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Let's shipwithpj.com and now for the show.
Well hello there.
Hello, sir.
How are you?
How was your weekend?
It was, it was awesome.
Good weather here in Chicago.
Yeah.
Kind of rare these days.
So, wonderful weather, saw some friends.
It was great.
How about you?
It's awesome.
My weekend was okay.
You know, I'm out there in the dating world, so it's a little different.
I'm not necessarily loving it, but it's okay.
It's okay.
You know what?
The one thing we're actually really worried about in Tampa Bay today is where we have a
storm coming right at us.
So, we're hoping to, we're hoping to not get hit.
You know, last year we got very fortunate.
Well, we got fortunate.
People to our south were less fortunate.
I definitely don't want to wish any harm on anyone.
So, my hope is that wherever this makes landfall, it doesn't cause any significant damage.
But right as it looks, it looks like it's coming pretty much right at us again.
So, wish us well, PJ, because I may not even have power for the rest of the week to do any
more of these podcast interviews we've got scheduled.
Oh geez.
All right.
Well, I wish everyone in the Greater Tampa Bay area well, actually the entire west coast
of Florida, how about just the U.S.?
I wish everyone in the U.S. well.
How about everyone worldwide?
Actually, this interview is a perfect interview to wish people well regardless of where they
are.
What do you think?
Absolutely.
You know what?
Let's also include the aliens that apparently are, you know...
Why not?
You know, why not?
Visiting us all the time.
I'm all for that.
I think they've been visiting us for a long time.
I think they're among us.
And that's going to be for a future episode of Braving Business Alien Edition.
Yeah.
Yeah, the subtitle would be, I think I was abducted.
All right.
So, today we have, of course, the wonderful and one of the most courageous women that
we've ever had an opportunity to meet.
Her name is Sakshi Srivastava.
And at the age of 19, and here's, we're going to do a deep dive in all of this, but here's
why she's incredibly fascinating.
At the age of 19, Sakshi began or started losing her vision and today, legally blind.
But remarkably, for reasons we'll delve into in this interview, she has, she still considers
herself privileged and her life goals to use that privileged and her entrepreneurial spirit
to empower disadvantaged communities.
So incredible.
She's a serial social entrepreneur who in 2015 co-founded a nonprofit in India called Bucket
List, aiming to give disadvantaged children their own genie, which we're going to get
into.
More recently, Sakshi and her husband, Hirsh, along with, she would like you to know, their
five-year-old Husky, are building a wearable device, AI company called Shunya, a name that
has remarkable rationale behind it as well as the vision behind it.
And Talana cannot wait for you all to hear about this.
But for now, let's meet this driven and brilliant young woman, Sakshi.
First of all, a role model that you are making lemonade out of lemons, for sure.
It's an honor for us to have you on the Braving Business Podcast.
It's my honor entirely.
Thank you for having me, Tal and Peeche.
In advance, I'd like to apologize for the tearing up.
Visual impairment has a brain of its own.
So I'm not actually crying in case anybody is thinking that.
It's just water leak.
Okay.
So thank you.
Thank you for having me.
No worries.
Don't make me cry.
Okay.
I'll try not to cry.
I cry very easily.
So there will be some crying, but that's how it goes.
Also, Tal, I do believe aliens exist as well.
You do?
Wow.
I'm looking forward to that episode you'll be doing.
Not only.
Peeche, we have our guests for that episode, apparently.
I'd love to.
A third co-host.
We just need to find an alien who can speak a language we understand that can be on the
show.
Hopefully.
Soon.
So, Sakshi, I'm excited to have you here today.
I'm delighted for our audience to get to meet you because what you're doing is just
incredible.
Not only what you've done so far in your life, but what your mission with this company, you
have this vision of helping people who are visually impaired walk independently and safely.
That's what Shunia is about, the technology, which by the way is not vaporware.
This actually exists.
You guys have built it.
Leverages AI and sensors to provide mobility navigation to the blind with the objective
of helping them not only find a way around, but also identify and interact with objects
and people.
I've got to say, it kind of sounds like Tesla self-driving technology for humans, but I
think it's pretty cool.
And I don't want to miss.
I'm going to say that again, you'll have a chance to talk about it later in the program,
but you and your husband, Hirsh, who by the way is a PhD, you're looking for allies, you're
looking for partners and investors to help move this mission forward.
And so if anyone is interested in being connected to Sakshi, you can reach us at www.bravingbusiness.com
and we'll be happy to connect you to Sakshi after the call.
But let's get started with your journey in 2015.
You co-founded a nonprofit in India called Bucket List.
Today, there are 30 people which work with underprivileged children on and around the
streets of the capital city.
Yes.
And since 2022, you are now a volunteer in this space.
So I'd love to understand what motivated you, what would called you to start your entrepreneurial
journey of all places where you did with essentially servicing maybe the most vulnerable and disadvantaged
community, certainly in India and probably among the most disadvantaged and vulnerable
communities in the world.
Okay.
So yeah, 2015, I started, I honestly did not have a plan to become an entrepreneur.
I was working as a writer with a couple of companies for experts as well as local companies.
So it was not planned at all.
What took me to it was just an experience where me and my friends were hanging out at
a place near a corporate space in Delhi, the capital city.
And we just started speaking to a couple of kids.
They were essentially radicals and they were picking the trash over there.
And they were just tiny kids.
They were like four years to 12 years anywhere in between that age.
And so one of the friends who I was hanging out with, she is a social worker by education,
by her profession.
And she wanted to start the organization.
We were there, we got talking.
And at the time, I did not know what I would do honestly, but I knew I had to do it.
I just had to do it.
How old were you in 2015, Sakshi?
How old were you in 2015?
I was 20, 15, 24.
