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    Technology

    The Peel with Turner Novak

    Exploring the world’s greatest startup stories.

    Get a behind the scenes look into the founding stories of your favorite companies. Learn how the industries they operate in actually work, and learn playbooks and tactics you can use to launch and scale your own business.

    Advertise

    Copyright: © Turner Novak

    • Apple Podcasts
    • Google Play
    • Spotify

    Latest Episodes:
    Why Founders are Moving to Chattanooga, Tennessee to Lock-in | Cam Doody at Brickyard Feb 27, 2025
    Show notes

    Cam Doody is the Co-founder and General Partner of Brickyard, the venture capital firm moving founders to Chattanooga, Tennessee to lock-in with no distractions until they find product market fit.

    Brickyard is one of the most unique venture firms you’ll ever come across, and we get into how it how it was inspired by a 16x fund based in Chattanooga, why Cam and his co-founders started it during ZIRP, and why they hope everyone copies their model.

    We also get into Cam’s startup Bellhops, which he started in 2011 and has since grown into the third largest moving company in the US. We talk running a local services business, why 5-star review systems don’t work, and how U-Haul almost killed Bellhops overnight back in 2016.

    Thanks to Nader Khalil, Matt Harb, Austin Beveridge, and Spencer Levitt for their help brainstorming topics for Cam!


    Timestamps:

    (0:00) Intro

    (03:33) Chattanooga: Dirty manufacturing city to high tech

    (05:23) Brickyard’s precursor, the Lamp Post Group (a 16x fund)

    (09:46) How ZIRP screwed up early stage investing

    (13:49) What is Brickayrd?

    (21:14) Getting Brickyard off the ground in 2021

    (26:25) 100+ year old rug warehouse + maintenance nightmares

    (33:13) Cam wants everyone to copy Brickyard

    (36:31) Why economic development startup programs don’t work

    (38:59) YC teams doing Brickyard to escape the Trough of Sorrow

    (44:07) How Brickyard companies raise Series As

    (46:10) Nvidia acquiring Brev

    (52:18) How to deal with a co-founder breakup

    (55:45) Starting Bellhop to build a better moving company

    (1:02:27) How U-Haul almost killed them overnight

    (1:06:54) Marketing tactics for a local services business

    (1:12:05) Why 5-star review systems don’t work

    (1:18:16) How Cam’s view of VC’s changed after becoming one

    (1:20:37) Ways VC’s actually add value

    (1:25:05) The thesis for Bitcoin

    (1:39:21) Cam’s annual remote desert island vacation


    Referenced

    Check out Brickyard: https://www.justlaybrick.com/

    The Trough of Sorrow: https://andrewchen.com/after-the-techcrunch-bump-life-in-the-trough-of-sorrow/

    Bellhops: https://www.getbellhops.com/


    Follow Cam

    Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/camdoody

    LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cam-doody-b489a124


    Follow Turner

    Twitter: https://twitter.com/TurnerNovak

    LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/turnernovak


    Subscribe to my newsletter to get every episode + the transcript in your inbox every week: https://www.thespl.it/


    Zero to $20m ARR in Two Months: Inside Bolt’s 7-Year Journey to Overnight Success | Eric Simons, Co-founder & CEO Feb 20, 2025
    Show notes

    Eric Simons is the Co-founder and CEO of StackBlitz, best known for its breakout product Bolt, letting anyone build full stack apps from text, in the browser.

    Bolt launched in October of 2024, quickly growing from zero to a $20 million revenue run rate in two months, making it one of the fastest growing products ever. But Eric will be the first to tell you it wasn’t an overnight success - the product didn’t even work the first time they tried building it.

    We go behind the scenes of the seven year journey building the tech that eventually led to Bolt, how to avoid distractions, being capital efficient, living in a frat house for $100/month, and squatting in AOL’s headquarters for $1/day when he was 19.

