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Intro Every product we use depends on businesses coordinating behind the scenes. A shipment moves because someone calls a carrier, confirms an appointment, checks inventory, or follows up on an email. Those small interactions add up to an enormous amount of work. I sat down with Harish Abbott, Cofounder and CEO of Augment. He previously cofounded Deliverr, which Shopify acquired for $2.5 billion, and spent part of his early career at Amazon. He is now building AI teammates for the people who keep goods moving. One detail from our conversation stayed with me: Harish and his cofounder spent their first 60 days on the road, shadowing customers, before writing a single line of code. Understanding an operator’s day, the interruptions, relationships, and problems that follow them home, shaped what they chose to build. We discuss the opportunity for AI in logistics and what it takes to earn a place inside a customer’s business. We also get into fundraising, the Shopify acquisition, storytelling, and why Harish puts so much weight on curiosity and a willingness to act when hiring. What we cover: * The coordination tax: why moving everyday goods requires so many calls, emails, and decisions and where AI can help. * AI as a teammate: how humans and software share information, divide responsibilities, and build trust. * Learning the customer’s world: why Harish starts with observation and a single painful task before expanding. * From customers to capital: building before fundraising, explaining your business through customer stories, and the path to Deliverr’s acquisition. * Building a team that keeps improving: rewarding impact, learning quickly from failure, and adapting Amazon’s bar raiser approach. Follow on X: Harish Abbott on X: @habbottSuffiyan Malik on X: @suffiyanmalikkWe The Builders on X: @WeThe_Builders Watch on YouTube Timestamps 00:00 Intro 01:21 The hidden supply chain behind everyday goods 04:49 How wholesalers and distributors work 09:26 Why trucking is harder than ordering an Uber 14:47 How AI reduces the coordination tax 20:29 Why logistics is a multiplayer problem 24:19 Getting humans and AI to work in sync 29:00 AI coding and the verification bottleneck 32:42 Relationships, trust, and selling outcomes 37:40 Shadowing customers before writing code 40:42 Earning operators’ trust, one task at a time 45:22 How founders build culture in difficult moments 48:49 Build before you raise: advice for founders 54:08 Why attention is scarcer than capital 59:19 Storytelling and the customer who inspired Augie 1:03:30 How Shopify came to acquire Deliverr 1:07:31 Expanding into B2B distribution 1:10:10 Rewarding impact and learning from failure 1:12:49 Hiring for curiosity and a bias for action 1:15:40 Bringing Amazon’s bar raiser approach to hiring 1:19:11 Books, history, and influences 1:23:09 Why logistics shapes wars and civilizations Brought to you by Intangible: One of the missions of the show is to highlight frontier technologies and the builders, investors and policymakers at the heart of technological progress. Our sponsor Intangible lets you show it before you build it. Intangible is an AI 3D studio. Frontier technology builders turn ideas into scenes they can edit and film, in minutes. No VFX shop, no six-week render queue. Visualize your moonshot product at intangible.ai The material presented by We The Builders & Suffiyan Malik, including on its website, podcast, social media channels, newsletters, events, and other content, reflects the opinions of the hosts, guests, and contributors and is provided for informational and educational purposes only. Nothing presented by We The Builders should be construed as investment, financial, legal, tax, or other professional advice, nor as a recommendation, offer to sell, or solicitation of an offer to buy any security, investment product, company, strategy, or asset. Discussions of companies, investments, industries, technologies, markets, or other subjects may rely on information from public sources or information provided by guests and other third parties that we believe to be reliable. We The Builders does not represent or warrant that such information is accurate, complete, or current and should not be relied upon as such. Views and opinions expressed are those of the individual speaker at the time of publication and may change without notice. Guest appearances, discussions of companies, or references to investors or investments should not be interpreted as endorsements by We The Builders. Past performance is not indicative of future results. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wethebuilders.us

