Bridging Silicon Valley and San Diego Through TechCon SoCal with Faisal Mushtaq

This is a YouTube video titled "Bridging Silicon Valley and San Diego Through TechCon SoCal with Faisal Mushtaq" created in December 2024. It features a conversational interview between Neal Bloom, the host of the Tacos and Tech podcast, and Faisal Mushtaq, founder and CTO of TechCon SoCal. They discuss the growth and impact of the TechCon SoCal conference, its role in connecting investors, entrepreneurs, and technologists across Southern California and beyond, and the broader San Diego tech ecosystem. The conversation covers topics such as early-stage investing, technology convergence, ecosystem building, and the conference's features including panels, startup showcases, and networking opportunities. Neal Bloom and Faisal Mushtaq also share personal reflections on their journeys and the importance of community in tech innovation.
One thing we did was we bringing a lot more early stage investors this time. Because what I, you know, like you and I discussed that. What we felt is that in, in SoCal in San Diego and L A Orange county, we have a lot more companies that are looking for early stage venture funding, right? So you'll see around 80% of the Venture VC that are coming down either from LA from Orange county or even from local from San Diego. We have amazing VCs that we are going to bringing in. They're all early stage investors and that hopefully helps the ecosystem because that flywheel has to start. I mean those investments exits. Investments exit, you know, have to start and hopefully that we all are playing our part in that.
Startups get the party. Startups get the party started.
You want tech and tacos. Tacos in tech, you know we got tacos and tech is on smash for the green guacamole Keep accountants counting beans. Contador Quentan Frijoles found us trying to raise some queso la vida San Diego school of rappy rapping Paella, tortillas round jalapenos in these modern times a craft beer and coffee my coating yoga posse fold the body origami we be surfing coronado eating tacos el gordo the tacos standing puesto, lucha libre and sombrero Got a shout out to cost angels by the ocean Watch the sunset La Jolla shores Entrepreneurs trying to get funded When San Diego start week is popping in the summer Oceanside, the Tijuana Estee be full of hustlers from couch surfing to penthouses right on the beach. Tech leaders who believe stars are within reach. We interview and founders who be shooting for the Moon. Hashtag SD TechOS with your host, Neil Bloom. Come on.
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You want tech and tacos, tacos in tech, you know we got it. Hey.
And welcome back to the Tacos and Tech podcast. I'm your host, Neil Bloom, and I am thrilled to have on my friend Faisal Mushtaq, the of TechCon. SoCal founder, operator, CTO extraordinaire. Faisal, thanks for being on the pod.
Thank you, Neil. I'm very excited I was always wanted to be on this podcast, so finally made it.
Yes, it's been a long time coming, especially for how long we've known each other, which we were just reminiscing. How did we actually meet? I feel like we maybe have just always known each other here in the San Diego tech ecosystem.
I think so. I feel like an aon ago I met you, but I think it's a good problem to solve. I think let's do after the podcast try to figure out when we first connected and let's solve the mystery.
I think as soon as we met we immediately felt kindred spirits around ecosystem building. Whether that was on building, tech building, community building, investment community as well. And it's just kind of grown from there. And so I'm proud to call you a collaborator, co builder, co investor in Interlock Capital alongside us. So thank you for just from the personal level of having someone else to relate to from an ecosystem building, but also what you're trying to do on a large scale for the San Diego ecosystem. Can you give us a high level of what TechCon SoCal is and we can dive in from there?
Yeah, I think the main idea of Techcon SoCal is to bring the leading investors, entrepreneurs and innovators from across the country to San Diego and also highlight our key amazing entrepreneurs and innovators that we have here and bring them all together. So the main idea is that we pick the best of the best across the country and bring them to San Diego and then we pick the best of the best that we already have in San Diego and showcase them together. So and build that ecosystem that build those relationships that helps. If an entrepreneur is looking for a funding, he can meet his investor or if investor looking for amazing company to invest, they can find the next company. So that's what it is all about.