    Eric also takes us inside the weeks after Bolt’s viral launch, figuring out a new business model on the fly, his strategy for fundraising and PR, why you should open source your code, Bolt’s playbook for building a community around the product that enabled their viral launch, and how AI is changing software forever.


    Timestamps:

    (0:00) Intro

    (2:24) Building full stack apps from text, in your browser

    (4:19) Running an operating system in the browser

    (11:48) Why Bolt failed the first time, almost shutting down the company last summer

    (20:18) How Bolt went viral from one tweet

    (28:33) Differences between ChatGPT, Claude, Cursor

    (39:38) Why AI code gen changes the software world order

    (42:01) What happened inside Bolt going from zero to $20m ARR in two months

    (47:32) Not sharing fundraises publicly + his PR strategy

    (58:57) Why the team never gave up for seven years

    (1:01:07) Living in a frat house for $100/month

    (1:04:07) How to be capital efficient

    (1:09:00) Living on $1/day in AOL’s HQ when he was 19

    (1:14:01) Inside Bolt’s Series B

    (1:21:03) Bolt’s hiring and product roadmap

    (1:32:58) Creating a new inference-based AI business model

    (1:38:07) Eric's playbook for building a community of users

    (1:44:05) Why you should open source your code


    Referenced


    Try Bolt: https://bolt.new/

    Bolt on X: https://x.com/boltdotnew

    Check out Webcontainers: https://webcontainers.io/

    $0 to $4m ARR case study with Anthropic: https://www.anthropic.com/customers/stackblitz

    Bolt’s open source code: https://www.bolt.diy/

    Bolt / StackBlitz is hiring! https://stackblitz.com/careers

    Eric’s favorite cafe, The Lighthouse SF: https://thelighthousessf.com/

    Lady Gaga’s “one person” montage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRxsX_30tjs

    Living inside AOL HQ at 19 years old: https://www.cnet.com/tech/tech-industry/meet-the-tireless-entrepreneur-who-squatted-at-aol/

    Bloomberg coverage of StackBlitz Series B: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-01-21/ai-speech-to-code-startup-stackblitz-is-in-talks-for-a-700-million-valuation?embedded-checkout=true

    Joel Spolsky’s blog: https://www.joelonsoftware.com/


    Follow Eric

    Twitter: https://x.com/ericsimons40

    LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eric-simons-a464a664/


    Follow Turner

    Twitter: https://twitter.com/TurnerNovak

    LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/turnernovak


    Subscribe to my newsletter to get every episode + the transcript in your inbox every week: https://www.thespl.it/


    Rick Zullo on Building Equal Ventures, Why Traction is Overrated, Advice for Emerging Managers Feb 13, 2025
    Show notes

    Rick Zullo is the Founder of Equal Ventures. Our conversation gets into Equal’s unique approach to venture capital, thinking more like public market and private equity investors, and why they also think traction is overrated at Seed.

    We talk through Equal’s thesis-driven model, employing a team of product owners, only investing in only 3 to 5 themes at once, and Rick’s admiration of Charlie Munger.

    We also talk AI - who will benefit the most, what he does and doesn’t like in terms of investing in the space, why venture capital is not really venture capital anymore, and why it sucks to be a Seed investor right now.

    Rick also runs the Emerging Manager Circle, a group for emerging fund managers. We get into the origin story of the group, his own struggles raising his first fund, and why talent is leaving the mega funds.


    Timestamps:

