Inside Startup Battlefield

Say Hello to the Startup Battlefield Winner

Episode Summary

It’s the moment we’ve all been waiting for—the winner is announced! In this episode, we get to know the winner of the 2022 Startup Battlefield competition. We’ll hear what’s next for their company and get insight from TechCrunch staff, VCs, and audience members on why they were the right choice. New episodes of Inside Startup Battlefield drop every Monday. Be sure to check out all of the other podcasts in the TechCrunch Podcast Network: Found, Equity, The TechCrunch Podcast, Chain Reaction and The TechCrunch Live Podcast.

Episode Notes

It’s the moment we’ve all been waiting for—the winner is announced! In this episode, we get to know the winner of the 2022 Startup Battlefield competition. We’ll hear what’s next for their company and get insight from TechCrunch staff, VCs, and audience members on why they were the right choice.

Be sure to check out all of the other podcasts in the TechCrunch Podcast Network: Found, Equity, The TechCrunch Podcast, Chain Reaction and The TechCrunch Live Podcast.

Episode Transcription

Neesha Tambe  0:06  

Hey, everyone, Welcome to StartUp battlefield. In this podcast mini series, we're taking you behind the scenes of TechCrunch, his illustrious pitch competition, you'll learn how we pick the top 20 companies, and what it takes to win over the panel of judges.

 

Sheeba Dawood  0:18  

I feel good, and I want to win. I want all my hard work to just come through. That's it. I love a good underdog story. And that feels like one of those. With that,

 

Matthew Panzarino  0:31  

we will go ahead and move to the winner of startup Battlefield 2022. And that is

 

Neesha Tambe  0:38  

one big round of applause. Hello, and welcome to the final episode of Inside startup battlefield. It's me your host and the startup battlefield editor, Nisha donburi. Thank you all so much for coming on this journey with us. In this episode, we'll be sitting down with the winners to get to know them a little bit better. When a company is ready to go, I give them a reminder of why they're in this competition, we pick them for a reason we pick them out of 1000s of applications, it is harder to get in to start a battlefield than it is to get into Harvard. So to be able to remind them that it's not just hey, this is a stressful thing to be pitching on stage or oh my god, here's a competition and I need to win. They've already won by being selected. When they come on stage, it is just celebration, it does not even matter how the pitch went, you know, I I'm backstage watching every single pitch every single q&a segment. And when they come on stage, it is a huge accomplishment to put yourself and your company on a stage of this magnitude is a big deal. And the fact that these founders have done it, I mean, I get nervous going on stage to announce who the runner up in the winner are actually pitching the company, I think, you know, I'm in awe of the founders I get to work with and it's honestly an honor. But when they come off stage, it is a hug and a high five, and you did well, like you got this this is this is going to be great for you. So I'm really excited that that was that's our flow, their prep before they go on stage. And they come off off stage and it's just a celebration.

 

Maggie Stamets  2:23  

So you just came off stage, you're on the finals, how are you feeling about how pitch number two, when I

 

Chad Mason  2:30  

think it went well, I'm glad it's over, I can relax finally. And maybe watch some other pitches and get to enjoy what people talk about.

 

Sheeba Dawood  2:39  

I feel good. And I want to when we when I like I said we were here for fundraising, that would be one step for us to go back and get some things done very quickly. Because we had, we have few lags back my workplace. So we'll get that done so that it will help us to get more funding.

 

Maggie Stamets  3:00  

So came off stage again with another massive smile. How did it go?

 

Aaron Hall  3:05  

It went really well. The so first off, I think just being up there and being in the top five is awesome. Like I've had people reaching out already since yesterday. Like, oh, we want to try your stuff. Oh, we're interested, like, Oh, tell me more like, oh, what roles are you hiring for like, so I've already started getting what I wanted from being up on there, which is amazing. And then if we win, like that's just going to give us so much more clout it's like perfect for when we go to raise our next round, we can point to this, like, hey, we went battlefield right can also point that out to customers. I actually even had someone I've been in conversation with who hadn't responded to that last email I sent send me a message this morning and say, Can we chat next week.

