Merge Club Podcast

Julian Weisser & Ari Dutilh

5.0 (2)
TECHNOLOGY
UPDATED WEEKLY

Merge is a club for grant recipients — hackers, scientists, and creators of all kinds. mergeclub.substack.com

18 HR. AGO

Ep. 10 Tehseen Dahya: How "3rd door" thinking got him a meeting with the Co-Founder of LinkedIn

Have you ever been flown out to meet the co-founder of a $25B company to pitch your project as a high school student? No? Me neither, but Tehseen has. Listen to our conversation with Tehseen Dahya - a teenager obsessed with finding 3rd door paths to awesome outcomes. You can watch on YouTube (or Spotify/Apple) - Like and Subscribe so more people can discover Merge! Tehseen’s story is unconventional: hustling his way to a paid-for flight to San Francisco, scoring a meeting with the LinkedIn Co-Founder, and landing an internship at BloXroute through some creative hustling as just a few examples. He shares core learnings from his experiences building ambitious projects at a top STEM accelerator for teens, The Knowledge Society. Such as considering the incentives of the person you’re pitching to better align with their goals, and testing theories with prototypes (or manually) before investing time in building the technology. This episode offers a variety of gems for listeners, especially those starting out with smaller track records. In our conversation, we go over: (02:44) - What questions should you be asking? (08:31) - How do you decide what to work on? (11:16) - How Tehseen uses 3rd door hustling (17:56) - Key takeaways from TKS (19:46) - Flying to San Francisco for free (21:44) - First time experiencing SF (25:14) - How to prep for your first SF trip (35:10) - What about Toronto he’d like to export to SF Find Tehseen on the internet: Twitter: https://x.com/tehseen_0 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tehseen-dahya-jr/ Merge is a club for microgrant recipients working on big ideas. Meet new builder friends and make progress on your project: https://merge.club Are you looking to apply to grant and fellowship programs? Use our Grant Guide: https://merge.club/guide Watch/Listen on YouTube/Spotify/Apple. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mergeclub.substack.com

36 min
OCT 11

Ep. 9 Aaryan Harshith: Creating the "spreadsheet" of viruses that could change biotech forever

Watch on YouTube - Like and Subscribe so more people can discover Merge! Today we’re diving into the awesome story of Aaryan Harshith. From using light waves to detect cancer in cells at 14 to creating the world’s largest database of Phages as a Stanford researcher, Aaryan’s story is a must-listen. He shares the largely untold story of Phages: the world’s most underrated organism — with applications ranging from cancer treatment to antibiotics, food seasoning and even alternatives to electric wire. We discuss how naivety can be an asset, how he uses writing as a forcing function for growth and learning, how to convince people to work with you as someone with no track record, and more. (03:41) Phages: the world’s most underrated organism (09:30) Naivety as an asset when starting out (11:07) Using writing as a forcing function for growth (16:56) Convincing people to work with you when you have no track record (19:31) Origin story of Phagebase (25:05) The future of Phages and how Phagebase plays a part (29:42) What’s next for Phagebase (31:56) 3 steps to get involved with phages/biotech Follow Aaryan on Twitter: https://x.com/AaryanHarshith Intro to phages/biology links: Kurzgesagt’s video on Bacteriophages: BBC’s 1hr history of Phagetherapy: Merge is a club for microgrant recipients working on big ideas. Meet new builder friends and make progress on your project: https://merge.club Are you looking to apply to grant and fellowship programs? Use our Grant Guide: https://merge.club/guide This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mergeclub.substack.com

43 min
SEP 26

Ep. 8 Alex Hu: Raising the Floor and Removing the Ceilings of Education, From 14yo Education Non-Profit Founder to Building Mentava

Alex started a nonprofit at 14 to teach English to students in rural China, scaling to 1,500 students across 20 schools while in high school. He dropped out of college to pursue a nutrition startup before pivoting to join one of the most exciting EdTech startups of the past few years, Mentava. Now, at Mentava, he's working to revolutionize education by giving agency back to students and parents. (06:19) Non-profit at 14 years old (12:10) Scaling Education For All (34:15) Uncapping kids’ growth Mentava Follow Alex on Twitter: https://x.com/AlexHuHJY Merge is a club for microgrant recipients working on big ideas. Meet new builder friends and make progress on your project: https://merge.club Are you looking to apply to grant and fellowship programs? Use our Grant Guide: https://merge.club/guide This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mergeclub.substack.com

43 min
SEP 16

Ep. 7 Ivoine Strachan: From no Electricity and Learning to Code on his Phone to Building a Haptic VR Suit in San Francisco

Today we welcome Ivoine Strachan to the podcast. He has an incredible story - growing up in the Bahamas with limited access to electricity and internet, he became a chess champion so he could get access to computers and wifi. He learned how to build and fix electronics, how to code using only his phone, and then managed to fundraise for a solo trip to San Francisco at just 16 years old where he interned at Roblox. Now, he’s developing a Ready Player One-inspired VR suit. (01:29) From chess champion to coder (13:50) Sleeping at airport for first trip to SF (18:19) Shocking friends: Building a haptic VR suit Follow Ivoine on Twitter: https://x.com/ivoinetech Merge is a club for microgrant recipients working on big ideas. Meet new builder friends and make progress on your project: https://merge.club Are you looking to apply to grant and fellowship programs? Use our Grant Guide: https://merge.club/guide This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mergeclub.substack.com