    (00:00) Intro

    (03:38) Why venture capital isn’t venture capital anymore

    (11:33) How founders should approach raising a Seed round

    (14:13) The realities of downrounds

    (15:55) Rick’s favorite founders that raised little capital

    (18:54) Biggest fundraising mistake founders make

    (21:21) Why we need to stop funding AI companies

    (28:34) How AI will benefit private equity the most

    (33:30) Three levels of opportunity in AI right now

    (38:36) Why traction is overrated at Seed

    (41:38) Investing in businesses with compounding returns on capital

    (52:07) VC lessons from PE firms

    (56:24) Why Seed investing sucks right now

    (1:04:15) The beauty of small exits

    (1:12:52) How failing to start a fund in college led to Equal Ventures

    (1:20:06) The struggle raising Equal’s $55m Fund 1

    (1:23:23) Why the best talent is leaving mega VC firms

    (1:30:16) The Emerging Managers Circle


    Referenced

    * Equal Ventures: https://www.equal.vc/

    * EMC Summit: https://www.emcsummit.com/


    Follow Rick

    Twitter: https://x.com/Rick_Zullo

    LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rickzullo/


    Follow Turner

    Twitter: https://twitter.com/TurnerNovak

    LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/turnernovak


    Subscribe to my newsletter to get every episode + the transcript in your inbox every week: https://www.thespl.it/


    Illegal Immigrant to $160m Fund 1: Inside Villi Iltchev’s Journey Building Category Ventures Feb 06, 2025
    Show notes

    Villi Iltchev is the founder of Category Ventures, where he invests early in enterprise software startups. And he’s done it longer than almost anyone, building Salesforce’s corporate venture arm and investing early in companies like Airtable, Zapier, GitLab, Remote, Hubspot, Gusto, and Box.


    Fresh off raising his $160m Fund 1, we get into the opportunity he saw to start Category, and how San Francisco and Silicon Valley have changed over the past 30 years.


    He also shares his story growing up as an illegal immigrant in Greece, moving to the US by himself in high school, the biggest mistake of his career, advice for founders selling their company, why unit economics and profitability always matters, how developer tools went from terrible to amazing businesses, the mistake that almost killed GitLab after he invested, and why you should raise your seed round from a seed fund.


    Timestamps:

    (00:00) Intro

    (03:22) Illegally immigrating from Bulgaria to Greece

    (05:14) Moving to the US by himself in high school

    (13:15) Moving to SF in the Dot Com Bubble

    (15:49) How SF changed over the last 25 years

    (22:27) Why HP fell from the top of Silicon Valley

    (25:36) Building Salesforce’s corporate VC arm

    (30:29) Why SaaS was so transformative

    (34:35) Angel investing in Airtable

    (39:52) The biggest mistake of his career

    (42:13) Why unit economics always matter

    (47:20) Biggest mistake when selling a tech company

    (49:00) Almost starting a software PE firm and landing in VC

    (55:45) Lessons from August Capital + Evolution of venture

    (59:22) Early days of dev tools + Investing in GitLab

    (1:09:50) Why being contrarian is dumb

    (1:11:45) How GitLab almost died and emerged stronger

    (1:16:48) Villi’s journey to starting Category

    (1:25:22) Category’s thesis

    (1:30:48) Why startups always come in batches

    (1:31:57) The importance of track record in venture

    (1:35:32) Deciding a $160m fund size

    (1:39:26) Why you should raise seed rounds from seed firms

    (1:43:40) What Villi looks for in a startup


    Referenced

    Category VC: https://www.categoryvc.com/

    Category’s $160m Fund 1: https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexkonrad/2024/12/17/villi-iltchev-raises-160-million-debut-fund-category/

    Aaron Levie (Box) on The Peel: https://youtu.be/cLn_tqPvNf4

    GitLab’s Recovery Stream: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0TRHLvYGE0

    Guy Podjarny (Snyk) on The Peel: https://youtu.be/BzKlZ_v4uCw

    Why SaaS won’t consolidate: https://medium.com/@villispeaks/why-saas-consolidation-is-not-happening-2b9b722e0250


    Follow Villi

    Twitter: https://x.com/villi

    LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/villi04/


    Follow Turner

    Twitter: https://twitter.com/TurnerNovak

    LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/turnernovak


    Subscribe to my newsletter to get every episode + the transcript in your inbox every week: https://www.thespl.it/


    Govtech + Drones Crash Course, Lessons From 2 Exits | Rahul Sidhu Jan 30, 2025
    Show notes

    Rahul Sidhu is the co-founder of SPIDRTech and Aerodome, two companies in the public safety space.


