Shows
Spark of AgesAlien Advantage: Pattern-Breaking Innovation/Manan Mehta, Rustam Esanov - Immigrants, Unshackled, mRNA+AI ~ Spark of Ages Ep 53We explore how removing immigration friction and backing immigrant founders at day zero can produce outsized innovation, through the lens of a VC platform and a biotech founder reprogramming tumors with mRNA and AI. The conversation blends policy, venture economics, and a bold oncology thesis with practical advice and personal stories.• immigrant advantage as resilience, clarity, and risk appetite• Unshackled’s Day Zero model and economics• technical visionaries and system disruptors archetypes• turning tumors into immune allies with mRNA and AI• off the shelf approach across solid tumors• storytelling skills for technical CEOs• cur...
2025-12-1955 min
Modern Solutions for Modern RestaurantsAI-Powered Dashboards: The Crystal Ball for Your Restaurant OperationIn this episode of Modern Solutions for Modern Restaurants, host Paul Molinari from Popcorn GTM discusses revolutionary advancements in restaurant data management with Manan Mehta, Co-Founder and CEO of Livelytics. They dive into how Livelytics' AI-powered dashboards transforms restaurant data into real-time intelligence, enabling operators to take actionable insights rather than just analyzing static reports. Key topics include surfacing labor inefficiencies, revenue leakage, and operational anomalies. They also discuss the integration of over 650 systems into a unified data layer, providing a single source of truth for restaurant operations. Real-life use cases demonstrate significant cost savings and improved operational efficiencies...
2025-12-1634 minModern Solutions for Modern RestaurantsFrom Gut Instinct to Fact-Based Data Intelligence: Restaurant Analytics Have EvolvedIn this episode of Modern Solutions for Modern Restaurants, host Paul Molinari from Popcorn GTM and co-host Matt Haselhoff from One Goal Consulting welcome Manan Mehta, founder and CEO of Livelytics.ai. They dive into the importance of data-driven decision-making in an industry where speed, margins, and guest expectations are constantly evolving. Manan shares his journey of founding Livelytics and how their AI-powered platform is transforming restaurant operations by providing actionable insights through data intelligence. From labor forecasting to customer sentiment analysis, Livelytics leverages machine learning and AI to help brands make smarter, faster, and more profitable decisions. Tune i...
2025-06-2340 min
The CHRO MindsetThe CHRO Mindset Podcast Season 1: It’s a wrap!Season 1 of The CHRO Mindset Podcast was nothing short of extraordinary—and if you missed it, you missed a revolution in HR thought leadership! Listen today on Spotify: [https://open.spotify.com/show/6JYwgOeKsiHNhlcLgR1NLs] With over 30 HR leaders, including Krishna Raghawan, Janani Prakash, Smita Venkatraman, Aravind Warrier, Nandini Mehta, Manan Sharma, and more, Season 1 was packed with practical strategies that redefined what it means to lead in HR.Don’t worry—the legacy of Season 1 lives on, and it’s only the beginning.
2025-01-1503 min
The CHRO MindsetThe CHRO Mindset Podcast Season 1: It’s a wrap!Season 1 of The CHRO Mindset Podcast was nothing short of extraordinary—and if you missed it, you missed a revolution in HR thought leadership! Listen today on Spotify: [https://open.spotify.com/show/6JYwgOeKsiHNhlcLgR1NLs] With over 30 HR leaders, including Krishna Raghawan, Janani Prakash, Smita Venkatraman, Aravind Warrier, Nandini Mehta, Manan Sharma, and more, Season 1 was packed with practical strategies that redefined what it means to lead in HR.Don’t worry—the legacy of Season 1 lives on, and it’s only the beginning.
2025-01-1503 min
The Revamped FounderBuilding a Company as an Immigrant w/ Manan MehtaFollow Manan: https://twitter.com/mananm
Manan's father immigrated to the United States in the 90s from India and Manan is practically one of the first generation of immigrants in the country as of now.
Now, Manan is the co-founder and General Partner at Unshackled which is a pre-seed fund dedicated to investing in and unlocking opportunities for immigrant entrepreneurs.In this episode we talk about what is immigration, why do people immigrate, What was it like immigrating to the US in the 90s, why is it harder for immigrants to start...
2023-10-3157 min
Minority MavericksMeet Minority Maverick - Manan Mehta, Entrepreneur and InvestorIn this captivating episode, we sit down with Manan Mehta, the Founding Partner of Unshackled Ventures, to explore the world of immigrant entrepreneurship and the groundbreaking work Unshackled Ventures is doing to support them. Manan shares his own journey and personal motivations for championing immigrant and minority entrepreneurs, offering a deep insight into the challenges they face and the extraordinary potential they bring to the business world. Through engaging storytelling and insightful anecdotes, Manan paints a vivid picture of how his firm has empowered and guided countless startups to overcome hurdles, access capital, and thrive in the ever-evolving landscape...