Intro This is my first conversation with Chris Buskirk, Cofounder and Chief Investment Officer at 1789 Capital and author of America and the Art of the Possible. We explore his investment thesis for American renewal: backing technological innovation, rebuilding industry, and creating the conditions for a thriving middle class. We discuss defense tech, China, political conviction, charter cities, and what the people at the top of society owe the country. What we cover: • Inside 1789 Capital: the ambition to build a multi-strategy asset manager and why Chris backed defense technology before it became a popular investment category.• Reindustrializing America: critical minerals, dependence on China, and why rebuilding manufacturing requires capital and supportive policy.• Politics and investing: whether alignment with an administration creates risk, and why Chris believes key parts of reindustrialization have bipartisan support.• Charter cities, aristocracy, and oligarchy: why Chris thinks building a new city may not be ambitious enough, and what distinguishes public-minded leadership from extraction.• The cultural conditions for progress: resisting excessive risk aversion, preserving the freedom to fail, and bringing people together around a meaningful purpose. Follow on X/Twitter: Chris Buskirk: https://x.com/thechrisbuskirkSuffiyan Malik: https://x.com/suffiyanmalikkWe The Builders: https://x.com/WeThe_Builders Watch on YouTube Timestamps 00:00 Introducing Chris Buskirk00:52 One project: renewing America02:55 Why the middle class is the measure of national health05:08 The master plan for 1789 Capital06:35 A generational shift in asset management08:45 Technological stagnation and the search for fundamental innovation12:46 Investing in defense tech before it was popular15:07 Rebuilding America’s manufacturing capacity16:10 China, trade, and American industrial policy19:12 Tariffs, critical minerals, and forcing China’s hand20:32 Why reindustrialization needs more than venture capital22:23 The risks of mixing politics and investing25:38 Political conviction versus hedging your bets26:15 Can reindustrialization survive a change in administration?30:20 Deregulation and letting builders build32:13 The case for charter cities33:56 Why charter cities may not be ambitious enough36:06 Brasília and the challenges of building new cities39:05 Why cities need an economic reason to exist41:34 Singapore and the modern city-state42:25 Aristocracy versus oligarchy: who should lead?45:28 Identifying talent and encouraging public responsibility47:40 How stagnation creates a scarcity mindset49:11 Exporting the American dream53:26 Innovation, concentrated power, and national decline56:25 Meritocracy, gatekeeping, and the cities that attract talent58:44 How AI brought talent back to San Francisco59:49 “Sociopathic risk aversion” and the freedom to fail1:03:20 Rockbridge and the art of convening people1:06:00 Why a gathering needs a meaningful purpose1:08:14 Rituals, community, and serving the people you bring together1:10:43 Chris’s favorite meal and fasting routine Brought to you by Intangible: One of the missions of the show is to highlight frontier technologies and the builders, investors and policymakers at the heart of technological progress. Our sponsor Intangible lets you show it before you build it. Intangible is an AI 3D studio. Frontier technology builders turn ideas into scenes they can edit and film, in minutes. No VFX shop, no six-week render queue. Visualize your moonshot product at intangible.ai The material presented by We The Builders & Suffiyan Malik, including on its website, podcast, social media channels, newsletters, events, and other content, reflects the opinions of the hosts, guests, and contributors and is provided for informational and educational purposes only. Nothing presented by We The Builders should be construed as investment, financial, legal, tax, or other professional advice, nor as a recommendation, offer to sell, or solicitation of an offer to buy any security, investment product, company, strategy, or asset. Discussions of companies, investments, industries, technologies, markets, or other subjects may rely on information from public sources or information provided by guests and other third parties that we believe to be reliable. We The Builders does not represent or warrant that such information is accurate, complete, or current and should not be relied upon as such. Views and opinions expressed are those of the individual speaker at the time of publication and may change without notice. Guest appearances, discussions of companies, or references to investors or investments should not be interpreted as endorsements by We The Builders. Past performance is not indicative of future results. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wethebuilders.us

Intro This is my first conversation with Ali Tamaseb, General Partner at DCVC, a $5B AUM fund and author of Super Founders. Ali spent years studying billion dollar startups to understand what separates their founders from the rest. We discuss the myths around age, education, cofounders, and industry experience and what the data reveals about building exceptional companies.What we cover: * The young founder myth: why age alone doesn’t predict success, and what Ali’s research reveals about billion-dollar founders. * Why repeat founders have an advantage and the early signs of ambition, resourcefulness, and a drive to build. * Inside the Super Founders Club: a network of 750 founders who become each other’s customers, cofounders, and investors. * How successful startups enter crowded markets, differentiate their products, and start with a small niche before expanding. * The myths around cofounders, technical backgrounds, and industry experience and why trust, customer understanding, and knowing when to pivot matter. Follow the guest and host on X:Ali Tamaseb: https://x.com/alitamasebSuffiyan Malik: https://x.com/suffiyanmalikkWe The Builders: https://x.com/WeThe_Builders Watch on YouTube: Timestamps 00:00 Highlights00:40 Introducing Ali Tamaseb01:34 The young founder myth06:57 Why your investors matter10:34 Peter Thiel, competition, and crowded