    He’s sold both of them, and our conversation unpacks all the lessons he learned, what he did differently with his second company Aerodome, and why he sold only 17 months after starting it.


    If you tuned into last week’s episode, Paul told us to never talk to the cops. Rahul gives us the other side of the story, sharing his playbook for selling to police, the government, how he met Nikita Bier in high school, and why he’s still bullish on drones, robotics, and AI in the physical world.


    Timestamps:
    (00:00) Intro
    (04:07) What its like testifying to Congress
    (08:06) Why 90% of what he knew about police was wrong
    (13:15) How to sell to police departments
    (15:24) His first business selling WoW accounts
    (19:00) Meeting Nikita Bier in high school
    (21:29) Starting SPIDRTech to improve police + community relationships
    (27:45) Two biggest mistakes building SPIDR
    (31:47) How startups break down when scaling
    (34:19) Selling SPIDR instead of raising a Series B
    (40:12) Why Aerodome was so much easier to start
    (42:55) Why Rahul loves unsexy markets with founder market fit
    (46:03) Starting Aerodome, drones as first responders
    (53:39) Building a capital efficient hardware startup
    (56:46) How regulatory changes made an opening for Aerodome
    (01:00:13) Inside Aerodome’s Series A
    (01:03:57) Selling Aerodome to Flock Safety within 17 months
    (01:09:31) Saying “would I work for this team?” when getting acquired
    (01:14:35) Seeing a homeless guy in an Aerodome shirt
    (01:17:02) The massive Robotics + AI opportunity this decade
    (01:21:42) What’s really happening with drones in New Jersey


    Referenced:
    SPIDRTech: https://www.spidrtech.com
    Aerodome: https://www.aerodome.com/
    Nikita Bier’s Ted Talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9QTVII_lkg


    Follow Rahul:
    Twitter: https://x.com/rahoolsidoo
    LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rahulsidhu/

    Follow Turner:
    Twitter: https://twitter.com/TurnerNovak
    LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/turnernovak

    Subscribe to my newsletter to get every episode + the transcript in your inbox every week: https://www.thespl.it/


    Infrastructure for AI Browsers with Paul Klein, Founder + CEO of 🅱️ Browserbase Jan 23, 2025
    Show notes