 

Neesha Tambe  3:44  

picking a winner is honestly impossible. And I'm glad that I don't have that task. It's really up to the judges in the final round to pick the winner. Every company is the best in their field, or they are doing one of the most innovative things in their field. So to pick just one is very hard. I mean, they're all the best of their category, or even the best of the best.

 

Maggie Stamets  4:11  

After watching all the pitches, who do you think is going to take it home?

 

audience member 1  4:15  

Well, initially, I thought that the lithium startup just has the biggest Tam, but the very last one. I didn't like it initially, but the more traction that it showed. And the more not only ello eyes but actual contracts that they booked, it seems that they've got the most traction have they taken off like a rocket ship? And so if I really had to pick one, I think they're the easiest one. I mean, just the easiest pick, they've de risked everything, they just need to scale up the robotics.

 

audience member 2  4:46  

Okay, I'm gonna go counter to that. I think it was definitely the lithium, the two ladies from lithium, I think, you know, good presentation. They clearly have an incredibly close relationship to the problem. And if they can make that work and get that to scale. I think that's a, that's a giga corn right there.

 

audience member 3  5:03  

I was just really impressed with the caliber of presentations and the company's people are solving problems that didn't even know existed in ways that are like, unbelievably sophisticated. So yeah, I was just overall very impressed.

 

audience member 4  5:16  

I arrived, I just watched the last one. And what I really liked there was talking about the latest. So but I don't know the name of the company because they're really arrived in the middle of their presentation. But um

 

Matthew Panzarino  5:31  

Well, with that, I think we will go ahead and move to the winner of startup Battlefield 2022. And that is Minerva, lithium.

 

Neesha Tambe  5:48  

Minerals, lithium created a nano mosaic technology that when put into brine, can actually extract lithium and side benefit is actually drinkable water. So they're creating some really game changing technology in their space. And let's give them one big round of applause.

 

Sheeba Dawood  6:08  

All right, how do you feel I feel on top of the world. And this is my dream come true. It's not a simple thing for me. So yeah, this is an another step for me, which will, you know, it is an affirmation that I'm on the right path. And you know, there's more to do.

 

Neesha Tambe  6:31  

Now, we'll hear some excerpts from Chivas interview from the TechCrunch is bound podcast. Darrell Etherington is the host, and I stepped in as co host for this one. Enjoy and check out the bound feed the full episode.

 

Darrell Etherington  6:44  

You know why you're here. This is our podcast focused on the stories behind the startups as told by the people who build them, the entrepreneurs and the startup founders who create these companies. And the reason Nisha is here is because we're going to be talking to the winner of the most recent startup battlefield competition on this show. Today, we're talking to Shieber Darwin from Minerva, lithium, a clean energy technology that uses a proprietary nano mosaic filter to extract critical materials from non traditional water resources. So excited to hear more from Shiva and also learn a bit more about what goes on behind the scenes at battlefield.

 

Shieber How's it going?

 

Sheeba Dawood  7:27  

Good. How about you? Oh, it's

 

Darrell Etherington  7:29  

going great. I'm very excited to talk to you. Can you tell us a bit about what Minerva lithium does.

 

Sheeba Dawood  7:35  

In Minerva, lithium, we do directly Tim extraction technology for critical minerals. And what we do is we are aiming to develop sustainable energy technology to kind of address the national security and economic prosperity of United States. So we are developing a very efficient directly team extraction technology and as well purifying the water. So that is what our technology lies in.

 

Darrell Etherington  8:02  

Nice. Yeah, that sounds great, I think obviously addresses a problem. growing problem, we need lithium we needed for somewhere, it's not readily available. And this direct Direct Extraction is like an area of great interest. I think the thing that always comes up, at least in my limited experience talking about this or learning about this is cost, right? So it seems to be always like it's too it's too expensive in terms of the end result and sort of the profit margins that people have. So how do you kind of address that a part of the problem?

