Advertise on podcast: Inspired with Alexa von Tobel

Kevin Ryan is known as the godfather of New York City tech. Over three decades, he's founded or backed companies worth more than $40 billion combined, including DoubleClick (acquired by Google), MongoDB (now valued at $30 billion), Business Insider (sold for $450 million), and Gilt Group. As founder of AlleyCorp, Kevin has spent his career building category-defining companies and correctly predicting major technology shifts before they happened. From betting on the internet in 1996 to understanding AI's trajectory today, Kevin shares his framework for seeing what's next and why speed executed properly changes everything. What You'll Learn: How Kevin spotted the internet would change everything in 1996 and the patterns he uses to see what's next The two categories Kevin is betting on: vertical AI applications and deep science breakthroughs Why winning the first four years matters more than anything else How to compete for top 0.1% talent in today's market Kevin's 2036 predictions for work, NYC vs SF, and where technology is headed Chapters: 00:00 Introduction02:10 Kevin's Childhood 05:00 Reflecting on His Entrepreneurship Journey08:30 Speed Matters11:15 The Feeling When You Know a Company Is the One14:58 Why You Need Top 0.1% Talent17:00 Two Categories Kevin Is Betting On20:00 Drawing the Defensibility Line in Vertical AI22:22 Thinking About the Product23:10 Acceleration of Science and When Kevin's Antenna Goes Up25:08 What the World Looks Like in 203627:00 Job Loss and AI Displacement32:00 San Francisco vs New York City38:18 What Kevin Hopes for NYC Tech40:50 Interesting Topics Kevin Is Exploring42:36 Quickfire Round Follow AlleyCorp and Kevin: AlleyCorp Website AlleyCorp LinkedIn Kevin Ryan LinkedIn Follow Inspired:‍ Website  LinkedIn X Instagram Substack

Flock Safety founder and CEO Garrett Langley is building the technology infrastructure to eliminate crime in America. A repeat entrepreneur who previously built and sold two companies for over $200 million each, Garrett now leads a $7.5 billion company serving more than 6,000 communities, 5,000 law enforcement agencies, and 1,000 businesses while helping achieve nearly a million arrests annually. He shares his conviction that safety drives economic prosperity, the surprising fact that drones arrive on scene 94% of the time before officers, and how AI will free police officers from paperwork to focus on community relationships. What You'll Learn: Why it's getting easier to commit serious crimes in America and what's driving that trend How technology creates precision in law enforcement that's never existed before Why drones are transforming emergency response and saving cities money How AI will reshape policing by eliminating paperwork and doubling community presence Why safety is the foundation for economic prosperity and job growth Chapters: 00:00 Introduction 02:08 Why Team Is the Only Thing That Matters 04:40 Growing Up in Atlanta: Learning Sales from His Father 06:45 What Is Flock Safety and How Does It Work? 11:20 The Crime Crisis No One Talks About 14:33 Serving Neighborhoods, Businesses, and Law Enforcement 17:00 Real Cases: From U-Hauls to Black SUVs 19:55 The Future of Policing in 10 Years 23:30 Building Technology While People's Lives Are at Stake 25:38 How Drones Are Changing Emergency Response 28:09 Scaling to $300M ARR at 70% Growth 29:38 Why Safety Drives Economic Prosperity 32:30 The "Do the Work" Culture at Flock 33:48 Quickfire Round Follow Flock Safety and Garrett: ⁠Flock Safety Website Flock Safety LinkedIn ⁠⁠Flock Safety Instagram ⁠⁠Flock Safety X Garrett’s LinkedIn⁠⁠ Garrett’s X Follow Inspired: Website⁠ ⁠Instagram⁠ LinkedIn⁠ X⁠ Substack