    Paul Klein is the Founder and CEO of Browserbase, building infrastructure for AI browsers.
    Our conversation gets into the future of software and AI agents, why authentication is a huge problem in AI, how the best infrastructure companies become product companies, and the memo he wrote that convinced him to start Browserbase despite not wanting to build another company.
    A year ago, Paul was a relatively unknown commodity, and definitely did not want to raise venture capital again. He shares the playbook he used to go from zero to raising $27 million in nine months “as a non-famous person” (his words).
    He shares all his lessons learned in the arena as he’s processing them, like what he thinks will unlock better AI agents, why you should like your own tweets, and how Browserbase competes with incumbents.
    Timestamps:
    (00:00) Intro
    (02:39) How LLMs unlock automation online
    (08:34) The future of software (AI agents)
    (11:21) Why AI agents need better authentication
    (12:59) Lessons from Twilio on building an infrastructure company
    (17:27) Learnings from his first startup
    (19:56) Bubbles, and how they drive innovation
    (20:37) Reasons this moment in AI is special
    (29:58) Why technical founders love post-PMF
    (31:55) The memo that started Browserbase
    (34:09) Why a startup should be a means of last resort
    (36:53) Being a solo founder
    (42:24) Importance of in-person culture
    (45:56) The best place to find engineers
    (48:34) How Paul hired a contractor army to build Browserbase
    (50:16) Why you can’t hire mercenaries
    (54:28) The power of emojis in marketing
    (57:39) Browserbase's early growth playbook (3 videos)
    (01:04:00) Benefits of sharing an office with other startups
    (01:06:00) Sales lessons from his parents
    (01:08:07) Why startups are like video games
    (01:13:43) Successful founders work the hardest and are shameless
    (01:18:44) Customer support is a startups greatest differentiator
    (01:22:06) Paul’s playbook that raised $27m in nine months as a non-famous person
    (01:29:03) How investors make decisions
    (01:33:10) Risks help startups avoid competition
    (01:36:37) Great infrastructure needs its own frameworks
    (01:39:05) Long-term thinking in LLMs will enable mass AI agents
    (01:42:21) Avoiding tech debt with AI moving so fast
    (01:43:48) Infrastructure companies need to become product companies
    (01:46:54) The Sine Wave philosophy to startups
    Referenced:
    Browserbase: https://www.browserbase.com/
    An Internet Browser for AI: https://memos.hawkhill.ventures/p/an-internet-browser-for-ai
    Rise of the Product Engineer: https://memos.hawkhill.ventures/p/rise-of-the-product-engineer
    Death to the Backend: https://memos.hawkhill.ventures/p/death-to-the-backend
    The three Browserbase marketing videos
    Pre-Seed: https://x.com/pk_iv/status/1775183751800377344
    Seed: https://x.com/pk_iv/status/1798731220005883935
    Series A: https://x.com/pk_iv/status/1851270308701106383
    Follow Paul:
    Twitter: https://x.com/pk_iv
    LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulkleiniv/
    Follow Turner:
    Twitter: https://x.com/TurnerNovak
    LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/turnernovak
    Subscribe to my newsletter to get every episode + the transcript in your inbox every week: https://www.thespl.it/


    Robinhood Co-founder Baiju Bhatt on the Journey to $40B, Building Space Solar Power with Lasers Jan 16, 2025
    Show notes

    You’re probably familiar with Baiju Bhatt’s work as the co-founder of Robinhood. But he’s also obsessed with space, and recently started Aetherflux, a space solar power company.
    We get into the physics of using lasers to beam solar power to the Earth, Aetherflux’s early roadmap, and how he went from zero to one going from building software to physical products.
    We also talk through the early days of Robinhood, getting turned down by hundreds of early investors, the accidental launch, how to know if you really have product market fit, how Aaron Levie at Box helped get Robinhood.com, the value of creativity and design, Baiju’s philosophies on combining qualitative and quantitative user research, and his favorite animal and classic car. He also tried to cut my hair.
    Timestamps:
    (00:00) Intro
    (02:31) Aetherflux: a space solar energy company
    (02:50) Origins of space solar power in the 40's & 70's
    (10:31) Safely beaming energy from space to Earth with lasers
    (13:46) Building floating space solar farms
    (21:27) Aetherflux's early roadmap
    (27:08) Growing up with dad as a Physics professor
    (32:18) Going zero to one building physical products
    (35:15) Baiju's favorite car, attempting a haircut, contemplating mustaches
    (38:27) Trying to prove Einstein wrong
    (41:42) Meeting Robinhood Co-founder Vlad at Stanford
    (44:10) Starting an algorithmic trading company
    (46:41) The beginnings of Robinhood
    (52:04) Getting turned down by hundreds of early investors
    (56:49) How they convinced Tim Draper to invest
    (59:39) Getting Robinhood.com because of Aaron Levie
    (01:01:28) Accidentally launching on a Friday afternoon
    (01:03:09) How to know if you have Product Market Fit
    (01:06:35) Combining qualitative and quantitative user research
    (01:14:23) Loving cats despite being allergic
    Referenced:
    Robinhood: https://www.robinhood.com
    Aetherflux: https://www.aetherflux.com/
    TechCrunch coverage: https://techcrunch.com/2024/10/09/billionaire-robinhood-co-founder-launches-aetherflux-a-space-based-solar-power-startup/
    Seinfeld mustache scene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzZsLaLChRg
    The Michelson–Morley experiment: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelson%E2%80%93Morley_experiment
    Episode with Aaron Levie @ Box: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLn_tqPvNf4
    Follow Baiju:
    X/Twitter: https://x.com/BaijuBhatt
    LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bprafulkumar
    Follow Turner:
    X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/TurnerNovak
    LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/turnernovak
    Subscribe to my newsletter to get every episode + the transcript in your inbox every week: https://www.thespl.it/


