The Generalists Podcast By Raz Kotler and Michael Smith Jr. cover art

The Generalists

The Generalists

By: Raz Kotler and Michael Smith Jr.
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The hosts Raz Kotler & Michael Smith Jr., interview people around how they arrived in Singapore, their careers, their personal journeys and how the concept of being a Generalist influences their life and career. All episodes currently filmed F2F in the Poddster Singapore studios.Raz Kotler and Michael Smith Jr. Career Success Economics
Episodes
  • The World Wasn’t Built for Women (ep 74)

    The World Wasn’t Built for Women (ep 74)
    Mar 18 2026

    Danijela Vasiljev explains why women founders still struggle to access the right networks, visibility, and funding, and how Yooop is trying to solve that with a safer, more useful platform built for women. She shares why these challenges look surprisingly similar across the US, Europe, and Asia, and why women often need more than capital to grow.

    Episode 74 also dives into the personal story behind her mission. Danijela opens up about losing the salon business she built during her divorce, why she chose to start over instead of going to court, and how that setback led to Female Net, the Female Leadership Summit, and eventually Yooop. She also breaks down why traditional networking platforms often miss what women actually need, why male VCs often fail to understand the bigger picture, and why curiosity, AI skills, and financial literacy matter so much for the next generation.

    🤝 Sponsored by https://TAP4SRV.com - Quickly find local Service Providers on WhatsApp! 🤝

    📖What You'll Learn in This Episode

    • Why women founders often need access, visibility, and trusted networks, not just capital
    • How Danijela turned a personal setback into Female Net, a leadership summit, and a 15,000-woman community
    • Why Yooop is designed as a safer networking platform for women than traditional social apps
    • Why male-dominated VC often misses the real needs of women founders and communities
    • Why Danijela sees herself as a strategic generalist powered by curiosity
    • How AI changed Yooop’s product direction and made the platform smarter
    • Why Danijela believes AI skills and financial literacy are essential for young women

    🔔Listen and Subscribe•

    • YouTube: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@TheGeneralistsPodcast⁠•
    • Spotify: ⁠https://open.spotify.com/show/2apfGY403NGr1EyTNkJfG4⁠•
    • Apple Podcasts: ⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/sg/podcast/the-generalists

    📚Books, Audiobooks & Other Recommendations
    • Unreasonable Hospitality by Will Guidara: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/667771/unreasonable-hospitality-by-will-guidara/

    🔥Watch Our Other Videos:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2VHfhKCfn0
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0H24ck-is5Y
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6URrTXBwPGk
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZE8F6qfgt0
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oybU375fZxo
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tf_dknB50qM

    👤👤Hosts
    • Michael Smith Jr.: https://www.linkedin.com/in/smittysgp/
    • Raz Kotler: https://www.linkedin.com/in/razkotler/

    👤Guest
    • Danijela Vasiljev: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danijela-vasiljev/

    🔗Links & Resources

    • Yooop: https://yooop.app
    • UCLA: https://www.ucla.edu/
    • Women in Tech Global: https://women-in-tech.org/
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    52 mins
  • Who Broke Indonesia's Tech? (ep 73)

