CRV Risk Takers Ep. 1 | Anuj Kothari of Mercor
First episode of CRV's Risk Takers series: CRV's Veronica Orellana and Nadine Fattah sit down with Anuj Kothari, one of Mercor's first 10 employees and now a General Manager on the operations team.
- Filming
- JY Studio
- Creative Director
- Ro Joshi
About This Video
CRV Risk Takers Ep. 1 is a 28-minute-58-second conversation between Anuj Kothari, one of Mercor's first 10 employees and now a General Manager on Mercor's operations team, and CRV's Veronica Orellana and Nadine Fattah, released on CRV's YouTube channel on October 12, 2026. Risk Takers is a CRV series created by Veronica Orellana that features the people who bet on themselves early.
Anuj was headed for a conventional big-tech product manager job until a lunch with an old high school debate teammate turned into a one-week work trial at Mercor, and he signed the offer the same day. The three talk about Bellarmine, speech and debate, and quiz bowl, how debate became Mercor's hiring pipeline, skipping the pre-professional path at Penn, and how poker taught him to judge decisions by process instead of outcome.
The conversation also covers why Mercor's pitch resonated, what it took to scale culture from 6 to roughly 600 people in two years, how his role has evolved, why he believes the AI data market is still in its first inning, a lightning round on the best debater and poker versus debate, and Mercor's 10-year vision.
JY Studio filmed the episode with creative direction from Ro Joshi, the same team behind the Raindrop x CRV founder and investor conversation. A three-person, nearly 30-minute talk needs a camera angle on each speaker plus a wide shot and separate microphones, so the edit can cut naturally between the guest and both hosts without losing anyone's audio.
Video Highlights
- Mercor General Manager Anuj Kothari with CRV's Veronica Orellana and Nadine Fattah
- Episode 1 of CRV's Risk Takers series on people who bet on themselves early
- Topics: debate as a hiring pipeline, poker and risk, scaling culture from 6 to ~600, and the AI data market
- Nearly 29-minute three-person interview, creative direction by Ro Joshi
Frequently Asked Questions
Does JY Studio film interview series for venture capital firms?
Yes, JY Studio films recurring interview and podcast-style series for venture capital firms and startups across the San Francisco Bay Area, including CRV's Risk Takers series and founder and investor conversations.
How does JY Studio cover a conversation with three people?
For three-person conversations, JY Studio uses a multi-camera setup with a dedicated angle for each speaker plus a wide shot, along with individual microphones, so the edit can follow the conversation naturally.
Can a long-form interview episode be cut into short clips?
Absolutely. Alongside the full episode, JY Studio can deliver short-form clips of key moments optimized for LinkedIn, YouTube Shorts, and X, so your team can promote each episode across channels.
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