I was 24.
I had to do some maths there.
So I was 24.
And what did you do at 24, PJ?
I don't think you started in a nonprofit to help disadvantaged children in 24.
My God, that's so long ago.
I was working for the National Airline of Italy.
Oh, wow.
Okay.
That's Italian airline, as we used to call it.
Alitalia.
Alitalia, of course.
I flown that airline.
All right, Sakshi.
Sorry to have interrupted you.
No, not at all.
I think everybody's story is very interesting.
It told the right way at the right time.
By the right way.
There you go.
Yeah.
So, okay.
So yeah, we got talking.
I knew I had to do it.
I quit my job.
I started as building all of the content for the organization.
And of course, I was always on the ground slowly.
I learned.
I'm a big believer in learning continuously.
I don't so much believe in degrees.
I believe if anybody is up for learning anything, you'll find the content.
You'll find a way, maybe not the stamp and the degree of the big universities, but you'll
have the learning for sure.
So I learned.
I learned my way through it, through social work, through social entrepreneurship, through
child psychology and all sorts of things required for it.
We developed whatever was required and then jumped right into it.
I was a full-time co-founder and operations head for seven years before I switched to
volunteering position.
And then again, did not plan to get into entrepreneurship.
So I'm a very passion driven person, right?
I don't do things.
I learned early on that if I do things which my heart is not into, I will not succeed.
So yeah, I did not plan to become an entrepreneur one more time, but my husband who you mentioned
earlier and the founder of Shunya, he came up with this brilliant idea and I was instantly
hooked.
I knew I had to do it.
So with his motivation, his brains, his experience and my experience put together, this is where
I am.
So once again, I'm an entrepreneur.
This time it was a nonprofit, now I intend to build a successful company in US.
That is amazing.
I love the accidental entrepreneur.
Yeah, that's perfect.
Yeah, that's exactly what happened.
Because what it means is that you are purpose and passion driven, right?
There's a lot of entrepreneurs who are trying to figure out, how do I make this better?
How can I leverage this or take advantage of a miscue here?
Whatever the case is, there's many reasons why you want to be an entrepreneur, why you
want to start something.
But I always think that the accidental entrepreneur is the one who's like, just like you're saying,
never really thought about being an entrepreneur.
It wasn't a huge goal of mine, but all of a sudden here I am because I believe in this.
Yes, I believe in the problem statement.
I know it exists.
I'm living it.
I have endless number of friends who are living it.
I've done my research.
We've done a primary survey.
I've done everything to ensure that the problem is there and there are not enough solutions.
And I feel the more I get into it, the more passionate we get about it.
There's no turning back, right?
It has to happen.
If we don't do it, who would, right?
We can't keep waiting for solutions to just pop up someday.
Somebody else thinks of it.
We got to do it today, right now.
Yeah.
Whatever it takes.
Let's talk about the journey you've traveled.
So in 2015, when you started Bucket List, you still had your vision.
I think you still needed a, I believe a magnifying glass to read, but you were able to read.
Yes.
I started losing my vision at 19.
And my vision loss comes in episodes.
So every few years it would go further down.
There would be an episode stretching like a week or a couple of weeks.
And by the end of it, I've lost some more of my vision and, you know, I'm one step closer
to complete blindness.
And I've had three of those episodes so far in my knowledge.
In fact, as a child, I did have an episode as well.
That's what my doctors assume because my field of vision was had, was reduced by 19 already.
I just hadn't caught it.
So yeah, in my conscious memory, I started losing my vision at 19.
Another episode happened at 25, which was the tough space.
I started Bucket List at 24.
And within a year, my biggest episode happened.
And it was crazy.
I was, before that, before 19, I was perfectly fine.
I was reading books.
I'm a big reader.
After that, I was into magnifying glasses.
I would zoom in a lot.
Most of the things I wouldn't even read because I wasn't introduced to assistive technology
yet.
I was still trying to change that version of myself of being fully sighted.
At 25, when I had my biggest and second episode, I think that was the biggest one.
And that was really challenging because that was when I went from magnifying glasses to
not being able to see at all because it all went really hazy.
So that's when I got into assistive technology.
And somehow, you know, Bucket List really needed me at the time, right?
We were really young.
We were just starting off.
We all had our, you know, chores cut out for us, what we had to do, what we must do to
reach the point where we want to be.
And to have that kind of breakdown in the middle of that phase, it was crazy.
But I will be honest, the fact that I'm passion driven, it actually got me through it because
my heart was into Bucket List and I couldn't let it go.
It took me a week to mentally get myself in that space and once I did, I think I remember
writing a long email to my co-founders and I told them I'm going through this.
I'm going to need 30 days, like a complete off.
I'm going to get myself back up.
The things I'm not able to read, I'll find a way to read.
I'll find a way to get through documents.
I'll find a way to type again.
I'll find a way to have my food by myself.
And a lot of that stuff.
Yeah, I did that and I got through it somehow in a month and my target was within a year
I'll be fully independent one more time.
And I did that again.
So I think...
I don't know if you heard that sound, but that was actually the emergency management
system.
Oh, no.
Did you hear it?
No, it did get through.
You did not.
Okay.
Well, wow, I heard it loud and clear.
My ears, it has to do with the fact that we're in Tampa Bay, which is as we speak facing
a pretty bad storm.
I'm glad you guys didn't hear it.
I was...
P.J. knows this about me, actually, Sakshi.
I have suffered from a hearing loss in one of my ears almost my entire life.
And actually three weeks ago, I had it repaired.
It was a birth defect.
Three weeks ago, I had it repaired.
Congratulations.
It's amazing.
Other than, yes, it is working.
It's working too well.
