The U Lab with Hurratul

A startup called Engram has emerged from stealth with $98 million in funding from some of Silicon Valley's leading venture capital firms. Founded by researchers from Stanford, Berkeley, and Cornell, the company is already partnering with Microsoft, Notion, and Harvey. But the funding isn't the real story. The real story is that Engram is building what it calls a learned memory layer for AI. Today's AI is incredibly ...

Artificial intelligence is rewriting how companies are built and how they get funded. The next generation of founders and investors will look nothing like the last. So what stays uniquely valuable when AI makes knowledge, execution, and coordination almost free?

In this episode of The U Lab Podcast, I sit down with Jing Kuang, Founding Partner of Y+ Ventures and Co-Founder of Cresca, for a rigorous and deeply human conversation on ...

FAANG to MANGOS

For nearly two decades, one acronym defined the technology industry: FAANG.

Today, a new acronym is going viral on X: MANGOS.

It stands for Meta, Anthropic, Nvidia, Google, OpenAI, and SpaceX, a group that could soon dominate the next era of technology as several companies prepare to go public.

But here's what caught my attention.

FAANG was built around the internet. MANGOS is being built around intelligence.

FAANG ...

Most people assume AI is making it harder for new college graduates to find jobs.

A recent analysis highlighted by a16z points to a more surprising possibility.

What if remote work is a bigger factor?

Researchers found that unemployment among younger college graduates has deteriorated more than for older workers, with the gap appearing particularly pronounced in occupations that c...

What happens when intelligence becomes so powerful that access to it starts coming with conditions?   This week, Anthropic released Claude Fable 5, the first public version of its Mythos model. But alongside the launch came something unusual: strict safety limits, blocked responses in high-risk areas, and a mandatory 30-day data retention policy, even for some enterprise customers that previously had zero-retention agreements....

SpaceX is expected to raise at least $85 billion in what could become the largest IPO in history.

But the most interesting question is not what happens on the listing day.

It is what business SpaceX actually becomes over the next decade.

The bull case is that SpaceX is no longer just a launch company.

Starlink could become a global communications platform. AI compute could become a multi-billion-dollar revenue engine through custom...

Google just signed a deal to pay SpaceX $920 million per month for AI compute.

Google is already one of the largest owners of AI infrastructure in the world. Yet it is still renting massive amounts of external compute capacity. That tells us something important.

The bottleneck in AI is no longer intelligence. It is capacity.

For decades, technology companies competed for users.

Today, even the largest technology companies are compe...

What actually determines startup success inside Silicon Valley? Is it capital, product, execution - or something deeper?

Silicon Valley is often described as a capital ecosystem. In reality, it may be one of the world's most sophisticated trust ecosystems.

In this episode of The U Lab Podcast, Sacha Ledan, Co-Founder & Partner at Raisable Founder Hub and former Associate Director at Stanford Graduate School of Business, where h...

This episode is a deep dive into what it really takes to scale a nonprofit globally - not from theory, but from execution.

In this conversation, I sit down with Chesca Colloredo-Mansfeld, co-founder of MiracleFeet, which has treated over 100,000 children across 37 countries.

What stood out to me is how intentional her journey has been. This wasn’t chaos turning into impact - it was clarity, conviction, and long-term thinking ...

In this episode, I sit down with James Keyes - former CEO of 7-Eleven and Blockbuster, bestselling author, and a leader whose journey is defined by resilience, reinvention, and an indomitable spirit.

We talk about the hardest chapters of his life, the mindset that allowed him to keep rising, and the discipline required to lead through uncertainty. His story is a masterclass in grit, clarity, and long-horizon thinking.

If you’...

What does it take to build a tech company in the middle of a war?

In this episode of The Unstoppables, host Hurratul Maleka Taj talks to Dana Sydorenko—Ukrainian veteran, AI-driven tech founder, and investor—about her incredible journey from the frontlines of combat to the frontlines of innovation.

Dana opens up about:

• Her life as a combat paramedic during the war in Ukraine

• How she launched a defense apparel bu...

What if embracing death was the secret to living fearlessly? In this transformative episode of The Unstoppables, host Hurratul Maleka Taj sits down with Jill Greenbaum - Buddhist practitioner, Appreciative Inquiry expert, and End-of-Life guide - to explore the profound connection between mortality and unstoppable living.

Most people avoid thinking about death, but what if facing it head-on could unlock true resilience, purpose, an...

How do you hold onto hope when life challenges you at every turn?

In this powerful episode of The Unstoppables with Hurratul, meet Professor Jack Fuchs, a man who’s faced unimaginable adversity as a leader, a father, and a mentor.

From being fired as a company leader to witnessing his son struggle with bullying and mental health issues, Jack’s story is a testament to the strength of the human spirit. His journey proves ...

We often find ourselves overwhelmed by everyday frustrations, convinced that our struggles are insurmountable. But then, there are stories like Gricha’s that remind us of the true meaning of resilience and the power of never giving up.

Imagine a father standing against the medical fraternity’s predictions, refusing to accept that his son would never walk again. For 5 long years, Gricha fought relentlessly without seein...