Well, it's definitely have had some strong legs already and we'll talk about that going into year three and what has already progressed from it. But take us all the way back from your roots in being a technologist. Where did it all begin for you and how did you know this is where you are or meant to be?
Yeah, again it's a amazing journey. I've been I think a born a technologist. I think I always loved sciences and math and I knew that what I wanted to be my professional journey started in San Jose. So I will say my young formative years there and my initial I was lucky enough to work in Cisco Systems long, long time ago when it was one of the coolest companies around. And I think nobody right now. I think it's just like we have Nvidia right now. Cisco was that when the Internet boom was picking up in the late 90s. So I was fortunate enough to be there. And there I learned all the good principles, how to build great products, how to do amazing engineering and launch products and then successfully continue to build features and drive more customer engagement. This journey itself, I think from there I will say that I started thinking about that I wanted to push myself more. And that took me to the entrepreneurial route where we ended up in a startup. And then the Next, I'll say 12, 13 years were in different startups and kind of building them, building products and then scaling them and hopefully getting them exited. This was mostly in Bay Area, but just during this journey, there was this startup in La Jolla called Ortiva Wireless. And it was started by a professor at UCSD, Dr. Sajid. And they brought me down from Bay Area. That's how I got exposed to San Diego. But interestingly, when I was in college at Purdue, I had a brief stint of a summer internship in Southern California. I was in Irvine, Newport Beach. There was a company called Rockwell Semiconductor where I spent the summer. And I had amazing memories. I loved SoCal region and I always wanted to be there. And I felt like this is one of the best hidden secrets, feather the people. But I ended up in Bay Area. So I thought, okay, that's my life. And I was settled there. And then suddenly I kind of ended up in San Diego, but I was not moving there. I was flying in and flying out for two years. So from 2008 to 2010, I was almost doing a regimen of Monday to Friday, flying in, flying out. And at that point we decided that let's give it a shot and move down for a few years. And so we moved down with the one year and then we'll renew it every year by year that you're going to stay in San Diego or not. And lo and behold, like, my kids started settling down and they love San Diego and they, you know, my wife, my family, myself, and certainly, you know, this became the home since 2010, I think San Diego is home for me. I do spend a lot of time in planes and going to Bay Area, but this has kind of been my kind of home during this journey. As I was doing it, I felt that we have such amazing. The entrepreneurial ecosystem like you mentioned was growing up and. And both in San Diego and overall Southern California, it's ramping up and I felt that we should get more investors, more exposure to this region so that the entrepreneur can build successful companies here. And then the whole cycle starts, right? So I was thinking, what should we do? And there's amazing organizations doing amazing work. But again, just an entrepreneur, you always like to say, okay, let me try to find a solution that can play my part, basically. And that was my intention five years ago when we started Tech Console. I felt that I have amazing connections that I've built in 15, 20 years across the country that I can bring them down, show them what an amazing place San Diego is, expose them to the local ecosystem, expose them to the local entrepreneur, and hopefully some will invest, some will acquire, some will, you know, you know, give employment and all that. So. So that's how the intention was. So we started, and I think you were there in the first TechCon. And then I think I won't go into whole detail, but I think, I know you will ask me more questions. But that's how the journey started. The idea was to bring the other angle that I thought was that being a cto, like you mentioned, I go to a lot of these events where CTOs and CIOs are there, and being an investor, we have a lot of events where there are investors, angel investors, venture. I felt that to be a successful ecosystem, you need three main pillars. You need the investors, you need the CxOs, and you need the entrepreneurs all together. Because I'll say 95% of the companies that exit, they don't go public, they get acquired, and typically they're acquired by another public company or a larger private company. So I felt that bringing those three elements together will kind of encourage that dialogue, will encourage that relationship that eventually can benefit the overall ecosystem.
