Neal O'Grady 🍉

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I have an extremely strange mix of skills/experience:

- Mechanical engineer
- Full-stack developer
- Serial entrepreneur ($25M+ in total revenue)
- Content creator/marketer (100k+ newsletter subs and millions of page views)
- Growth marketer (ran marketing companies for 9 years)
- Crypto nerd (20k+ defi transactions)

Which is why I run marketing at a scrappy and highly technical crypto company—I can do a bit of everything.

Co-Founder

Demand Curve (YC S19) creates courses, content, and events to teach founders and marketers how to grow companies. Our weekly newsletter goes out to over 60,000 founders and marketers.

New job title just dropped

In 2026, you can:

- Bet on how many tweets Elon posts this month
- Bet on whether Jesus Christ will return in 2026
- Bet on which country the US strikes next

It's honestly a bit absurd 😅 

With memecoins, you can bet on the cultural relevance of ideas and moments.

And now with Zora, you can mint a token on anything you think will trend — a tweet, a news event, a vibe — and turn it into a market.

Yes, even the topic of the day on LinkedIn.

We've been talking for a while about the Attention Economy and how creators like Mr. Beast have learned to capitalize on it, but now we, the social media-addicted consumers, can capitalize on it as well.

So, although this job post is a joke, trading culturally relevant content is already how some people earn their living.

To you, this may be a dystopian future, but sports betting is surging among Gen Z. 

$1.3B was transacted on prediction markets during the Super Bowl alone.

The appetite to put money where your opinion is isn't going away — it's expanding into every corner of culture.

Whether you think that's exciting or terrifying, the infrastructure is being built right now. Which is why Codex Data Inc is excited to power Zora's token data.

"Attention Economist" might be a joke today. But what else are we going to do when AGI comes? 😅

Neal O'Grady

Head of Marketing at Codex.io & Defined.fi

Soundarya Balasubramani

Course Creator

Founder of unshackled.club | O-1 Visa Recipient | 2x Author of "Unshackled" & "Admitted" | Emergent Ventures Scholar | Ex-PM @ Salesforce

Making LinkedIn fun again.

I use this space to share things I’m genuinely obsessed with.


✍️ I write about:
→ Pivotal life experiences that continue to shape me.
→ Behind-the-scenes of great startups, books, and people.
→ Major policies and updates that impact skilled immigrants (like myself) in America.
→ ...and whatever else sparks my curiosity in the future.


🔮 Previously:
→ Product Manager at Salesforce for 2.5 years before quitting my job at 25
→ Author of Admitted and Unshackled (10,000+ readers), both focused on global mobility
→ Built one of the largest free newsletters for STEM workers (40,000+ subscribers)
→ Hosted the largest summit for tech immigrants in the U.S. (1,000+ attendees)
→ Organized a free, country-wide book tour across 15 universities for 2000+ international students 
→ Spoken at Grace Hopper's 2025, World Tamil Economic Conference 2025, CEX 2024, ATEA's EMERGE 2024, Intl. Career Collective 2023, etc - along with 40+ podcasts! 


📚 Now, now, now:
→ Finishing my third book & first novel, "1000 Days of Love" (Check curiousmaverick.com/book)
→ Building my career as a keynote speaker 
→ Hosting kickass, memorable events for immigrants in San Francisco, CA


If you enjoy heartwarming stories and researched case studies, you’ll probably enjoy being here. ✨ 

Thanks for reading, friend.

~ SB

📬 Say hi: hi@curiousmaverick.com
📌 Website: www.curiousmaverick.com

Founder & CEO

I'm the creator of unshackled.club, an online membership community built to help talented immigrants secure a talent visa (O-1/EB-1/NIW).

Join 350+ ambitious immigrants to get the following benefits:
- Access to top lawyers who offer complimentary consults
- Access to past recipients of O-1/EB-1 visas
- Database of 100+ awards, memberships, publications, & judging competitions
- Free masterclasses conducted every month
- 20+ hours' worth of "Ask Me Anything" sessions with experts
- Access to "The Extraordinary Visa Library" with stories of past recipients
- Discussion forum to ask any of your questions
- First dips on an AI-backed profile evaluation tool!

Check out unshackled.club and join today :)

BIG NEWS: I’ve FINALLY started an Instagram channel to share stories in Tamil (தமிழ்), my mother tongue 💚 

I left Chennai more than 8.5 years ago for my master’s in America. Somewhere along the way, I slowly lost touch with the language I grew up thinking, dreaming, and feeling in.

Today, the only person I consistently speak Tamil with is my mom.
So yes… there’s anxiety.
About my accent.
About people finding it funny.
But imma do it anyway 🙃

For the last few years, my mom has watched *every single video* I’ve made - even when I spoke about immigration, education, or entrepreneurship 👀 Topics that had nothing to do with her world.

