Indian-origin YouTuber Dwarkesh Patel’s cold email to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella successfully secured the tech leader for his podcast. Patel sent a simple request, “Wanna come to my podcast?” after noticing Nadella’s email among his newsletter subscribers, indicating he had listened to an episode.
In his email, Patel mentioned previous guests like Mark Zuckerberg, Tony Blair, and Ilya Sutskever, inviting Nadella to join the show.
To Patel’s surprise, Nadella personally replied, expressing enthusiasm: “Hi, Dwarkesh. Your pod is super! I would love to.” For the unversed, Dwarkesh Patel, a 24-year-old YouTuber based in San Francisco, started the Dwarkesh Podcast during the Covid pandemic.
Originally from India, Patel’s family moved to the U.S. when his father, a doctor, obtained an H1-B visa. His podcast has featured prominent tech leaders such as Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg.
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During the podcast with Satya Nadella, Patel delved into discussions on AGI and quantum breakthroughs, showcasing his in-depth knowledge of AI and Microsoft’s role in its advancements. As reported by Meridian, Patel’s journey to prominence is marked by his extensive research and preparation for interviews with leading figures in AI.
Patel explained that when preparing for an AI-focused interview, such as with Demis Hassabis, CEO of DeepMind, he immerses himself in relevant material, reading papers and speaking to numerous AI researchers over weeks. He stated, “If I do an AI interview where I’m interviewing Demis [Hassabis], CEO of DeepMind, I’ll probably have read most of DeepMind’s papers from the last couple of years. I’ve literally talked to a dozen AI researchers in preparation for that interview — just weeks and weeks of teaching myself about [everything].”
While not all of his research is used during the podcast, Patel shared that even the random things he reads can lead to engaging and insightful conversations.
