because in many cases, the language, the food, the culture is very, very different. And so I think that's one. So there are many parts of that. Yes, there is one India, and it's a very, very young country, Chris. Think about it, less than about 60% of the population is below the age of 30. To do the math, 1.4 billion times six, so you've got about 800 million people below. So from a working age demographic, they have an immense advantage. Obviously that needs to be put to work because these people need jobs. So I think, and it's the largest digital economy because now smartphones are everywhere. It's the largest smartphone market, it's the largest financial in the sense everybody pays through smartphones, etc. But still, there is a lot of income inequality, but a lot of progress has still been made. I would say those are some of the key things. It's a democracy, and the values in many cases, it's got a rule of law, democracy, freedom of press, strong judiciary system. So they kind of align pretty well. So I don't know if that helps.
Speaker 2 (42:32):
No, that's very helpful. Thank you. How would you describe the current state of US-India relations and where do you see the biggest opportunities for collaboration between the two over the next decade?
Speaker 3 (42:44):
Chris, I think the US-India relations are very strong. I mean, when you look, and it doesn't matter who's the president or who's going to be the prime minister in India, because now the trajectory is defined by the values. There is a value set that comes together, and also it is strategic for the United States that India sits in that region, which sits next to China, and it's a democracy. It also happens to be a very growing market. It's one of the fastest growing economies in the world. I think it's now the fifth largest economy in the world. So the trajectory is very good. There's a large Indian-American population in the United States that really wants strong ties between these two countries for a reason, because there is a value set synergy between two countries. So, and it will not matter who's the president here, who's the prime minister. I think the relationships will continue to grow.
Speaker 2 (43:48):
So we mentioned you do two podcasts. As a key advocate for US-India relations, you're also the host of the Indianist podcast. You use that platform to speak to and share the stories of high-performing Indians and Indian Americans. Who have been some of your favorite people to feature, and what makes those people stand out in your mind?
Speaker 3 (44:06):
Oh, there's so many of them. I mean, I would say all of them. It's like picking children. You know, Chris, I started the podcast because everybody used to ask me, hey, how come Indians are so successful? I said, let me ask the people who are successful, what is their secret sauce? So that was, and it really became, you know, doing a series on their life journeys. You know, there are some amazing stories here, Chris. You have a gentleman who runs one of the largest genetic pharmaceutical companies in this country. He came to this country and his first job was in a candy store, and he didn't speak English pretty well. I mean, and I can go on and on and on. There are members of Congress, then there are people who, you know, where they grew up in villages and came to this country and have achieved tremendous success. And then there's this lady who was at NASA in one of the key positions. She used to work in her father's motel growing up and she became, she wanted to become an astronaut and she came very close to becoming an astronaut, but she had, you know, she was pregnant during that time and for those reasons she could not, but she ended up running the Mars program at NASA. So, you know, from changing sheets in the motel to having the setback of not being able to be an astronaut, but to running the Mars program, there are some incredible stories of a kid who got bullied when he came over to New Jersey because, and he was asked to change his name because it couldn't be pronounced. He ended up becoming the head of the dean of the medical school. He's currently the dean of medical school at Brown and he became the head of COVID during President Biden. So, you know, a kid who was told to change his name, he says, every time I used to walk into the White House, it reminded me the greatness of this country. So it's about Indianness, but it's also about the opportunities and the greatness of the United States of America, because it really welcomes everybody who has a desire. It doesn't matter what, who, and where you're from.
(46:43):
Speaker2: And where can people find that podcast?
Speaker3: They can go to Indianness.org.
Speaker 2 (46:50):
See, there's a sales plug, I told you I'd get one for you. Of course. Thank you, Chris. Thank you. Sanjay, clearly starting and leading businesses and motivating people are passions of yours. But outside of work, what energizes you?
Speaker 3 (47:06):
Outside of work, what energizes me? I don't have a great golf game, so I have a lot of friends who have great golf games. And every year, I make a resolution, except this year, because I gave up on resolutions that I'm going to improve my golf game. And I have, unfortunately, bought some expensive tools. And I think this is an entrepreneurial lesson. It is not the tools, it's your foundational. If you put in the time, if you put in the effort, then your game will get better. And also, my friends tell me that you play with better players. And that's also an entrepreneurial lesson. Surround yourself with people who, in some cases, are more talented than you. So I try a little bit of golf, not too well. I love to travel, because you saw the globe that you and I have. It's really an education for me. It's really an education to learn about people, to learn about cultures, the values. So those are some of the passions I have.
