{"podcast":{"title":"Tik and Chris","slug":"tik-and-chris-7769199","podcast_index_feed_id":7769199,"rss_url":"https://api.riverside.fm/hosting/6rUaznKe.rss","website_url":"https://www.youtube.com/@tikandchrispod","image_url":"https://hosting-media.riverside.com/media/podcasts/ff383b47-c8ea-45e2-a12d-43615f5cd3fa/logos/faf8d70a-0a44-42d0-a897-5627b5af7bb8.jpeg","author":"Christopher Long & Pratik Desai","episode_count":11,"summary":"Join Pratik and Christopher, two curious technologists and friends, as they banter, tinker, and explore practical ways to help everyone level up with AI.","last_synced_at":"2026-07-26T18:18:33.598889+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/tik-and-chris-7769199"},"episode":{"title":"From a Bus at 2 AM to a Techstars Stage","slug":"from-a-bus-at-2-am-to-a-techstars-stage","published_at":"2026-06-18T02:51:41+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/tik-and-chris-7769199/from-a-bus-at-2-am-to-a-techstars-stage","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/tik-and-chris-7769199","url":"https://api.riverside.com/hosting-analytics/media/f3ed19797260fb5ad435fafbf7764b685f4c6f744c52ddb98f8422c47e566520/eyJlcGlzb2RlSWQiOiIyYjkxMWEwOS1mZjM1LTQ5OTgtOTUwZS1mYzZlNWIzMmJhNDAiLCJwb2RjYXN0SWQiOiJmZjM4M2I0Ny1jOGVhLTQ1ZTItYTEyZC00MzYxNWY1Y2QzZmEiLCJhY2NvdW50SWQiOiI2OWI0MGYyMmQ5NGQ0YTQwZDFjNGFhY2IiLCJwYXRoIjoibWVkaWEvY2xpcHMvNmEzMjA2MWJkMmM2MTFhZDMwY2U2NTBkL2NocmlzdG9waGVyLWxvbmdzLXN0dWRpby1TU212Wi1jb21wb3Nlci0yMDI2LTYtMTdfXzQtMjctMzkubXAzIn0=.mp3","audio_url":"https://api.riverside.com/hosting-analytics/media/f3ed19797260fb5ad435fafbf7764b685f4c6f744c52ddb98f8422c47e566520/eyJlcGlzb2RlSWQiOiIyYjkxMWEwOS1mZjM1LTQ5OTgtOTUwZS1mYzZlNWIzMmJhNDAiLCJwb2RjYXN0SWQiOiJmZjM4M2I0Ny1jOGVhLTQ1ZTItYTEyZC00MzYxNWY1Y2QzZmEiLCJhY2NvdW50SWQiOiI2OWI0MGYyMmQ5NGQ0YTQwZDFjNGFhY2IiLCJwYXRoIjoibWVkaWEvY2xpcHMvNmEzMjA2MWJkMmM2MTFhZDMwY2U2NTBkL2NocmlzdG9waGVyLWxvbmdzLXN0dWRpby1TU212Wi1jb21wb3Nlci0yMDI2LTYtMTdfXzQtMjctMzkubXAzIn0=.mp3","summary":"Co-host Pratik Desai pulls back the curtain on something he's never talked about publicly — how he went from scribbling a business plan on a bus to Machu Picchu at 2 AM to landing his first contract before he even left Peru. This episode digs into the early chaos of bootstrapping a tech consulting company: figuring out insurance, benefits, quarterly taxes, and all the unglamorous back-office realities that nobody writes down in their business plan. From there, Pratik walks us through what it actually looks like to get into Techstars — the sub-1% acceptance rate, the intense interview process, and what the program's managing directors are really evaluating when they sit across from you. He shares what day-to-day life in the accelerator looked like, how he balanced active consulting clients with building a product, and what it felt like to be the first founder on stage at demo day in front of a packed house at Google's NYC pier. And then — the exit. Pratik gets candid about how the landscape shifted, why they made the call they made, and what he'd tell anyone considering applying to an accelerator today. If you're a consultant thinking about making the jump to founder, or just curious what the startup-to-exit journey actually looks like from the inside, this is the episode.","meta_description":"Co-host Pratik Desai pulls back the curtain on something he's never talked about publicly — how he went from scribbling a business plan on a bus to Machu…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":3905,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/tik-and-chris-7769199/episodes/from-a-bus-at-2-am-to-a-techstars-stage/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/tik-and-chris-7769199/from-a-bus-at-2-am-to-a-techstars-stage.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}