    Sheel Mohnot on All Things Fintech, Starting Better Tomorrow Ventures Jan 09, 2025
    Show notes

    Sheel Mohnot is the Co-founder of Better Tomorrow Ventures, an early stage fintech focused fund leading rounds in pre-seed and seed-stage companies.
    Our conversation weaves through Sheel’s two decades of building and investing in fintech, starting BTV, and why they started a fintech-focused accelerator, The Mint.
    Fun facts on Sheel, he was a contestant on the Zoom Bachelor during COVID lockdowns, in a Justin Bieber music video, got married in the Taco Bell Metaverse, and was once banned from Uber.
    We talk lessons competing against Stripe before selling his first company, common fintech startup pitfalls, and the trick every VC should use when fundraising.
    Timestamps:
    (00:00) Intro
    (03:13) Why fintech makes disproportionate positive change
    (07:49) Most interesting opportunities in fintech today
    (09:09) The accountant shortage
    (12:59) Common early fintech startup pitfalls
    (16:09) Building Fee Fighters to cut payment processing fees
    (21:15) Lessons competing with Stripe
    (21:57) Getting acquired by Groupon and adding $600m in market cap
    (25:11) Biggest first-time startup mistakes
    (29:21) Getting $10k in Uber credit via paid Google ads
    (32:13) Investing in Flexport
    (36:19) Navigating hot vs underhyped rounds
    (43:39) Sheel’s domain auction company
    (53:18) How he started angel investing
    (54:57) Spotify acquiring his podcast “The Pitch”
    (59:55) Why accelerators succeed and fail
    (01:06:07) The Mint, BTV’s fintech-focused accelerator
    (01:09:56) Camp BTV in the Santa Cruz Mountains
    (01:11:41) Early days of NerdWallet
    (01:14:55) Raising $75m BTV Fund 1 with Jake to fill a gap in the market
    (01:18:36) Understanding Fund of Funds incentives
    (01:22:15) References in VC fundraising
    (01:24:02) $150m BTV Fund 2
    (01:27:13) Importance of following-on when leading rounds
    Referenced:
    BTV: https://www.btv.vc/
    The Mint: https://www.themint.vc/
    Fee Fighters: https://techcrunch.com/2011/09/23/feefighters-launches-payment-gateway-samurai/
    Follow Sheel:
    Twitter: https://x.com/pitdesi
    LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/smohnot/
    Follow Turner:
    Twitter: https://twitter.com/TurnerNovak
    LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/turnernovak
    Subscribe to my newsletter to get every episode + the transcript in your inbox every week: https://www.thespl.it/


    Life360's 17-Year Journey to $3B | Chris Hulls, Founder and CEO Jan 02, 2025
    Show notes

    Chris Hulls is the co-founder and CEO of Life360, the social network for families. At the time of recording, its the 15th largest app in the US, with over $330 million in annual revenue, and valued at over $3 billion in the public markets.
    We go inside the two decade journey building Life360, competing against Sam Altman and Woz, almost getting cancelled on TikTok, and going public twice - first in Australia, then again in the US.
    Timestamps:
    (00:00) Intro
    (02:04) Why CEO’s are getting more authentic
    (04:59) Building a social network for family
    (08:14) Starting Life360 after Hurricane Katrina
    (12:23) $30k from mom and a professor
    (13:52) $300k grant from Google
    (16:13) Launching on the first Android phones
    (18:20) Competing against Sam Altman, Steve Wozniak
    (19:06) “If we trusted the data, we would’ve shut down”
    (24:22) Why doubters lead to less competition
    (25:49) Fundraising in an unsexy market
    (32:21) Almost getting cancelled on TikTok
    (41:42) Building a contextual advertising business
    (48:36) Acquiring Tile, launching hardware products
    (52:41) Defeating patent trolls
    (57:22) IPO’ing in Australia and the US
    (01:01:00) Why its hard to go public below a certain size
    (01:07:50) 70% drop in downloads during COVID
    (01:10:03) Get to know your competitors
    (01:15:05) Lean Startup philosophy went too far

