Karina Cady, co-founder and CEO of Nandina REM, joins Michael Smith Jr. and Raz Kotler to explain how a Singapore deep-tech company went from asking what happens to retired aircraft to recovering advanced materials for aerospace, defense, drones, and other high-performance applications.

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Bringing proven cybersecurity technologies to Singapore

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Karina takes us inside the aircraft recycling industry, where valuable components are stripped from retired planes but advanced materials can still end up crushed, incinerated, or discarded. Nandina REM saw a different opportunity: recover high-grade carbon fiber and turn it into new materials for customers that need performance, supply-chain security, and locally controlled production.

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The conversation also gets into the much harder parts of building a deep-tech hardware company: finding manufacturing space in Singapore, navigating US export controls, entering defense supply chains, protecting IP from “vampiring,” and learning when a prestigious innovation opportunity can actually destroy a startup’s runway. Karina also explains how constraints pushed Nandina REM toward portable microfactories and a network of more than 200 manufacturing partners, why Singapore remains a powerful place to develop advanced technology even when growth requires going overseas, and why she remains optimistic about sustainability after spending most of her career in the environmental sector.

🔥 Watch Our Other Videos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fHGsMZv9ZM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDqX49du3mY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFNU_Sbsvyo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snct0XjAavo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=209V_xEBViM

🔔 Listen and Subscribe

• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheGeneralistsPodcast

• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2apfGY403NGr1EyTNkJfG4

• Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-generalists/id1756861150

👤👤 Hosts

• Michael Smith Jr.: https://www.linkedin.com/in/smittysgp/

• Raz Kotler: https://www.linkedin.com/in/razkotler/

👤 Guest•

Karina Cady: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karinacady/

🔗 Resources

• Nandina REM: https://www.nandinarem.com/

• Southwest Airlines: https://www.southwest.com/

• Halliburton Labs: https://halliburtonlabs.com/

• Halliburton: https://www.halliburton.com/

• U.S. Bureau of Industry and Security: https://www.bis.gov/

• U.S. Department of Commerce: https://www.commerce.gov/

• U.S. Embassy Singapore: https://sg.usembassy.gov/

• CFIUS: https://home.treasury.gov/policy-issues/international/the-committee-on-foreign-investment-in-the-united-states-cfius

• University of Queensland: https://www.uq.edu.au/

• Soilbuild: https://www.soilbuild.com/

• Boeing 787 Dreamliner: https://www.boeing.com/commercial/787

• Airbus: https://www.airbus.com/

• Northrop Grumman: https://www.northropgrumman.com/

• AUKUS: https://www.defense.gov/Spotlights/AUKUS/

• Jennifer Lewis: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0507338/

• Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela: https://www.nelsonmandela.org/

• Calvin and Hobbes: https://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes

#CarbonFiber #CircularEconomy #DefenseTech

Matt Ward, former founder and CEO of Workmate and now founder of Catalyst Six, sits down with Michael Smith Jr. and Raz Kotler for a candid conversation about startup exits in Southeast Asia and what actually happens behind the press release.

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Matt takes us inside the Workmate acquisition process, including the moment the deal was pulled with just three weeks of runway left. He explains how exclusivity left him without alternatives, why the eventual deal came back on different terms, and the lessons he now shares with founders about modeling the downside before entering an acquisition process.

The conversation goes deeper into the mechanics of building for an exit: identifying potential acquirers years in advance, using strategic investment to build relationships, understanding what buyers value differently from VCs, managing boards and preference stacks, and why raising at a higher valuation can sometimes leave founders worse off.

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Matt also makes the case for a different Southeast Asian startup model: staying lean, getting profitable, raising capital to grow rather than survive, and considering whether owning most of a $10–20 million business can produce a better founder outcome than chasing a $100 million valuation.

🔔 Listen and Subscribe

• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheGeneralistsPodcast
• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2apfGY403NGr1EyTNkJfG4

• Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-generalists/id1756861150

👤👤 Hosts

• Michael Smith Jr.: https://www.linkedin.com/in/smittysgp/

• Raz Kotler: https://www.linkedin.com/in/razkotler/

👤 Guest

• Matt Ward: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mathewward/

🔗 Resources

• Workmate: https://www.workmate.asia/
• PERSOL: https://www.persol-group.co.jp/en/
• SEEK: https://www.seek.com.au/
• Job&Talent: https://www.jobandtalent.com/
• Wavemaker Partners: https://wavemaker.vc/
• Catalyst Six: https://www.catalystsix.com/
• Outlive by Peter Attia: https://peterattiamd.com/outlive/
• Peter Attia: https://peterattiamd.com/
• Wait But Why: https://waitbutwhy.com/

#StartupExit #SoutheastAsiaStartup #SellingAStartup

Nadir Izrael, co-founder and CTO of Armis, sits down with Raz Kotler for a candid conversation about winning, ambition, building a $7.75 billion cybersecurity company, and the lessons he learned over a decade of building Armis.

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In this episode, Nadir explains why financial success hasn’t reduced his hunger to win, why the best founders stay both hungry and humble, and how becoming a father has changed the way he thinks about ambition, hardship, and raising resilient children.

🔥 Watch Our Other Videos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tf_dknB50qM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eitqzpiqUs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJDZg3mr684

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0H24ck-is5Y

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SW2bxHjUl-Y

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzdzT_L8zAw

🔔 Listen and Subscribe

• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheGeneralistsPodcast

• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2apfGY403NGr1EyTNkJfG4

• Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-generalists/id1756861150

Nadir also shares the pivotal question from Armis’ difficult Series A that changed how he thought about the company: “What are your customers buying?” He breaks down why founders need to stop describing their technology and instead understand three things from the customer’s perspective: pain, outcome, and value.

The conversation also covers building an early team, why Armis isn’t the right company for someone optimizing primarily for work-life balance, maintaining a decade-long co-founder relationship through heated disagreements, and why Nadir still makes time to answer founders who reach out for help.

👤👤 Hosts

Michael Smith Jr.: https://www.linkedin.com/in/smittysgp/

Raz Kotler: https://www.linkedin.com/in/razkotler/

👤 Guest

Nadir Izrael: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nadiriz/

🔗 Resources

Armis: https://www.armis.com/

ServiceNow: https://www.servicenow.com/

ServiceNow acquisition of Armis ($7.75B): https://newsroom.servicenow.com/press-releases/details/2026/ServiceNow-completes-Armis-acquisition-closing-the-gap-between-asset-visibility-and-cyber-risk/default.aspx

Yevgeny Dibrov: https://www.linkedin.com/in/y-dibrov/

Gili Raanan: https://www.cyberstarts.com/team/gili-raanan

Cyberstarts: https://www.cyberstarts.com/

Google: https://www.google.com/

XM Cyber: https://xmcyber.com/

Deep Instinct: https://www.deepinstinct.com/

For All Mankind: https://tv.apple.com/sg/show/for-all-mankind/umc.cmc.6wsi780sz5tdbqcf11k76mkp7

Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/

#FounderMindset #StartupLessons #Cybersecurity