In this interview, we speak with Prashanth Ranganathan Founder & CEO PaySense. Prashanth has an incredible journey, lived in 4 different countries, got his MBA from Stanford, worked at Microsoft and was an apprentice to Marc Andreessen. He founded two prior startups before PaySense, one failed and the other was sold to PayPal. In this interview, you will learn a lot about what it takes to build a startup and practical lessons you can apply to your own life. Enjoy. Ephraim
0:00 - 1:45 Welcoming notes.
1:46 - 6:50 Where he's from / What his upbringing like / Lived in 15 different cities /the First job at Microsoft / MBA at Stanford / Traveling creates open-mindedness.
6:51 - 10:34 Where did he passion for entrepreneurship come from / How he made it to Silicon Valley / He found himself taking classes on entrepreneurship / Being an apprentice to Marc Andreessen / Went to FaceBook ski cabin in Tahoe in the 2nd year of existence.
10:35 - 16:46 The final push that got him to start his startup / First startup he worked for / Leaving to start his own company / Company Failure / Second venture / Sold to Paypal.
16:47 - 22:30 Emotional resilience / How to build up your self-confidence and personal arsenal / Always push the boundaries / Startups are very unpredictable.
22:31 - 23:41 Falling down.
23:42 - 28:20 The lessons he learned from his first failure / Have a clear mission and rally people towards the mission.
28:22 - 31:17 Hard times / Overcoming hard times.
31:18 - 34:51 How can you become a better leader / Learning mindset / Humility and put your ego aside / You need to become an enabler.
34:55 - 40:10 Culture.
40:13 - 42:18 His mentors.
42:19 - 44:29 What message would you tell your younger self.
44:30 - 47:11 Mistakes entrepreneurs should avoid making.
47:12 - 48:07 Closing notes.