markets13:36 Start small, think big15:16 What creates a startup moat?18:58 Customer relationships as an advantage22:14 What makes a “Super Founder”?24:20 Why startup success isn’t random27:59 Venture capital is a network business33:07 Inside the Super Founders Club37:29 Building a community of exceptional founders45:57 How VCs compete for the best founders49:54 Do degrees and university brands matter?57:19 Do you really need a cofounder?1:00:00 Super founders in AI, defense, and deep tech1:03:02 Great founders versus great markets1:06:46 Finding your wedge in a massive market1:09:25 Technical versus nontechnical founders1:12:00 Does industry experience matter?1:16:56 Customer discovery and knowing when to pivot1:18:28 The risks of backing repeat founders1:23:38 Researching and writing Super Founders1:27:21 Selling a book through networks1:31:35 What bestseller lists get wrong1:34:49 Will AI change the founder playbook?1:36:13 Why quantum is a defense bet1:37:50 Book recommendation and Persian food Brought to you by Intangible: One of the missions of the show is to highlight frontier technologies and the builders, investors and policymakers at the heart of technological progress. Our sponsor Intangible lets you show it before you build it. Intangible is an AI 3D studio. Frontier technology builders turn ideas into scenes they can edit and film, in minutes. No VFX shop, no six-week render queue. Visualize your moonshot product at intangible.ai The material presented by We The Builders & Suffiyan Malik, including on its website, podcast, social media channels, newsletters, events, and other content, reflects the opinions of the hosts, guests, and contributors and is provided for informational and educational purposes only. Nothing presented by We The Builders should be construed as investment, financial, legal, tax, or other professional advice, nor as a recommendation, offer to sell, or solicitation of an offer to buy any security, investment product, company, strategy, or asset. Discussions of companies, investments, industries, technologies, markets, or other subjects may rely on information from public sources or information provided by guests and other third parties that we believe to be reliable. We The Builders does not represent or warrant that such information is accurate, complete, or current and should not be relied upon as such. Views and opinions expressed are those of the individual speaker at the time of publication and may change without notice. Guest appearances, discussions of companies, or references to investors or investments should not be interpreted as endorsements by We The Builders. Past performance is not indicative of future results. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wethebuilders.us

Intro My first conversation with Bryon Hargis, Cofounder and CEO of Castelion. This is a special edition of our show recorded at Reindustrialize. Since then, Castelion has announced a $1 billion Series C funding valuing the company at $13 billion making it one of the most valuable defense technology companies in the ecosystem. What we cover: * Why Bryon sold his SpaceX stock to bootstrap Castelion and bet two-thirds of his savings on the mission. * Why affordable, mass-produced hypersonic missiles are central to his vision of American deterrence. * Building Blackbeard, winning the first Navy order, and scaling production to thousands of missiles a year. * The SpaceX lessons behind faster hardware development: rapid testing, questioning convention, and knowing when to change course. * Hiring for mission over money and why company culture is built one person at a time. Watch on YouTube Timestamps 00:00 Intro01:00 Bootstrapping with SpaceX stock and crypto mining07:00 Why Bryon started a defense company11:00 Building deterrence and landing the first Navy order14:00 Scaling missile manufacturing in New Mexico18:00 Meet Blackbeard: Castelion’s hypersonic missile20:00 Hypersonic vs. ballistic vs. cruise missiles23:00 Golden Dome and the future of missile defense25:00 How SpaceX enables America’s national security27:00 Elon Musk, ambitious deadlines, and moving faster30:00 Why rapid testing beats over-engineering33:00 Lessons from SpaceX: Question convention, follow the data38:00 Hiring for the mission and building company culture45:00 Growing as a founder and being willing to be wrong Brought to you by Intangible: One of the missions of the show is to highlight frontier technologies and the builders, investors and policymakers at the heart of technological progress. Our sponsor Intangible lets you show it before you build it. Intangible is an AI 3D studio. Frontier technology builders turn ideas into scenes they can edit and film, in minutes. No VFX shop, no six-week render queue. Visualize your moonshot product at intangible.ai The material presented by We The Builders & Suffiyan Malik, including on its website, podcast, social media channels, newsletters, events, and other content, reflects the opinions of the hosts, guests, and contributors and is provided for informational and educational purposes only. Nothing presented by We The Builders should be construed as investment, financial, legal, tax, or other professional advice, nor as a recommendation, offer to sell, or solicitation of an offer to buy any security, investment product, company, strategy, or asset. Discussions of companies, investments, industries, technologies, markets, or other subjects may rely on information from public sources or information provided by guests and other third parties that we believe to be reliable. We The Builders does not represent or warrant that such information is accurate, complete, or current and should not be relied upon as such. Views and opinions expressed are those of the individual speaker at the time of publication and may change without notice. Guest appearances, discussions of companies, or references to investors or investments should not be interpreted as endorsements by We The Builders. Past performance is not indicative of future results. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wethebuilders.us

