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Today on BILLIONS, I’m sitting down with Noah Kagan — the guy who got fired from Facebook before it was worth a trillion… and turned that loss into the biggest comeback story in online business. He went from losing a fortune on paper to building AppSumo, a $100 million-a-year bootstrapped empire - all without raising a single dollar of VC money. Noah, thanks a lot for being here! TIMELINE 00:00:00 - 00:02:10 : The trillion-dollar miss at Facebook 00:02:10 - 00:06:43 : Leadership lessons from Mark Zuckerberg's billion-dollar rejection 00:06:43 - 00:12:13 : The lifetime deal dilemma destroying software value 00:12:13 - 00:19:40 : Why most entrepreneurs never take action 00:19:40 - 00:26:49 : Building discipline through small daily choices 00:26:49 - 00:33:10 : The scary reality of AppSumo's uncertain future 00:33:10 - 00:42:09 : Community quality crisis in the AI era 00:42:09 - 00:48:58 : Testing new models before it's too late 00:48:58 - 00:57:07 : Hiring secrets for bootstrap businesses 00:57:07 - 01:04:29 : Finding contentment beyond the billion-dollar dream REFERENCES - Mark Zuckerberg  - Peter Thiel  - Marc Andreessen - Sean Parker - Dustin Moskovitz - Soleio  - Bill Gates  - Steve Jobs  - Moody - Christine Rogers - Jesse Mecham –  - Ayman Al-Abdullah - Reid Hoffman - Million Dollar Weekend by Noah Kagan - AppSumo   - TidyCal   - Airbnb    - Asana   - Lemlist    - Reclaim - Bolt - Hostinger - Emergent - Pika   - YNAB - Vercel - Tabby   - YC

Today on BILLIONS, I'm sitting down with Stan Massueras - the guy who's scaled companies to billion-dollar valuations not once, but multiple times. He was one of Facebook's first European sales hires in 2008, then helped Twitter expand across the continent and after that, he spent six years scaling Intercom to unicorn status. Now he's doing it all over again at ElevenLabs, the voice AI company that went from zero to $6B+ in under three years. In this episode, we'll dig into what it actually looks like to scale sales, how selling AI is fundamentally different from selling SaaS, and what Stan had to unlearn from the typocal Saas playbook to succeed at ElevenLabs. If you want to understand what it takes to repeatedly win at the billion-dollar level - and what breaks inside companies growing this fast - this episode is for you. Stan thanks for being here today! TIMELINE : 00:00:00 - 00:01:17 : From Facebook to ElevenLabs: Meet the billion-dollar scaler   00:01:17 - 00:05:21 : Why selling software in Europe breaks the US playbook   00:05:21 - 00:10:10 : The AI sales revolution: Killing the SaaS sales hierarchy   00:10:10 - 00:13:56 : No middle management, no titles: How ElevenLabs runs flat and fast   00:13:56 - 00:18:34 : Inside ElevenLabs’ $300M ARR sprint: Remote, lean, relentless   00:18:34 - 00:22:47 : Mastering two motions: creative tools vs enterprise AI   00:22:47 - 00:26:39 : Expanding from voiceovers to luxury AI agents   00:26:39 - 00:30:54 : Taking updates seriously: enterprise upsell strategy and product marketing   00:30:54 - 00:34:22 : Deepfake fears & Hollywood deals: AI voice ethics in action   00:34:22 - 00:40:45 : Billion-dollar impact: AI accessibility, ALS, and global translation   00:40:45 - 00:54:44 : Career regrets, recruiting lessons, and the real rocket-ship mindset  REFERENCES :- Sheryl Sandberg  - Jason Fried - (Basecamp)  - Carlos Reina  - Guillaume Kabane - Dave Gerhardt - Arthur Waller (PennyLane) - Harry Stebbings (20VC) - Matthew McConaughey - Bruce Springsteen - Mark Zuckerberg  - Skyblog (Note: Mostly inactive now; legacy site) - Lemlist - Deel - Salesforce - Oracle - Canva - Figma - Zendesk - Lovabl - Synthesia - HeyGen - Coinbase - Sales Navigator (LinkedIn) - Y Combinator - Station F - SaasStock

