Minus One

What does it actually take to become an astronaut? Shubhanshu Shukla, the second Indian to travel to space after more than four decades, joins South Park Commons general partner Aditya Agarwal to share the answer. 
During Axiom Mission 4, Shukla became the first Indian aboard the International Space Station (ISS). An astronaut with ISRO and a Group Captain in the Indian Air Force, he shares what it takes to get there, from the intense selection process and psychological testing to a seven-day isolation challenge and other unexpected requirements candidates must meet.
He also reflects on life in orbit, from speaking Hindi aboard the ISS for the first time to the disorientation, the overview effect, and the physical changes the human body experiences. Along the way, Shukla and Agarwal explore India’s space ambitions and what it takes to chase an outsized dream.
Shubhanshu Shukla: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gagan-shux/ 
Aditya Agarwal: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adityaagarwal3/ 
South Park Commons: https://www.linkedin.com/company/southparkcommons/
Apply to SPC: https://www.southparkcommons.com/apply

(00:00:00) - Introduction: Becoming Comfortable With the Uncomfortable
(00:01:54) - Why Saying "Yes" Changed the Course of His Life
(00:07:15) - What It Really Takes to Become an Astronaut
(00:11:40) - The Physical, Medical, and Psychological Tests
(00:15:21) - What It Feels Like to See Earth From Space
(00:17:20) - Microgravity: How Space Changes Your Body and Mind
(00:25:35) - The Pressure and Responsibility of Representing India in Space
(00:28:29) - The New Space Economy and Why the Next Decade Will Be Different
(00:35:03) - Advice for Entrepreneurs Building the Future of Space
(00:44:19) - The Future of Human Space Exploration: Moon, Mars, and Beyond

Nato Saichek, cofounder and CTO of Longshot Space, joins South Park Commons Partner Jonathan Brebner to explain why rockets won the space race for the wrong reasons—and why a 15-kilometer space gun may be the most rational path to cheap access to orbit. 
Nato traces Longshot's origins from garage experiments with his cofounder Mike Grace, through building the world's largest operational cannon, to a first-principles reimagining of launch economics. He explains why $4 trillion in rocket investment locked civilization into a local optimum, how aerospace-grade hardware can be replicated for $5 in parts, and what it actually feels like to shoulder the weight of a deeply unconventional bet.
Nato Saichek: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natosaichek/ 
Jonathan Brebner: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathan-brebner/ 
South Park Commons: https://www.linkedin.com/company/southparkcommons/

Apply to SPC: https://www.southparkcommons.com/apply

Chapters:
(00:00:00) - The 15-Kilometer Space Gun
(00:06:27) - The History of Space Guns and Why the Idea Was Abandoned
(00:09:33) - Why Rockets Aren’t the Best Solution
(00:18:39) - The Story of Longshot Space
(00:22:09) - Nato On Leaving His Dream Job
(00:28:25) - Fundraising for an Unconventional Idea
(00:39:36) - The Perks of Having a Cofounder

Amit Jain, cofounder and CEO of Luma AI, joins South Park Commons Partner Finn Meeks to explain why the most defensible AI companies aren't just building tools—they're developing systems that can understand and simulate the world.
Amit traces Luma's path from a free 3D capture app designed to gather training data, through an early bet that video generation was finally viable, to the unified model architecture powering Luma Agents today. He explains why most AI products still break at execution, why foundation labs blur the line between product and research, and why they are the blueprint for the companies of the future.
Amit Jain: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gravicle/ 
Finn Meeks: https://www.linkedin.com/in/finn-meeks/ 
South Park Commons: https://www.linkedin.com/company/southparkcommons/