    Who Broke Indonesia's Tech? (ep 73)
    Mar 13 2026
    Episode 73 brings Martyn Terpilowski back after his first Generalists appearance exploded across YouTube, TikTok, and Indonesian social media. He explains why he rejected the 20x-at-all-costs startup playbook, why he believes large parts of Southeast Asia’s startup and VC world became disconnected from business reality, and why connection-driven ecosystems often reward the wrong people.🤝 Sponsored by https://TAP4SRV.com - Quickly find local Service Providers on WhatsApp! 🤝Martyn also breaks down why competence matters more than pedigree, why too much capital chased weak fundamentals, and why honest criticism is healthier than endless backslapping. He reflects on building with private capital instead of following the venture script, growing a real operating business, and why more people are now openly questioning how parts of the ecosystem actually work.🔔 Listen and Subscribe• YouTube: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@TheGeneralistsPodcast• Spotify: ⁠https://open.spotify.com/show/2apfGY403NGr1EyTNkJfG4⁠• Apple Podcasts: ⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/sg/podcast/the-generalists⁠📖 What You’ll Learn in This Episode• Why Martyn believes the 20x growth narrative broke down in real operating markets• Why raising money without strong fundamentals created long-term damage• Why startup ecosystems can reward connections over competence• Why honest scrutiny is healthier than applause and status games• Why many investors and founders ignored basic business reality for too long• Why private capital and building a real business gave Martyn a different perspective• Why many Southeast Asian startups struggled to turn funding into durable returns• Why global ambition requires more than local brand names and social connections• Why Martyn thinks more open criticism can help improve the ecosystem👤👤 Hosts• Raz Kotler: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/razkotler/⁠• Michael Smith Jr.: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/smittysgp/⁠👤 Guest• Martyn Terpilowski: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/martyn-terpilowski-66aba850/⁠🔗 Resources and Links Mentioned🏢 Companies and Organizations• BVT: https://bvt.co.id/• The Ken: https://the-ken.com/• JETRO: https://www.jetro.go.jp/• Goldman Sachs: https://www.goldmansachs.com/• McKinsey & Company: https://www.mckinsey.com/• TPG: https://www.tpg.com/• Danone: https://www.danone.com/• Jardine Matheson: https://www.jardines.com/• Cold Storage Singapore: https://coldstorage.com.sg/• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/📚 Concepts and Frameworks• Venture capital: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venture_capital• Family office: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_office• Private equity: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_equity• Capital markets: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_market• Product-market fit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Product/market_fit• Geospatial intelligence: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geospatial_intelligence
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    55 mins
  • How to Build an AI Startup Entirely on WhatsApp (ep 72)

    How to Build an AI Startup Entirely on WhatsApp (ep 72)
    Mar 10 2026
    Tiago Alves, founder of Librarian, explains how a WhatsApp-first product strategy helped his AI assistant break out. He shows why adoption accelerated once friction was removed and why many founders still misunderstand how AI tools are actually adopted. He also shares how Librarian evolved from a search layer across work tools into an executive assistant in your pocket, and why WhatsApp beat Slack in real-world usage.Episode 72 covers AI adoption, product onboarding, and messaging as a business operating layer. Tiago also breaks down fundraising reality across Asia and the US, his thinking on verticals like real estate and insurance, and how pricing changes when token costs matter. He reflects on his time as an Entrepreneur in Residence at Golden Gate Ventures and explains why the next generation of AI assistants will need memory, context, and tighter integrations across the tools people already use.🔔 Listen and SubscribeYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheGeneralistsPodcastSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2apfGY403NGr1EyTNkJfG4Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/sg/podcast/the-generalists📖 What You’ll Learn in This EpisodeWhy WhatsApp-first onboarding removed friction and accelerated adoptionWhy users preferred chatting from WhatsApp instead of being pushed to a website or SlackHow Librarian evolved from search assistant to action-taking executive assistantWhy AI products need to adapt to actual user behavior, not assumed workflowsHow messaging apps are becoming business operating layersWhy Southeast Asia’s mobile-first habits create different product opportunitiesWhat founders get wrong about fundraising in Asia versus the USHow Tiago used forced monetization to find real ICP and reduce AI cost exposureWhy memory, integrations, and context are core to the future of AI assistants🔥 Watch Our Other Videoshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2VHfhKCfn0https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0H24ck-is5Yhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6URrTXBwPGkhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZE8F6qfgt0https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oybU375fZxohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tf_dknB50qM👤👤 HostsRaz Kotler: https://www.linkedin.com/in/razkotler/Michael Smith Jr.: https://www.linkedin.com/in/smittysgp/👤 GuestTiago Alves: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tiagoalves/🔗 Resources and Links Mentioned🏢 Companies and OrganizationsLibrarian: https://www.librarian.ai/Golden Gate Ventures: https://goldengate.vc 25V: https://25madison.com/25v/Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/Carrot: https://www.get-carrot.com/WhatsApp: https://www.whatsapp.com/Slack: https://slack.com/Telegram: https://telegram.org/OpenAI: https://openai.com/Gamma: https://gamma.app/Beautiful.ai: https://www.beautiful.ai/📚 Concepts and FrameworksEntrepreneur in Residence: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entrepreneur-in-residenceProduct-market fit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Product/market_fitCustomer relationship management (CRM): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Customer_relationship_managementRetrieval-augmented generation (RAG): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retrieval-augmented_generation
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    53 mins
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