Today on BILLIONS, I’m sitting down with Arthur Waller, one of the sharpest French founders of his generation. He sold his first company to Booking.com in his twenties — and instead of retiring, he came back to build Pennylane, a fintech that turned accountants from enemies into growth partners and became one of europe fastest-growing unicorn. In this episode, we will discuss how six co-founders actually share power, what founders get wrong about fundraising terms and dilution, and what Arthur thinks about secondaries, freedom, and building a company that lasts twenty years. If you want to understand what it really takes to scale, cash-out without selling out, and keep your ambition alive after success - then this episode is for you! TIMELINE : 00:00:00 - 00:03:37 : First exit to Booking.com at 25 - the $80M deal structure 00:03:37 - 00:08:08 : Why the earn-out worked and 3.5 years at Booking 00:08:08 - 00:13:58 : Coming back stronger - choosing accounting as the next battlefield 00:13:58 - 00:18:12 : Seven co-founders sharing power and equity splits 00:18:12 - 00:24:01 : Fundraising strategy - diluting less than 10% early rounds 00:24:01 - 00:30:34 : Making accountants allies instead of enemies 00:30:34 - 00:36:08 : European expansion vs US market strategy 00:36:08 - 00:41:56 : Secondary transactions - $30M for employees, $70M for founders 00:41:56 - 00:46:38 : Staying private vs going public - the Stripe model 00:46:38 - 00:48:43 : The one advice for young founders REFERENCES : - Booking.com  - Felix Blossier - Tancrède Besnard  - Alexandre Roquoplo - Charles-Philippe Letellier - Brian Halligan - Partech - PayFit - Alan - Qonto - Indy - QuickBooks - NetSuite - Salesloft - Outreach - Sequoia Capital - Carta - Cegid - Shine - Stripe - Revolut - Andreessen Horowitz (a16z)

Today on BILLIONS, I’m sitting down with one of Europe’s youngest General Partners — Jonathan Userovici from Headline, a global venture firm that spots the next billion-dollar companies before anyone else. Jonathan’s already backed some of Europe’s fastest-growing unicorns and he’s quietly redefining what it means to invest with both data and instinct. In this episode, I want to talk about the behind-the-scenes of fundraising, how he spots future billion-dollar founders, and where the biggest opportunities in AI are. And of course, we’ll talk cash — secondaries, cap tables, and the real economics behind staying hungry once you’re rich on paper. If you’ve ever wondered how the next generation of billion-dollar investors think — this episode is your blueprint. Jonathan, thanks a lot for joining! TIMELINE :00:00:00 - 00:01:09 : The rise and fall of unicorns  00:01:09 - 00:03:42 : Backing founders who build long-term compounders   00:03:42 - 00:08:48 : Speed of iteration: The ultimate founder advantage   00:08:48 - 00:12:46 : Unicorn playbook:   00:12:46 - 00:20:35 : Deal flow secrets: Scoring, signals, and global sourcing with AI   00:20:35 - 00:26:34 : Headline’s global roadmap strategy and industry watchlist   00:26:34 - 00:34:08 : The true trillion-dollar AI opportunity   00:34:08 - 00:42:20 : Secondaries, incentives, and cash: De-risking without losing hunger   00:42:20 - 00:49:12 : VC exits, liquidation prefs, and cap table traps to avoid   00:49:12 - 00:55:40 : Valuation games in the AI world REFERENCES : - Arthur Mensch - Loïc Soubeyrand - Daniel Nathan - Christian Miele - Arthur Waller - Mistral AI - Black Forest Labs - Bioptimus - Harvey - Legora - Lovable - Grok - Swile - Pennylane - Homa Games

Today on BILLIONS, I’m sitting down with Harry Stebbings — the guy who turned a microphone in his bedroom into a $400 million venture fund. He started The Twenty Minute VC as a teenager, and it became the place where the smartest founders of unicorns, and the world’s best investors all lined up to talk. In this episode, Harry opens up about the deals he missed, the unicorns he caught early like Linktree and Tripledot, and how he turned content into capital. If you’ve ever wondered how storytelling can build an empire, this is the playbook. TIMELINE : 00:00:00 - 00:03:36 : Turning content into deal flow: The 20VC playbook 00:03:36 - 00:06:26 : From obsession to insight: How Harry predicted the future of VC 00:06:26 - 00:09:03 : Why most VCs suck at content—and how to stand out 00:09:03 - 00:12:48 : $400M facepalms: Inside Harry’s biggest investment regrets 00:12:48 - 00:17:35 : What separates great founders from everyone else 00:17:35 - 00:27:50 : Building the fund: Raising $8M from a podcast mic to $400M 00:27:50 - 00:36:22 : The underrated VC weapon: High-impact content as revenue driver 00:36:22 - 00:44:52 : Going public vs staying private: Who really wins? 00:44:52 - 00:58:52 : Charisma, crisis, and credibility: The raw truth about founder DNA 00:58:52 - 01:04:23 : Bullish on Europe: Beating Silicon Valley at its own game REFERENCES : - Peter Thiel - Michael Moritz - Alex Bouaziz (Deel) - Christina Cacioppo (Vanta) - Peter Fenton - Daniel Ek - Nick Storonsky  - Marc Benioff - Guy Kawasaki - Steve Ballmer - Thibault Elziere  - Torsten Reil - Mati Staniszewski - 20VC - Project Europe - a16z