The first few weeks after surgery, I'm told the degree of sensitivity in the ear is incredible.
So literally, I'm hearing ringing in my ears now.
I apologize for interrupting you.
No, no, it's absolutely fine.
I thought everyone could hear the same thing I could hear, which was not very enough.
No, no.
I'm surprised I'm in Tampa too.
I didn't get that.
Yeah.
Not the same.
Your phone's probably on mute, which I forgot to do before I started the interview.
So there you go.
So Sakshi, I have a couple of questions for you.
But first, if you don't mind, take us back a little bit.
So just because I'm unaware of what you've gone through from a vision loss perspective,
was it something genetic?
Was it a disease?
Is it like a tumor thing?
Oh, there we go.
I'm sorry.
Noise.
Your phone's on mute.
Are you getting the same thing I got?
Yeah.
There you go.
Yeah.
The emergency broadcast system is telling us to run, I think.
We'll do it right after the interview.
Don't go yet.
Let's finish the interview first.
Then you and I are both getting in our cars, getting the hell out of the car.
Done.
Absolutely.
All right.
Yes.
PJ, you were saying.
Yeah, I'm sorry.
So what was, you know, at 19, that is kind of like a, is a shocking age, right?
I have children who are teens, young adults.
So to think, oh, you know, one of my, one of my children may lose their sight at 19 is
horrifying, right?
It's very scary.
So what caused that to happen to you?
Nobody knows.
So my doctors in India assume it's an autoimmune condition.
It's all assumption based based on elimination process.
So millions of tests, probably a thousand at least.
And we don't know exactly.
Indian doctors think it's an autoimmune condition.
The American doctors thought initially it was, it might be genetic.
They ran the test, but it was inconclusive.
So yeah, nobody knows why it happens and how it happens.
And honestly, at this point, it's gone so bad.
They're not even able to detect any difference.
Like it's already pretty bad, right?
So how do they know if it's gone worse?
And we don't know.
Okay.
And I'm sorry about that.
Not knowing it's got to be incredibly frustrating.
When, when you said you have an episode, is it like a migraine?
Is it a like?
No, that's the frustrating part.
A lot of times I lose a lot of my vision just because I'm not able to assess that I'm losing
it because there's no physical sign.
What I have to keep doing over the years is I, I keep checking my vision every few weeks
and I checking how much am I able to see?
What's the area?
What's the level of haziness?
If it's changing, then I rush to the doctor.
They put me on steroids.
I've been on steroids and medications for like over nearly two decades now.
So yeah, there's hardly any tell either.
So yeah, it's a, I've basically accepted it's going to happen.
So sooner or later, it's fine.
It's going to happen.
No, thank you.
Thank you for sharing that.
And to highlight this, the statistic is that there is 2.2 billion billion visually impaired
people in the world.
So I'm assuming that's, that's from just, you know, light eyeglass wearers all the way
to.
No, surprisingly, I am not, those statistics don't include a correctable vision things.
So yeah, they are moderate to severe.
There's this term MSVI, moderate to severe visual impairment plus blindness.
So 2.2 billion is primarily that.
And I believe you told us in the pre-interview that that's a number that's supposed to double.
It's supposed to double in.
So blindness is supposed to double in 25 years and visual impairment MSVI is going to triple
in 25 years.
Those are the statistics.
However you see it, good way, bad way, the market is going to boom.
Yeah.
You might, however you might feel about it.
It's mixed feeling, of course, but yeah, the market is going to.
So then Shunya, this company that you're creating is absolutely one of the best targeted things
then absolutely.
And it's the perfect timing.
There's not enough assistive technology.
There's barely any assistive technology out there.
There are no big companies investing their money and it resources in it.
However, all the ones who have made it, they are billion dollar companies right now.
So a million dollar, sorry.
I think the biggest shareholder had a revenue of 10 million in 2020.
So the space is going to shoot.
It's just the timing right now.
We are in the nascent stage of assistive market.
And yet it's already a 8.3 billion market in US alone.
Geez.
And you had mentioned that, I'm sorry, go ahead, tell.
No, it's fine.
I want to maybe dive into Shunya, the story behind the name.
So it's a really fascinating name.
I had to read up on it because at first when I saw the name, it's actually spelled the
silent K.
Yeah.
But I was saying it all wrong.
And then you told me what the name was and you told me a bit about the name.
And then I went and did some reading about the name and I was blown away by the rationale
behind the name.
Can you tell the audience what the name Shunya?
I appreciate the effort.
And yes, of course.
So Shunya is the Sanskrit word for zero, literally speaking.
And philosophically, it essentially means everything that encompasses everything else.
So as you would know, 90% of an atom is empty space.
Right?
So I wouldn't know that.
That's very kind of you to think I would, but I would not know that at all.
PJ, would you know that?
I was nodding like I did know it, but no, I didn't know it at all.
I mean, not even my son would know it.
I guess it's the PhD husband thing.
That's why probably I wouldn't know either.
So it's very common.
I feel honored that you assumed that I would know that, but I don't.
I mean, it's not my fault.
I don't take any credit for that at all or any blame for it.
But as you were saying, and as we all know, 90% of an atom is empty space.
I learned that.
It's actually space.
So we want to be...
We like our audience since PJ and I, of course, know it.
Yes, of course.
Go ahead.
I have a tattoo on my back.
Yeah, of course.
So, all right.
So we essentially want to be that obvious.
Assistive technology doesn't have to be a privilege.
It needs to be a right.
There is enough...
And imagine 2.2 billion is just visual impairment, right?
There are so many other types of disabilities out there.
It's all around you.
And yet, do you see disabled people around you walking on the streets, just like a part
of the regular society?
No, they don't.
What enough of us do?