Alexa is sharing her bold predictions for 2026, from physical AI transforming our crumbling infrastructure to quantum computing breakthroughs that will reshape innovation. With her signature focus on walking into the office "in 2035," she explain why AI won't destroy jobs but will instead free us from mundane work, how autonomous vehicles will give suburban parents their time back, and why smart machines are finally taking us out of the Roman times. Chapters: 00:09 Prediction #1- Physical AI 02:06 Prediction #2- Quantum 03:00 Prediction #3 - Jobs 05:04 Prediction #4 - Autonomous cars Follow Inspired: Website⁠ Instagram⁠ LinkedIn⁠ X⁠ Substack

Suno founder and CEO Mikey Shulman is building the future of music creation. A Harvard PhD physicist who led machine learning at Kensho before it was acquired by S&P Global, Mikey had a realization in 2022 that audio was a backwater in machine learning—despite being everywhere in human life. He turned that realization into $2.5B company Suno, which grew from zero to over 100 million users. Mikey shares how Suno scales to users generating seven million tracks a day, why music's format will change as dramatically in this era as it did in the shift from vinyl to streaming, and how AI is democratizing creativity for billions of people who never thought they could make music. What You'll Learn: How growing up in a loving, stable environment with parents who encouraged following your passions shaped Mikey's leadership style Why audio was overlooked in machine learning and how Suno made it a first-class citizen How Suno went from zero users to 100 million and zero revenue to $200 million in under three years Why a quarter of songs on Suno are remixes of other songs on the platform The difference between creation and consumption in music and why that boundary is disappearing How Suno is growing the entire pie of music rather than just splitting existing revenue Why the business model for music will change when the format becomes interactive What Mikey learned about speed versus craft when building for billions of users Chapters:01:52 Growing Up: Following What You Love03:45 From Physics to a PhD at Harvard05:30 Kensho and the Path to Machine Learning09:30 Teaching Machine Learning at MIT Sloan12:10 The Birth of Suno15:30 Why Audio When Everyone Chose Text16:25 Zero to 100 Million Users in Three Years18:55 Xania Monet: The First AI Billboard Artist21:55 Stories That Keep the Team Going24:15 Music Was Invented to Be Social27:27 The Business Model for Interactive Music29:44 Reshaping the Music Industry32:45 New Boundaries of Music Creation35:00 The Future: Interactive Albums and Fan Fiction37:35 Growing the Pie for All Creators40:00 Will There Be Agentic AI Stars?41:15 Building Teams That Move Fast43:30 Speed and Craft: The Cultural Balance45:30 What's Coming Next at Suno46:30 Guardrails in a Lower Stakes Domain47:47 Managing Chaos as a First-Time CEO at Scale49:55 Quickfire Round Follow Suno and Mikey: Suno Website Suno Instagram Mikey's LinkedIn Mikey's Twittter Follow Inspired: ⁠⁠Website⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠ ⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠ ⁠⁠X⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Substack⁠

Dylan Taylor, founder and CEO of Voyager Technologies, is building the infrastructure that will define humanity's future in space. Through defense, space solutions, and Starlab, Voyager is working on some of the most ambitious aerospace projects of our generation. In this conversation, Dylan takes us from watching Star Trek as a kid in Idaho to becoming a publicly traded space company CEO. He shares what it's actually like to reach space aboard Blue Origin, why we're living through the biggest space boom in human history, and how space will transform our global economy. What You'll Learn: Why space isn't an industry but humanity's eighth continent His experience going to outer space How perfect real-time information about Earth will create trillions in economic value Projects that Voyager is working on How ambition shifted from personal glory to reflected glory through leadership Predictions for the space industry The frontier innovations that will enable humans to live and work in space Chapters:01:52 From Star Trek Dreams to Space Reality04:37 What is Voyager Technologies?07:02 Winning the Contract to Build Starlab09:40 Going to Space on Blue Origin16:36 The Overview Effect and What Astronauts Feel20:10 How Space Shifted Dylan's Perspective on Risk and Ambition22:40 The Henry Crown Fellowship and Leadership Transformation23:40 Inside Voyager Technologies' Projects26:50 The Purpose of Starlab as a Microgravity Laboratory31:00 Space Predictions35:23 Space as the Eighth Continent36:55 Perfect Real-Time Information About Earth38:50 What Keeps Dylan Up at Night About Space's Future41:07 Frontier Innovations in Quantum Computing and Beyond45:15 Quick Fire Round47:52 Outro Follow Voyager Technologies and Dylan: Voyager Website Voyager LinkedIn Voyager X Voyager Insta Dylan's LinkedIn Follow Inspired: ⁠Website⁠ ⁠Instagram⁠ ⁠LinkedIn⁠ ⁠X⁠ ⁠Substack