Speaker 2 (48:22):
And if people remember one thing about your journey, what would you want it to be?
Speaker 3 (48:28):
One thing about my journey, I would say, only possible in the United States of America. That would be the one thing I would say about my journey.
Speaker 2: Well, that's a great way to end the show. (48:39):
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Speaker 3 (48:41):
Yeah. Thank you, Chris. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (48:44):
I really appreciate it. Thank you so much for being here. It was a lot of fun. I'm glad we were able to connect. And thank you to our audience, which now includes people in more than 50 countries, for joining us for another episode of Next Steps Forward. I'm Chris Meek. For more details on upcoming shows and guests, please follow me on Facebook at facebook.com forward slash ChrisMeekPublicFigure and then x at ChrisMeek underscore USA. We'll be back next Tuesday, same time, same place, with another leader from the world of business, politics, public policy, sports, or entertainment. Until then, stay safe and keep taking your next steps forward.
There are few things that make people successful. Taking a step forward to change their lives is one successful trait, but it takes some time to get there. How do you move forward to greet the success that awaits you? Welcome to Next Steps Forward with host Chris Meek. Each week, Chris brings on another guest who has successfully taken the next steps forward.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Now here is Chris Meek. Hello. Welcome to this week's episode of Next Steps Forward, and I'm your host, Chris Meek. As always, it's a pleasure to have you with us. Our focus is on personal empowerment, a commitment to wellbeing, and the motivation to achieve more than you ever thought possible. We have another outstanding guest this week. After years of guiding the relationship between the United States and India, Sanjay Puri has become a leading advocate guiding the conversation on how to regulate artificial intelligence. Through his weekly podcast, Regulating AI, Sanjay speaks with world leaders about the difficult question of how do we regulate AI without killing innovation? Sanjay is the founder and chairman of Auto Nebula, an investment firm focused on connected transport startups that bridge the gap between the United States and India. He has served as the chairman of the United States Indian Political Action Committee for 21 years, and he's the co-founder of Excel 360, a business accelerator that drives the growth and increases the enterprise value of small and mid-sized federal contractors. Sanjay Puri, welcome to Next Steps Forward. Thank you, Chris. Really a pleasure to be here. We've been trying to schedule this for a while, so I really appreciate your time and your schedule. I know how busy you are, so thank you for being here. Sanjay, you've built a remarkable career at the intersection of technology, entrepreneurship, and global business. If you had to pinpoint one moment or decision that set your journey in motion, what would that be?
Speaker 3 (01:55):
Life is made up of a lot of moments, Chris. I think one moment, if I were to say, was when I had graduated from my master's, I was doing my PhD, and for my thesis, I was building a system to diagnose patients who have Alzheimer's. My PhD was in expert systems AI. I think at that moment, it really struck me that the power of technology that could really serve as a value creator for a lot of people. I could never be a physician or a doctor or any of those things, but I just realized that there are other ways that you can really help one person, 10 people, hundreds and thousands. To me, that was the moment.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
Did that moment feel like a turning point at the time, or is it only in the retrospect that you recognize its importance?
Speaker 3 (02:47):
I think it's retrospect, because when you're in the moment, it is the moment. As I said, there are inflection points in everybody's life, and maybe that was an inflection point. Was entrepreneurship something you always knew you wanted, or did it evolve over time? Chris, my dad was an entrepreneur. The conversations generally at dinner were about entrepreneurship. It was really about what he did. There were summer times he would drag me to his place of work, which I kind of hated, but somehow, and you know, Chris, those days, we didn't have sexy terms like entrepreneurship and VC funding and things like that. It just felt like it would be something that I would do that would be creating something of my own. I knew that.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
It's interesting how you say entrepreneurship or VC. Those are sort of more modern terms. I didn't think about that. Back then, it would be considered a struggling small business, pretty much. Yes, and the key word is struggling.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
What was your first entrepreneurial challenge? There were so many, but if I were to really think of one, Chris, and as I said, at that time, there was no VC funding and stuff like that, so it was really money. I said, how do I solve that problem? I said, okay, I won't take a salary myself, so that's partly solved, but then what about the others? I think my biggest challenge was to convince others not to take a salary, so that was my first entrepreneurial challenge. Nobody in my MBA courses had ever taught me anything about that, but it was something I had to do. How do you do that?