 

Sheeba Dawood  8:32  

So there are two different things that currently Minerva lithium is focusing one is definitely to cut down the cost. And the second most important right now, there is lot of awareness among people in the world. That is because of global climate change crisis. And right now we require a sustainable technology sustainable way to do things to move forward. So it's like a cycle. So if any new technology is coming, and if they are producing a lot of carbon emission, and there's a lot of damage that is being done to the environment, you're trying to address the global climate change and you're producing actually contributing to it in a way. So, that is like a cycle and that's what I have been saying and we are trying to break this down and considering the impact the global impact the you know, the pollution has, so, we are trying to cut that down. And as well provide a you know, a much more efficient technology which is cost effective. So, considering you know, I just would like to give some you know, economics there. So currently the technology that is being used to extract lithium it is called solar evaporation. And as the name itself sound, it is very ancient technique and it uses about 20,000 acres of land and they extract lithium, for example, if they extract one metric ton of lithium for months, we extract lithium within 72 hours, and the usage of water they use up to dry that water, you know, they use up about 500,000 gallons of water to produce one metric ton of lithium, whereas we use 30,000 gallons of water. And we are recycling that water. So we are recycling and that water can be reused. So there's no wastage that you see here. And that's what we are trying to achieve. And this is not happening in a day. So we have been working from the science and right now we have reached at the pilot scale. So I would say that it would definitely take time, but we will get there.

 

Darrell Etherington  10:29  

So Nisha, I'm curious, because you work with all these companies so closely, and you obviously worked with Minerva, what was the initial conversations like? And how do you do the kind of discovery around, you know, talking to Shiva and learning about like, the company? And what, how do you how do you say like, oh, that sounds really cool. Like, just take us through that?

 

Neesha Tambe  10:48  

Well, we have an open application process, like she all came through. And I remember when I read the application, quite frankly, I didn't believe it. I was just like, this isn't possible.

 

Darrell Etherington  10:58  

We get a lot of those we get, it's like, well, I have a perpetual motion machine. And you're like, I don't think you do.

 

Neesha Tambe  11:07  

But one of the things we do in the review process while we're doing our due diligence, much like a VC fund does, we go to experts, and we say, hey, like this company says they can do this, is this possible? And the people that we went to are like, yes, what they're doing exists, what they're doing is real. And then when I talked to them more, and heard about their backgrounds, because you know, both Sheba and her co founder have pretty, pretty significant academic backgrounds. And they're they're researchers, they really know what they're doing. And to then be able to put that on stage was amazing. It took us a little time to get the messaging, right, I think. But by the end of it, it was it was pretty flawless.

 

Darrell Etherington  11:47  

Oh, well and Shiva, do you want to maybe take us into some of that background? So what brought you to this, like it? Was your academic work? Or how did you get into this?

 

Sheeba Dawood  11:56  

This is something that it kind of goes into my personal journey, I actually wanted to be a doctor. And my father wanted me to be a doctor, it's like that in India, you are either an engineer or a doctor, either of the two. So that's how I grew up thinking that I'll be a doctor, but I couldn't because I couldn't get into one of those schools. And that is when I decided to do something different. And I've heard of nanotechnology got into the research. And I still remember those conversations that I used to have during my traveling for my graduation from you know, from my home to my university, what is nanotechnology? What do you do, and they really don't get no one gets it, you know what research is, and they don't understand the value. And somewhere I take criticism, maybe constructively, I'm like, you know, maybe I need to do something about this, maybe people need to know what you know, we have a value. I know, it's not seen on a daily basis, like how doctors value is seen on a daily basis. But we are valuable to so that is something that I grew up. And then when I came to us, fortunately, my university promoted entrepreneurship. And I thought this is a great chance for me. And I really wanted to work on this. And I believe in the product,

 

Neesha Tambe  13:13  

you know, shifting, shifting into like the battlefield side of things a little bit, you know, what was that experience? Like for you? What were some of the highs and lows of the battlefield process?