Axion founder Daniel First is building the command center for American manufacturing that detects product failures before they reach customers. His AI-powered observability platform links IoT data, technician reports, and customer feedback across aerospace, medical devices, and consumer products to identify emerging issues manufacturers don't even know exist. Born from watching enterprise AI pilots fail at McKinsey, Axion is architecting customer-centric manufacturing where products iterate in real time based on what's breaking in the field. What You'll Learn: The trillion-dollar quality crisis plaguing American manufacturing and how AI is solving it Why most enterprise AI fails and what makes the rare successes different The future of American manufacturing competing on speed of customer learning How real-time field data is transforming product development cycles Unconventional founder habits that enable exceptional speed and deep thinking  Chapters: 2:00 From Orthodox Debates to Independent Thinking3:00 Neuroscience, Philosophy, and Human Flourishing6:00 The Pivot from Academia to Industry7:20 Predicting AI as the Next Cultural Mania8:10 What Axion Actually Does for Manufacturers10:35 The Invisible Quality Crisis Costing Trillions13:30 Surprising Multi-Department Platform Adoption16:02 Surgery Equipment Failure With Two Root Causes16:47 Why Axion's Organization Looks Different18:00 Building an Ecosystem Across Product Lifecycle20:28 How Quality Data Drives Product Innovation21:58 American Manufacturing Winning on Empathy26:00 How Axion Succeeded Where 95% Fail28:50 Why Robotics Will Create More Quality Issues31:10 What Enterprise Leaders Think About AI32:50 Data Centers and Manufacturing Tailwind34:09 The Experimental Mindset Driving Speed36:30 Why 2010s Advice No Longer Applies38:40 The Vertical AI Revolution39:55 Quick-fire Questions Follow Axion and Daniel: • ⁠Axion Website⁠⁠• ⁠Axion LI ⁠⁠• ⁠Daniel LI Follow Inspired:• ⁠Website⁠• ⁠Instagram⁠• ⁠LinkedIn⁠• ⁠X⁠• ⁠Substack

Interior designer Nate Berkus is one of the most recognizable names in design. He started his firm at 24 with nothing but authenticity and hustle, building an empire spanning TV, books, product lines, and high-end interiors that's landed him on the AD100 list for a decade. His journey includes 12 years as Oprah's design expert, surviving the 2004 tsunami, and building a life with Jeremiah Brent as one of TV's first openly gay families. With his new book Foundations releasing November 18th, Nate reflects on what it takes to stay creatively obsessed for 30 years and build a household name in design. What You'll Learn: • How he started his firm at 24 and convinced clients to take a chance on him • Working with Oprah and his strategic approach to media • How surviving the 2004 tsunami fundamentally changed him and his reflections on that experience • Why he believes design is part magic, part alchemy, and part sociology • How he and Jeremiah Brent collaborate as both partners and business collaborators • The future of design and how AI will reshape the industry Chapters: 02:30 Intro 03:15 The Origin of His Design Obsession 06:10 Why Design Is Sociology 08:27 Starting a Firm at 24 With Nothing But Authenticity 14:28 How Surviving the 2004 Tsunami Changed Everything 19:50 The Strategy Behind Using TV as a Platform 23:00 A Funny Oprah Story 24:46 Why TV Was Always a Means to an End 28:40 How He Stays Creatively Obsessed After 30 Years 32:38 Never Stop Learning and Do What Feels Effortless 34:07 Partnership With Jeremiah as Parents and Business Partners 39:30 Why He Wrote Foundations and What It Means 42:15 How AI Will Impact the Future of Design 46:44 His Approach to Curation in the Creator Economy 50:05 Reflecting on His Biggest Life Moments 52:02 Quick-fire Round Follow Nate Berkus: • Nate's Website • Nate's Instagram Follow Inspired and Alexa: • Website • Instagram • LinkedIn • X • Substack