Speaker 2 (04:47):
We've heard about all these successful startups like Microsoft, Apple, Dell. They don't do it. They're living in the garage and using tin cans, whatever scrap pieces they have, but How do you convince people that they're part of something bigger and to invest in it now for rewards later on?
Speaker 3 (05:05):
I think first, Chris, you've got to believe in it yourself, and you really have to passionately believe in that because people can – passion is infectious. Whatever you call it, passion, belief, whatever that feeling is, it's infectious. I think if you believe in something and you see a big vision and a big opportunity and you're credible and you come across as honest, there are others who want to believe in things too, and there are people who want to have a shared vision. So I think be honest and also be honest that you don't have all the answers, but together we can figure it out. And what lessons did you learn early that still guide you today? Lessons that I learned early were, be focused. I think, again, I speak for myself and I work with a lot of startup entrepreneurs. It's very, very easy to get distracted. The other thing is play to your strengths. Everybody has some strengths. Again, there are people like Elon who have multiple, multiple strengths. But I'm just saying there are people – so if you have an expertise in certain areas, really hone in on that, and those things will carry you across. And also, don't fear a setback. There will be setbacks. I think, Chris, you and I both know that. There will be good days, but there will be bad days. And I think ultimately the good days outnumber the bad days. Otherwise it's time to get out if they don't.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
I guess going back to your point or your statement about how the phrase entrepreneur, entrepreneurship didn't exist when you're getting started, nowadays it's a very common word. There are courses being taught on it. There are majors in universities and colleges now. What makes somebody or what entices an individual to say, hey, you know what? I'm going to go be a startup. I'm going to go risk everything I have even though I've got student loan debt and I'm not going to go work for the government or go into finance or go be a teacher?
Speaker 3 (07:32):
I think a little bit of insanity is absolutely, absolutely a necessary thing as my friends would tell me that I'm certifiably nuts. And also seeing something that others don't and believing in things that maybe others don't and just maybe sometimes doing things when others say no. But I think that's obviously you don't want to jump off the cliff also, but sometimes there are a few cliffs that you need to jump without a parachute before you actually figure out how to use a parachute too. But I think what makes an entrepreneur is, you know, you see around the edges that nobody does because you have that optimism that, you know, that things will be better than they are today. If you don't have that sense of optimism, it's really, really hard to be an entrepreneur. When you have creditors chasing you, when you have employees in some cases leaving you or not being able to recruit employees, just a range of things. Your lawyer says that your trademark was rejected or this and that. You got to have an optimism that, hey, I'll find a way.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
So being the optimist self-starter entrepreneur, you're everything from CEO to accountant to the guy taking the garbage out. When you have those bad days, which to your point, more often than not, hopefully are fewer than the good days, how do you take care of yourself? What's your self-care? Because things have to wait. And like you said, the creditors are coming, you've got employees looking for a paycheck, your patent is delayed or whatever it may be. And so how do you fight through all that so you keep yourself going and seeing to your point through everything and around the edges and keeping your optimism?
Speaker 3 (09:31):
I think one, again, I only speak for myself in a way that one has to keep the big picture in mind that when you look around the world, there are a lot of bad things happening around the world. So I think each one of us is blessed in more ways than we know of. So keeping things a little bit in perspective and also that faith that you have in yourself, you got to have faith in yourself that were you able to get out of bad situations before? And then also have a little bit of a system or some core people around you that can be your sounding board also tell you when the emperor has no clothes also. That's also very, very important. So I think those are the important things, Chris.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
The phrase is kitchen cabinet I like to use and so I totally relate to that. So as a follow-up, I know we have some entrepreneurs, inspiring entrepreneurs in our audience today. What makes a startup investment worthy in your book?
Speaker 3 (10:46):
I think the first thing at least that I look at is the entrepreneur themselves. Have they been in this journey before? And it's okay if they've not been. But if they've not been, have they been punched before or have they had some kind of setback in their life story? I'm not looking for people just who had setbacks alone, but found a way because you will have to find a way. There will be many pivots that will come along. So I think that's one absolute quality that I look from an investment standpoint and is this a market that has some huge potentials, that has the potential for some winners? If it's too crowded a market, then why? Or is this a solution looking for a problem? Or is this a problem where you are going to solve some, there's a crying need for that? So I think those are the things that generally, but also, is there a team around this person, whether it's already in there or is on in the wings? I think those are the things, Chris, that make it investable.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
What are the biggest misconceptions that new founders have about starting or scaling companies and what are their most common mistakes?