Today on BILLIONS, I’m sitting down with Nicolas Dessaigne — the engineer who bet everything on one idea, built Algolia into a multi-billion-dollar global search platform… and then did something almost no founder ever does: he walked away. Nicolas went from obsessing over one company for a decade… to shaping hundreds of startups every year as a General Partner at Y Combinator, the most influential accelerator on the planet. In this episode, we will talk about why he left Algolia, how founders should think about liquidity, what really happens inside YC, and why the next wave of AI will be bigger — and stranger — than anyone expects. If you’ve ever wondered what happens when a unicorn founder switches sides and becomes the one choosing the next unicorns… this conversation will change the way you think about ambition, ego, and the future of startups. TIMELINE : 00:00:00 - 00:06:39: Why I walked away from my billion-dollar company 00:06:39 - 00:11:46: The brutal truth about founder liquidity and secondary sales 00:11:46 - 00:17:35: Inside YC's investment strategy and partner dynamics 00:17:35 - 00:22:31: How to spot the next unicorn founders before anyone else 00:22:31 - 00:28:02: The AI company revolution happening right now 00:28:02 - 00:34:50: Why your kids will outperform you with AI superpowers 00:34:50 - 00:40:47: Robotics and the future of physical AI agents 00:40:47 - 00:46:09: The model wars - who's really winning the AI race 00:46:09 - 00:51:04: Why Google shocked everyone and OpenAI's real advantage 00:51:04 - 00:54:44: The counterintuitive way to find billion-dollar startup ideas REFERENCES : - Bryan Onel, Oneleet founder  - François Chollet, ARC Prize founder - Yann LeCun - Y Combinator

Everyone obsesses over product-market fit. But building a product isn’t enough. You need to make people believe. That’s how Gong looked like a billion-dollar brand when they were still doing $30M in ARR. In this episode, I sat down with Udi Ledergor, ex-CMO and now Chief Evangelist at Gong, to unpack the secrets behind the most iconic B2B brand in the last decade—and trust me, no one else is this tactical.Here’s what we cover: You don’t need a huge team. Gong Labs—a content machine that moved the entire sales community—was built by one writer and half a data analyst. One and a half people. That’s it.Content is the highest-ROI growth lever. If you have to pay people to look at your content, it sucks. Udi drops the exact playbook Gong used to make content that got shared, cited—and invited onto stages.Want to appear like a giant? Cheat. Gong faked being massive by renting a Times Square billboard for $500. Then they turned it into viral content. That same “punch above your weight” playbook landed them enterprise clients.The Super Bowl ad wasn’t crazy—it was calculated. Udi reverse-engineered regional air time for 70% of Gong’s market, spent a fraction of what you'd think, and smashed pipeline records the same week.Forget features. Spark feelings. Gong’s most viral post? A study showing reps who drop F-bombs sell more. It pissed people off and lit LinkedIn on fire. That’s how you win.If you wanna build a brand that people remember, stop playing safe. The world doesn’t need another “best practice.” It needs brave marketers willing to bet big on originality.Bold marketing doesn’t cost more. Playing it safe does.Timeline : 00:00:00 - 00:01:00 : How gong became a billion-dollar brand (before the revenue) 00:01:00 - 00:04:38 : Punching above your weight: gong’s billboard strategy playbook 00:04:38 - 00:07:26 : The viral formula: what makes content spread like fire 00:07:26 - 00:11:26 : Gong labs content series: 1.5 people, zero excuses, maximum impact 00:11:26 - 00:14:20 : Why content > distribution: rethinking roi the gong way 00:14:20 - 00:17:19 : Turning content into pipeline: metrics, gating, and reciprocity 00:17:19 - 00:21:44 : From free to unstoppable: scaling organic marketing and thought leadership 00:21:44 - 00:27:04 : Super bowl ad on a startup budget: the story behind gong’s boldest move 00:27:04 - 00:35:21 : Going enterprise: how gong landed fortune 10 clients (and what changed) 00:35:21 - 00:49:38 : Retention, equity, and billion-dollar thinking as a non-founder exec References : Courageous Marketing: The B2B Marketer's Playbook for Career Success by Udi LedergorKyle Lacy - CMO at DoceboMoneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game by Michael LewCrossing the Chasm by Geoffrey Moore - Classic business book about bridging early adopters to early majorityMade to Stick by Dan Heath and Keith Heath - About principles of viral content and what makes things memorableThe Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell - About what becomes a trend and viral phenomenaInfluence, New and Expanded: The Essential Guide to the Psychology of Influence and Persuasion in Everyday Life by Robert Cialdini - Psychology book about persuasion, specifically reciprocity effect