We are so damn scared to get out of a comfort zone because the world out there is scary.
And it's dangerous and it's not accessible.
It's not worth the amount of effort we have to put in to kind of navigate the world that's
made for sighted people, right?
So assistive technology needs to be that obvious that disability should not be such a...
What would I call it?
Like such a curse.
It shouldn't be a curse.
Like, oh, I remember when I started losing my vision, my parents, as this, I'm sure you
can imagine, they were losing their shit.
Of course, we were all trying to be really strong for the other person, but I knew they
were losing their shit.
I lost my shit at some point.
Am I allowed to use...
Of course you are.
Yeah.
Too late now.
No, I'm just kidding.
Totally fine.
You're fine.
Okay, right.
I realized that belatedly.
Okay, so yeah, we were losing our mind entirely.
Our collective shit.
Yes, our collective shit.
Everyone's shit's everywhere.
Yeah, I mean, my mother's primary concern was I just hope she can retain enough vision
so that when she's having a period, she's able to manage herself.
That was the bare minimum concern.
It was crazy.
She had already given up.
Like, not that she should have a job or she should be able to get out there, get her own
money and none of that.
We'll take care of her, but poor things, she's going through this, but at least she should
be able to survive.
It's a curse in today's world and it's not about India.
It's everywhere.
So disability should not be a curse.
We all have it.
I mean, we all have it.
For some of us, it's physicals.
For some of us, it's visible.
For most of us, it's not.
For example, if there's someone who has social anxiety, that's a disability.
It would cripple them at some point and it would be really hard for them to navigate
the regular world with that.
We've got to make it really okay.
It's fine.
It's like having curly hair, for example.
So what if you have it, you may love it, you may hate it, but it's not such a big deal.
So that's where Shunia came from.
One of the interesting things about Shunia being essentially zero or emptiness or nothingness
is, and I love this part when I was reading about it, that emptiness or nothingness or
zero when added to other numbers can really increase the order of magnitude.
So you add two zeros to one.
You have 100, right?
100%.
Beautiful.
Yes.
So I think the point here is, let's not leave anyone behind.
There's an opportunity here to bring people along and not only improve their lives, but
improve our collective lives.
Exactly.
And they're being held back from doing that.
So I think it's absolutely.
Imagine the amount of economic growth we'll have if all of the disabled people are able
to function professionally the same way as everybody else.
And they don't right now because obviously they're not able to.
Yeah, it's a multiplier, right?
That pool is not being tapped in regards to creative work product and being able to put
out there.
That's amazing.
And I honestly don't blame anybody because I can totally imagine it's really hard for
a sighted person to kind of get into, to even consider getting into that problem statement,
you know, visual impairment and disability is not one specific blueprint.
It's very nuanced, it differs from people to people, differs from body to body experience
to experience.
So I can totally imagine how a able person would find it really hard to enter that space
just mentally.
I'm not talking like professionally or academically or, you know, if they'll be able to, of course,
anybody will be able to if they put their mind to it, but it's a scary space to be.
So they would rather spend their time on autonomous cars and space rockets.
Why not?
Because, you know, that's easier.
So I don't blame anybody, but if me and Harsh don't do it, I don't see anybody else who,
you know, who'll have that kind of mental strength to get through this phase.
And one of the things that I absolutely love is the fact that, you know, a lot of entrepreneurs
are like, hey, I have a fantastic idea.
No matter what the application is, whether it's, you know, for you, passion driven and
also purpose driven, but whatever, whatever the goal is to have, you know, they say,
all right, I have this fantastic idea.
I need funding and then I'm going to go build it.
Right.
I'm selling you on an idea and then you're going to help me fund it and help me develop
it and that's great.
And we're all going to be partners and all that.
You guys have already created.
Yeah, we have the solution.
Honestly, soon it started with the solution actually, because for us, the problem is everyday
life, right?
I'm living it.
Harsh chose to live with it.
So, you know, when we got married, I was already really blind.
So he chose to live with it.
He studied upon it and being a researcher by profession.
He did all of his work and it's actually, so the problem statement wasn't new to us
as a couple or as professionals or whatever you want to call it, but the solution was
definitely new.
After we had lived together for a couple of years already, he, I think, putting all of
that time together and whatever was going on in his head, he came up with the solution
first.
And when I heard of that, that clicked in, you know, because we've looked into a lot
of assistive technology for me from India to US globally everywhere.
There's not enough technology out there or adequate.
It's not even about enough.
There just needs to be one good solution, right, for it to work.
And there's not a single good solution out there.
Either it's not affordable or it's not enough or it doesn't do the job or it's too much
hassle to get like a little bit part of the job done.
So yeah, it's actually the solution.
I want to take a quick step back because I would be remiss and this is, I'm literally
sitting here and I'm feeling goosebumps about the fact that your husband loves you so much.
Yeah.
That he could not stop thinking about how to make your life better.
He couldn't.
Everything was good.
I think that's just, just remarkable.
And you know, I, PJ knows I am, I talk about love a lot at this podcast and in general,
because I really do think that that's a lot of times the missing ingredient to make a
life more purpose filled.
Yeah.
And honestly, that's where it started.
Beautiful.
Thank you.
I will pass on that compliment.
And honestly, it's not just the big things, right?
You somebody, one of the listeners might think, oh, okay, he had a brilliant idea.
Maybe he saw the business behind it and that's why he had, you know, he pushed through it.
Actually, you know, last week he put together a tandem.
So he had a bicycle.
He got a tandem attachment.
And I have never ridden a bicycle for obvious reasons.
As a child also, I just never picked it up.
And when I started losing my vision, I just obviously couldn't get the, I can only think
of slang words somehow.
That's a good use of it.
I couldn't do it, right?