Writer CEO May Habib is building the future of enterprise AI. Born in Lebanon as the oldest of eight kids, May grew up navigating chaos, multiple languages, and cultures, skills that shaped her into a founder willing to challenge assumptions. After pivoting from Qordoba, she built Writer's own foundational models and spent a decade solving real AI problems for Fortune 500 companies. Now leading a $2B+ company, May shares her bold vision for where AI is headed, from self-evolving LLMs that proactively guide us to why work in 2030 will be unrecognizable. What You'll Learn: How growing up as the oldest of eight in a Lebanese family shaped May's leadership style Why Writer focuses on highly regulated industries like healthcare and financial services The critical difference between generative AI and agentic AI How self-evolving AI will proactively prompt you instead of waiting for commands Why execution is going from scarce and expensive to abundant and on-demand What the average knowledge worker's job will look like in 2030 Why narrow job specs are dead and career lattices are the future The two disruptive forces that will make work unrecognizable in 30 years Why May believes there's no AI bubble Chapters: 00:00 Introduction01:50 Growing Up as the Oldest of Eight in an Immigrant Family05:30 Why Language Shapes Who We Become09:05 The Decision to Leave Finance and Start Qordoba12:05 The Risky Pivot from Qordoba to Writer17:45 What Problem Writer Actually Solves for Enterprise21:05 Building Trust at Scale in Regulated Industries24:30 How Writer Stays Maniacally Focused28:10 Writer's Vision for Self-Evolving AI35:00 Why Narrow Job Specs Are Dead37:30 What Work Looks Like in 2030 and the Two Unknowns Shaping the Future39:26 What Most People Misunderstand About AI41:44 The Book That Changed May's Life43:06 Is There an AI Bubble?43:15 May's One-Word Mantra: Forward43:49 How May Manages Stress44:00 Beyond AI: What Excites May the Most Follow Writer and May: • Writer Website • Writer LinkedIn • May's LinkedIn Follow Inspired: • Website • Instagram • LinkedIn • X • Substack

Atria Health Institute founder Alan Tisch is rebuilding America's healthcare system from the ground up. After two near-death experiences in his mid-20s revealed how broken preventive care truly is, Alan made it his life's mission to tackle a system designed to profit from sick people rather than keep them healthy. With a multidisciplinary team of 15 medical specialties and cutting-edge diagnostics, Atria is pioneering the preventive healthcare movement to extend not only lifespan but healthspan. What You'll Learn: Why the healthcare system profits from keeping you sick instead of healthy How a $150 test can prevent heart attacks 20 years before they happen The difference between healthspan and lifespan and why it matters Why team-based care across specialties beats the traditional siloed approach How to think about preventive diagnostics like whole body MRIs and genetic testing Why now is the most exciting time for healthcare Chapters:00:00 Intro02:40 Early Influences and Family Background06:38 Lessons from Building Spring10:25 The Birth of Atria Health Institute16:07 Why Healthcare Incentives Favor Sick Care20:20 What It's Like to Be an Atria Patient23:50 The Four Step Framework for Disease Prevention25:49 Health Fads: Overhyped vs Underhyped28:50 Genomics and Full Body MRI Scans for Everyone34:50 The Two Sides of Atria: Clinical Care and Research39:07 The Future of Healthcare43:58 Healthspan vs Lifespan47:03 One Thing You Should Do Tomorrow49:05 AI in Preventive Care52:00 Book That Changed Alan's Life52:46 Health Habit Alan Has Adopted Follow Atria: Atria Website: https://www.atria.org/ Atria LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/atria-institute/ Follow Inspired and Alexa: Website: ⁠⁠https://www.inspiredcapital.com/  Substack: https://alexavontobel.substack.com/  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/inspiredcapital/ LinkedIn: ⁠⁠www.linkedin.com/company/inspired-capital-partners/ X: https://x.com/inspiredcap