Yeah, huge. I mean, one, it's a lot to have the idea that in a perfect world, all these three groups exist. Another is to actually pull it off and do it. And I know, I'm sure you had the idea for a long time before you felt like, I'm going to do it, but once you actually committed, I remember it was, you know, it happened unfortunately or fortunately, it happened right before the pandemic. So, year one, January 2020, at Sony's Electronics headquarters over in Rancho Bernardo. What a first year to have it there physically at Sony, such a name brand place. I definitely remember. I think I led a health tech panel. I moderated a panel, got to meet Bobby, the CTO of ResMed and a number of people that also grew my network as well too. So just as much helping Typically your network grows because of that as well. Do you remember like from year one to now, some lessons learned and how you continued crafting the vision forward?
Yeah, I think you were giving those good old memories. I think the first one was at Sony. You're right. And I think we did highlight, right? We had these amazing gems like ResMed you mentioned. We had the CEO of ViaSat, Rick Belridge, he gave a keynote. We brought in Chancellor Khosla, ucsd. So it was amazing. Kind of a consortium of a lot of Bay Area investors and local San Diego key players. And it was an amazing event. And then you know what happened after that? It was the 26th of January and you know what happened in March of that year? The world shut down and everything stopped. And so, you know, and it took not just a quarter, it took many years for that to recover, to have such a large gathering of human and 3D form together. So we did post that, we did a lot of online event. I remember you moderated few panels on webinars that we did on TechCon. You've been a great supporter from day one, Neil, and you are. I mean, you were saying that you were putting me in like I'm an ecosystem player. You are up there. I mean, I always look up to you. That's the way you kind of helped everyone. I think it's amazing. And you were there at the first TechCon. Then we did all out of webinars. You moderated three of them. And then obviously then things started to completely shut down. And then when they recovered earlier this year, we decided that let's do it again. And you were, again, you were part of the team, I think, and we did the next one. One thing that we try to do in TechCon is that it's multi track. So we typically pick six to eight technologies that are defining the future in the next five, 10 years and have enough speakers around it so that we can have a dialogue for two reasons. Number one, my thesis is that the technologies are overlapping. You cannot talk about life sciences or digital health without IoT, without AI, without software, and so be it. So everything is converging. You cannot talk about future of transportation without AI and software and hardware and sensors. So everything is kind of converging. So I feel that having a forum where you have all these different facets of our future technologies that we can openly discuss and think about where we are, where we're going, and how these different things intertwine with each other is amazing. What we are trying to do is this is in this, the next one that's coming up, we have the same kind of formula that we are doing. One thing we did was we are bringing a lot more early stage investors this time. Because like you and I discussed what we felt is that in SoCal, in San Diego, in LA, Orange county, we have a lot more companies that are looking for early stage venture funding. Right. So you'll see around 80% of the Venture VC that are coming down either from LA, from Orange county or even from local, from San Diego. We have amazing VCs that we are going to bringing in. They're all early stage investors and that hopefully helps the ecosystem because that flywheel has to start. I mean those investments exits. Investments exit, you know, have to start and hopefully that we all are playing our part in that. The second thing is AI is becoming bigger and bigger. So obviously I still remember in the first one we had in Sony there were two panels on AI, which at that time AI was a cool thing. But now this is a must have. You cannot have anything without an AI. So we also have a lot of panels on AI, but not just AI, even the digital health and life sciences, there are companies that are using AI for drug discovery. So now you can say this is a life sciences panel or an AI panel or it's a hybrid of both. That's why the fusion of technologies are happening. And I think that's the right way to do. You cannot think in silos. You have to think holistically, all of these together.