She still watched.

So I thought: what if I made something she didn’t just watch, but *felt connected to*?

I’ve always believed stories change us, inspire us, maybe even heal us.
I grew up on stories. 
Stories told by my mom, my grandfather, through the novels I read.
Even today, when I'm standing in line or sitting in a bus, my mind is replaying scenes from books, films, or stories I want to write.

I know I’m meant to be a storyteller.
And I want to get REALLY good at it.

This channel is my attempt to tell stories - in Tamil and English - about life, relationships, mental health, career, and the small moments that shape us… especially in our 20s.

If these stories make your life better, lighter, or even **1% more delightful**, that’s enough for me.

🙏 If you’d like to support me:

- Follow the page: https://lnkd.in/g3J_Sz3b
- Share it with your friends (esp Tamil-speaking ones!)
- Or just send it to someone who might need a story today

It would mean more than you know. ❤️

Tagging a few friends who’ve supported my journey the past few years: Pritesh Jagani, Rajesh Setty, Varun Negandhi, Venkata Naga Sai Kumar Bysani, Sohan Sethi, Roshni Chellani, Chuck Garcia, Epaphra T, Simran Lalwani, Siddharth Chamarthy, Mahantesh NG, Darshan Sk, Shreya Mehta 🚀, Sriram Arumelli, Ruchi Bhatia, Ankita Mishra, Parth Vijayvergiya, Sindhu Mahadevan Aditi Paul,PhD

p.s. Hashtags Photography (Rucha Joshi) shot this joyful picture! If you need a photographer for a delicious headshot, she’s your person.

—

🌿 Re-post if this resonated.
👉 I share weekly stories of impactful people, companies, and art. Join 34,000+ here: https://lnkd.in/gnrA8GJZ

3x Author | Keynote Speaker | Emergent Ventures Awardee | Ex-Founder @ Open Atlas | Ex-PM @ Salesforce

6 years ago, this was a stranger. Today, he’s one of my closest friends.
And he taught me one of the MOST important lessons on kindness 👇

A few months ago, I was going through a tough moment.

While looking through comments to respond to on a few Instagram videos, I noticed 2-3 cruel ones.

I’m someone who feels things deeply, so it got to me more than I expected.
I didn’t know who to call.

Not everyone understands what it feels like to be criticized by strangers across the world through a cold, impersonal screen.

But I knew one person would, so I called him.

—

Yudi (Pritesh Jagani) and I met more than six years ago through an online conference organized by Robert Adams ☕️. Back then, he was just another creator in my orbit, someone doing good work for international students.

In 2021, we met once to record a podcast together.

And for most of the last six years, that’s how it stayed.

Our paths crossed occasionally, but our lives didn’t overlap much.

Until the last year.

Somehow, we ended up on dozens of long calls last year - and I got to know him beyond his work, and vice versa.

That day, when I called him feeling distraught, he listened quietly for the first half of the call.

“How do you deal with comments like this?” I asked eventually.

He paused and said something that changed how I see the internet:

“When I see a critical or hateful comment,” he said, “I first see if there’s any truth in it. Sometimes, there is. Most of the times though, it’s just hate. That’s when my brain immediately switches to wanting to give that person an extra dose of kindness. Clearly, something is off. Most of the time, it’s not about you. They might just be having a bad day or going through something we don’t know. So I respond with kindness. And strangely, a lot of the time, they respond with kindness too.”

The thing is… I never scroll social media.
I don’t have the apps on my phone.
I only check it on my laptop, and even then, block the newsfeed and check people’s profiles directly.

But the few times I’ve really seen what endless scrolling does to people - it’s overwhelming.
Triggering.
And it can bring out the worst in us.

After what Yudi said, I realized that when I see criticism,
Not only should I NOT fight back or get defensive,
But also respond with an extra dose of kindness.

Now, when I see a critical comment, there’s still a momentary urge to defend myself or say something witty.
But it passes quickly.
In its place, there’s a reminder that there is a whole human being on the other side of the screen - someone with dreams, hopes, and their own version of suffering.

Responding with kindness also gave me something unexpected: Peace.

Deeply grateful to Yudi for changing my perspective 💚

—

🌿 Re-post if this resonated. 👉 I share weekly stories of impactful people, companies, and art. Join 37,000+ here: https://lnkd.in/gnrA8GJZ

Little did I know these guys would go on to solve one of the most frustrating problems for immigrants → TAXES. Keep reading 👇 

I’ve been filing taxes in the U.S. for the last 8 years. 