Intro My first conversation with Michael Thompson who is on the board of Joby Aviation ($JOBY) and Oklo ($OKLO). He previously started Reinvent Capital with Mark Pincus and Reid Hoffman where he was Managing Partner and made early investments in the physical economy through Joby, SpaceX, Nimble Robotics, Oklo and many other companies. This is a special edition of We The Builders conversation from Reindustrialize. Watch on YouTube Timestamps 00:00 Intro02:35 From hedge fund to physical-world techonolgies03:45 "Where is all this power gonna come from?" The case for nuclear04:50 Why nuclear stalled07:05 Where AI value will accrue: physical-world technologies07:55 "Recursive industrialization": SpaceX, Cursor & frontier models09:15 Joby: amplifying world-class engineers with AI10:50 Does eVTOL need a charging network like Teslas?11:30 Breaking down the Joby aircraft: airframe, controls, powertrain18:55 Why these companies need vertical integration and technical founders20:25 How to value SpaceX and Joby (it's not next year's EBITDA)22:25 Why Joby went public through a SPAC23:50 "Henry Ford never built a mile of road": financing the infrastructure25:15 FAA certification is like FDA approval27:35 Reinvent Capital and the "1870s thesis"28:55 Nimble: specialized robots and forward-deployed training data30:25 What he's changed his mind on DISCLOSURES The material presented by We The Builders, including on its website, podcast, social media channels, newsletters, events, and other content, reflects the opinions of the hosts, guests, and contributors and is provided for informational and educational purposes only. Nothing presented by We The Builders should be construed as investment, financial, legal, tax, or other professional advice, nor as a recommendation, offer to sell, or solicitation of an offer to buy any security, investment product, company, strategy, or asset. Discussions of companies, investments, industries, technologies, markets, or other subjects may rely on information from public sources or information provided by guests and other third parties that we believe to be reliable. We The Builders does not represent or warrant that such information is accurate, complete, or current and should not be relied upon as such. Views and opinions expressed are those of the individual speaker at the time of publication and may change without notice. Guest appearances, discussions of companies, or references to investors or investments should not be interpreted as endorsements by We The Builders. Past performance is not indicative of future results. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wethebuilders.us

Intro Somesh Dash has been investing in startups for over 20 years at IVP where he is a General Partner. IVP is one of the most prominent venture firms in growth stage investing founded in 1980. In the last almost five decades, they have invested in over 400 companies, with over 135 of them going public. IVP is an investor in generational companies like Anthropic, Uber, Snap, Twitter, CrowdStrike, Snap, Robinhood, Figma, Discord, Coinbase. I had a wide ranging conversation with Somesh about his thoughts on the craft of investing itself, immigration, IVP’s firm structure, his role as a leader in the firm now, thoughts on the unprecedented era of AI and how he thinks about investing in this era and more. Watch on YouTube Timestamps 00:00:00 - Introduction00:00:55 - What 20 Years in VC Teaches You About the Job00:02:00 - Risk-Taking, Contrarianism, and Dealing with Failure00:02:45 - The Importance of LP Relationships00:03:30 - Building and Sustaining a Strong VC Partnership00:06:05 - Index / Spray-and-Pray vs. High-Conviction Investing00:08:10 - What Does "Contrarian" Mean at the Growth Stage?00:11:25 - Investing in Twitter in 200900:13:00 - Early Bet on Snapchat in 201300:14:45 - How Growth Stage Investing Has Evolved at IVP00:16:15 - Investing in Anthropic00:17:55 - How IVP Adds Value00:20:00 - Founder Mental Health & The VC as Counselor00:21:15 - Customer Introductions & The Day-to-Day VC Grind00:26:37 - The IVP Partnership Model & Shared Decision-Making00:28:05 - Depth vs. Breadth of Networks & Being In-Person00:29:40 - Cross-Pollination Across Sports, Culture, and other Industries00:33:33 - Favorite Podcasts, Comedy00:35:50 - Expanding into New Sectors: Healthcare, Defense Tech & Space00:37:45 - The Resurgence of Hardware & Semiconductors (Seagate, LSI Logic)00:41:05 - Silicon Valley, Immigration, and Global Talent00:45:15 - The Immigrant DNA of Unicorn Founders00:47:23 - Geopolitics, Soft Power, and Media Narratives00:52:16 - Immigrant Values, Capitalism, and Democracy as a Startup00:57:35 - Labor Market Matching and Skilled Immigration01:02:42 - How IVP Selects 8–10 High-Conviction Investments a Year01:05:05 - Capital Allocation Lessons from the Clean Tech Boom01:06:40 - Hot Take: Why Traditional Software/SaaS is Making a Comeback01:08:45 - VC Firm Governance: CEO Model vs. Pure Partnership Model01:11:50 - Generational Transition & Internal Mentorship at IVP01:13:55 - Navigating Market Cycles & Taking $4B in Liquidity in 202101:15:15 - How the Investment Committee Works at IVP01:19:25 - Apprenticeship in Venture Capital & Key Industry Mentors01:22:42 - Cooperation in VC01:24:48 - Somesh's Media Diet and High-Signal Information Sources01:27:25 - The Resurgence of Print Media & Top Book Recommendations This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wethebuilders.us