Speaker 3 (12:24):
I'll rattle off, like I said, I have 106 mistakes of my own, but I don't think your show has got the length for those mistakes, but generally, again, and I use the word entrepreneurship is become a little bit of a sexy term in today's lingo. It's still a lot of work, a lot of work, a lot of sacrifices, a lot of opportunity costs that you have to give up. And it's also involves sometimes putting your ego in check, because if you're an entrepreneur, you need to obviously have a healthy ego because if you don't, then it's going to be hard. But there are times when you've got to keep your ego in check, whether it's with investors, potential employees, etc. So those become some of the things, Chris, that one has to really think about. And also, if you think that you have a great technology and it's going to solve all the problems, no, it's a customer maybe just wants a very simple solution. So I think those are some of the challenges that come across.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
What's the best advice you ignored, but wish you hadn't as you were launching a startup?
Speaker 3 (13:52):
Again, there were many such, Chris, but I would say one of the things that I had advice was focus and focus on the core problem that you're trying to solve. I got carried away with, and this I see with a lot of entrepreneurs, you always look at the next shiny object and it's the next shiny object syndrome I always see with entrepreneurs and I've seen it with myself also. Hey, if it's AI, then everybody is chasing AI. If it was metaverse, everybody's chasing metaverse, you know, on and on and on. If it's agentic AI, it's everybody's chasing. And I'm not saying there is not huge, there are trillion dollar opportunities, but there are trillion companies chasing those trillion dollar opportunities. Where is your niche? Stick to that niche. Maybe it might not be the latest and the greatest and the sexiest thing, but heck man, if it's got big client base, if your clients need it, you have the subject matter expertise and that's one of the things with entrepreneurs. Do they have domain knowledge? You asked me, what do I look at entrepreneurs? Do they have domain knowledge and what the problem they're trying to solve? If you have that domain knowledge, then go for that. That's what I would say, Chris.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
Well, I like how you said for people to stay in their niche because you can't be all things to all people. Yeah, I've been there. Number 104 out of the 106. Sanjay, if you could go back and give your younger self one piece of advice, what would that be?
Speaker 3 (15:39):
One piece of advice, I think it would be that hire, you know, people always say hire people smarter than you. I would say, yes, hire very smart people, but, and this is something I learned along the way, hire people whose values align with you because most people forget, even in this time of remote work and stuff like that, if you're in an early stage company, a startup or whatever you want to call it, you're going to spend a lot of time with your co-founders or your early stage employees and if their values don't align, it is going to lead to bad results because you can teach somebody Python, you can teach somebody, you know, many different things. Obviously, there's some foundational skills that people need to have, but your value alignment is either there or not there and the chemistry that you have, but the value alignment is to me is critical because what happens is those shiny resumes and CVs with those fantastic backgrounds, people really tend to overlook the EQ, they tend to overlook the values and especially the values because you, Chris, have a certain value set that aligns with you and it's really hard to change that. So you need people who kind of align that. So that to me was something I need.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
You mentioned at the beginning of the show how you would go to work with your father begrudgingly. What inspired you to become an entrepreneur, knowing what your thoughts were at that point and then specifically in the tech space?
Speaker 3 (17:31):
I want to be clear about begrudging. My dad used to have a chemicals and a paint business and I hated the smell. I'm very smell sensitive. So that was part of the issue and I, anyway, so he… Harsh of a word. Thank you. Yeah. Fine. So when I discovered that I was going to be an entrepreneur, Chris, I just, again, like I said, I didn't think of it as entrepreneurship. I thought that I wanted to create something from nothing, something that did not exist or something from scratch. That was my desire. Then it became, okay, it's going to be a new company or it's going to be a startup or it's going to be a new product. So whatever the term it is, my desire early on, and I had some entrepreneurial gigs growing up that we will not talk about, but it was really about creating, trying to create something from nothing or something where there was a gap or something like that. That was my feeling.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
So if you haven't gone down the entrepreneur route, where do you think life might have taken you instead?
Speaker 3 (18:59):
Probably in that chemical factory or paint factory, you know, holding my nose up, probably. So maybe that would be, I have no idea, you know, I don't look back. One of the things you want from entrepreneurs, look forward. Look forward. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
Visionary, not through the rear view mirror. Yeah. So being inspired is one thing. Having the personal power, being empowered to make your personal and professional dreams happen is often quite something else. How did you empower yourself to achieve so much and what was your first step to personal empowerment?