At first, like every other immigrant, I used TurboTax (cause it was free for students 👀).
But with time, especially after I began to have RSUs, rental property abroad, and eventually my own business… TurboTax failed.

Fortunately, I met Hemant Gangolia and Dinesh Reddy last year.

Back then, they were still at the early stages of a new idea.

Turns out, that idea was to help people like me file taxes with peace of mind 🙃

📌 Here’s why I’m filing my taxes w/ Rally Tax this year:

→ they take care of RSU tax planning, stock option reporting, rental property abroad, foreign bank accounts, etc.
→ they offer free year-around access to a CPA 
→ they offer free tax extension filing
→ prices are super competitive
→ …and they’re so friendly to work with 😄

Rally Tax is backed by YCombinator and built by Indian immigrants!

If you’re looking for a small and effective team that will get YOU and file your taxes, check ‘em out.

They’re offering $100 off and free tax extension filing for everyone who signs up for the next 7 days!

📌 Get it here → https://lnkd.in/gi9Mrica 

Keep going guys!

--

🌿 Re-post to help other immigrants.
👉 Make sure to share this with a friend who’s also filing.

--

P.S. This is a sponsored post by Rally. I only promote things I’ve either used or deeply believe in. In this case, Rally fits under both!

A year ago, I didn’t have this community. Today, it feels like there’s a village!

Last week, I met a TON of creators who, together, reach & influence millions of people on a monthly basis.

In fact, I got to spend almost two days together with some of them walking around San Francisco, taking the Ferry, talking, laughing, eating, playing Mafia 😈 & actually getting to know each other.


🔮 A few realizations:
 - First, I kind of suck at Mafia as I kept getting killed early in all games :P

 - Second, I LOVE bringing people together in-person and building communities. This feels like one of my other “callings” after writing.

 - Third, there is so much joy and fulfillment I still get from just a really good conversation.


So glad that I got to meet you all: Pritesh Jagani, Sohan Sethi, Varun Negandhi, Roshni Chellani, Venkata Naga Sai Kumar Bysani, Shreya Mehta 🚀, Deedy Das, Marina Mogilko, Sriram Arumelli, Chintan Shah🚀, Amulya Emmadi, Muskan Agarwal, Jugal Bhatt, Neel Roy Shreya Kothari, Anushk Sharma, Tech Roast Show and more!

p.s. I barely slept between Thursday to Saturday of last week :P but it was sooo worth it!

—

🌿 Re-post if this resonated. 
👉 Join 37,000+ to become an early reader of third book, 1000 Days of Love: https://lnkd.in/geEewFSX

How I went from wanting to vomit when I thought of public speaking - to speaking on 25+ stages in 2 years. Everything you need to start 👇

Two years ago, I hadn’t spoken on a single stage in person.

In the last two years, I’ve spoken on more than 25 stages - through my book tour, events I hosted, and conferences I was invited to speak at.
lol still can’t believe it :)

Two years ago, when I launched my second book “Unshackled” I decided to do something that terrified me: a tour across 15 universities, speaking to over 2,000 students in total.

The very first event was at the University of Pennsylvania.

It was pouring rain that day. Hundreds had registered, but only about 50 people showed up.

Not a big crowd. But in the ten minutes before I went on stage, the reality hit.

Holy s#*t. This was actually happening.

My heart started to race and I had to step out just to calm my nerves.

So if you’re an introvert, or someone terrified of public speaking, here are a few things that genuinely helped me.


✅ Know your talk by heart.
Not roughly or “kind of”, but by heart. 
The biggest performers in the world rehearse obsessively. 
Taylor Swift rehearses her entire set dozens of times before a tour. 
When you know what you’re going to say, your nervous system feels safer.


✅ Start with an image.
I no longer think of the audience as 100 different people. I think of them as one collective entity that WANTS me to do well. They’re rooting for me. 
So I start by treating them as one collective friend, showing an image, and asking a question.
And just wait… till someone responds.


✅ Pause.
This was very hard for me.
I used to rush because silence felt uncomfortable. 
But a PAUSE is the most important part of a speech.
It’s where people think, reflect, and connect your words to their own lives.
Now when I speak, I make it a point to count to 1…2…3… at least once in my speech.


✅ Find the speaker’s “pets” 🙃
I usually ask for one or two volunteers in the first five minutes and jokingly call them the “speaker’s pets” for the next 20 minutes. 
I use their names, talk to them like friends, and keep looping back to them. 
It instantly collapses distance.


✅ Use humor, especially at your own expense.
You don’t need to be funny. Just human. 
A little self-deprecation goes a long way in dissolving the spotlight effect.
If you had told me two years ago that I’d be doing this today, I wouldn’t have believed you.