I think the biggest aspect of all of this is the quality of thought leadership and elevating the thought leadership from thought leaders like domain experts. Think something's interesting in San Diego. So many conferences happen in San Diego that don't engage San Diegans at all on the tech scene. Think about all the, you know, you've probably even gone to tech conferences at our conference center, the San Diego Conference Convention Center. Right. But disconnected from actually the local tech ecosystem. And then we have a lot of tech events here, pitch competitions and networking events, but don't have the thought leadership level of quality engagement. So I think you've actually stumbled on something big that's, that's lacking from the tech ecosystem, which is sharing the real technology knowledge at a high level. You're capturing and recording it to share, but also making sure that people are there to meet and engage knowledge, which is, is definitely, you know, not happening nearly as much as, as we think for a tech ecosystem. So I love that. And then elevating very specific audiences around those. Something that are San Diego specific. Right. Whether it's connected devices which may find yourself in defense or health care or even consumer devices. Right. So leading industries for local and bringing those thought leaders from other commute geos with the same kind of leading industry expertise as well too is great to be to seeing that. And so that's why I'm really fortunate this year to kind of raise my hand and say all right, here's two buckets that I'm passionate about. Fintech. So even with which which spans software and hardware, it spans SaaS, it spans, you know, a variety of areas, it really spans industries which I found last year the conversations in fintech were like, wow, we could have so many different conversations here. Let's expand and have multiple conversations this year from payments and bank tech and wealth tech. So that's one area that I'm excited to elevate some of the conversations and thought leaders in. So thank you for giving me that opportunity. And then deep tech, like one it's being talked about a lot from a defense tech angle and energy. And I looked around and said wow, we have some great thought leaders in San Diego and abroad who I know would love to come here to share that. And so the deep tech track from some of the energy aspects which is affecting AI. Right. Nuclear is a really big conversation right now related to how are we going to power data centers as well as the future of defense and drone and aerospace which is also at a critical nexus right now as well too. And then some other areas of deep tech related to connected devices meets AI, meets software and those aspects as well too. So I think we're going to have some. So thank you for letting me lead those two tracks, if you will. And I'm excited for the conversations and people that are coming already.
Yeah, I think you touched upon like three or four important points which I want to like, you know, restate them. Right. I think you are spot on. Number one is that there are a lot of conferences that are as a global conferences. They come to San Diego, they come to the convention center, there's a big event and they leave. But there's no trickle down effect to the local ecosystem that we are trying to do. So TechCon, one of the things we are trying to do is make sure that our local ecosystem is exposed our local entrepreneurs so that they get experience and also benefit from it. So I think that's important. The second point you mentioned, what is special about San Diego deep tech, I think we are really good in defense tech and deep tech and also life Sciences. So those are the two areas that we are doing. And then you brought in fintech, which was surprising. Just I'll give you an example. I don't think we should name companies, but they're just a company that just raised 300 million and you brought the CEO of that, he's on TechCon. Can we say names?
Yeah.
So I mean these are the jewels of San Diego that we have to discover and highlight and put it on a global stage that they are doing amazing and that's what we're doing. And then software, last time we had like Sochi Andrata and seismic and events.com, these are all local San Diego software companies that are. So that's what we are trying to do, like trying to really show the jewels that we have in a more in a holistic and global kind of ecosystem. And I think really looking forward to your panel this time. They're really interesting. We have, I saw the NASA jpl. So it's a very broad based. We have a lot of space people with experience. So going to be very exciting. So I think in one conference you will have rockets, you will have payments, you will have drug discovery and AI. So pretty much that's what the beauty of Tecton is that you have such a wide spectrum of discourse that you can learn from.
And I think also just the time of year, post election, there's a whole different enthusiasm, different mentality of what's happening, what is to come. So and this conference is two days before the inauguration. So it'll still be kind of like what is 2025 going to look like?
Right.
So I'm sure there'll be a lot of like data venture, the state of deep tech, which so you'll hear a lot of what investors are thinking and doing right now. The same with big enterprise companies, you know, saying here's what we're investing in based on what's happening on the ground right now as well too. So get a lot of both macro and micro perspectives from executive so that even if you are say a startup trying to sell into these companies, you'll have a lot of value from hearing that and meeting your potential buyer. And then you'll have the investors there as well who are, who will be sharing their knowledge of their own industries. They'll also be there to see the pitch competition which will be happening, the Startup Showcase and then to meet a ton of the companies who will be in person and tabling there as well too. So and then the federal, we have a lot of actual federal participation you know, we've got people from Space Force and diu, which is the Defense Industrial Innovation Unit, who are local to Southern California. So I think you'll find kind of a really well. Oh, and then there are schools, obviously it's held at San Diego State and a very great big representation from San Diego State's innovation community, UCSD and all the schools as well, to kind of show off where research, academia and innovation and tech transfer is happening right now. So really well rounded participation, I would say from ecosystem, not just San Diego, but just what makes a full tech ecosystem in that regard as well too.