So it was a little scary and I never did it.
So he put together that whole dry, sickle kind of, no, I don't know what it's even
called, those three wheels, bicycle.
Yeah, a tricycle.
That's what it is.
Yeah.
That's what it's called.
It's the only bike that PJ can ride also, by the way.
Yeah, so that extension.
And I finally rode a bicycle last week, like for the first time.
And that's how he, his brain works.
Like he's a very hands on guy.
How does it feel to be that loved?
Overwhelmed.
You know, it's, it's overwhelming sometimes.
And I, when I'm really thinking about it, it's, I mean, there's not enough I can do
to give back, you know, I mean, I'm not saying it needs to.
I'm sure he would disagree with you vigorously.
I am sure he would have the same comment about you, right?
I am sure that he would say, I can't do enough.
I'm sure actually he would feel the same way, but I think that's what makes a partnership
work, right?
When you both feel that way.
One way wouldn't work if you both feel that, you know, the other person deserves it and
we want to do it.
That's how we make it work.
And that's how we're making our relationship work.
I think we bring that kind of compassion as well as a sink into the business as well.
Love that.
It really works.
I want to, I want to, you know, you gave us an incredible analogy in the pre interview.
I just, I was blown away.
I mean, you're, you're a wisdom.
You're, you know, you are the same age as my oldest daughter.
And you're with, and my oldest daughter is wonderful just for the record.
She's doing wonderful things.
You blow my mind with, with, you know, with this analogy that you gave us, you said, you
know, here's an analogy to what entrepreneurship, entrepreneurship is comparable to walking in
the dark.
And in that sense, all entrepreneurs share some of my experience.
That's what you told us.
Yes.
Wow.
First of all, can you dive a bit deeper into that analogy?
Yes, I would love to.
What even made you think of that and tell us more, you know, about what, what that means
to you.
Okay.
What made me think of that?
I'll take that one first.
Um, so I think entrepreneurship is not as, I mean, of course there are brilliant challenges
over there to overcome, but the mindset that you need to kind of constantly keep overcoming
something that comes easy to me because I live that on a daily basis, right?
So that's what made me think that.
Why is this feeling challenging to say someone else and it's not feeling so challenging to
me?
That's when I realized that it's because I'm already doing it every single day.
I've been doing it for over a decade now.
And what that is, uh, it's like you're walking in the dark, you're constantly, you're aware,
you're constantly aware of your surroundings.
You have to be really present right now and see what you can make out of whatever you have
in your radius, right?
You can use your hands, you can use your legs or whatever you have in your hands.
Assistive technology would definitely help.
But, uh, my point is you don't know what's in front of you.
You really don't know as an entrepreneur, you don't know what's going to come up.
Uh, sometimes, uh, investor will turn up.
Sometimes the investor will not turn up.
Sometimes they would give you a fantastic review and then again, not turn up or reject
you later.
I mean, not anything can happen.
You cannot be sure that whatever you're expecting or preparing for is going to happen right
at that time, right?
So it's very close to that.
If you close your eyes and you practice, uh, walking around and going through your daily
life, uh, God forbid you ever needed it.
But you know, if you consciously try to practice that once you overcome that fear of the unknown,
you can be a better entrepreneur.
I promise you, it's just that fear of unknown that what's going to happen.
What if this happens?
I remember when I started losing my vision and I have a lot of friends who do this fun.
It's fun for all of us, visual impairment.
For us, it's no big deal anymore.
So we've done it a lot of times.
We all blindfold ourselves and everyone's getting through, uh, some obstacles and it's
just that fear.
The moment someone is over that fear, you can achieve anything.
So I think it's very comparable.
It's, uh, you use whatever resources you have and you get through the darkness.
Do not be afraid of what wall or pole or, uh, portal is coming your way.
It's, you'll be fine.
If you're ready, if you're ready in your head to overcome a challenge, I think it's going
to be fine.
Any entrepreneur will be fine.
Yeah.
I think, I think that's a, that's a very, uh, pointed analogy, right?
It's, I think it's, it's very on the nose, as we would say.
Um, I, but I also think that, you know, for, for some, some entrepreneurs, if you're, if
you're starting a business and you're still working a full-time job somewhere else, then
it is somewhat like walking in the dark, right?
You're, you're, you're kind of arms outstretched.
You're, you're, you're feeling your way through it for others like myself, where we just leave
everything and dive into it.
It's almost like sprinting in the dark because, you know, that's how I feel all the time.
I'm out of breath and terrified, right?
So that's, that's, you just improve the analogy so much.
Wow.
That's so much better.
Well, he does that.
He's a PJ's added value kind of guy.
Oh, thanks.
Yeah.
I don't have any inherent value myself, but I just kind of leech off everyone else.
It works out really well.
Um, so real, real quick about Shunya and, and the technology itself, is it something that
you wear?
It's something like, it's like a wearable device.
We've developed a deep tech technology solution.
Basically it has from AI to software to hardware.
It's a, it's a combination of multiple technologies and it's going to be embedded into a wearable.
It is a wearable, the prototype.
And yeah, you wear it on your legs.
It gives you haptic as well as audio feedback, whichever the user might feel as you can imagine.
Sometimes we need, our ears really open because, you know, if site is not working, the ears
have to work.
So, um, you might just want haptic feedback and sometimes you might not want haptic feedback.
You want to catch yourself off and you want, okay, there's, there's, uh, hi.
Can you guys see him?
Oh, there he is.
There he is.
He wants to play.
I can't play right now.
Sorry.
I'm sorry.
Okay.
Um, yeah.
So, um, I'm just saying.
You have technology, right?
So the technology, it's a wearable.
You put it on your legs and you just walk.
It will give you a haptic feedback.