31 min
AUG 29

Ep. 6 Robert Tolan: Emergent Ventures Fellow on Housing and Cold Emails

Today we welcome Robert Tolan to the podcast. He received a grant from Emergent Ventures to start a think tank on Irish housing policy. He was a founding fellow in the Polaris Fellowship and is now working on an LLM job matching system for the Irish tech industry. (02:55) Leveraging cold emails as an “outsider”(13:59) Housing Theory of Everything(25:01) The Polaris Fellowship and getting a grant from Emergent Ventures Follow Robert on Twitter: https://x.com/rob_tolan Merge is a club for microgrant recipients working on big ideas. Meet new builder friends and make progress on your project: https://merge.club Are you looking to apply to grant and fellowship programs? Use our Grant Guide: https://merge.club/guide This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mergeclub.substack.com

38 min
JUL 25

Ep. 5 Brad Cox

Today, we’re welcoming Merger Brad Cox to the podcast. Brad shares his journey from student to entrepreneur, telling us how his frustration with exam preparation in Australia led him to create Exam Insights. He discusses lessons learned from a failed initial idea, insight into the Australian tech scene, his experience with non-dilutive funding, and his vision for the future of his EdTech startup. Enjoy the conversation. Find Brad online: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bradley-cox-/ This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mergeclub.substack.com

35 min
JUN 6

Ep. 4 Sasha Przybylski

Today, we’re welcoming Merger Sasha Przybylski to the podcast. Sasha tells us about what it was like getting her start at The Knowledge Society, how a book on sports science kicked off her obsession with material science and chemistry, and what she learned after spending 5 months building an extended kalman filter to estimate battery state of charge from the ground up. Enjoy the conversation. Find Sasha online: https://x.com/sashaprzybylski https://www.linkedin.com/in/sasha-przybylski-72935322a/ This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mergeclub.substack.com

39 min
MAY 30

Ep. 3 Kai Goodall

Today, we’re welcoming Merger Kai Goodall to the podcast. Kai got his start at The Knowledge Society, a STEM accelerator program for teens. There, he discovered his love for propulsion tech and rocket science. At just 16 years old, he landed a job designing satellites at Telesat, the largest satellite company in Canada. Kai tells us about his approach to learning, cold emailing experts on LinkedIn, and the impact a grant from 1517 Fund had on his most recent project. Enjoy. Find Kai online: https://x.com/mcmgoodall https://www.linkedin.com/in/kai-goodall-607bbb205/ This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mergeclub.substack.com

28 min
MAY 23

Ep. 2 Andrew Nijmeh

Today, we’re welcoming Andrew Nijmeh to the podcast. Andrew got his start coding at a startup when he was just 12 years old and recently received a grant from Tyler Cowen at Emergent Ventures to build his first company, focused on solving traffic using AI and reinforcement learning. A quick note: the audio on this recording leaves something to be desired, but I assure you the conversation does not. On the show today, Andrew tells us about how he made his first dollar online, what he learned working with people far older than himself, and his experience building his startup. Enjoy. Find Andrew online: https://nijmeh.world https://twitter.com/nijmehvm https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewnijmeh/?originalSubdomain=ca Join Merge today at https://merge.club This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mergeclub.substack.com

24 min
MAY 16

Ep. 1 Sohi Patel

Today we’re welcoming Merger, Sohi Patel to the podcast. Sohi got her start at school science fairs where she discovered her love of chemistry, material sciences, and engineering. She and her co-founder recently received a grant from Tyler Cowen at Emergent Ventures to build their new company, Organ, focused on recording hyper-personalized health context, at the molecular level. On the show today, Sohi tells us about how she found her first mentors, her experience selling her startup to a US Defense company in her senior year of high school, how she thinks about non-dilutive funding, and her experience building her new startup. Find Sohi online: https://sohipatel.com https://twitter.com/sohi_patel https://www.linkedin.com/in/sohipatel This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mergeclub.substack.com

36 min

10 Episodes

out of 5

2 Ratings

Merge is a club for grant recipients — hackers, scientists, and creators of all kinds. mergeclub.substack.com

Creator

Julian Weisser & Ari Dutilh
Years Active

2K
Episodes

10
Rating

Clean
Show Website

Merge Club Podcast

Merge Club Podcast

Episodes

Ep. 10 Tehseen Dahya: How "3rd door" thinking got him a meeting with the Co-Founder of LinkedIn

Ep. 9 Aaryan Harshith: Creating the "spreadsheet" of viruses that could change biotech forever

Ep. 8 Alex Hu: Raising the Floor and Removing the Ceilings of Education, From 14yo Education Non-Profit Founder to Building Mentava

Ep. 7 Ivoine Strachan: From no Electricity and Learning to Code on his Phone to Building a Haptic VR Suit in San Francisco

Ep. 6 Robert Tolan: Emergent Ventures Fellow on Housing and Cold Emails

Ep. 5 Brad Cox

Ep. 4 Sasha Przybylski

Ep. 3 Kai Goodall

Ep. 2 Andrew Nijmeh

Ep. 1 Sohi Patel

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