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The Silicon Valley Shortcast

Abhijay & Ria

Silicon Valley Shortcast is a podcast for people who want to understand the minds building AI and tech's biggest companies — in the time it takes to grab a coffee.
Abhijay Arora and Ria Salian sit across from the founders and CEOs shaping Silicon Valley: the operators, the builders, the ones making the calls that ripple across the industry. Abhijay gets into the business — the strategy, the company, the decisions that got them here. Ria gets into the person — who they are, what drives them, what the title doesn't tell you.

Two angles, one guest, under 15 minutes.

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  • 5 episodes
  • fortnightly
  • Avg 16 min
  • English

Episodes 5

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  • S1 · E5
    September 22 · 14 min

    Ep 5 95% of Internet Video Will Be AI-Generated by 2027 | Victor Riparbelli

    By 2027, Victor Riparbelli believes 95% of all video on the internet will be AI-generated. That doesn't mean 95% of what people actually watch will be AI. His point is about the sheer volume of video we're about to be able to create as the cost and complexity of production collapse. Victor is the CEO and co-founder of Synthesia, the AI video company valued at $4 billion and used by over 90% of the Fortune 100. Today, companies use Synthesia to create training, product marketing, sales enablement, and internal communication videos without cameras, actors, studios, or traditional production teams. But when Victor started building the company, almost nobody believed AI video was a real opportunity. Synthesia was rejected by around 100 investors before Mark Cuban invested $1 million in 2017. In this episode of Shortcast, Victor explains why he believes video and audio will increasingly replace text as the way we communicate, how running a World of Warcraft guild as a teenager taught him skills he still uses as a CEO, and why Synthesia abandoned Hollywood to focus on a much less glamorous but much bigger problem inside companies. We also get into AI avatars replacing parts of recruiting, the real risks of deepfakes, why young people should focus on taste and judgment, what founders misunderstand about passion, and Victor's slightly tongue-in-cheek take on one of the most effective AI growth strategies today. In This Episode 00:00 - Why 95% of Internet Video Could Be AI-Generated 00:20 - When AI Video Sounded Completely Ridiculous 00:52 - Meet Victor Riparbelli, CEO and Co-founder of Synthesia 01:07 - What Synthesia Actually Does 01:31 - Who Is Using AI Avatars at Work? 02:04 - How Zoom Uses AI Video to Train Sales Teams 02:27 - How Synthesia Reached a $4 Billion Valuation 03:06 - Getting Rejected by Nearly 100 Investors 03:34 - Why Mark Cuban Invested in Synthesia 03:41 - Finding Product-Market Fit 04:01 - Will Video and Audio Replace Reading? 04:47 - What World of Warcraft Taught Victor About Leadership 05:32 - Why Gaming Can Train Founders to Make Better Decisions 06:32 - Leaving Denmark and Finding His Co-founders 07:40 - Why Synthesia Pivoted Away From Hollywood 08:46 - Turning PowerPoint Presentations Into Video 09:32 - Will AI Avatars Replace Recruiters? 09:59 - Building AI Avatars While Fighting Deepfakes 10:38 - Should We Actually Be Scared of Deepfakes? 11:16 - Victor's 95% AI-Generated Video Prediction 11:47 - The Most Important AI Lesson for Young People 12:05 - Why Taste and Judgment Become More Valuable With AI 12:42 - The Biggest Lie Founders Tell Investors 13:22 - Can Money Be Your Only Motivation? 13:46 - Victor's Take on the Best Growth Strategy in AI 14:28 - Why AI Companies Eventually Have to Deliver 14:40 - Outro Victor Riparbelli: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/victorriparbelli 💡 SUBSCRIBE TO SHORTCAST for unfiltered conversations with the world's leading tech founders, intelligence experts, and builders. Shortcast: https://www.instagram.com/shortcastco/ Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/@AIwithAbhijay Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/abhijayarora_ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/abhijayvuyyuru Substack: https://abhijayvuyyuru.substack.com #AI #ArtificialIntelligence #AIVideo #Synthesia #VictorRiparbelli #AIAvatars #GenerativeAI #AIStartups #FutureOfWork #Deepfakes #Entrepreneurship #Shortcast

