Episodes

His Video AI app hit $10M+ ARR in Months—with 0 outbound sales. | Michael Lingelbach, Founder of Hedra
Aug. 18, 2025

His Video AI app hit $10M+ ARR in Months—with 0 outbound sales. | Mic…

Hedra CEO Michael Lingelbach breaks down how his generative video app went from zero to millions of users and an eight-figure run rate in months — then deliberately slowed down to rebuild a V2 that enterprises would pay for. ...

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He grew to millions in ARR in 18 months—by fighting with his co-founders on purpose. | Ross McNairn, Co-Founder of Wordsmith AI.
Aug. 14, 2025

He grew to millions in ARR in 18 months—by fighting with his co-found…

Ross went from lawyer to self-taught engineer to CTO at a 1,600-person unicorn—then quit to build Wordsmith AI. In 18 months, he's raised $30M and grown to mid-single-digit millions in ARR by doing everything differently. He ...

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He thought his startup would fail—then grew to $100M ARR. | Rick Song, Co-founder of Persona
Aug. 10, 2025

He thought his startup would fail—then grew to $100M ARR. | Rick Song…

Rick built Persona into a $100M+ ARR unicorn, but he never thought it would work. In fact, Rick started Persona believing it would probably fail, and that mindset might be exactly why it succeeded. In this episode, Rick revea...

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Forget PMF—Neil Patel says to give your product away for free instead. | Neil Patel, Co-Founder of Neil Patel Digital
Aug. 7, 2025

Forget PMF—Neil Patel says to give your product away for free instead…

Neil Patel just flipped everything you know about startups upside down. He says product-market fit is overrated, giving away your software for free can make you rich, and the real secret to scaling isn’t charging customers—it...

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He got kicked out of Harvard—then grew to $5M ARR in just 3 months. | Roy Lee, Co-Founder of Cluely
Aug. 4, 2025

He got kicked out of Harvard—then grew to $5M ARR in just 3 months. |…

Roy Lee went from getting kicked out of Harvard and Columbia to building Cluely, one of the fastest-growing AI startups ever—going from 0 to $5 million ARR in just 3 months. We go deep on Roy’s playbook for using controversy,...

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She raised $1.3M, and delivered real, strategic value — then shut it down. | Mary Beth Snodgrass, Founder of Healthiby
July 31, 2025

She raised $1.3M, and delivered real, strategic value — then shut it …

Mary Beth Snodgrass shares the raw and real story behind Healthiby—an innovative healthcare startup that succeeded in delivering measurable health outcomes but ultimately didn't take off. Hear firsthand what went wrong, from ...

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He went viral at 11 y/o—built the world's best dictation app, then raised a $30M Series A. | Tanay Kothari, Founder of Wispr Flow
July 28, 2025

He went viral at 11 y/o—built the world's best dictation app, then ra…

Tanay started coding at 10, built a product with millions of users by 11, and never stopped. In this episode, he shares how he created Wispr Flow—one of the fastest growing AI startups today. He's built the world's best voice...

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PMF Observations: Why after PMF, every problem is a people problem.
July 24, 2025

PMF Observations: Why after PMF, every problem is a people problem.

We go through some lessons I learned from my own startup journey. I also go through why almost every business challenge beyond product-market fit is actually a people issue—and how to quickly spot and fix these hidden proble...

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How Mercury Hit $500M ARR—then raised $300M from Sequoia at $3.5B. | Immad Akhund, CEO & Founder of Mercury
July 21, 2025

How Mercury Hit $500M ARR—then raised $300M from Sequoia at $3.5B. | …

Immad grew Mercury to $500M in annualized revenue and profitable. Mercury is one of the fastest-growing fintech startups ever. No wonder they just raised $300M from Sequoia at $3.5B. Immad breaks down exactly how he structure...

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Mike Maples: Your Startup Idea Isn’t Crazy Enough—And it's holding you back | Mike Maples, Founder of Floodgate
July 17, 2025

Mike Maples: Your Startup Idea Isn’t Crazy Enough—And it's holding yo…

Ever wonder why some startups follow every “right” rule and still fail, while others break every norm and dominate? Mike Maples (Floodgate, author of Pattern Breakers ) reveals how true breakthrough startups aren’t built by c...

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How he grew to $100M ARR—then exited for $460M. | Zuben Matthews, Founder of Brigit
July 14, 2025

How he grew to $100M ARR—then exited for $460M. | Zuben Matthews, Fou…

Zuben turned his personal experience with crippling overdraft fees into Brigit, a fintech he sold for $460 million after hitting $100M ARR. This episode gives early-stage founders the unfiltered truth: how Zuben discovered ma...

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He Hit $3.5M ARR and Still Failed. Here’s His #1 Mistake. | Joseph Lee, Founder of Freshline
July 10, 2025

He Hit $3.5M ARR and Still Failed. Here’s His #1 Mistake. | Joseph Le…

Joseph built Freshline to $3.5 million in revenue and nearly $2 million raised. It looked like a marketplace success story—until it wasn’t. In this episode, Joe shares the hidden reasons marketplaces fail, critical lessons on...