 

Sheeba Dawood  13:22  

I would say that actually, whenever I used to participate in different competition, I kind of get the sense of it, you know, what my audience are, and what's the pattern, it's very important. But this time, I feel that I kind of had a break with the pitch competitions, because I just delivered a baby in January. And getting back to the work immediately getting my head into this. It took me time, and I struggled there a bit and managing all of this. And at the same time while I had TechCrunch battle feed, I had two other competitions, we actually won in all of those. Everything had a different pattern. So there were a lot of things that were going on and off. And I was like, I used to have lots of conversations with Nisha, and I was like, I was able to get what she was trying to tell, but I couldn't get that to her. You know, I knew that what she was trying to tell me and what she was trying to direct me I know that I could take that, but I really couldn't present it to her immediately. But somehow I just got some time for myself and I was able to do that. But I would say that Nisha played a significant role. And I would say till date, wherever I have been presenting and variable I have actually done well. I had people who you know, criticized me I mean, like gave me a very good criticism. So and from that I kind of you know, grew and I take them constructive.

 

Darrell Etherington  14:47  

Nice. It's just to switch gears a bit. I'm curious what have you been up to since in the months what has happened as a result of Battlefield and I guess you know, what is the progress been Furman era in general?

 

Sheeba Dawood  14:59  

Yeah. I wouldn't say that personally, I felt like a celebrity for few days. I it was amazing. And I was like, Okay, how Venice is going to end, even after coming back to my hometown now in North Carolina mayor called me and she was like, she's very proud of me. And then they are recognized. That's great. Yes. They're. So they're recognizing me this. Yeah. So they're recognizing me this December, and giving me an award. And then otherwise, that that's my personal achievement that I would say and then otherwise, for your company, it has been a huge shift. Now people know us. And I had like 50 venture firms reaching out to us, I had every day, my last 25 days, I was just in meetings, and we were trying to get the lead investor. So right now, we are raising about 10 million, and we have shortlisted few lead investors. Now they are doing due diligence. And very soon they will visit our facility, and our round will be closing in the first week of February. So that is where we are. And yeah, I thank TechCrunch I actually didn't know that this would be coming after this. I just thought it's about 100k. But later, what I saw was much more bigger than that. So

 

Neesha Tambe  16:19  

I have a question for you actually have to but when you were on stage, there was a lot of wow, you know, kind of the same thing I felt when I was reading the application was like, This can't be real, like it's too good to be true. What was that like on stage? Like, I remember you and you know, Annamalai coming off stage just being like, they didn't believe that this is real this? What how was that? You know, for you, when you were on stage? Experiencing that live? Yes.

 

Sheeba Dawood  16:47  

I would say initially, this was not first time that we came across something like that. Because I know, when we say something like that they were like, then why are you here give us money kind of thing. So where's the money? You know, I get that from a lot of investors. But what we are doing is, we have proved the basic science. So we have you know, the foundation because I have been to a lot of BLE technologies I have interacted with them. And I personally have seen how they work. They don't work, unfortunately, because there's no science. So that is how that is where we have a confidence. And that is the USP that we have in our intellectual property that we have the patient and the process that is so different from the others. So I wasn't surprised, I was actually I knew that this was coming. Because I have already faced these kinds of questions a lot of times, but we were prepared in a way and we try to, you know, I felt that we answered in a right way, showing them like how from where we started, and what all we have proved. And where are we getting. So I felt that it was a great way actually, in a good way, I see that by highlighting that I felt that the message was much clearly delivered to the people, you know, because they will just thinking, Oh, this is just lithium extraction company. But later when you know, the VCs were kind of highlighting that that is where I saw that people were trying, oh, they also do the water. So next day, when I was seeing the LinkedIn posts, and all of that they were all like, this is cool tech really helping the world. So I saw that this actually made a, you know, good. It played a significant role there.