2023-10-2025 min
Thought Bistro PodcastDecentralized Solar Energy & the Opportunity of a Lifetime (Founder - Solar Ladder)In this episode of The Thought Bistro, we sit down with Manan Mehta, founder of Solar Ladder, a company revolutionizing rooftop solar plants for small homes. We discuss the present and future of solar energy, the decentralized nature of solar power, and why it's the opportunity of a lifetime. Tune in to learn about the transformative potential of solar energy and how it can empower businesses and homeowners alike.
Become an installer: https://www.solarladder.com/
Timeline:
00:00 Intro
02:32 Who are you?
08:36 The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
11:28 Non-Conformity
14:58 Resume
17:23 Are you all Techies?
18:10 Finance under the Garb of Technicality
31:09 How...
2023-08-211h 29
Founders Without Borders#1: Nitin Pachisia | India | Unshackled VenturesWe're kicking off season 1 with Nitin Pachisia, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Unshackled Ventures, a venture capital firm that invests exclusively in immigrant founders.
Nitin grew up in India and moved to the US for work. After 5 years of working at Deloitte, he moved on to work at a small startup called Kno where he met his future co-founder, Manan Mehta. After leaving Kno to start his own company, he was faced with the challenges of navigating immigration while trying to build his company. His personal experience navigating immigration law led to building Unshackled. We sat down...
2023-07-2546 min
DrinksWithAVC (DWAVC)DWAVC: Manan Mehta | Ep. 27Discover the profound depths of venture capitalism in this week's DWAVC with guest Manan Mehta of Unshackled Ventures. Vik and Bree explore Manan's adoption of 'curious acceptance,' his admiration for ancient and modern stoicism, and his insights on the pivotal role of immigrants in revolutionizing the startup arena and the VC landscape.Links:www.unshackledvc.comRyan Holiday's books on Amazon, here and here.www.creativity.org/ (Museum!)www.trefethen.com (What we're drinking!)
2023-06-151h 42
Immigration Tech & Marketing - The GMI Rocket Show - Hosted by Roman Zelichenko.Manan Mehta, Partner, Unshackled Ventures: Investing in immigrant foundersOn episode 66 of the GMI Rocket Show, we’re talking to our first-ever VC guest: Manan Mehta, Founding Partner of Unshackled Ventures, a VC firm that invests in immigrant founders!
What’s special about Unshackled Ventures is their commitment to directly supporting immigrant startup founders: “Unshackled Ventures sponsors visas and provides full immigration support. We accelerate your immigration journey so you can focus on building your business.”
As for Manan, he’s a first generation American who grew up in an immigrant household. He attended UCLA, worked in banking, and then joined a startup called Kno that was ultimately acquired b...
2023-05-2055 min
Blackbelt VC by SpeedyVC4 Reason Immigrant Founders Outperform with Nitan Pachisia, of Unshackled VenturesNitin Pachisia @immigreating, co-founder and GP of Unshackled Ventures @UnshackledVC, talks about the underrated synergy of immigrant founder teams and why frugality generates ingenuity.
Links:
HBR: “Why Immigrants Are More Likely to Become Entrepreneurs”, “Why Diverse Teams are Smarter”
Axios: “Venture capital slowly seeps outside of Silicon Valley”
Pine Park Health
Unshackled team: Manan Mehta, Samala, Alexis Maciel, E’mani Davis
Unshackled Pitch link / Nitin’s calendar
Unshackled: The most common reasons we pass on companies
SHACK15 + SHACK15 CONVERSATIONS podcast
Transcript...
2023-02-0715 min
The Full Ratchet (TFR): Venture Capital and Startup Investing DemystifiedInvestor Stories 265: What's Next (Pantoja, Wroblewski, Mehta) On this special segment of The Full Ratchet, the following Investors are featured: Marcelino Pantoja Julie Wroblewski Manan Mehta Each investor discusses sectors, drivers and/or trends that may have significant impact in the future and are potentially positioned for outsized-returns. The host of The Full Ratchet is Nick Moran, General Partner of New Stack Ventures, a venture capital firm committed to investing in founders outside of the Bay Area. Learn more about New Stack Ventures by visiting our Website. Also, follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter! Founders, are you frustrated...
2022-10-1305 min
The Full Ratchet (TFR): Venture Capital and Startup Investing DemystifiedInvestor Stories 257: Strange & Unusual (Falvey, Mehta, Kadavy) On this special segment of The Full Ratchet, the following Investors are featured: Ryan Falvey Manan Mehta Annie Kadavy Each investor describes the most unusual situation or pitch that they've encountered as an investor.