Intro This is my first conversation with Adam Grosser, a Silicon Valley OG. Adam has had a front row seat to what Silicon Valley is today from being at the centre of personal computing in the early days of Apple in the 1980s as Director of Engineering to directing products at LucasFilm in 1990s and investing in the still early internet days in the 2000s at Foundation Capital. Adam went on to be a Managing Director at prominent technology focused private equity firm SilverLake and co-created the Up Summit, an exclusive annual event for the future of transportation. He was also a part of building and scaling two multibillion dollar companies in the 1990s. He is also a 4x Forbes Midas list investor. He now runs Up Partners which he founded six years ago around the thesis of future of transportation enabled by software. Up Partners has been an investor in companies like Hermeus (founded by AJ Piplica), Reliable Robotics, Axiom Space, Skydio, Westmag, Pacific Fusion and Beta to name a few. What makes him unique and extremely hard to b******t to is the fact that he builds cars, airplanes and boats in his workshop in San Carlos which I had the chance to check out, this is where the technical knowhow of founders gets tested. It is not a team of 10 technicians working on these projects, it is a team of just Adam plus a couple of contractors here and there. For investors in frontier tech, this would be the equivalent of touching grass. Adam is one of the kindest and most generous humans I have come across in the industry, still a student at heart who is insatiably curious and genuinely interested in other people. Perhaps one of the reasons he has been so successful. In this wide ranging conversation we cover a bit of Silicon Valley history, what it was like working with Steve Jobs, his time in media through LucasFilm and Sony, how venture capital has changed, how Adam keeps up and how to build a successful lasting venture firm. Watch on YouTube Timestamps 00:00 – Intro 02:52 – Early Days at Apple and Meeting Steve Jobs03:29 – Innovation and the History of Printing at Apple05:37 – Early User Interfaces and Working at Xerox PARC07:29 – Technological Breakthroughs at LucasFilm11:56 – Corporate Acquisitions and Maintaining Founding DNA14:43 – "Stake vs. Rank" in Corporate Structures17:19 – The Ephemeral Nature of Success in the Film Industry21:15 – Two Approaches to Creating Great Products22:22 – Spotting Breakthrough Innovations Early27:35 – How the Venture Capital Industry Has Changed31:56 – Rebuilding the Cottage Model with Up Partners38:19 – The Mobility Thesis and Stagnation in the Physical World42:18 – His San Carlos Workshop48:48 – Why Hardware Innovation Took Decades to Evolve54:36 – The True Job of a Venture Capitalist57:28 – Basic Research and the Return of the Polymath01:04:12 – The Chasm Between Tech and Business and the Value of Finishing Things01:10:53 – The "996" Work Culture01:17:34 – Choosing to Stay Nimble in Business and Investment01:23:00 – Building Alignment and Generational Stability in a VC Firm01:45:00 – Decision-Making Processes and Governance01:49:41 – Building Brand Equity Through Community Ecosystems02:02:42 – Archetypes of Successful Venture Partners02:11:15 – The Case for Investment Committees and Conviction-Driven Bets02:24:33 – Closing Questions This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wethebuilders.us

Intro This is my first conversation with Evan Burns, CEO of State Affairs. I think Evan is building one of the most interesting companies at the intersection of politics and capitalism, with the ambitious goal of creating the category of “policy markets” which he says is more important than financial markets. In this conversation we discuss the state of media, the thesis and business of State Affairs and more. Keith Rabois was one of the first believers in the idea and they just came out of stealth with a $70m seed round funded by Khosla Ventures and Founders Fund. To understand how Evan got here, perhaps sharing some of his background is important. He started a media company called Odyssey which he ran for eight years before eventually exiting and went on to start a beverage company called The Long Drink that was wildly successful in a short period of time doing 500 million in sales. Through that he learnt how important it was for companies to understand policy in real time and have relationships with policymakers. One of the best things about doing the show is meeting people that lay low and are underrated in the mainstream discourse. I think Evan is one of those people who is going to build a generational company and will be household name in the next five years or so. Watch on YouTube Timestamps 00:00 - Intro01:59 - Finding Business Alpha Outside Major