Yeah, I think you're spot on again, I think, Neil. I think and also as far as schools is concerned. So you're right. We are hosting it at San Diego State University. They're running a large innovation initiative and they have been a great supporter of TechConnect. We'll have speaker from SDSU, we will have speaker from UCSD which is also a great partner USD, UCI also we have a couple of speakers from UCI. So, you know, and hopefully UCLA also, I think. So what my point is that the whole, you know, all our great schools that we have in SoCal and San Diego, we are trying to partner with them because again, academia also has its role to play, a big role to play in innovation. I think that's one of the pillars of, I would say innovation. One of the reason the Bay Area is where it is. You know, Silicon Valley was Stanford, Berkeley and now we have really good schools. Ucsd, sdsu, USD, these are really great schools and they are really investing in the future. So I'm hoping that this whole flywheel that we were talking about, I think that's running and hopefully that will create more and more jobs, more and more opportunities for people here in San Diego.
Yeah. And I think, you know, just because of the entrepreneurial nature that you and I have of just do it and not wait for someone else to do it is important in this regard. Right. As well as put people together that maybe, you know, are ceremonial together, but in this scenario it is share knowledge and show who's actually doing things. And I think that's really important in an ecosystem, not just San Diego, but any ecosystem. It's, there's, there's one aspect to say who are all the players but who are all the doers, I think is what's really important that we continue as a community and bring people from outside other ecosystems to learn from that. What worked in Silicon Valley. We can steal a few of those ideas. We're not going to be Silicon Valley per se, we're going to be San Diego. But we can learn like here's how we speed up the flywheel faster and faster to make real things happen, make technology, make great companies that improve our lives. And that's what it's all about.
One thing I want to touch upon, I think and then I'll have a comment about the Startup Pitch event. I think that we should go deeper into and also the kind of company that will be exhibiting. But before that I'll just give you just a quick question. Currently, as we speak we have speakers from New York coming in Boston, Austin, Denver, Cincinnati, San Francisco, San Jose, Louisiana. We have speakers from all of those ecosystems coming to San Diego and hopefully that's. And some of those players that are coming in are also ecosystem builders. So it's caught up cross learning. Like you know, Austin is trying to build a big tech ecosystem. So I think just having that dialogue when the right people from that ecosystem are here, that how, you know what we are doing in San Diego. Brainstorming, learning from each other. And that's what this forum provides. It provides an opportunity to brainstorm and collaborate and learn from each other. I think I will also want to touch upon the startup pitch. The one thing also we do is we try, we do a startup innovation showcase where we select six to eight startups and, and they pitch in front of the judges. So I think right now we're going through the selection process. We had a good turnout and I think, Neil, you're, I think one of the reviewers, reviewers that you're helping select those amazing companies. So we look forward to that. And I, I mean our hope is that we will be able to make introductions. So really the top, top finalists to the investors that are coming in. So they, if they are looking for a seed or series A In the next six to 12 months, I think they might, this might help them a lot. So if you're interested you can go to the website and apply. We have till December 20, so only four days to apply for the Startup Innovation pitch, you know, and that will give you an opportunity to showcase your company in front of hundreds of people. And the investors feel, yeah, no, very exciting.
Been some great companies who applied already, you know, all of the companies, maybe you don't end up on stage, but we're working to make connections and showcase each and every one of them in some way or vein. What's the, the physical demonstration area going to be like this year? What kinds of companies are going to be at, at Boots and tables.