Speaker 3 (19:38):
You know, again, how did I, you know, empower myself? You know, that's, you know, personal empowerment, Chris, is first, you kind of have to have a personal mission statement. And to me, one of the things that I always believe in is if you treat people the way you want to be treated and you build bridges with people, I think that really is a very empowering thing because ultimately it is really people and you need teams, you need people around you. No matter today we are in the world of technology, AI agents, et cetera, there's still people who really need that. And so, you know, I had to create my own personal mission statement and that was really about treating people the way I wanted to be treated and also building bridges, you know, that would, you know, create relationships. And to me, that's very, very important.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
I love you talking about building bridges, you know, could be much longer and harder to build a bridge than to burn one, but they last longer.
Speaker 3 (21:01):
Absolutely, last a lot longer. And remember, sometimes you might burn the bridge, but you might have to go back to that bridge at times. And that happens a lot in life.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
And to that point, one thing I found is I've gotten older in my industry, the older you get, the smaller the world gets. And so, yeah, you're better off building, not burning. Absolutely. What inner qualities have mattered most to you when it came to turning ideas into reality?
Speaker 3 (21:34):
I think for me, being curious, Chris, I think is something, I'm just a very curious person and not just about a specific thing, it's not about technology, it's about politics, it's about policies, it's about the world. I think that is really very, very important. And then that ability to be resilient because, you know, there are going to be good times and bad times. So how do you go through that? And, you know, curiosity, the ability to be resilient, and again, being optimistic, I think that those are things that matter to me most.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
And I love, you and I have had a handful of conversations on politics, on policy, on technology and business. And so, to your earlier point, sort of birds of a feather, if you will, get connected and they build a bridge together. And so, again, your earlier statement as well, you know, get people with core values around you and life gets a bit easier. There will still be challenges, but at least you're not walking through those challenges by yourself. And so I really appreciate you being reflective in that sense. Absolutely. And maybe to that point, looking back over your career, what have you learned about taking ownership of your own path, and especially when that road isn't clear?
Speaker 3 (23:07):
You know, I would say, you know, when the road is not clear and taking you, one has to, you know, you have to embrace a little bit of uncertainty, and you have to break things down into shorter steps, because and then make adjustments. So I would say is, I don't mind uncertainty. In fact, sometimes it's good to embrace a little bit of uncertainty or ambiguity, and then, you know, embrace the journey, and then break it down into smaller pieces. Because sometimes it seems like an exceptionally long road, but if you break it down, and then I think the results do come, Chris. Field saying how to eat a whale, one bite at a time. One bite at a time.
Speaker 2 (24:08):
That's true.
Speaker3: But you'll be eating for a while.
Yes, you will. Sanjay, who were your mentors, role models, and influences to help guide you early on?
Speaker 3 (24:20):
You know, family is a big thing. So, you know, again, my dad, again, I saw him do a lot of things. He made a lot of mistakes, too. But I think that role model part of him and learning from the things he did right and some of the things he didn't write, my mom, my mom was a big, big role model for me, because Chris, what she was able to do in her time, when, you know, probably she didn't have as many opportunities as, let's say, a man would have had. But what she did, I think the things, whatever little I have in terms of the ability to be optimistic, to be fearless in face of uncertainty, I really learned from her. And the ability to really build relationships and building relationships, not with just with your peers, but across the spectrum and across different fields, because I think that becomes very, very important. So to me, my parents have really been a big, big role model for me.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
It's interesting. But I didn't realize until much later in life. And so, you know, there's a few regrets there in terms of not realizing or acknowledging and learning it at that point. So I absolutely understand that. After someone becomes as accomplished as you are, do you still have or need mentors?
Speaker 3 (26:04):
I think you need mentors all throughout your life. And mentors, Chris, they come in all shapes, size and at points in life. I continually seek out mentors and they can be direct, indirect mentors, people either I've worked with, people who work with me sometimes, they are mentors to me. And the startups that I get engaged in, I mean, there's a reason why I'm engaged with startups, because, I mean, I learn a lot from them. And sometimes you learn from the people who you're mentoring to. Your mentees in many, many ways end up being your mentors. So I would say is keep an open mind throughout your life journey. They'll teach you along the way, whether it is your spiritual guide, whether it is your business person, whether it is somebody in your family. I think there is, one has to have the ability to absorb and take incoming and sometimes take incoming criticism too, because that's very hard, especially as you grow older. But it helps you a lot.