Apply to SPC: https://www.southparkcommons.com/apply

Chapters:
(00:00:00) - Apple's LiDAR work seeded Luma's founding vision
(00:05:05) - A free app was secretly a data collection operation
(00:06:49) - H100s made video generation stop feeling impossible
(00:10:00) - Most definitions of "world model" are simply wrong
(00:14:37) - Why unified models beat pure video scaling
(00:20:03) - Luma Agents and the end-to-end creative production loop
(00:23:00) - The knowledge gap no model can close alone
(00:29:34) - Blowing James Cameron's mind in five minutes
(00:31:16) - Why consumer video generation failed—and who it's actually for
(00:35:23) - Product and research aren't two things at a foundation lab

Nikesh Arora, CEO of Palo Alto Networks, joins South Park Commons partner Aditya Agarwal to discuss the cybersecurity crisis currently unfolding—and why AI is both the threat and the only viable solution.
Nikesh traces his own unlikely journey from Google's Chief Business Officer to leading one of the world's most critical cybersecurity companies with no prior cybersecurity experience, shares what Masayoshi Son taught him about risk, and explains why most founders are too de-risked before they ever start building. He also breaks down why the same AI models writing code today will soon expose decades of hidden vulnerabilities at a scale no IT team is prepared to handle.
Nikesh Arora: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikesh-arora-02894670/ 
Aditya Agarwal: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adityaagarwal3/ 
South Park Commons: https://www.linkedin.com/company/southparkcommons/

Apply to SPC: https://www.southparkcommons.com/appl

Chapters:(00:02:41) - Big problems vs. fast wins
(00:05:08) - Joining Google
(00:08:28) - Larry Page's product obsession
(00:10:00) - He read every hiring packet himself
(00:13:14) - What Silicon Valley gets wrong about Masa Son
(00:15:45) - Successful founders never wish they took less risk
(00:17:00) - Joining Palo Alto knowing nothing about cybersecurity
(00:19:30) - What incumbents got wrong when ChatGPT launched
(00:22:31) - Security was never built into AI
(00:25:00) - No enterprise knows what's running inside its stack (00:30:27) - AI finds bad code faster than humans ever could
(00:34:27) - The only way to fix the chaos is more AI
(00:37:05) - AI won't just automate work—it raises the floor
(00:39:43) - Foundation models vs. specialized stacks
(00:43:16) - Why communication is 30% of the job at scale
(00:45:00) - What makes a great founder

Amjad Masad and Haya Odeh, cofounders of Replit, join South Park Commons Partners Aditya Agarwal and Ruchi Sanghvi to share what it really took to build one of AI’s most important platforms, and how it’s now enabling a new wave of million-dollar founders.
Amjad breaks down why traditional ideas like ICP are breaking down in the age of AI, what’s actually changing under the hood of modern models, and why we may be reaching the limits of prompting. Haya shares the origin of “Seek Pain”—Replit’s most counterintuitive cultural principle—and how a relentless focus on what’s not working drives better products, faster learning, and stronger teams.
Amjad Masad: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amjadmasad/ 
Haya Odeh: https://www.linkedin.com/in/haya-odeh-b0725928/ 
Ruchi Sanghvi: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rsanghvi/ 
Aditya Agarwal: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adityaagarwal3/ 
South Park Commons: https://www.linkedin.com/company/southparkcommons/

Apply to SPC: https://www.southparkcommons.com/apply

CHAPTERS:
(00:00:00) - Coming to America broke (and building anyway)
(00:04:27) - Early Replit proof points kept the mission alive
(00:07:02) - Cloud vs. local: why security tips the scales
(00:10:09) - Execute daily, predict quarterly
(00:11:35) - The 2023 roadmap Replit just finished executing
(00:16:01) - Agent 4 and the end of context amnesia
(00:22:01) - The death of the ICP
(00:24:47) - What actually changed in AI models December 2024
(00:28:52) - "Seek Pain"—Replit's most counterintuitive cultural value
(00:34:55) - Why consultants are the most mispriced AI-era hire
(00:38:00) - Co-founding with your partner—the honest answer
(00:43:25) - Make micro-predictions or get left behind by AI
(00:45:19) - Raising kids in a world you can't predict