ShopMy co-founders Harry Rein and Tiffany Lopinsky are building the most sophisticated three-sided commerce platform that revolutionizes how creators monetize authentic recommendations, how brands scale through trusted advocates, and how consumers discover products through curated networks they actually trust. Powered by intricate product graph technology and advanced data infrastructure that maps millions of products across retailers, they're architecting the future of commerce driven by intentional curation rather than algorithmic impulse buying. What You'll Learn: Why the "curator economy" matters more than the "creator economy" How their Circles feature creates personalized shopping through trusted networks The product philosophy of minimizing "calories" in user experience design How they thought through scaling ShopMy’s audience Why authentic recommendations outperform traditional performance marketing How complementary co-founder skills drive success The "sweep the floors" mentality that keeps leadership embedded in daily work Chapters:01:53 Intro03:30 From Boston Foodies to Engineering Complementary Backgrounds10:08 The ShopMy Genesis Solving Creator Monetization14:18 Breaking Down ShopMy Three Core Constituencies18:39 Introducing Circles Personalized Shopping Through Trust25:27 The Three Phases of Building ShopMy26:35 Product Philosophy Minimizing Calories in User Experience32:38 Cutting Through the Noise Where Shopping Journeys Begin34:32 Opportunities Scaling Creator Performance Marketing36:25 The Role of AI in Taste and Personalization37:49 From Creator Economy to Curator Economy44:10 Funding Strategy Building for the Long Term46:10 Building the Team The Sweep the Floors Leadership Philosophy52:20 Personal Discoveries What the Founders Buy Through Circles Follow ShopMy: • ShopMy Website: https://shopmy.us/home • ShopMy Linkedin: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/company/shopmy-/ • ShopMy Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/shopmy/ Follow Inspired and Alexa: • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/inspiredcapital/ • Linkedin: ⁠⁠www.linkedin.com/company/inspired-capital-partners/ • X: https://x.com/inspiredcap • Website: ⁠⁠https://www.inspiredcapital.com/

World quantum expert and professor Jeff Thompson, founder of Logiqal, shares his journey from academia (at Yale, Harvard, MIT, and Princeton) to now building the first scaled quantum computer. He explains why the world needs this breakthrough, how Logiqal’s neutral atom technology makes it possible, and what it could unlock for medicine, materials, and the future of innovation. What You’ll Learn: What is quantum? Why the world needs a scaled quantum computer Jeff’s journey through Yale, Harvard, MIT, and now running a lab at Princeton Why failure drives scientific discovery How Logiqal is using neutral atom technology and ytterbium What quantum could unlock for medicine and materials How Jeff balances academia and entrepreneurship How he sees the global race for quantum computing Chapters:01:58 Intro 08:04 Quantum 101: Bits, Qubits, and Schrödinger’s Cat09:40 The State of Quantum Today: Early Days, Big Potential13:19 What Really Counts as a Quantum Computer?14:35 How Many Qubits Does It Take to Change the World?19:11 The Quantum Hardware Wars24:00 Why Yttrium is the Chosen Atom26:33 Rydberg Gates: Turning Interactions On and Off28:39 Founding Logiqal: The Challenge of a Lifetime31:01 Unlocking Quantum: From Pharma to Materials to Mars37:05 Quantum + AI: Partners, Not Competitors40:28 What Gets Jeff Out of Bed Every Morning41:07 Books That Shaped a Quantum Founder42:17 The Time for Quantum is Now Follow Jeff and Logiqal: Jeff Linkedin: ⁠http://bit.ly/46fkFav⁠ Logiqal Linkedin: ⁠http://bit.ly/48aizLA⁠ Follow Inspired and Alexa: Instagram: ⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/inspiredcapital⁠⁠ Linkedin: ⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/company/inspired-capital-partners⁠⁠ X: ⁠⁠https://x.com/InspiredCap⁠⁠ Website: ⁠⁠https://www.inspiredcapital.com/⁠⁠ 