  • S1 · E4
    September 15 · 15 min

    Ep 4 Adam Cheyer on Siri, Steve Jobs, AI Agents, and the Future of Interfaces

    What happens when Steve Jobs calls you every day for 30 days because he wants to buy your company? Adam Cheyer, co-founder of Siri, lived that story. After initially turning Apple down, Adam and his co-founders eventually sold Siri to Apple following a negotiation that was about more than just money. It was about whether Apple understood and would support their original vision. Since then, Adam has co-founded Viv Labs, which was acquired by Samsung for $250 million, GamePlanner.AI, which was acquired by Airbnb for $200 million, Sentient Technologies, and Change.org. He has spent more than three decades working in AI, long before artificial intelligence became the center of every conversation. In this episode of Shortcast, Adam shares what Steve Jobs was really like, what Siri was originally supposed to become, why chat is not the ideal interface for many AI tasks, and why the future may combine touch, voice, spatial computing, and augmented reality. He also explains his “10 plus” theory for predicting major technology shifts, how he managed multiple startups at once, why many AI startups may fail, and what founders need to build a real moat. We also discuss whether AI will surpass human intelligence, why Adam believes the singularity will not happen in his lifetime, and the skills founders and engineers will still need in an AI-driven world. In This Episode 00:00 - Steve Jobs Called Adam Cheyer for 30 Days 00:20 - Meet Adam Cheyer, Co-founder of Siri 00:49 - What It Was Like Selling Siri to Apple 01:19 - Why Adam Initially Said No to Steve Jobs 01:55 - The Two Things That Changed the Siri Deal 02:44 - Siri’s Launch Before Steve Jobs’ Death 03:35 - The Original Vision for Siri 04:28 - What Apple Could Have Done Better With Siri 05:02 - Why Chat Is Not the Right Interface for Everything 05:28 - The Future of Multimodal Interfaces 06:02 - Adam’s Prediction for Spatial Computing in 2035 07:00 - The “10 Plus” Theory of Technology 07:53 - Why Augmented Reality Could Replace Our Screens 08:53 - How Adam Ran Multiple Startups at Once 09:24 - The Productivity System Behind His Multiple Ventures 10:02 - Why Many AI Startups May Fail 10:44 - How Startups Can Build a Real Moat 11:19 - What Makes a Technology Truly Defensible 12:28 - Will AI Surpass Human Intelligence? 12:52 - Why Adam Says the Singularity Won’t Happen in His Lifetime 13:32 - Are We in an AI Bubble? 13:57 - Steve Jobs’ Best Advice and Adam’s Favorite AI Assistants 14:17 - Adam’s Favorite AI Tool and Career Regrets 14:37 - The Most Underrated Skill for Founders 14:59 - Will AI Replace Software Engineers? 💡 SUBSCRIBE TO SHORTCAST for unfiltered conversations with the world's leading tech founders, intelligence experts, and builders. Shortcast: https://www.instagram.com/shortcastco/ Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/@AIwithAbhijay Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/abhijayarora_ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/abhijayvuyyuru Substack: https://abhijayvuyyuru.substack.com #AI #ArtificialIntelligence #Siri #SteveJobs #Apple #AIAgents #AIStartups #FutureOfAI #SpatialComputing #AugmentedReality #Technology #Entrepreneurship #Shortcast

  • S1 · E3
    September 8 · 15 min

    Ep 3 Amit Zavery on AI, ServiceNow, Silicon Valley & the Future of Work

    Is Silicon Valley still the promised land for Indian immigrants? Amit Zavery, President, Chief Product Officer and Chief Operating Officer at ServiceNow, breaks down the crucial shift happening in enterprise AI - from the end of the AI honeymoon to agentic AI, autonomous workers, AI control and the human oversight businesses still need. From arriving in America at 18 and working his way through university to spending nearly 25 years at Oracle, helping scale Google Cloud from $7B to $41B, and now leading ServiceNow’s AI platform, products and engineering, Amit shares the lessons behind one of enterprise tech’s most remarkable careers. In this episode of Shortcast, we dive into why AI initiatives fail, what businesses are getting wrong about the hype, India’s role in the global AI economy, his career “mistake” that became a gift, and the one green flag he looks for when hiring. In This Episode 00:00 Is Silicon Valley Still the Promised Land for Indian Immigrants? 00:24 Meet Amit Zaveri 00:49 Coming to America From India at 18 01:19 How His Mother Shaped His STEM Journey 01:47 Luck, Unpredictability & Life-Changing Moments 02:03 Why Amit Spent 24 Years at Oracle 02:51 Building Oracle Middleware From Zero to $5 Billion 03:04 Scaling Google Cloud From $7 Billion to $41 Billion 03:35 Why Amit Has Three Leadership Roles at ServiceNow 04:28 ServiceNow: The AI Platform for Business Transformation 04:45 ServiceNow’s $7.7B Armis Acquisition & Cybersecurity 05:07 Why AI Initiatives Are Failing 05:35 Are We in an AI Hype Cycle? 06:02 Agentic AI & the Future of Business Processes 06:31 “AI Will Control You If You Deploy It Without Control” 06:54 Why the AI Honeymoon Is Over 07:18 India’s Role in the Global AI Economy 07:52 ServiceNow’s Autonomous Workforce 08:22 AI Mistakes, Human Oversight & the 80–90% Success Rate 08:56 The Rapid-Fire Round Begins 09:07 Amit’s First American Meal 09:19 Learning to Cook as a Vegetarian in 1989 Texas 09:37 Indian Movies, Cricket & Staying Connected to India 10:02 Amit’s Greatest Sporting Moment 10:20 The Culture Shock of Arriving in America Pre-Internet 11:07 When America Became Home 11:25 Amit’s First Jobs in America 11:47 The Real Morning Routine of a Silicon Valley Executive 12:32 Can Amit Ever Disconnect From Work? 12:58 The Career Mistake That Became a Gift 13:27 Japan, the UK & Learning Customer Empathy 14:00 Is Silicon Valley Still the Promised Land? 14:48 Amit’s Biggest Hiring Green Flag 15:23 How to Reach Amit & What ServiceNow Is Hiring For 15:49 Outro Amit Zavery LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amitzavery 💡 SUBSCRIBE TO SHORTCAST for unfiltered conversations with the world's leading tech founders, intelligence experts, and builders. Shortcast: https://www.instagram.com/shortcastco/ Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/@AIwithAbhijay Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/abhijayarora_ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/abhijayvuyyuru Substack: https://abhijayvuyyuru.substack.com #AI #ArtificialIntelligence #AgenticAI #EnterpriseAI #ServiceNow #AmitZavery #FutureOfWork #SiliconValley #IndiaAI #AILeadership #EnterpriseTech #TechPodcast #Shortcast