Uh, there are three things it does.
One is obstacle detection.
Basically if something is coming up, a pothole, pole, people, cars, a wall, anything, then
there's surface identification, which is if there are stairs coming up or there's an
incline or you're going from grass to road or a pavement or a sidewalk, it will be able
to tell you that.
And finally there's navigation.
So if I want to, if I enter in my device, which will be the software interface, um,
that I want to go from this point to point B, it will give you the entire safest navigation
to walk to that point, take a left, take a right, and all of it can be done through haptics.
Yeah.
You know, it's amazing.
PJ, I went, I had a call with, with Soxxi and a couple of her colleagues.
I think Hersh was one of them.
And, uh, and I, of course, and I heard this and, and I smuggly said, oh, this is basically
like, uh, you know, like what Tesla does with, you know, um, allowing you to see your environment.
And, uh, and hers is a very gentle guy.
And what he said to me was, that is true, but we're building a device for $200.
Um, and Tesla's, Tesla's technology, just that part is about $10,000.
Yeah.
And they have a lot of space in the car to make it work.
They do, right?
A lot of space, a lot more cost.
It gives you a sense of the, um, technological feat that Soxxi and Hersh and their team have,
have been able to accomplish.
It's, it's astonishing.
It is.
It's literally astonishing.
It is brilliant.
If you could actually keep it at that price point to have it accessible for everyone instead
of insurance companies and all these other things getting involved where all of a sudden
you're wonderful, all inclusive, um, all encompassing technology now is going to be out of reach
for most people.
Uh, that would be heartbreaking.
I know, right?
But keep up the good fights.
Soxxi, that's, that's amazing.
That is amazing.
So on a lighter note, amidst, you know, coming hurricanes and, and, uh, everything else we
have been talking about, you have shared a few humorous incidents, uh, in your password,
like you've dated, uh, more than your girlfriends who actually had their site have had.
Yeah.
It opens up your horizons.
I'm telling you, it opens up your brain.
That's visually impaired.
You can see beyond the superficial stuff, right?
So it's so much easier.
The world is massive and when you have these site things like site and all it's just, it's
a hindrance in dating life.
I tell you, you know, has, have, have you noticed that other senses have been heightened
for you?
Um, no, that's actually false.
That doesn't actually happen, uh, physically.
But yes, you get more aware for sure.
I mean, if there's a, if there's, if you're walking on the street and, um, if there's
a pole, I'm not touching it, but it's somewhere close.
I can sense it.
Uh, but that's again, uh, it's not a physical thing that, um, increased senses that increased
automatically is just, I'm more aware of those other senses.
So yes, it does happen.
I am well much better practiced with the other senses than let's say an average sighted person.
You know, with my luck, I have one more question and then PJ will, PJ will finish this up.
I'll go ahead, PJ.
I'm sorry.
I was just going to say, um, if I ever had one of my senses be diminished, uh, with
my luck, my sense of taste would be increased and then I would even eat even more than I
do now, which would be terrible.
Goodness.
Thank you for that imagery.
Yeah, no worries.
I appreciate that.
PJ likes to make, you know, PJ, you are a perfectly, I mean, I don't know why you keep
doing that.
Cause I, I don't think you should make fun of yourself when it comes to eating.
You are, you are a beautiful man.
I mean that, and I know you on the inside and on the outside, and I think you're genuinely
beautiful.
So I just want to say that I do appreciate it.
I mean it.
Look, I always say I'm in shape round as a shape.
So, uh, I'm sorry.
I have my last question and PJ, I think we'll finish this off.
But my question to you is, um, related to something again that you wrote, uh, in, in
your pre interview notes, you mentioned the importance of, uh, not always thinking things
one day at a time.
That's a common thing to people here.
Oh, take things one day at a time.
But you actually said, no, you need to envision where you want to be in five years.
Yeah.
And I got to say, first I'm going to, I would be remiss if I didn't mention that talking
about vision and envisioning with you, given your physical challenge and your mission feels
a little disrespectful to me.
So I just want to first make sure that my using that terminology is in any way shape
or form, offend.
Okay.
No, it's absolutely fine.
Vision goes beyond eyes.
So I love that.
Okay.
That's beautiful.
Gosh, you're so wise.
Um, so let's tell me where you, where you see Shunya five years from now, what, what
kind of an impact, what kind of scale, what it is, where, where, and let me tell you something.
I'm going to, I'm going to make a very bold prediction.
Whatever you envision, whatever you believe, you're going to manifest.
I, it's just, it's, it's written all over you.
You will.
It's written all over you.
You're going to have people in your corner.
You already know I'm one of them.
There are going to be people that are going to manifest alongside you because you deserve
it.
Thank you.
And, and you, and you are exactly the kind of person that people coalesce behind.
So, uh, and that's why I'm doing it and other people will as well.
But where do you see Shunya five years from now?
One percent of the entire market.
That's where we are.
Oh, we are going to change.
Um, that's the exact number.
Let me tell you.
The number of units sold is.
I'm going to shunya you and I'm going to add a zero to that.
And I'm going to say 10%.
Really?
Yeah.
I am a very safe player to be honest.
I'm not a risk taker.
I may be passionate, but I'm not a risk taker.
So thank you.
What can I do not topreneur is not a risk taker.
Yeah.
I think.
I was going to say.
Believe me, you're a risk taker.
Yeah.
You just don't appreciate how much of what you are.
Exactly.
You might not, you might not think about, you know, you might not be bothered.
Maybe I don't think of those things as risk.
Exactly.
I think of them as challenges, which will come, you know, no matter what.
The point is, I guess, even, even, even if it's 1%, it's a, it's a multi-billion dollar
business.
Absolutely.
That's the point, right?