Dr. Becky Kennedy from Good Inside shares her journey from private practice psychologist to building the #1 consumer parenting tool on the planet. She reveals how blending emotional connection with practical action helps parents raise resilient kids and become sturdier themselves. What You’ll Learn: • How Dr. Becky built Good Inside into a global parenting movement • The secret to becoming a “sturdy parent” and raising resilient kids • Why parenting feels hard even for good parents and how to navigate it with confidence • How to break cycles of shame and foster deep connection at home • The lessons Dr. Becky learned while scaling a mission-driven brand • Good Inside’s future  Chapters: 0:00 Intro 1:58 Becky’s Origin Story 5:34 Parenting Genres of Our Generation 9:38 Early Career and Education 14:11 Internal Family Systems (IFS) Explained 17:19 Private Practice to Parenting Work 21:15 Instagram and the First Viral Posts 27:39 Founding Good Inside 30:34 Parenting as the Last Frontier 39:15 The Good Inside App and Vision 52:30 Broader Societal Impact of Parenting 56:04 Two Mantras Dr.Becky Uses 59:30 One Habit Dr. Becky Does Follow Dr. Becky and Good Inside: • Instagram: https://bit.ly/3H9UWIa  • Website: https://www.goodinside.com/  Follow Inspired and Alexa: • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/inspiredcapital  • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/inspired-capital-partners  • X: https://x.com/InspiredCap  • Website: https://www.inspiredcapital.com/

What if the secret to solving impossible problems isn't avoiding failure, but learning to leverage it? Serial entrepreneur and inventor Astro Teller, Captain of Moonshots at X (Alphabet's Moonshot Factory), discovered this counterintuitive truth growing up in a family where intelligence was everything. The grandson of Edward Teller, father of the hydrogen bomb, and a Nobel Prize-winning economist, Astro learned that being smart wasn't enough. He had to develop his creativity into his philosophy of "being yourself on purpose." Today, Astro is responsible for steering X’s projects—like Waymo, Dandelion, and Verily—through the bumps and scrapes they meet along the road to reality. In this episode, Astro shares how childhood stories of the Manhattan Project's creative community inspired X's culture, why he transformed from trying to outsmart employees to becoming a "culture engineer," and why intellectual honesty is the real key to turning science fiction into reality.

What if we could predict infrastructure failures before they happen instead of scrambling to fix them after disaster strikes? Serial entrepreneur Alex Hawkinson quips that the Romans would be laughing at us if they saw our current approach to managing the critical systems that power our world. Known as the father of IoT for creating SmartThings—a platform supporting over one billion connected devices before its acquisition by Samsung—Alex is now tackling his most ambitious challenge yet: awakening America's crumbling infrastructure through physical AI. With nearly 500,000 sensors already deployed across water, energy, and essential services, BrightAI is shifting entire industries from reactive maintenance to proactive intelligence. In this episode, Alex shares how BrightAI's observability layer creates an unbreakable competitive moat, how his "swing big" philosophy attracts world-class talent, and why transforming infrastructure management represents humanity's next great technological leap forward.

What happens when humanity faces the sixth mass extinction event in Earth's history? Serial entrepreneur Ben Lamm believes we need a backup plan. With a track record of building and exiting companies across AI, gaming, and conversational intelligence, Ben took on his most audacious venture in 2021: co-founding Colossal Biosciences with Harvard geneticist Dr. George Church to bring extinct species back to life. The company has already successfully de-extincted the dire wolf and aims to return woolly mammoths to the Arctic by 2028. In this episode, Ben shares how his self-described "unemployable" streak became his entrepreneurial superpower, why asking naive questions helps him tackle impossible challenges across industries, and how Colossal's breakthrough technologies represent humanity's essential insurance policy for planetary survival. Follow Inspired on Instagram Follow Inspired on Twitter