Media Hubs03:25 - The Origins of the Finnish Long Drink10:44 - Launching a Drink in the US and Lessons in Policy Navigation18:33 - Reclaiming Truth and Objectivity in Modern News Media21:27 - The Stagnation and Future of Education Policy24:44 - Unpacking the Negative Incentive Structures in Politics26:59 - What Are Policy Markets? The Core Thesis of State Affairs30:50 - Building a Real-Time Knowledge Graph for Western Democracy33:01 - Business Model37:32 - Practical AI and Data Use Cases for Public Servants and Corporations41:49 - The Strategic Impact of Events Like the Hill & Valley Forum45:13 - Moats of a Monopoly Business47:43 - Why Objective Journalism Is Mathematically More Valuable Than Ever55:29 - Why Startups Must Win America Before Going International58:05 - Building Deeper Ontologies and Flywheels Over Time01:02:22 - Using AI Models to Settle a Moon Landing Debate01:07:05 - Evan’s Take on MBAs in the Startup Ecosystem01:08:24 - Overcoming Early VC Skepticism01:10:51 - Closing This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wethebuilders.us

Intro Mike Solana is the CMO of Founders Fund and Founder of Pirate Wires. Marketing and media teams in technology and venture seem to be in this competition of capturing attention of the right people. The consensus strategy is covering entrepreneurs and investors on a podcast. All that has its own place but you don’t create cultural institutions or artifacts while following consensus strategies. I often think about how few cultural institutions get built that matter. They are usually decades in the making and when they arrive, they are timeless and etched in memory. Think about Starwars, Harry Potter, Lord of Rings franchises that people are still culturally relevant decades on. How would one do that in the world of technology and venture capital? In recent memory, Mike has produced at least two cultural artifacts, Hereticon which was a conference for what was described as thought crime and now the show Mafia featuring celebrities in tech and venture that took over the Twitter/X timeline when it launched with millions of views and all of tech elite engaged. Everyone I met was talking about it for at least a month after and you can always rewatch it as a good holiday watch like you would replay your favorite TV show. I asked him about the making of Mafia, whether he will transition to player from moderator, how he thinks about creating these unique new cultural artifacts and what’s next (if it happens, it will be the wildest show of all time). Watch on YouTube Timestamps 00:00 - Introduction to Mafia the Game as a Show03:01 - Redefining "New Media" and Its History04:06 - The Inspiration Behind Creating Celebrity Mafia06:02 - Moving Away from Standard Tech Interview Podcasts07:56 - Standalone Projects and Cultural Artifacts10:50 - Selecting the Cast and Showing Their Real Selves13:51 - Choosing the Location: The PayPal Mafia Photo Connection15:58 - Future Plans: Will There Be a Full Season?18:01 - Why the Speaker Hates Playing as the Mafia18:41 - Current Projects: Pirate Wires and Founders Fund22:23 - Challenges in Putting the Show Together24:30 - Lessons Learned from Past Media Ventures26:41 - The Role of a Modern CMO in Venture Capital31:10 - Creative Marketing and Brand Strategy at Founders Fund33:05 - Playing Mafia with Peter Thiel and The Dream Casts35:01 - Closing Remarks This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wethebuilders.us

Intro I had a conversation with Justin Lopas on building Base Power a few months back, last week they announced $1B in new funding at a $13B valuation. Justin cofounded Base Power with Zach Dell in 2023. I first met him at one of the deeptech dinners I was hosting in Austin back when they were still in stealth (adding to the list of incredible markups for anyone investing in founders from these dinners). The latest round was led by Addition with participation from friends of the show at A16Z, Trust Ventures, 137 Ventures and others. Timestamps: 00:00 - Introduction and Background at SpaceX03:31 - SpaceX Culture and Giving Agency to Early-Career Talent05:32 - What to Filter for When Hiring Non-Experienced Talent09:03 - Implementing and Automating AI in Non-Technical Roles10:50 - Defining Base Power: The Vision to Fix the Grid15:05 - Regulated vs. Deregulated Energy Markets in Texas17:32 - How Home Batteries Act as an Energy Hedge21:50 - Battery Storage Capacity and Bypassing the Interconnection Queue22:56 - Smooth Variability in Energy Supply and Demand24:48 - Aligning Incentives and Structural Practical Limits for Home Batteries26:13 - Navigating the Patchwork of US Energy Regulation and Expansion32:07 - The Hardest Challenges and Landed-Cost Optimization34:04 - Treating Every Aspect of a Business as a Factory38:37 - Recruiting Pitch for Base Power40:25 - Embracing Internal Failures to Foster Innovation41:39 - Learning Methods: YouTube, LLMs, and Peer Insights43:44 - Building and Maintaining a Strong Company Culture48:24 - Key Takeaways from Leading Manufacturing at Anduril50:19 - Managing Diverse Subcultures Within a Consistent Mission51:42 - Future Outlook: New Products, AI Support, and Scaling Production This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wethebuilders.us