2022-08-1805 min
The Full Ratchet (TFR): Venture Capital and Startup Investing DemystifiedInvestor Stories 254: Why I Passed (Wilkins, Mehta, Foxe Blader) On this special segment of The Full Ratchet, the following Investors are featured: Tony Wilkins Manan Mehta Ruth Foxe Blader Each investor highlights a situation where they decided not to invest, why they passed, and how it played out. The host of The Full Ratchet is Nick Moran, General Partner of New Stack Ventures, a venture capital firm committed to investing in founders outside of the Bay Area. Learn more about New Stack Ventures by visiting our Website. Also, follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter! Founders, are you frustrated by trying...
2022-07-2807 min
The Full Ratchet (TFR): Venture Capital and Startup Investing DemystifiedInvestor Stories 242: Post Mortems (Wilkins, Mehta, Saenko) On this special segment of The Full Ratchet, the following Investors are featured: Tony Wilkins, Manan Mehta, and Maryanna Saenko. Each investor discusses a portfolio company that did not survive and why it was that they failed. Did you miss our guests full length episodes? For all great episodes, go to The Full Ratchet blog and catch up! Also, follow us on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/27155166/) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/TFR_Pod).
2022-05-0507 min
The Full Ratchet (TFR): Venture Capital and Startup Investing DemystifiedPost Mortems (Sun, Foxe Blader, Mehta) On this special segment of The Full Ratchet, the following Investors are featured: Ben Sun Ruth Foxe Blader Manan Mehta Each investor discusses a portfolio company that did not survive and why it was that they failed. Did you miss our guests full length episodes? For other great episodes, go to The Full Ratchet blog and catch up! Also, follow us on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/27155166/) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/TFR_Pod).
2022-02-2406 min
Harita'sWhy do men not communicate?We often come to cross a common misconception that men do not have feelings - they never express themselves.. - or not to the same degree as women. But It not 100% true. In real life, we all experience or feel happy, sad, angry, frustrated, scared, heartbroken, excited and the list goes on. However, men are mostly less likely to talk about these feelings, which hags "WHY?", so on the occasion of International Men's Day; @Harita Mehta and Dr Manan Thakrar are trying to answer
2021-11-1820 min
The Full Ratchet (TFR): Venture Capital and Startup Investing Demystified306. Selection at Day 0, Investing in Immigrants, and Navigating Founder-Problem Fit (Manan Mehta) Manan Mehta of Unshackled Ventures joins Nick to discuss Selection at Day 0, Investing in Immigrants, and Navigating Founder-Problem Fit. In this episode we cover: What is investing at Day 0? What unique challenges do you face in backing immigrant founders? How do you approach sourcing and how you do it differently than other firms? What is Founder-Problem Fit? Missed a recent episode? Go to The Full Ratchet blog and catch up! Also, follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.
2021-11-0145 min
Lab to StartupUnshackled Ventures- VC firm investing in immigrant entrepreneursManan Mehta is the founding partner of Unshackled ventures. We cover the thesis behind funding immigrant entrepreneurs- more specifically about their process for funding startups and how they help them with their visa issues. - A high conviction "friends and family" investor that removes immigration hurdles & gives you a network to succeed faster. -- Connecting the unconnected and supporting the startups with capital and customers - Quick decision process and communication with founders even if they decide not to invest. - Focus on customer (entrepreneur) service - Questions...
2021-10-1245 min
Bounce Back with Nima MankarEpisode 8 Miracles Do Happen - Dr. Manan DesaiDr. Manan Desai graduated from M.P. Shah, Medical College, Jamnagar and did his Surgery training from B.J. Medical College, Ahmedabad. He did his specialisation from the premiere medical institute, All India Medical Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi. There he received extensive training in adult and complex paediatric surgeries including robotic surgery. After completing his training he served at U.N. Mehta Institute of Cardiology and Research, Ahmedabad. Soon he got connected with the leading hospital of Ahmedabad, CIMS Hospital. Along with a team of highly qualified doctors, Dr. Desai is committed to provide world-class healthcare with cutting...
2021-07-0325 min
FinclusiveEp 03: Manan Mehta | How Unshackled Ventures InvestsA conversation with Manan Mehta, Founding Partner at Unshackled Ventures. Unshackled Ventures was founded in 2014 with the mission to help immigrant founders succeed. The firm invests in immigrant entrepreneurs at the ideation stage (60% of commits made before incorporation), sponsors visas, and provides full immigration support for immigrant founders who often do not have the support network of native-born founders. Unshackled has made 55 investments to date, backing founders from 6 different continents. Manan shares his experience building a company with an immigrant founder and learning the pain points of visa issues facing immigrant entrepreneurs. He highlights that the main challenge facing...