  • S1 · E1
    August 25 · 16 min

    Ep 1 Ex-Israeli Spy Reveals The Dark Reality Of AI & Cyber Attacks | Noam Schwartz, CEO Alice

    Ex-Israeli Intelligence Officer turned CEO Noam Schwartz breaks down the secret safety layer behind the internet. His company, Alice, is valued at over $500M and protects over 3 billion users across tech giants like Amazon, TikTok, and Nvidia. In this episode of Shortcast, Noam reveals why code alone can't control AI models, the dark reality of open-source AI guardrails, and the biggest online threat coming in 2027. Plus, we dive into his personal journey—from founding a company in a hospital NICU to his secret life as a musician.🔥 IN THIS EPISODE: 00:00 - The Secret Safety Layer Behind 3 Billion Users 00:49 - What is Alice? (Explained in 1 Sentence) 01:49 - Content Moderation vs. AI Model Security 03:22 - Why Humans CANNOT Moderate Content Anymore 04:04 - Why You Can't Secure AI Models With Code Alone04:48 - Inside "Rabbit Hole": The Global Threat Database 05:39 - Tracking Terrorists, Cartels & Dark Web Threats 06:27 - The Dark Side of Open-Source AI 06:52 - The Biggest Online Threat in 2027 07:41 - US vs. EU AI Regulation: Who is Getting it Right? 08:26 - Segment 2: The Hospital Room Origin Story 09:25 - Why the Name "Alice"? 10:49 - Childhood Side-Hustles & Secret Hobbies 11:20 - CEO Hot Takes: Kids & Social Media, Jet Lag, & Trusting Your Gut 14:03 - Living in India, Playing the Sitar, & Speaking Hindi! 🌐 CONNECT WITH NOAM SCHWARTZ: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/noamsp/ 💡 SUBSCRIBE TO SHORTCAST for unfiltered conversations with the world's leading tech founders, intelligence experts, and builders.Shortcast: https://www.instagram.com/shortcastco/#AI #Cybersecurity #ArtificialIntelligence #TechPodcast #Startups #NoamSchwartz #Shortcast --- Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/@AIwithAbhijay Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/abhijayarora_ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/abhijayvuyyuru Substack: https://abhijayvuyyuru.substack.com

  • S1 · E2
    August 1 · 18 min

    Ep 2 From HP to iMerit - The Woman Who Taught Silicon Valley How To Outsource | Radha Basu, CEO iMerit

    Tech pioneer Radha Basu, CEO @iMeritdigital valued at $310 million - breaks down the crucial human intelligence required to train and secure the world's biggest AI models. Arriving in America at age 21 with just $8 in her pocket, Radha went on to found HP's operations in India in 1985, grew a division to $1.2 billion, and became the first Asian woman to take a unicorn public on Nasdaq. Mentored personally by Silicon Valley legend David Packard, she now runs iMerit, a company providing the expert human layer behind enterprise AI. In this episode of Shortcast, Radha talks about the reality of "tormenting" AI models to fix them, her early days setting up India's first multinational software center in a sleepy Bangalore, and how IT transformed an entire nation. Plus, we dive into her inspiring initiatives, like the genius "Mother-in-law Day," to empower young women in the workforce. In This Episode : 00:00 - Teaser Hook00:23 - Guest Intro: Radha Ramaswamy Basu00:58 - What is iMerit?01:38 - "Tormenting" AI Models: Breaking AI to Fix It03:08 - David Packard’s Mentorship & Building a Profitable Company04:53 - Founding HP India in 1985 & How IT Transformed a Nation06:23 - Rapid Fire: AI Safety, Silicon Valley & Top Founder Skills07:38 - 17 Women Among 2,800 Boys in Engineering School08:38 - Arriving in America With Just $8 in Her Pocket10:08 - Why Her Tech Employees Call Her "Di" (Older Sister)11:38 - The Genius Behind "Mother-in-Law Day"13:08 - One Piece of Advice for Young Women & OutroRadha Basu LinkedIn : / radha-basu-b181225 💡 SUBSCRIBE TO SHORTCAST for unfiltered conversations with the world's leading tech founders, intelligence experts, and builders. Shortcast: https://www.instagram.com/shortcastco/ #AI #Cybersecurity #ArtificialIntelligence #TechPodcast #Startups #Shortcast -- Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/@AIwithAbhijay Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/abhijayarora_ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/abhijayvuyyuru Substack: https://abhijayvuyyuru.substack.com

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