Intro Scott Kupor was the first employee at Andreessen Horowitz, one of the largest venture capital firms in the arena today with over $90B in AUM. The firm started with the ambition to build a product to serve founders and with Michael Ovitz joining the board, it took inspiration from how talent agencies operated. Today, it is part a media company with venture capital as a business model and part recruiting firm for the startup ecosystem. Scott shares the story of how it possibly could have been Andreessen Horowitz Kupor. He worked with Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz for 25 years before leaving for his current role as Director of the Office of Personnel Management at the White House, which oversees the 2 million of the government employees that don’t serve in the military, which has over $2 trillion in budget and is probably the largest workforce/HR department in the world. In our conversation, he shares the story of how he got involved in politics and the current admin, the challenges in running an organization of this size and scale, what he hopes to accomplish and more. Timestamps: 00:00 Introduction & OPM Overview00:36 A Lifer with Ben Horowitz & Mark Andreessen01:29 The Origin & Founding of A16Z03:43 Deconstructing Venture Capital via the CAA Agency Model06:43 Scaling a Modern VC Firm Vertically09:16 Centralization vs. Decentralization in Operations11:09 Building Long-Term Trust with Executive Talent13:50 Cultural Precepts: First-Class Business Only16:42 Organic Firm Evolution & Partner Autonomy20:35 Saying No to Rollups & PE Buyouts23:12 The Intersection of Public Policy and Tech26:01 Transitioning into Public Service29:42 Startups, Immigration, and National Security32:17 OPM’s Scale & Enforcing High Performance35:45 Permissioned Innovation & IT Overhauls40:05 Breaking Institutional Status Quo41:59 Silicon Valley Root-Cause Math in Government47:53 Flat Communications Within a Bureaucracy50:04 Reforming Civil Service Promotion Rules54:36 The Shift Toward Skills-Based Hiring57:21 Rethinking the Value of Credentials01:00:20 Solving the Government Tech Talent Gap01:02:51 Ending the Over-Outsourcing Crisis01:04:55 The "NASA Forces" Public-Private Exchange01:08:45 A Personal Journey Through the Study of Happiness This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wethebuilders.us

Intro Ian Cinnamon is the Cofounder and CEO of Apex Space. He was previously at Zynga and Palantir (after selling his company). He joined Palantir after selling his weapon detection company to them which had gotten impacted by covid since all live events came to a halt for ~1 year. Interestingly, my final year project in electrical engineering was also weapon detection using Computer Vision - which I take no credit for since my teammates did all the work, I even back then thought I could just support on the BD/research side since my dad was working in the security administration function. He is the second member of the Palantir mafia on the show to have started a billion dollar company. The first was Cobi Blumenfeld-Gantz. Both backed by friends of the show at XYZ Ventures. The company was valued at $2.3 billion as of their most recent fundraise which was led by Glade Brook and Washington Harbor. Their early investors include Andreessen Horowitz, XYZ Ventures and Point72, all friends of the show. We talked about his idea maze and choosing the right thing to work on in the middle of the crypto-craze in 2022, in that time he joined Village Global as an EIR to figure out what he wanted to pursue. I am a big fan of exploration and taking your time to decide what you want to go all-in on. Recently discussed the importance of this on the show with Ali Tamaseb (GP at DCVC and author of SuperFounders) as well, he conducted thorough research on billion dollar founders and companies and one of the things that is common is the fact that billion dollar founders take time to decide what they want to pursue. Another example that comes to mind is Qasar Younis of Applied Intuition who took ~2 years before he locked in the idea for Applied Intuition. Matt Angle at Paradromics was in his PhD and was thinking about it for ~4 years or more before starting the company. Brandon Sorbom at Commonwealth Fusion Systems also spent an ample amount of time working on the idea including at first starting a nonprofit dedicated to research before doing it as a startup. Watch on YouTube Timestamps 00:00 - Introduction01:22 - Moving from software and AI to the space industry02:12 - Using computer vision to protect public safety04:37 - Learning from the flat, fast-moving culture at Palantir07:54 - Deciding to build the last company I would ever start09:59 - How SpaceX made rocket launch reliable and frequent12:10 - Stepping away to incubate a new kind of satellite business13:56 - Building the Ford Model T of the satellite world15:15 - What is a satellite platform?16:43 - Partnering with Northrop Grumman for missile defense19:12 - Understanding how much room is actually left up in space21:19 - Choosing the right altitude based on what a satellite does24:13 - Shifting space tech from custom crafts to a volume game27:25 - How factory automation helps America win the current space race29:46 - Closing This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wethebuilders.us