 

Darrell Etherington  18:19  

I had a question just kind of around. Here. You talked about the progress so far in terms of funding and everything else, just on the company building side? How has that been for you? And how have you kind of evolved as a leader? And then as as you're like, looking into being the person who's like, you know, running a company, like how do you deal with that? Where do you look for guidance? And how have you kind of developed over time,

 

Sheeba Dawood  18:42  

I would say that while I was doing my PhD, and while I was back in India, I used to participate in a lot of, you know, public speaking forums. So that way I know to express myself, well, that is one quality that I had with me, since back when from when I was in school, but otherwise leading company and all of that I would say that I somewhere learned it from my co founder who is also was also my professor, the leadership skills that she has, and the command that she has and how she really like she's a women and I have seen how she kind of fights back for everything. So I would say that she was in a way one to whom I was looking up to. And also back at home. i My mother, she ran schools. I mean, she's a principal. And then I have always seen her how she manages stuff and she's a team leader. And she manages everything on her own. So these two had played a very significant role and that somehow got into meats naturally, I would say. And as a leader right now, in my team, we have like almost six to eight people like scientists that are working under me. And mostly I try to have more communication and also much more clear on the daily basis because in that way that will help us to move forward. So I would just say keep it simple, not complicated and have fun. Communication. And I think things will just work for you. And that's how it has worked for me. So

 

Neesha Tambe  20:04  

yeah, you know, to grill on that a little bit. You know, you had mentioned that her Molly had faced some challenges being a woman in academia, your company's interfacing with a lot of, for lack of a better phrasing a cisgender, straight white American males, right. If you're looking at the oil industry or looking at a lot of the energy industry, that's what you're facing. And you are not that, how are those interactions for you when you go into those conversations?

 

Sheeba Dawood  20:31  

Oh, okay. These are my nightmares that I have faced, actually, I'm sorry, how did I forget about that? Initially, my journey? Yeah, I was, to be very honest, I was made fun of because of my accent, I was made fun because of my dev a lot of things that I have, I have faced. But right now, that is the reason I just said that I develop thick skin, I am actually very sensitive as a person. That's how I am I cannot take it. But I know that I have to achieve this. And these things are going to come in my way anytime or the other. And there are intellectual people who can see what I can do. And that's how my approach has been. So I just look for the people who understand and who will help me to move forward, and I collaborate with them. And then that's how I have moved on. But otherwise, yes, I have faced inequality on every basis. But that is not going to stop me. I would put it that way.

 

Darrell Etherington  21:28  

It sounds like when you encounter that it doesn't sound like you. Well, maybe this is incorrect. But it doesn't sound like you want to you're trying to change minds. You're just like, you know what you're not, you're not ready for what I have to offer. And I'm gonna find the people who do see that value. Is that accurate? Or do you?

 

Sheeba Dawood  21:42  

Yeah, exactly. That's why even like I last year, I was invited for TED Talk. And so they were when I was presenting and there was a one person who said, like, you know, maybe I need to change my accent. I said, I will present it the way I speak. If it is acceptable. I'll come if not, I actually

 

Darrell Etherington  22:00  

suggest that you change your accent.

 

Sheeba Dawood  22:03  

Yeah, yeah. So like, so offensive? Yeah, yeah. Because it will be much more approachable to people and all of that, but I what I have seen your personality matter, your energy matters. And the content matters. And that's what I have learned. And that's how people have been accepting me. So I said, I'm not going to change for anything. This is how it is going to be.

 

Darrell Etherington  22:23  

Yeah. Yeah. You mentioned to before the the last answer about, you know, there have been some really low times is it mostly that when you encounter that kind of resistance, or what else has been kind of what have been the biggest challenges as you got about building this business.