But, uh, but I think I aim higher.
I also love PJ that, you know, my discussions with her, one of her goals would be to make
this technology available to impoverish people.
So everybody.
Ideally for free.
Yeah.
You know, there are kids in India, thousands and millions of kids who don't even go to
school because they don't have sight for obvious reasons.
The parents don't feel comfortable, uh, that they can go to school, uh, by themselves.
And the parents don't have the opportunity or the privilege to kind of pick and drop
them all the time.
And then how will they function inside the school?
Right.
So a lot of kids stay out of even education, which means it's a whole vicious circle.
They don't go to school.
They don't get educated.
They don't get a job.
And then they don't have any money to afford anything else apart beyond that either.
So I want to change that.
I mean, visual impairment is not something that we cannot kind of mitigate to some extent
with technology, so much technology in the world and such brilliant brains.
So I want to change that.
I want it to be extremely affordable and reach every last visually impaired child, person,
adult, everybody because otherwise it's a privilege, right?
At the end of the day, otherwise it'll just remain a privilege.
Excuse me.
And I want it to become a right.
It needs to become a right.
Peeja, we were talking about, you know, a model, um, where, um, much like, uh, Americans
and people around the world are accustomed to donating money, $20 a month so that a
child can eat, right?
Um, that type of a model where, where people can get behind funding this equipment in,
in the developing world, uh, could, could change tens of millions, hundreds of millions
of lives.
And among these children who are disadvantaged and not put in a position to learn are some
utterly brilliant minds.
And so to me, it wouldn't even be a matter of charity.
This is, this is, this is how we as a civilization move down the path of more inclusion and inclusion.
We now know this.
This is not, you know, this is not a happy talk.
Inclusion leads to better outcomes.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
And I, I think that, uh, you know, that this is going to be, uh, this is going to be a,
uh, a seminal moment.
I believe once, once Soxie and, and, and Hershey and their team can take this to market on
scale and impact lives.
Um, it's, it's, it's going to be something that, you know, any of us that were involved
in it will look back and say, this may well have been the highlight of my professional
career, maybe my life.
Um, and yeah.
Um, yeah.
That's how I feel.
I'm being completely sincere about how much I, how much I think of you and your mission.
And your vision.
Thank you.
Well, I've always said, if you could, uh, if you could help people and live comfortably
at the same time, you know, like you help outside.
And I don't know why we think it's all a charity or, you know, we can, there is enough money
out there to be able to do this.
I saw, I saw, nobody has to die hungry just because we want to help someone out.
Exactly.
And I saw statistics, you know, regarding the U S I saw statistics today that a bag of
Cheetos, if every person in the U S who's working donated as much as it costs for a bag
of Cheetos homelessness in the U S would be, would be taken care of for about a year.
Wow.
Right.
I mean, it's just, it's just like putting the numbers to scale, like how it works and
it's all about scaling.
Yeah.
And it's just like small little bits from everyone helps everyone.
Right.
Okay.
Lastly, one last thing.
Yes.
Would you have a piece of advice for our listeners, whether they are aspiring entrepreneurs,
their current business owners, or people just facing their own challenges?
What would you say to them to help them overcome those challenges?
Well, mind over body and don't be, it's all in your heads.
I'm not saying the problem is in your head.
No, no, no.
The problem is real.
The problem is absolutely happening to you, but the solution might stem from your head.
So if a lot of times, again, I don't want to be generic and go like, it might apply to
every single person, but most of the people, if you are ready to kind of overcome it, if
you put your head to it, reach out for support, ask other people if you need, if it's mental
health, ask for therapy.
If it's physical challenges, go for assistive technology.
If it's entrepreneurship, look for funds.
Do what you can and then look for funds.
I know if not everybody, then there will be somebody who will back you up just like Tal
is supporting us.
So there are a lot of things that you can do to overcome it.
The outcome might not be the same.
I cannot tell you that the outcome will be exactly that you envisioned, but it will be
something and maybe even be better.
You don't know that.
So don't stop fighting is all I would ask.
And that's one thing.
Do not stop fighting.
There is a solution.
The world is massive.
There are billions of people out there.
There has to be a solution.
There's no problem without a solution.
So don't stop fighting and overcome the fears.
If you can overcome the fears, the only way through fear is through the fear.
Like you have to get through it, experience it, process it and get to the other side.
I think that would do it.
In most cases.
My favorite TV show is Ted Lasso.
I don't know if anybody.
Oh, I love it.
I have.
If you haven't seen Ted Lasso, you must see Ted Lasso.
He's one of the most brilliant.
It was missed cast initially as a comedy and it is very funny.
Yes, but it is well, well beyond that.
It is actually one of the most incredible example of leadership.
Absolutely.
That I've ever seen.
And there's a scene in season two where Ted and his team get relegated.
If you're not, I'm a big soccer fan.
So you don't know what relegation is because it's not kind of an American thing.
It isn't if you play in certain leagues in Europe, certain teams at the end of the season,
the ones that finish in the first in the last three or four places, get relegated to a lower
league and teams from a higher league get elevated up.
And it's a tragedy for the fans, you know, put in perspective tragedy, being subjective.
And often for the players and the club, the owners, the coach.
And there's a scene where Ted's team has just been relegated and they're all very demoralized
or sitting around and Ted tells them a story.
He called it rom communism.
He was going to tell him about rom communism.
And I actually have this speech taped to my monitor.
It's not very long.
So I'm going to read it to you.
It says it's the rom communism speech is season two episode five for those of you that are
interested.
He said this, if all those attractive people can go through some lighthearted struggle and
still end up happy, then so can we.
Everyone believing in rom communism is all about believing that everything's going to
work out in the end.