Speaker 2 (27:27):
My kids criticize me all the time. It's getting harder and harder as I get older, so I can relate to that too. And the other side of mentorship in your field involves helping the next generation of leaders and innovators reach their full potential. What qualities do you look for in someone you're going to mentor as you're deciding whether you're going to invest your finite and very valuable time in them?
Speaker 3 (27:49):
You know, Chris, the same things that I talk, are they coachable? And are they going to take action ultimately? Am I just, you know, are we going to have a session with them that, okay, great advice. Are they going to act on some of the things? I'm not expecting them to act on everything, but heck man, I'm not there just to talk and talk. Well, if it is just a yapping session, I have no issue, but if it's a mentoring session, then maybe they act on some of the things we have jointly discussed. Again, there has to be some alignment of values too, because if my North Star is here and if their North Star is different, then maybe that won't work.
Speaker 2 (28:46):
You've shared a lot of your own personal beliefs and philosophies with us, but what's a belief you hold that most people would find surprising that we haven't talked about?
Speaker 3 (28:55):
What's a belief that I hold that people would find surprising? I haven't heard any yet. I would say, Chris, that, you know, we are living in the world of incredible technology and I'm an entrepreneur at the core. I believe that technology innovation really is changing society, whether it's in personalized medicine, education, you name it, farming, etc. But everything has to have some kind of guardrails and we have social media as a great experiment that has had a lot of challenges, especially for our young people. So I really believe, and that's, you know, when I have this organization called Regulating AI, the idea is not to kill innovation, the idea is to innovate. And so I really believe as somebody who's really hardcore, you know, I'm a hands-on technology person, I really believe that we can do amazing things in our lifetime. I really believe every disease will be cured in our lifetime because of technology and so many other things. But we just need some guardrails and we owe it to our children and their children, etc. When you look at social media, and I see this just across the board, in terms of, you know, the breaking up of the human connection and so many other things, the peer pressure it causes on young people, etc., I just think there could be more significant consequences. So I don't know if that helps. No, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (31:05):
What technologies or industries are you most excited about right now? And then what do you expect to do in those areas?
Speaker 3 (31:13):
So there are, I mean, you know, as I said, it takes very little for me to get excited. I get excited about a lot of things, Chris. But you know, I'm very excited about space technology because I really, really believe the combination of space and AI is going to be incredible in terms of whether it is using, you know, space technology with GIS and all kinds of other things for predicting climate, for farming, for, you know, natural disasters and so many other things. So I'm very excited about the use of robotics and AI because you're going to see, not in the too distant future, humanoids in large volumes of numbers, humanoids that would help seniors who have mobility issues, humanoids who would help disabled and humanoids who solve labor-ish challenges that we have. Very interested and excited about, you know, personalized and precision health and drug discovery using AI, so many different molecules, using AI to expedite clinical trials of personalized education. And you and I have talked a little bit about this because, you know, Chris, you probably are stronger in so many subjects, whether it's bio or physics or math. I might be, you know, weak in some of those, but you are still being taught the same things as I am, which it's like, you know, if you're diabetic and I've got high cholesterol, you should be kind of taking different medicines. So personalized medicine, the access to healthcare around the world today, you can have a GP, a general practitioner, on your phone anywhere in the world and think about people in inner cities or farming communities where doctors do not want to go in and practice. So those are things, and I can just, like I said, rattle off, but that, the use of innovation to solve so many of our problems, I think that's what gets me excited.
Speaker 2 (33:53):
So I mentioned earlier in the show, you have a podcast, Regulating AI, you just talked about how AI is reshaping workplaces, industries, you know, entire economies right now. You said how excited you are about it, as am I, and a lot of us are, and, you know, perhaps still making us quite nervous about AI. What do you think people are getting wrong about artificial intelligence?
Speaker 3 (34:17):
Well, you know, what people are getting wrong about artificial intelligence is that it is basically, Chris, you know, obviously it's a foundational technology, and it's just, you know, when you look at foundational technologies like the internet and things of that nature, you know, what people are getting, so it's like the internet, or it's like electricity, etc. There are people who think it's going to solve all the problems in the world with AGI and everything else, and there are people who think it's going to take over the world. And I have a feeling that the answer might actually be somewhere in between, or maybe neither of them might be the right answer. So I would say the challenge is where AI gets too hyped up, or people get too paranoid, you know, about AI. I think that's my biggest thing regarding AI, that let's keep the perspective, but it is transformational technologies, as I've told you, and probably one of the most consequential technologies, at least in my lifetime, that I've seen.