 

Sheeba Dawood  22:38  

Um, I would also say that, in a way, the area that we are in, I mean, the lithium industry, it's not a comfortable place to be in, like, I've been to many conferences, and I see among 400 industries that were attending during one of the conference in Arizona, I was the only woman there and to have those conversations, cold conversations, and there were many uncomfortable situations that I had to be there. But only end of the day, I remind myself, this is what I have chosen. And I am going to go ahead no matter what, because I need to prove this, I want this to get into the world, not just in case to make, you know, to do something better for myself, but also as a concern for the environment too. And also, back in my country, water purification, there is a need for it. So considering all of this, I've just kept moving forward. But yeah, I have faced some harsh things. But that is how it is oil industry or lithium industry men. And like what Nisha have mentioned, there were a lot of uncomfortable encounters that I did have. But like I said, I find people who are more collaborative and just move forward.

 

Neesha Tambe  23:52  

And then a couple of years later, you're going to have the same companies that were not in favor of working with you calling you up after disrupt saying,

 

Sheeba Dawood  24:02  

Sorry, I maybe I didn't mention this, I have seen people who you know shut dotes upon me and people who have rejected my business model. And our vision that we had, they have actually approached us, the way they talk, the way things happen are happening to me right now. They are surprising. So that's how it you know, it's going to work out and I've seen Oh, my God, the shift and the transition are completely different. And yeah,

 

Neesha Tambe  24:27  

that's great. You made waves on on the TechCrunch side, too. And that, I believe, if I have my research done correctly, you all are the first all female, all women of color team to have one to disrupt. Thank you. That's right. Yeah.

 

Darrell Etherington  24:43  

I was gonna ask about so what comes next? So you talked a bit about you know, you're you're looking for the lead and you're in the due diligence process for that. But what's next for the company? What are your next your goals for even into 2023 or beyond?

 

Sheeba Dawood  24:55  

So right now, in North Carolina, we have Toyota battery manufacturing unit, that's going to be, you know, a very huge one that's going to start in 2025. We have sunlight batteries coming around, and that just here in Greensboro, all of them at one place, we are trying to get there. So we process battery grade lithium. So once we do pilot demonstration, so like I said, even mayor and you know, government is trying to help us like City Council is trying to help us. So if everything goes, well do the pilot demonstration, after the customer validation, we would either have strategic alliances or a partnership with these companies, and they could be our customers.

 

Darrell Etherington  25:36  

And then does that require? Do you think it's like a lot of growth or hiring you plan to do or what? Like, is that coming off the round? Like, what is the use for?

 

Sheeba Dawood  25:45  

Yeah, so the round right now, we are also using for hiring, basically soft skills like Marketing and Business Business Development Officer. And also on the technical end, we do require operational engineers and process engineers. So that would help us to leverage to pilot scale. And then maybe, once we get to the commercialization, it's going to also improve the economics of, you know, of the place that I live in. So that's how we are being promoted right now.

 

Darrell Etherington  26:14  

Yeah. Nice Mart longer term, like what do you imagine in your ideal world, like, Where does one ever sit in like, 10 years time, like, as an established company, as a mature company? Like, what do you think the future looks like for you?

 

Sheeba Dawood  26:26  

Definitely, My ambition is to go public. And that's what I'm aiming for. Even now, I keep getting advices, you're a women and you need to take care of your family, you better license the technology. So this is something that I keep getting even now, even after coming this far, you keep getting those. But that is my ambition that I want to take it to a you know, public and have this a public company. And then from there, maybe we will have a research and development center where we will be developing more exciting technologies, because we know what the crisis would be next Rudy, cobalt, nickel. And then we have other things coming up. So maybe, you know, there's also other crisis where they sort of claim the water, how to separate clay from the water. There are so many things that can be done. So I definitely want to have my own research and development center, and then keep developing. So maybe I could also do that.

