Startup Grind

The leading community for people building, working with and investing in startups.

[Startup Grind @StartupGrind]

This is Startup Grind, baby. 😜

If you were there, you know. And if you weren’t, make sure to join us next year as we make the Startup Grind Conference anniversary the biggest one yet, together.

Early interest list is open now. Link in reply.

[Derek Andersen @DerekjAndersen]

We were born to win in life, and winning starts with belief.

Brian Santiago on his competitive drive and the lesson his dad taught him:

“We were all born to win, not just in sport, in life.”

“I just felt like I could find a way to win.”

“…he didn't want me to ever lose my competitive edge, but that I needed to channel it…”

[Derek Andersen @DerekjAndersen]

My @Divotdotorg with Patrick Drake, the entrepreneur that helped launch Hello Fresh. A former lawyer who volunteered to work at Heston Blumenthal’s The Fat Duck and launched a food movement. We talk about career, ambition, and living up to expectations.

Timestamps:
02:21 — Leaving Corporate Law to Become a TV Chef
05:43 — When Talking About Your Plans Replaces Taking Action
10:53 — The Cooking Show Pilot That Went Nowhere
15:05 — Building a New Career Before Quitting the Old One
19:32 — The Pitch That Opened Heston Blumenthal’s Kitchen
22:50 — How a YouTube Video Led to a Television Series
25:51 — What The Fat Duck Taught Him About Excellence
29:40 — The House Fire That Changed His Definition of Success
35:03 — Why Asking for Help Was His Hardest Lesson
39:29 — When to Keep Pushing—and When to Walk Away
42:12 — How Morning Pages Help Him Untangle His Thoughts
44:55 — Fatherhood, Friendship, and a New Measure of Success

Hashtags:
#PatrickDrake #HelloFresh #CareerChange #HelloFreshUK #Entrepreneurship #FounderMindset #HestonBlumenthal #TheFatDuck #Reinvention #MorningPages #Fatherhood #Community #DerekAndersen #DivotPodcast

[Startup Grind @StartupGrind]

Andrew Ng (@AndrewYNg) compared AI to electricity at the 2018 Startup Grind Conference.

Eight years later, that same idea is playing out in robotics, manufacturing, and scientific research.

[Derek Andersen @DerekjAndersen]

Inference may be the biggest AI trend of 2027. @blackboxai is an emerging Inference leader, having grown revenue from $0 to $300M in the past year.

Their platform is winning because it’s end-to -end encrypted, totally US-based (no data sent to China), and in many cases twice as fast.

My interview with the founders below.

Timestamps:

01:05 — AI Inference: Why More Tokens per GPU Matter
04:08 — Why Businesses Want Both Open and Closed AI
09:54 — DeepSeek, China, and Where Your Data Goes
18:43 — Encryption vs. Zero Data Retention
25:40 — Lowering AI Costs With the Same NVIDIA GPUs
31:06 — Why Smarter Models Still Need Better Infrastructure
38:01 — Three Brothers, One Company: The Blackbox Story
43:14 — How Trust and Disagreement Help Founders Move Faster
47:00 — The Navy SEAL Principles Behind Blackbox’s Culture
01:01:28 — Overcoming Hard Problems, One at a Time

#AI #AIInference #BlackboxAI #DivotPodcast

[Startup Grind @StartupGrind]

In partnership with @mayfieldfund. Supported by @salesforce and @circleci.

Building one of these companies? Apply. Know a founder who is? Send this their way.

[Startup Grind @StartupGrind]

The next great AI companies are already being built. Most people just don't know their names yet.

[Startup Grind @StartupGrind]

The Mayfield | Startup Grind AI List will recognize 50 early-stage AI founders building what comes next.

Applications close Nov 6: https://t.co/ndCDv43rSi

[Startup Grind @StartupGrind]

Five questions. Two days in Silicon Valley, April 27-28.

Which one do you want answered first?

[Startup Grind @StartupGrind]

We're building Startup Grind Conference 2027 around five questions.

Nobody has clean answers yet. That's why they're worth two days in Silicon Valley.

[Startup Grind @StartupGrind]

What are VCs getting wrong about AI?

Easy question to ask on a podcast. Harder with your name on it.

We're asking it on stage anyway.

[Startup Grind @StartupGrind]

@DerekjAndersen @daytonaio @ivanburazin @Divotdotorg 🚀🚀🚀

[Derek Andersen @DerekjAndersen]

AI agents can create parallel worlds to solve one problem.

@daytonaio co-founder @ivanburazin on how agents can explore multiple paths in parallel:

“Agents can, theoretically, for anyone that's watching the Marvel movies, go through the multiverse.”

“So every decision it can make, you can essentially replicate the computer and try both of the outcomes. And then you can replicate it again.”

“So for every fork in the road, you can basically split that up.”

[Derek Andersen @DerekjAndersen]

The next software boom won’t be built for humans.

Daytona co-founder @ivanburazin on why founders should build for AI agents:

“Whatever you're building, the customer should not be the human.”

“The market for software, infrastructure, anything for agents will be so much bigger than any market for anything for humans…”

“And so that's why I say all software is now being rebuilt for agents.”

[Startup Grind @StartupGrind]

Mercury just crossed $1B in annualized revenue, up about 50% year over year, with more than 450,000 customers.

Congrats to @immad and the @mercury team. Great to have had Immad on the Startup Grind Conference stage this year.

Via @EricNewcomer

https://t.co/A88wfdVxjz

[Derek Andersen @DerekjAndersen]

Winning the battle means little if you lose the war (Pyrrhic victory)

The 5 Types of Wealth author @SahilBloom explains it with King Pyrrhus:

“It is the idea of a victory that comes at such a steep cost to the victor that it might as well have been a defeat.”

“You’ve made hundreds of millions, billions of dollars. Everyone celebrates you and admires you. But ignores the fact that you have four divorces and five kids that don’t talk to you. That you’re deeply unhealthy. That you’re lonely.”

“...make sure that you are deciding what your success or your wealthy life actually looks like.”

[Derek Andersen @DerekjAndersen]

Life's hardest moments shape who you become.

My brother Brandt Andersen (Hollywood producer: Lone Survivor & Everest) on why he no longer runs from hard things:

"No great sculpture's been made out of clay. They're all made out of stone."

"I don't run from the things that are hard anymore. When I get stuck in something hard now, I'm like, 'Let's do it.'"

"And I had to climb my own way out. But having done that, I'm now good at getting out of it."