Speaker 2 (35:46):
There have been several articles written lately about how students, whether it be in high school or college, are using AI to help do their math problems, write their essays. There's an article, is it on Friday or Saturday, in the Wall Street Journal about, I grew up with these, the blue book, they're bringing back the blue book, so it's going to be an in-person test, you have to do the writing there, there's nothing online, and so I love We're going back to old school teaching methods, which is long overdue. You've talked a lot about where you see AI helping us. Where's artificial intelligence headed in terms of five years, 10 years, and then what's it going to be able to do after that?
Speaker 3 (36:28):
I think five years, 10 years, we will stop talking about AI, because it'll be completely immersed in what we do. I don't think we talk about electricity, I don't think, because the lights here, we just take it for granted. We don't talk about the internet, per se, because you and I are connected to the internet, because everything that we do is going to be completely woven in, whether you search for something, whether you get something on your work, on everything else, there will not be any industry or any activity in our life that will not have some element of whatever you call that artificial intelligence, generative AI, whatever it is, but some form of that, and you're going to have access to so much productivity, and some of it, Chris, I'm sure you have seen yourself in your daily use. Just imagine what's coming down the pike. This is two and a half years of what we have seen, that we have access to so much knowledge. Our behavior will change, because now, what do we do with that knowledge? I think that's where we will see an evolution that will be happening, is we have tremendous knowledge at such fast speed, high speed. You have, Chris, 1,000 PhDs working for you, what do you do with that? You have the best medical surgeons from Mayo Clinic advising you, what do you do with that? It is now just going to be a given that I have all that access, information, tools available to me, where is life going to be? Is it going to give us more free time, more time to actually interact with each other, because we lost some of that because we were all running towards making things happen. We were running and spending an hour and a half in traffic if you're in Washington, D.C., etc. Maybe we don't need to do that, so again, that's the optimistic in me, saying that hopefully things will be a lot for the better, Chris, whether it's in healthcare, medicine, farming, you name it, manufacturing, oil and gas, hopefully we're going to see some really good things happening for us.
Speaker 2 (39:12):
We've been talking about technology and what people need to know about it. Let's shift gears for a minute if we can. Let's talk about India. Most Americans might be able to find India on the globe, but probably don't have a depth of knowledge about the country. What are some misconceptions about India that you'd like to see corrected, and what do Americans need to know about modern India and its future?
Speaker 3 (39:37):
What would I like to see? The conceptions have changed over time. Well, so I'll just give you, since you talked about a globe, I'm very fond of globes, so I sit with a globe next to me, and I have a huge map behind me because it tells me all the places I still want to see. Again, birds of a feather, there's my globe, and the map behind. Yes, and I have a map behind too. So many places to see, so many cultures to learn from. So Chris, India is a country of 1.4 billion people. It's the most populated country in the world. There is a fairly large English-speaking population in that country. It's also a country where education is put at a premium, where every parent's dream is that the child absolutely has to have a college degree. Now, whether that translates into jobs or things like that, we don't know. But one of the misconceptions is that when you look at India, there are many, many parts of India. So when you go from one state to another, there are 26 states and other Union territories. Chris, it's almost like going from one country to another because in many cases, the language, the food, the culture is very, very different. And so I think that's one. So there are many parts of that. Yes, there is one India, and it's a very, very young country, Chris. Think about it, less than about 60% of the population is below the age of 30. To do the math, 1.4 billion times six, so you've got about 800 million people below. So from a working age demographic, they have an immense advantage. Obviously that needs to be put to work because these people need jobs. So I think, and it's the largest digital economy because now smartphones are everywhere. It's the largest smartphone market, it's the largest financial in the sense everybody pays through smartphones, etc. But still, there is a lot of income inequality, but a lot of progress has still been made. I would say those are some of the key things. It's a democracy, and the values in many cases, it's got a rule of law, democracy, freedom of press, strong judiciary system. So they kind of align pretty well. So I don't know if that helps.
Speaker 2 (42:32):
No, that's very helpful. Thank you. How would you describe the current state of US-India relations and where do you see the biggest opportunities for collaboration between the two over the next decade?