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1st-time founder raises $140M with $0 revenue—grows to 800 employees & profitable. | Andrew Rubin, Founder of Illumio
July 3, 2025

1st-time founder raises $140M with $0 revenue—grows to 800 employees …

Andrew Rubin raised $40M in 6 months before writing a single line of code—and another $100M before seeing his first dollar of revenue. Today, Illumio is valued at billions and counts Morgan Stanley among its earliest customer...

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PMF Observations: Why it doesn't matter how fast you get to $1M ARR
July 3, 2025

PMF Observations: Why it doesn't matter how fast you get to $1M ARR

Forget what you thought about early-stage growth. In this must-listen episode, you’ll hear firsthand how startup success truly happens—and spoiler alert, there’s no playbook. From companies like Carbon6 using roll-up strategi...

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He went 7 years with no revenue— then grew to  $100M ARR. | Rob Woollen, Co-Founder of Sigma
June 30, 2025

He went 7 years with no revenue— then grew to $100M ARR. | Rob Wooll…

Rob Woollen, founder of Sigma Computing, shares the unfiltered reality of going from 0 to $100M ARR. After spending seven years grinding without product-market fit, Sigma finally hit an inflection point—tripling revenue year ...

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$10M Raised, 500K Users, but she still failed—here’s what went wrong | Benedetta Lucini, Founder of Oval Money
June 26, 2025

$10M Raised, 500K Users, but she still failed—here’s what went wrong …

This is the brutally honest startup story every founder needs to hear. Benedetta shares how she built a fintech app to half a million users and raised $10M—yet still failed. You’ll learn why chasing big partnerships can back...

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How $100B Mercado Libre got started—& why it almost went bankrupt after 9 months. | Hernan Kazah, Co-Founder Mercado Libre
June 23, 2025

How $100B Mercado Libre got started—& why it almost went bankrupt aft…

How do you build a $100B business without hypergrowth or endless funding rounds? Hernan Kazah co-founded Mercado Libre, the Latin American ecommerce giant, at the peak of the dot-com bubble. But when the market crashed, fundi...

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PMF Observations: How 4 Founders Built Massive Startups Their Own Way
June 19, 2025

PMF Observations: How 4 Founders Built Massive Startups Their Own Way

Four founders prove you don’t need Silicon Valley, a technical degree, or a massive seed round to build a massive company. We go through the key observations from the last 4 episodes: How Skip created a $200M business in a th...

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His AI Voice Startup grew to $10M ARR in 1 Year—after 3 Years Stuck at $500K | Jordan Dearsley, Founder of Vapi
June 16, 2025

His AI Voice Startup grew to $10M ARR in 1 Year—after 3 Years Stuck a…

Jordan Dearsley spent 3 years building a startup stuck at $500K in revenue—then he burned it all down and moved to San Francisco. A year later, he was at $10M ARR. This episode walks through Jordan’s decision to abandon a pro...

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WebSummit Panel w/ Founders of Glean ($5B) and Huntress ($2B): What it takes to hit $100M ARR
June 12, 2025

WebSummit Panel w/ Founders of Glean ($5B) and Huntress ($2B): What i…

Two founders, two wildly different paths to $100M ARR: Arvind Jain, founder of Glean, walked away from a unicorn to start over—raising $15M without revenue and ignoring lean startup rules. Kyle Hanslovan, founder of Huntress,...

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How his $2B startup grew to $10M+ ARR with zero marketing. | Avery Pennarun, Founder of Tailscale
June 9, 2025

How his $2B startup grew to $10M+ ARR with zero marketing. | Avery Pe…

Avery Pennarun raised $160M for Tailscale—without even meaning to. What started as a small, simple project exploded into an unstoppable force in network connectivity and security. This episode reveals exactly how Avery turned...

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May Startup News: Elizabeth Holmes Returns, Billion-Dollar Frauds, & the End of Tech Jobs w/ Jack Kuveke
June 5, 2025

May Startup News: Elizabeth Holmes Returns, Billion-Dollar Frauds, & …

Description: Jack Kuveke returns to unpack the wildest startup news this month: from billion-dollar frauds and crypto scams, to OpenAI’s secretive $6.5 billion gadget project with Apple’s design legend Jony Ive. We dig into w...

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He hit $1M ARR in 10 months—after doing of a full, 180 pivot. | Merrill Lutsky, Founder of Graphite
June 2, 2025

He hit $1M ARR in 10 months—after doing of a full, 180 pivot. | Merri…

After two pivots and nearly running out of runway, Merrill Lutsky found insane growth—scaling Graphite to tens of thousands of daily users and millions in ARR. He reveals exactly how Graphite landed its first massive enterpri...

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PMF Observations: Why passion is more important than you think
May 29, 2025

PMF Observations: Why passion is more important than you think

Most early-stage founders get trapped in the chaos of endless tasks, there's always too much to do and not enough time. We go through the last 4 episodes to see what how the best founders prioritize. We also see why you can raise millions without real traction but can’t fake product-market fit, how…

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