Intro Austen Allred is the Cofounder and CEO of Gauntlet AI which is running an AI training school which through its intensive bootcamp makes engineers AI-first operators. Austen originally founded Lambda School as a coding bootcamp, which later became Bloom Institute of Technology - backed by venture firms like GigaFund, Y Combinator, Ashton Kutcher and Google Ventures. Their business model for Lambda School was income share agreements for which there wasn't really a regulatory framework, this was the eventual reason for why the company went almost bankrupt as they got sued and couldn't keep operating. This is a wide ranging conversation where we talk about the decade long lessons from Lambda and why it didn't work out, how he came about the idea for Gauntlet and different models for the future of education. Watch on YouTube: Timestamps 00:00 - Introduction01:21 - The strategic advantage of building a raw internet audience06:30 - How an impressive product magnetically pulls a network10:34 - Finding the Keel: Simplicity and the metrics of Paul Graham13:30 - Navigating the extreme highs and lows of a tech hype cycle19:32 - Ditching college to sleep in a Honda Civic24:11 - Launching a growth hacking book to wipe out personal debt26:28 - Turning lambda calculus into a bootlegged code bootcamp29:47 - Bootstrapping a massive student waiting list on pure cash flow35:17 - Surviving five separate YC interviews on the bubble39:27 - Pitching alternative asset managers to financialize education43:39 - Creating a brand new financial asset class out of human potential47:32 - Risk-adjusting human data sets at a thousand ISAs at a time52:40 - The Capitol Hill lobbying 1:06:38 - Running on an empty bank account and a one-month runway1:09:14 - Reverse engineering how elite enterprise software teams use AI1:11:51 - Relocating the family to Austin for the thousand-hour Gauntlet1:15:34 - Swapping the ISA model for upfront corporate recruitment fees1:22:02 - Alpha School: Replacing traditional teachers with personalized AI software1:24:44 - The Texas Education Freedom Act voucher experiment1:26:28 - Why legacy Higher-Ed institutions cannot turn the big ship fast enough1:28:30 - The ultimate necessity of overriding generic consensus LLM views1:32:46 - Reclaiming localized outdoor communities over heavy lecture halls1:39:50 - Do modern tech companies emerge as the new universities?1:42:40 - Closing This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wethebuilders.us

Intro Brian Hooks is the CEO of Stand Together, President of Charles Koch Foundation and co-author of “Believe in People” with Charles Koch. He has scaled Stand Together to a network of 1,000 partner organizations and has deployed over $1B using a framework he called “venture philanthropy”. They are driven by problems and don’t get restricted by whether the vehicle through which they fund the problem is a donation or an investment. Which is a very interesting approach. He also described some of his work as backing “social entrepreneurs”. My career actually started in social entrepreneurship and I thought that the experiment doesn’t always work but my biases come from a completely different set of circumstances and structure. Setting up a million dollar prize of teams of student entrepreneurs might be a great way to catalyze more high agency college students and build a community of these people but might be a misdirected approach to solve the problem at hand. I shared this concern with to get his thoughts on what he has seen work based on their work so far. We talked about the parallels of backing talent in venture capital and philanthropy. I was particularly interested in this question because Brian’s career started at Mercatus Centre at the George Mason University where he got a chance to work alongside Tyler Cowen who has written an incredible book called “Talent” with Daniel Gross, I was curious about his lessons from his time there. This is a special edition of our interview from Reagan National Economic Forum, I hope to have Brian back on for a longer wide-ranging conversation. Hope you enjoy the show! Timestamps 00:00 - Introduction03:46 - Thesis behind backing Trust Ventures07:13 - Learning insatiable curiosity from Tyler Cowen10:29 - Discarding what works to achieve real scale13:41 - Pooling the minds of a thousand business leaders20:03 - Reforming a one-size-fits-all school system23:32 - Using a venture capital model to fund classrooms26:53 - Why higher education is completely broken30:38 - Changing how modern companies look at talent34:42 - The skills of the future38:19 - Trying something different after a thousand years41:34 - Closing This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wethebuilders.us

Intro This is a special edition of our show from Reagan National Economic Forum where I interviewed Dan Wright, Cofounder and CEO of Armada, a decentralized cloud for the edge. They are valued at $2B according to their last round and are funded by some of the friends of the show at Founders Fund, Lux Capital, 8090 Industries, Overmatch and strategic capital from firms like M12 (Microsoft's venture fund), Pinegrove and a few others. Watch on YouTube Timestamps 00:00 - Introduction01:16 - Dan Wright's early journey04:32 - Hyperscaling the remote edge data center06:41 - Full stack commercial deployments from oil fields to the Navy bay09:12 - Why DIY closet servers failed the scale test11:06 - What Armada enables its customers to do?14:26 - Joint ventures and open model ecosystem network effects17:42 - Reason behind Armada's "hyper" growth 22:39 -Why go for energy and mining companies?27:21 - Hiring the top 1 percent talent30:51 - Closing This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wethebuilders.us