Now in these next few months, they might be tricky, but that's just because we're going
through our dark forest.
Fairy tales do not start nor do they end in the dark forest.
That's something that only shows up smack dab in the middle of a story, but it will all
work out.
Now, it may not work out how you think it will or how you hope it does.
But believe me, it will all work out exactly as it's supposed to.
Our job is to have zero expectations and just let go.
Yes, probably the greatest scene.
I can't tell you how many times I've looked at that speech.
It's taped to my monitor for a reason because entrepreneurship and life.
There are so many moments where you're in the dark forest.
If you forget that if you're in the dark forest, it's not the end.
That's what that means.
Yes, exactly.
And you're the embodiment of that, Akshay.
No, thank you.
I think that's a great advice to add.
Watch Ted Larson for any entrepreneur.
And it's not just their parts of, yeah, it's all about leadership and how you bring a team
together, how you bring them in the same headspace.
It's crazy.
It's beautiful.
Well, listen, I want to again end by, similarly where we started, you and Harsha and your
team are raising money.
I've already committed to being a part of investing in the business and helping you succeed.
I'm calling on others who are listening, who are inspired by Akshay to reach out to us
at bravingbusiness.com.
I'd be honored to connect you to this incredible young woman and her equally incredible husband.
And I could not be more grateful to you.
This episode, and I'm not, PJ and I have not recorded, I think a dozen out of the first
22 season one episodes.
This has been my favorite episode.
And you're my favorite guest.
And I say that with nothing but respect and admiration and love for the wonderful guest
we've had so far.
Of course.
But this is special.
This is a special moment.
I'm so honored to have you here.
I'm going to remember this.
I'm going to remember this opportunity to talk to you.
I hope to be able to go back and listen to this interview in two or three or four or
five years when the world knows who you are.
Everyone knows who you are and has a more appreciation for what a beautiful person you
are and how much you're going to impact lives.
Thank you.
It's the most inspiring conversation I've had in a really long time.
Thank you.
PJ, that's not to say you're not inspiring.
But it's...
Thank you.
I was going to say hello.
It's just a word of magnitude.
What can I say?
No, absolutely.
Well, first of all, you know, my wife is a rom-com author.
So and she's actually penned a couple of movies.
That's darn good on as a matter of fact.
What would we plug her a little bit, PJ?
We don't give your wife enough credit.
Well, trust me.
She has written some phenomenal books.
Her first book was turned into a movie.
No.
Really?
Yes.
A movie on a lifetime.
Yeah.
So it's kind of fun.
There's a...not to get off subject, but there's a writer's conference in LA called the Steamy
Rit.
Does she write by Kara Lockwood?
I know it's...
She wrote by Kara Lockwood and now she's writing by Kara Tanamachi, which is her maiden
name.
Her maiden name.
Her maiden name, right.
Because she's writing about mixed Asian race people.
So we were just at the Steamy LitCon down in California, which was fantastic, you know,
1,200 people there.
But I got to tell them, you know, they're like, oh, we love your books and sometimes
they're steamy, sometimes they're not.
You know, like they're always funny and all this.
And I said, well, you know, my favorite thing to say is whenever you get to the sexy parts,
think of me.
And then, you know, that's where we watch all the book sales just plummet.
I love you, man.
You're an awesome human being.
I love you guys too.
But so first of all, I wanted to say, you know, around communism, my wife's all about.
I don't think I want to say this, hey, babe, we're going to invest in a company.
Thank you.
You guys are the best.
We are looking for angels.
So listen, any of you, any of people you know, anybody interested in investing in a future
billion dollar company, please do reach out.
Absolutely.
You will love to hear from him.
Absolutely.
You'll be fine.
Your funding will not be an issue.
Yeah.
Thank you.
All right.
Soxshi, thank you.
You're the best.
You and I, of course, will be talking offline and it's been a great episode.
PJ, do you want to close with you?
Have anything, anything wise to close?
Hey, I have a funny story.
I didn't get to tell.
Oh, yes.
Funny story.
Tell us the funny story, please.
Yeah.
So many funny stories.
You know, most guests, when we ask them for something humorous, they give us like something
not so humorous.
She gave us 10 things, 10 funny stories from an inmate that she's been a pen pal of for
like 10 years or 15 years to tripping over dogs to your sister spying on you and her.
I mean, you are a fountain of funny stories.
We love it.
So sure.
Finish us off with a funny story.
Please.
Okay.
So I'm in a mall, okay, in India, one of the bigger cities, Bangalore.
So I'm in a shopping mall.
I'm in the washroom and I step out of the cabin and I'm like, okay, I got to wash my
hands.
I wash my hands and then I'm looking for the tissue dispenser.
I am not able to find it for all these reasons.
So I'm trying to find some human being around me who I can ask.
So I see a female on my left.
So I think it's like, she's like in a tent or something.
So I ask her, so, hi, can you help me?
I'm looking for a tissue dispenser.
Can you point me towards it?
So she's just smiling at me.
Okay.
She's just smiling.
So I'm like, okay, that I usually have that effect.
People get confused.
Okay.
She looks fine.
Why is she asking us for help?
Okay.
I give her like a second or two and then I ask again and I still don't get a response.
She's still smiling at me and I'm starting to get annoyed.
Third attempt, I realized I'm talking to myself in the mirror.
So that happens all the time.
I love telling my story.
Unbelievable.
Well, PJ, we will never end an episode on a better note.
No, I dare say not.
All right, guys.
Thank you so much.
Thank you.
And that's a wrap, folks.
Thank you for being a part of the Braving Business Podcast listening audience.
Be on the lookout for our weekly interviews with fascinating leaders in business and gain
insight into their mindset of how they took to Braving Business and their own lives and
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