Speaker 3 (42:44):
Chris, I think the US-India relations are very strong. I mean, when you look, and it doesn't matter who's the president or who's going to be the prime minister in India, because now the trajectory is defined by the values. There is a value set that comes together, and also it is strategic for the United States that India sits in that region, which sits next to China, and it's a democracy. It also happens to be a very growing market. It's one of the fastest growing economies in the world. I think it's now the fifth largest economy in the world. So the trajectory is very good. There's a large Indian-American population in the United States that really wants strong ties between these two countries for a reason, because there is a value set synergy between two countries. So, and it will not matter who's the president here, who's the prime minister. I think the relationships will continue to grow.
Speaker 2 (43:48):
So we mentioned you do two podcasts. As a key advocate for US-India relations, you're also the host of the Indianist podcast. You use that platform to speak to and share the stories of high-performing Indians and Indian Americans. Who have been some of your favorite people to feature, and what makes those people stand out in your mind?
Speaker 3 (44:06):
Oh, there's so many of them. I mean, I would say all of them. It's like picking children. You know, Chris, I started the podcast because everybody used to ask me, hey, how come Indians are so successful? I said, let me ask the people who are successful, what is their secret sauce? So that was, and it really became, you know, doing a series on their life journeys. You know, there are some amazing stories here, Chris. You have a gentleman who runs one of the largest genetic pharmaceutical companies in this country. He came to this country and his first job was in a candy store, and he didn't speak English pretty well. I mean, and I can go on and on and on. There are members of Congress, then there are people who, you know, where they grew up in villages and came to this country and have achieved tremendous success. And then there's this lady who was at NASA in one of the key positions. She used to work in her father's motel growing up and she became, she wanted to become an astronaut and she came very close to becoming an astronaut, but she had, you know, she was pregnant during that time and for those reasons she could not, but she ended up running the Mars program at NASA. So, you know, from changing sheets in the motel to having the setback of not being able to be an astronaut, but to running the Mars program, there are some incredible stories of a kid who got bullied when he came over to New Jersey because, and he was asked to change his name because it couldn't be pronounced. He ended up becoming the head of the dean of the medical school. He's currently the dean of medical school at Brown and he became the head of COVID during President Biden. So, you know, a kid who was told to change his name, he says, every time I used to walk into the White House, it reminded me the greatness of this country. So it's about Indianness, but it's also about the opportunities and the greatness of the United States of America, because it really welcomes everybody who has a desire. It doesn't matter what, who, and where you're from.
(46:43):
Speaker2: And where can people find that podcast?
Speaker3: They can go to Indianness.org.
Speaker 2 (46:50):
See, there's a sales plug, I told you I'd get one for you. Of course. Thank you, Chris. Thank you. Sanjay, clearly starting and leading businesses and motivating people are passions of yours. But outside of work, what energizes you?
Speaker 3 (47:06):
Outside of work, what energizes me? I don't have a great golf game, so I have a lot of friends who have great golf games. And every year, I make a resolution, except this year, because I gave up on resolutions that I'm going to improve my golf game. And I have, unfortunately, bought some expensive tools. And I think this is an entrepreneurial lesson. It is not the tools, it's your foundational. If you put in the time, if you put in the effort, then your game will get better. And also, my friends tell me that you play with better players. And that's also an entrepreneurial lesson. Surround yourself with people who, in some cases, are more talented than you. So I try a little bit of golf, not too well. I love to travel, because you saw the globe that you and I have. It's really an education for me. It's really an education to learn about people, to learn about cultures, the values. So those are some of the passions I have.
Speaker 2 (48:22):
And if people remember one thing about your journey, what would you want it to be?
Speaker 3 (48:28):
One thing about my journey, I would say, only possible in the United States of America. That would be the one thing I would say about my journey.
Speaker 2: Well, that's a great way to end the show. (48:39):
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Speaker 3 (48:41):
Yeah. Thank you, Chris. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (48:44):
I really appreciate it. Thank you so much for being here. It was a lot of fun. I'm glad we were able to connect. And thank you to our audience, which now includes people in more than 50 countries, for joining us for another episode of Next Steps Forward. I'm Chris Meek. For more details on upcoming shows and guests, please follow me on Facebook at facebook.com forward slash ChrisMeekPublicFigure and then x at ChrisMeek underscore USA. We'll be back next Tuesday, same time, same place, with another leader from the world of business, politics, public policy, sports, or entertainment. Until then, stay safe and keep taking your next steps forward.
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