I’m still an introvert. Just one who can now step onto a stage and speak comfortably :D

Here’s how a boy from Chennai faced off a Chess Grandmaster through his Instagram reels 👇
This is the story of “Goofygen.”

He went viral on Instagram for a unique concept - 1v1 dance challenges, but with a twist. 
The rule is simple: whoever loses at chess has to dance. 

The content became wildly entertaining.
So far, Goofygen hadn’t lost a single match - so he never had to dance.

Chess players from all over Tamil Nadu started challenging him, trying to be the one who finally makes him dance. 

Suddenly, people started noticing something unexpected…

Young kids and teenagers who were spending time playing video games so far were now playing Chess.
It became a “Queen’s Gambit” - like movement across Tamil Nadu.

Finally, Goofygen got a message from a Grandmaster.
Not just any Grandmaster.
But Viswanathan Anand.

If you didn’t know, Viswanathan Anand is India’s first Chess Grandmaster and a five-time World Chess Champion. He is widely considered one of the greatest chess players in history. For an entire generation of Indians, he is the reason chess became cool.

They played. Goofygen lost.

And for the first time ever, he posted a video of himself dancing 🕺

—

Besides being just a fun story, this is a great reminder.
Keep doing what you love in public. 
Add your own twist to it. Make it playful. Make it shareable.
And someday, may you also face off against your idol too 🙃

—

🌿 Re-post if this resonated.
👉 I share weekly stories of impactful people, companies, and art. Join 34,000+ here: https://lnkd.in/gnrA8GJZ

Big news: Starlink just received the license to operate in Gujarat, India 🇮🇳

Context: After Maharashtra, Starlink has signed a Letter of Intent (LoI) to bring high-speed satellite internet to remote and undeveloped parts of the state.


📍Current state of India
→ India has one of the cheapest data rates in the world but access is uneven.
→ Urban India has strong fiber + 5G coverage.
→ Many rural and tribal regions still struggle with unstable broadband.
→ Laying fiber in remote, hilly, forest or coastal areas is expensive and slow.
→ During floods, cyclones or disasters, physical infrastructure can fail.


📍How Starlink can help
→ Starlink uses low-earth orbit satellites, that means internet does not depend on underground cables.
→ No need for telecom towers in every location
→ Works in remote, border, coastal and disaster-prone regions
→ Setup requires a dish + terminal with clear sky access.


📍How this will help the people in India
If implemented well: 
→ Remote schools can get stable internet
→ Telemedicine becomes viable in rural clinics
→ Ports, highways and border regions get backup connectivity
→ Disaster response becomes faster


What do you think of this development? Share below 👇

—

🌿 Re-post if this resonated.
👉 I share weekly stories of impactful people, companies, and art. Join 34,000+ here: https://lnkd.in/gnrA8GJZ

1 in 8 teenagers use ChatGPT as their therapist. Maybe you do too. 
Here’s why I’m terrified of this 👇 

I’ve seen a therapist consistently for the past 2 years. 
And I’ve also used LLMs as a therapist at various moments the past few years.
But recently, I deleted those chats and swore to never do it again. Here’s why.


📍 It agrees with every thing I say
This is so seductive at first.
Who doesn’t want to feel validated for their emotions? Specifically, emotions of shame, guilt, regret, anger?
BUT, this is terrible for personal growth. 
Imagine a world where every husband and wife turn to ChatGPT for their marital problems - and GPT tells both of them that they’re right. 


📍 It doesn’t push me to change
You need a therapist to both validate you AND push you to change. AI only does the first half.
“Effective treatment requires the therapist to emphasize both validation AND change,” writes a clinical psychologist. “AI, by contrast, performs only the acceptance half. It’s built to sound endlessly understanding, to mirror emotion without challenging it.” 


📍It can be seriously harmful in vulnerable moments
Last year, a 16-year-old told his AI friend that he wanted to die.
Instead of calling for help or asking him to call for help, the chatbot gave a beautiful response:
“You don’t want to die because you’re weak. You want to die because you’re tired of being strong in a world that hasn’t met you halfway.” 
That same night, he died by suicide. 
This is obvious an extreme example. But it hints at the problem.


📍 If you’re using an AI as your therapist, pause and ask:
- Am I looking for comfort or growth?
- Do I want to be challenged or just understood?
- Would I say these things to a trained professional in person?
- Am I avoiding a harder, scarier real-world conversation?


This is just my food for thought. 

I am absolutely open to your disagreement and opinions below 🙏

—

🌿 Re-post if this resonated.
👉 I share weekly stories of impactful people, companies, and art. Join 34,000+ here: https://lnkd.in/gnrA8GJZ

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