    Referenced:
    Try Life360: https://www.life360.com/
    Wheels of Zeus: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheels_of_Zeus
    Chris’ TikTok journey: https://www.entrepreneur.com/leadership/how-life360s-founder-dealt-with-teens-mocking-him-on-tiktok/457879
    Chris’ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@life360ceo
    Follow Chris:
    Twitter: https://x.com/ChrisHulls
    LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrishulls/
    Follow Turner:
    Twitter: https://twitter.com/TurnerNovak
    LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/turnernovak
    Subscribe to my newsletter to get every episode + the transcript in your inbox every week: https://www.thespl.it/


    Unlocking AGI With Visual AI Agents | Joseph Nelson, Roboflow Dec 19, 2024
    Show notes


    Joseph Nelson is the Co-founder and CEO of Roboflow, making the world programmable by building computer vision tools for developers and enterprises.

    We talk about how computer vision creates a new paradigm to program the world, and how visual AI is the missing piece of AGI.

    Joseph also shares multiple live product examples, how computer vision unlocks new data sources, lessons from Stripe and Palantir, building business models in developer tools, his experience working with David Sacks, and developer marketing tactics and how Roboflow consistently gets to the front page of Hacker News.
    Timestamps:
    (00:00) Intro
    (03:34) Computer vision is the missing piece for AGI
    (05:59) Vision as a new paradigm to collect data
    (10:55) Live examples of computer vision
    (13:45) How a Magic Sudoku solver app led to Roboflow
    (18:13) Using computer vision for automation
    (24:49) Computer vision in sports
    (27:02) How vision unlocks new data sources
    (28:24) Inside developer tool business models
    (33:32) The "Collison Install" and hands-on customer service
    (36:45) When to adopt Palantir's Forward Deployed Engineers
    (43:44) Why AI companies need to combine PLG and enterprise sales
    (50:12) Advice on developer marketing
    (52:30) Roboflow's greatest hits on Hacker News
    (01:02:19) Benefits of David Sacks as AI & Crypto Czar
    (01:05:32) Why all new technology has bad actors
    (01:07:07) Why over-regulation holds back innovation
    (01:12:01) How to get on the front page of Hacker News
    (01:19:43) Multi modality, time recognition, and agentic vision
    (01:28:36) Image-to-image prompting
    (01:30:42) Growing up in Iowa
    (01:32:20) Making TI-84 calculator games in high school
    (01:36:32) Pioneer: hunger games for startups
    (01:40:16) Why Roboflow does weekly Ship Lists + Ship and Tell
    (01:42:46) Hiring former founders and "full stack people"
    (01:45:16) Designing a bottoms-up organization while scaling
    (01:50:35) Why candidates build with Roboflow in hiring process
    (01:55:08) Hiring someone to help with the podcast
    Referenced:
    Robowflow: https://roboflow.com/
    Roboflow Universe: https://universe.roboflow.com/
    Paint.wtf: https://paint.wtf/
    Roboflows NeurIPS Presentations: https://blog.roboflow.com/neurips-2023-papers-highlights/
    Careers at Roboflow: https://roboflow.com/careers
    Follow Joseph:
    Twitter: https://x.com/josephofiowa/
    LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/josephofiowa
    Follow Turner:
    Twitter: https://twitter.com/TurnerNovak
    LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/turnernovak
    Subscribe to my newsletter to get every episode + the transcript in your inbox every week: https://www.thespl.it/


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