Yeah, typically similar to last year. We have three or four categories of boots companies that are doing the booths. So we have a section which do services companies. I think we have a lot of local so cal services companies. We also have from other parts of the country. Then we have startup. So we are encouraging startups. So we are partnering with all the leading ucsd, sdsu, techstars, Interlock and New Fund to bring the best startups to demonstrate their and get a booth and showcase their. This is separate from the pitching. So this is like in any conference you have those booths and exhibits where you, you have, you can have your social, your marketing collateral, you can have your products, you can showcase what you have. So we have that. And then the third category is nonprofit. So we also have a section where we invite nonprofits to just have a presence there. Companies, organization that are doing great work in San Diego and have their booth also there. So it will be a nice mix of. And then there, there will be some well established start companies also like more mature companies. So those are the four categories. Startup, mature company, services companies and nonprofits. So it will be a nice mix of a wide ranging of companies that you can interact with during the two days of the conference. Meet them, understand what they offer. Maybe you know you're looking for a product and they might have a product or they're looking for software team and they might offer you a service that can help you accelerate your product development. So it's all about kind of finding the right set of people and connecting with them. One thing that I'm really excited which I think is about the app. So I think once you get to it I will tell you know a little bit about that also so that people know that how they can benefit the most from this conference.
Yeah, you always have some good flares to it. I would say the, the car last year was pretty cool, techcom branded. And then the, the food as well and the special like VIP section that you had last year for food. And then the dance party which we had a VC from sf A Climate Tech vc Raj dj. The post event dance party which was pretty fun. Yeah, give us a little, can you give us a little tease of some of the special Faisal touch that we'll see this year?
Yeah, I think some of those things are repeating. So food is also important for even when we did at Sony, I think we had. I think we want to make sure that the experience of our attendees it's top notch. So I think this time I think the team spent A lot of time to making sure. We also did food testing. We made sure that the food is up to the taste and everything. So we are very excited about the food that will be served at TechCon. The second thing is that we also have the same dj, Thoraj Kapoor. He's coming down again from Bay Area. He would love to DJ again. So there will be a party after the first half when it starts on 1:17, the evening of 1:17, there's a big party there and I think. And. And then the next day, 118 is the whole day again.
So real quick on that. Do you know the story of success at Araj? His daughter came to the conference and we got her hired at a local tech company, an interlock portfolio company. In fact, she came to Techcon SoCal last year and met Sam Advisor. So already growing the ecosystem just off of that.
Yeah, I know, I know a lot of people who got really good job because they connected at techcon. But I think obviously these are all private. But. But you're right, I mean this is what makes you happy when you're doing something and you feel that people, there's a benefit that they are getting. I think there are companies that were pitching at techcon. Some of them, I think, I know you invested in Interlock recently invested in a bunch of them and.
Yeah. Who presented at last year at TechCon.
Exactly, exactly. So I think this, I think the music will be there. So we're going to have a nice dance party and a VIP social and then we also have food. You mentioned one thing that we are doing this time differently, which I'm very excited about, is the TechCon app. We're going to release it in next, I'll say like 10 days. But this is an app which is custom designed by a local San Diego company called bitcot. And again, amazing companies that we have in our backyard. So I think that amazing company that helped build this custom app, it allows you to interact with people, set up time, you can manage your schedule, you can find the locations and agenda and build your own agenda and chat with people that are attending it. So it's a network with people, share contacts. So it's pretty much a custom app that's built that will enhance your experience. If you're looking for networking, this will help you know who else is coming in, connect with them, set up time up a priori so that you can meet them and all that. So I'm very excited about it. So it will be available in 10 days. You download and start preparing Start doing homework. Because when you go to a conference like this, I'm a big believer in homework that figure out if you're an entrepreneur, you should see that. Who are the speakers, who are the investors that are coming in which invest in your area at the phase you are in and try to reach out to them and try to build relationships because it will help you when you do aggressive fundraising, right? You might be doing in six months from now, but building those relationships you need, you know, you need network when you don't need it. You know, I think that's where you should build it, not when you need it tomorrow morning, then it's not. I mean, so start building, investing in your network now and when you need it, hopefully the network will be there to help you.
Absolutely, yeah. As an investor, we want to, we want to meet you way earlier.