2021-05-1128 min
What the HAT!?Manan Mehta on Embedded Software, Argo AI, and Leaving No Stones Unturned 🚀 | 28bout the guest: Living, studying, and working in 3 different countries has shaped our next guest’s eternal love for machines and technology, he is Manan Mehta. Manan is an embedded software engineer who is currently building autonomous vehicles at Argo AI. His morning routine includes masala chai and Bollywood music and believes that attitude and strategy can compensate for talent but talent can never compensate for the other two. Key Insights in this Episode: [03:30] Software and Hardware Stacks in Self-driving cars [42:19] Leave no stone unturned [43:19] Learn through failure
2021-01-2349 min
TechInColorEp. 6: Aagya Mathur and Manan Mehta on Choosing the Right Problem to Solve, How to Start A Fund, and their Investor-Founder PartnershipOn this episode of TechInColor, we interviewed Aagya Mathur, CEO and co-founder of Aavia, a hormone health brand, and Manan Mehta, a founding partner at Unshackled Ventures, an early stage VC fund for immigrant-founded startups, including Aavia. Aagya discusses the importance of developing strong founder-problem fit, switching from studying neuroscience as a pre-med in college to business, and how overcoming cultural stigmas around discussing feminine health empowered her to pursue her business even more deeply.
Manan shares his journey of attempting to start a company with an immigrant co-founder and how the barriers to being sponsored for...
2021-01-1842 min
The Sure Shot EntrepreneurImmigrant entrepreneurs must overcome unique hurdlesManan Mehta, founding partner at Unshackled Ventures, shares his personal journey as the son of immigrants and how he built a venture capital firm with a mission to support foreign born founders. His authentic stories describes unfair barriers and his solutions to overcome them. Great teams are also self-aware on their blind spots The only VC with immigration attorneys as partnersHamilton - Immigrants (we get the job done)Non-profit: Playworks
2020-10-1331 min
Aakash Mehta and FriendsEpisode No-32/ Manan Desai with Aakash Mehta/ Aakash Mehta and Friends (AMF Podcast)Check out the audio by kuchbhimehta.com - Get access to more exclusive content.
2020-10-011h 22
Gujarati Vato1. Tarak Mehta ka Ulta Chashma. Dan kya Karvu ?In this episode I have discussed the source of donation. Feel free to message me +44-7394-665260--- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/manan33/message
2020-09-0212 min
Founder & Funder ExperienceEnabling High-Octane Founders From Day 0 and Beyond: Manan Mehta of Unshackled VenturesToday’s guest is Manan Mehta, co-founder and General Partner @Unshackled Ventures. Manan has experience as both an investor and a founder. In this post, he talks about identifying the need to unlock immigrant founder talent, and professionalizing a leading venture capital firm to deploy capital with speed, intelligence, and discipline. Founder talent finds its way from all across the globe. However, not all of them have the right networks and resources to go from great idea to effective implementation. That’s where Unshackled VC comes in. Manan and the Unshackled VC team bring a high-p...
2020-07-1220 min
The Passion People PodcastThe PaladinWe talk about privilege and the associated social inclination to do something good, trekking the Amazon, building a football ground and accelerating the change to solar energy with Manan, one of the co-founders of the energy start-up - Unergia. This episode is special for a couple of reasons, firstly since Manan has the awareness and grace to accept that getting what he got meant that he came from a place of privilege, secondly he took that privilege and turned it into a driving force to do good in the world. Finally, the leaps he takes and his j...
2019-09-1542 min
Unconventional GeniusManan Mehta, CoFounder of Unshackled Ventures on Empowering New Immigrants to the United StatesNew immigrants to the United States do not represent a threat to "American" jobs, they represent potential, and lots of it. Manan Mehta and the team at Unshackled Ventures believe that immigrant-founded startups are one of the most amazing sources of incredible innovations that can change the course of the country and impact the world for good. I invited Manan on the podcast to hear what is happening at Unshackled and was not disappointed to find that the way his VC company has been able to help new immigrant-led startups is more encouraging than I realized. You'll be inspired...
2018-03-1939 min
Tahmina Talks Immigration®Immigration & entrepreneurs w/Manan Mehta from UnshackledOn this episode which aired on 10/4/16, we talk to Manan Mehta, co-founder of Unshackled. We talk about immigrant entrepreneurs and the new entrepreneur parole rules. Manan also explains the application process for funding for startups from Unshackled. This is a fascinating discussion and hope you will enjoy!
2016-11-0524 min