Mantle Mondays

Hosted by Amar Varma and Amit Jethani, Mantle Mondays brings you authentic conversations with builders, founders, and funders every other Monday.

Mantle Mondays is a business podcast hosted by Amar Varma and Amit Jethani, with 26 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

Amar Varma and Amit Jethani hosts Mantle Mondays, a business show with 26 episodes published.

Our AI reads these to draft pitches. Use them as grounding for a pitch that cites a real guest and a specific topic.

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  Episode #25

  From Steve Jobs to Stealth AI: One Founder's 20 Year Journey Through Every Wave of Tech

  Jul 6, 202643 minS1

  Twenty years ago, Raj was in a room with Steve Jobs and a group of nervous AT&T executives. Jobs ended the tension by offering to hand them a billion dollars in cash on the spot. Raj watched that and spent the next two decades building companies of his own. He co-founded Localytics in 2008, two weeks before Lehman Brothers collapsed, bootstrapped it through the financial crisis, scaled it past $25 million in revenue, raised $60 million, and eventually sold it. Then built a second company acquired by Snapchat. Then spent a year at AWS as GM of Generative AI watching Fortune 500 companies build AI demos that never shipped. Now he's building again. In this episode, Raj traces the full arc. What it was like to work directly with Jobs multiple times a week before the iPhone launched. What that experience modeled about founder conviction. And how he carried it through every wave of tech that followed, mobile, analytics, cloud, and now AI. The new company is coming. This is the story of everything that led here. Follow Mantle Mondays for weekly conversations with founders building at the edge.

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  Episode #24

  The AI Coverage Gap: Why Your Insurance Policy Won't Save You

  Jun 22, 202637 minS1

  Your current insurance policy has a gap in it. Your AI system is probably sitting right in it. Karthik Ramakrishnan, CEO of Armilla AI, has spent 15 years at the frontier of machine learning. From building prediction platforms for the New York Times and Kobo, to working alongside AI godfather Yoshua Bengio at Element AI, he's seen the full arc. Now he's solving the problem enterprises won't say out loud: they're terrified of deploying AI because nobody can tell them what happens when it goes wrong. In this episode, Karthik breaks down exactly where the coverage gaps live. Why 50+ US insurers have quietly added AI exclusions to general liability policies. Why your cyber insurance won't trigger when your own AI causes a privacy breach. And what the Air Canada chatbot lawsuit means for every company deploying AI today. He also gets into the practical side. How one fintech startup used a warranty on their AI model to win banks that competitors couldn't. Why a perfect demo is no longer enough to close enterprise deals. And what Y Combinator pushed him to do that changed everything for Armilla.

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  Episode #23

  The Finance Mistakes Founders Notice Too Late with Rebecca Skvorc (ODAIA)

  May 18, 202640 minS1

  <p>Most founders obsess over growth. But Rebecca Skvorc, CFO at ODAIA, says the real question is whether your company has the foundation to survive it.</p><p>In this episode of Mantle Mondays, Rebecca joins Amar Varma to unpack what founders need to understand before the curve starts pointing up: ARR vs. CARR, net and gross revenue retention, cap table complexity, smart resource allocation, remote culture, and why finance should be treated as a strategic partner from day one.</p>

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  Episode #22

  How Founders Can Turn Equity Into Lasting Impact | Colin Hennigar

  May 4, 202638 minS1

  <p>Colin Hennigar of SickKids Foundation and the Upside Foundation joins Mantle Mondays to explain how founders can turn startup equity into lasting impact and why legacy should start long before the exit.</p><p><br></p><p>Donate to SickKids Foundation: www.sickkidsfoundation.com</p><p>Learn about the Upside Foundation: www.upsidefoundation.ca</p><p>Manage your cap table on Mantle: www.withmantle.com</p>

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  Episode #22

  What Are VCs Looking For in 2026? | Matt Cohen (Ripple Ventures)

  Apr 20, 202651 minS1

  <p>Raising venture capital in 2026 looks nothing like it did three years ago. Seed-strapped companies are hitting $6M ARR in six months. Pre-ChatGPT portfolios are re-platforming from scratch. </p><p><br></p><p>Matt Cohen, Founder and Managing Partner of Ripple Ventures, has backed 55+ companies through 13 exits since launching the firm. He joins Amar Varma on Mantle Mondays to break down what's actually getting funded right now — and what isn't.</p><p><br></p><p>00:00 Introduction to Venture Capital and Founder's Journey</p><p>05:54 The Evolution of Ripple Ventures and Investment Philosophy</p><p>12:09 The Importance of Long-Term Commitment in Ve...

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