 

Darrell Etherington  27:22  

Yeah. Cool. Well, that's great. I just out of curiosity, personally, do you have any goals? Now what do you want to accomplish, you know, with your own personal life over the next couple of years,

 

Sheeba Dawood  27:32  

but next couple of years, like I gave 10 years of time for myself, to be in because each day actually, after I graduate, I'm an international student. Like for more. At that point of time, I did get jobs in Intel, one of the biggest semiconductor company. And then there was another university, Harvard University that is in Washington, DC. And I had these different choices. And I had to make choice with this, which is so indefinite, right? There's nothing there. And I'm an international student, I get a lot of my friends, colleagues, you know, you're an international student, you do not have luxury to, you know, experiment, you do not have luxury to go ahead in this. You don't see anything here, people come to earn money here. So, so it was that way. And today, I get phone call saying that, how did you make this decision? How did you know that you know, this is going to come. So I would say that I believe in what I'm doing right now. And within 10 years, I believe that I'm going to accomplish, what my vision is. And like I said, in also sustainable way, and also do something for my home country, too. So considering all of this, and maybe at that point of time, like I said, I would just, you know, get it public, and then have my own research and development and develop new technologies.

 

Neesha Tambe  28:48  

I think that's really powerful. And you know, I'm Indian American, and my dad came here, my mom came here, well, mom's complicated, but my dad came here, you know, in the 70s, in the engineering wave that came over at the time, but it was still following that very traditional path and to see, what you've done is, as an Indian American person in the community, it's like, wow, like I you know, I'm not a doctor, an engineer, and to be able to see what you've done is equally as inspiring. So thank you for that, and doing it with your personality. Because I think you're also one of the only companies to have ever put a SpongeBob character on your lead slot. Definitely, definitely a first that we've had.

 

Sheeba Dawood  29:30  

Yeah, so like I said, like, I'm good at telling stories. And I, when I tell story, I look at my audience, are they interested in what I'm saying? And to grab their attention, I kind of get these things. So that the story becomes much more, you know, interesting for them and they are able to absorb it. So that's how I have learned and I've got my way until here, you know, comparing because science is so difficult to get there. So I also keep training these graduate students. They have the pitch presentation shouldn't send they have to do pitch their thesis within three minutes. And I've been topping in that all my four years because I know to deliver that message, like I say, you know what you're using your phone, you know, I can make changes in that using my research. So people have to feel your story personally. So it's not cancer for them to feel it. Because when I say cancer, people are like, Oh, my God, you know, there's the feel for it. So I have seen that because and I always compare, why is the why are these people winning? And why am I not winning? Because I'm not making my story personal. They're not connecting to my story. So this is a way I kind of add little humor in a way and so that they can also remember it at the end. Maybe they remember now, nano music as punchy, you know how sponge works. So the story is in their head somehow. So that's what I tried to do. That's great.

 

Darrell Etherington  30:51  

Yeah, it is super important to make things relatable. Yeah. Something we struggle with on a daily basis as writers at TechCrunch. But I think I think that's a terrific place to end because you made an absorption joke. SpongeBob answer, which I just want to point out wonderful, genius. Thank you. But thanks so much. It's been lovely talking to you, Shiva. And this is fantastic. And you know, we're very excited to see what Minerva does next. And we're thrilled that you won the competition as well. Yeah.

 

Neesha Tambe  31:25  

Because I'm I'm always you know, closing it's been a pleasure working with you for so many weeks. And also, you know, when that IPO comes around, you know who to announce that come back, come back again to disrupt and then we'll put you on stage or near announcing that IPO as well

 

Sheeba Dawood  31:43  

Yeah, absolutely. Sure. I already saw myself there. So yeah, definitely. There you go. Yeah.

 

Neesha Tambe  31:58  

Inside startup battlefield is hosted by me start a battlefield editor Misha zombie, were produced and edited by Maggie Stamets and Grayson rice Durbin is our Illustrator and Henry pick a bit manages TechCrunch audio products. Special thanks to all of our founders, experts and the TC staffers who lent us their voices and expertise inside startup battlefield as part of the TechCrunch podcast

 

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