Yes.
Pitching us today. And you need money today. It's a pretty quick no. But you want to meet and you want to. It's a two way street. We, you shouldn't just want an investor, it should just as much be is this the right investor for you and can they be value add for you for the next 10 years? And the only way to do that is to get to know them and vice versa. And so yes, highly encourage people buy their ticket as soon as possible so they can start researching who's going to be there to start planning out your day to make sure you meet as many people as possible. In that regard, I will give a shout out to Bitcot. They made the very first Fresh Brew tech website as well too. So big friend of the community and powering the ecosystem as well too. So excited to have the app out and it'll be out year round so you'll be able to look, read, you know, go back to past sessions and continue to contact people for the next conference ahead of time as well too.
One thing also I'm very proud of Neil is that although this is an in person conference, so we don't live stream or anything, we want people to be in person, build relationships. But we also invest heavily to record everything that goes on in the conference and all the sessions are available post the conference a few months after the conference for free on YouTube@techcontv.com so if you go to techcontv.com YouTube channel you will see hundreds of sessions from last conferences. You can watch, learn from them, see what was discussed. We have thousands of views. So the idea is that there's a whole world out there that will not benefit from this content because Logistically, they cannot attend in person or so for them, I think it helps you get the knowledge out. So that's also one thing that we do to help by making sure whatever is discussed is preserved and passed on to other people to benefit.
Amazing. Well, looking forward to being part of it. Thank you for bringing this fruition and continuing it forward. I know you went all in on it and you continue to to pour a lot into it. I know it's a lot to put on a conference. This being the talkers and tech podcast, we got to talk a little bit of food. I know you are actually another area that you spend a lot of time is in ties, which is the Indus Entrepreneur Society. And while I'm sure you know, they're brothers in spirit, in terms of what we're doing here on talking tech podcast, Indian food. Indian food is probably makes a bit more than your Mexican food. We're here about breaking bread. So what of your favorite foods reminds you the most of Mexican food?
So I will say that it's the kebab roll. It's very much like a burrito or a taco. So, you know, it's one of my favorites. So I will say that's the closest and obviously, yeah, kebab roll.
Yeah, amazing. Well, same of state was where I had my very first California burrito, which many in San Diegans claim to whether it's, you know, their favorite or not. And maybe now it's time to have California burritos and kebab rolls together to hear on the tacos and tech podcast. Faisal, thank you so much for spending time sharing and building ecosystem and I'll see you soon here at techconso.
Thank you so much for the invitation and the opportunity, Neil, and thank you everyone.
Please go to Techcon SoCal and in wherever you're hearing this from us, you'll find a special discount code from us to make sure you grab a ticket as soon as possible. Thanks again. Cheers.
Thank you. Bye.
Startups get the party. Startups get the party started.
You to want want tech and tacos. Tacos and tech. You know we got tacos and tech is on smash for the green guacamole keep accountants counting beans Contador Quentan Frijoles found us trying to raise some queso la vida San Diego school of rappy rapping paella tortillas round jalapenos in these modern times a craft beer and coffee My coding yoga posse fold the body origami we be surfing Coronado eating tacos El gordo the tacos Staying in puesto lucha libre and sombrero Got a shout out to cost angels by the ocean Watch the sunset La Jolla shores Entrepreneurs trying to get funded When San Diego Startup Week is popping in the summer Oceanside, the Tijuana Estee be full of hustlers from couch surfing to penthouses right on the beach Tech leaders who believe stars are within reach we ain't interviewing founders who be shooting for the Moon hashtag SD TechOS with your host, Neil Bloom. Come on.
Startups get the party Startups get the party started. Startups get the party Startups get the party started. Startups get the party Startups get the party started.
You want tech in tacos, tacos in tech, you know we got it, hey.
Startups get the party Startups get the party started. Startups get the party Startups, startups get the party started. Startups get the party Startups get the party started.
You want decking, tacos, tacos in deck, you know we got it.
Hey.










