In this episode of The Sharmin Ali Show🎙️, host Sharmin Ali sits down with Pramod Maloo — author of "The Startup Founder's Guide to Digital Marketing" & founder of Kreative Machinez.🎙️ Guest: Pramod Maloo🔗 LinkedIn: https://in.linkedin.com/in/pramodmaloo🌐 Company: www.kreativemachinez.com📖 Book: https://amzn.in/d/0cMvXGIR📘 About the BookThe Startup Founder's Guide to Digital Marketing is the #1 bestseller on Amazon in Marketing, Management & Entrepreneurship. Available at all leading bookstores, airports, Amazon, Flipkart, Kindle & Amazon Audiobook.🏢 About Kreative MachinezA one-stop digital solution offering:Performance Marketing (Social + Search)Organic Marketing / SEOPersonal Brand ManagementMinimum commitment: 6 months | www.kreativemachinez.com🧭 Pramod's JourneyFrom a humble middle-class family in Bikaner → Kolkata → Hyderabad MBA → Delhi agency life → Founding Kreative Machinez in 2009 with just 2 people → Now a 113-member professional team.💡 Key Insights from This EpisodeIn the AI age, marketing skills & early funding — not tech — determine who winsAI isn't the enemy — Kreative Machinez integrated it to stay competitiveChatGPT is like Excel in the early 2000s — most people barely scratch the surfaceHard work + smart work = the only real formula for foundersMoney matters — stop pretending otherwise until you've made enough of it🎯 Who This Book Is ForD2C founders, startup builders, working professionals & aspiring entrepreneurs who want a practical guide to digital marketing.About the Show:The Sharmin Ali ShowThis isn't another podcast about hustle. Hosted by Sharmin Ali, serial entrepreneur, and a founder who's helped build ventures, this show delivers real, unfiltered stories on AI, leadership, power, failure, and reinvention—from builders who chose clarity over comfort. For the ones who refuse to play small. For those who know mediocrity is the only sin. For those ready to turn chaos into clarity. 🎙️You’re not here by accident.

In this episode of The Sharmin Ali Show , Sharmin Ali speaks with Pablo Casilimas & Justis Mendez, co-founders of OneSixOne Ventures. Hear how two friends who met at the University of Florida started by hosting meetups and networking events in 2016. They eventually built the largest tech community between Orlando and Atlanta and launched an accelerator that helped 40 companies raise over $13 million in two years. After being told "no" to a finder's fee by VCs, the accidental VCs decided to launch their own fund, raising over $4 million. They also discuss their investment thesis, which focuses on founders from underserved demographics, and their strategy for allocating resources.

What happens when a village boy from Haryana learns Russian, studies medicine for 7.5 years in Belgorod, and comes back to India as a psychiatrist in a country that still calls them “pagalon ka doctor”?

In this episode of The Sharmin Ali Show, Dr. Nitish Bahalwalaopens up about studying and practicing psychiatry in Russia, clearing India’s brutal foreign medical exams, and why stigma around therapy in India is still so deep. He explains how culture and religion can both protect and damage our mental health, why perfectionism destroys peace of mind, and what really happens inside Indian families where the most stressed person becomes the “leader”.

If you’ve ever wondered why Indians don’t go to therapy, how to handle stress as a high performer, or whether faith and science can coexist in mental health, this conversation is for you.