Founders & Builders podcast

Founders & Builders is your go-to channel for in-depth conversations with the world's best startup founders and operators.

[Founders & Builders podcast @foundersbuilder]

What if Europe’s next billion-dollar startup isn’t born in Silicon Valley, but in London, Berlin or Stockholm?

🎧 Full episode with Hussein Kanji is out now on Founders and Builders. Links in comments 👇

#startups #venturecapital #AI #deeptech

[Joe Wear @Joewearofficial]

BREAKING: @arielcoco , CEO and Co-Founder of @Navan, joins us live at RAISE Summit in Paris!

In 2020 when COVID hit, people told Ariel his company was finished.

Business travel was hit HARD. Nobody was getting on a plane again...

He'd spent five years building a company around a single idea: to empower in-person connections. Then for a year, nobody could have one.

"People were telling me it's dead. People learned how to sell stuff through Zoom. And I said, this is not how humans operate. They want to connect. They want to communicate. They want to understand each other."

Today Navan is public on Nasdaq, with more than 12k customers and over $10 billion in bookings running through it... every single year.

"You will come to so many things that will get you very close to shutting down the business. The only thing that will keep the company is if you know the vision, the mission, your values, and if you know how to communicate it."

We also get into how they are building the WORLD'S first AI travel company.

Full episode is live now, link in the comments below:

Founders & Builders is super proud to be partnering with @CoreWeave, The Essential Cloud for AI.

Navan has a fantastic cap table of investors and builders: @itwig @orenzeev @lightspeedvp @a16z @eriktorenberg

[Laura Modiano @LauraModiano]

Meet my daughter Maya. She is 10.
She is a builder - in the making, but well on her way.

She spoke to @Joewearofficial on @foundersbuilder about getting started and discovering the joy of building.

In our house we play with Legos and paints as much as we build our own games and projects with @Lovable and Codex. Just building things truly is for everyone with an idea and just a little bit of time.

I see a future of empowerment and I got to talk about the evolution of founders we see at @OpenAI.

Also thank you @antonosika who Maya met at 9, for giving her the gift of a delightful start and encouraging her so much to keep building and @dorapalfi and @imagilabs the basis of how I ran some of our Girlship Club play dates.

[Joe Wear @Joewearofficial]

BREAKING: Markus Villig (@villigm), Founder of Bolt (@boltapp) joins us for a special episode at @PanatheneaFest!

Almost very investor told Markus the same thing before he started Bolt. Uber had won. Network effects of the taxi-app business were too strong.

He was 19, had €5,000, and had spent months trying to convince the local cab drivers in Tallinn to download this new app called Taxify.

Today, Bolt is in 52 countries with 200 million customers...

But back then almost everyone missed a super important detail: the network effects of ride-hailing are local, not global. You don't need to beat Uber everywhere. You just need 300 cars to start competing in a city.

"Every time I've taken external advice that goes against my own intuition, it's almost always proven out to be the wrong thing to do."

He also said we’re seeing the exact same thing happen right now in AI, where the market is pricing in that 1-2 companies will win self-driving, and why that WONT happen.

Founders & Builders is super proud to be partnering with @CoreWeave, The Essential Cloud for AI.

Bolt has a fantastic cap table of investors and builders:
@creandum @johanbrenner @_fredrik @shelgesson
@Fidelity @dsundheim @sequoia @andrew__reed @LarryVCg2 @NordicNinjaVC @TomosakuS @superangel

[Joe Wear @Joewearofficial]

@larsras went from being a broke founder after the dot-com crash to co-founding @googlemaps, one of the most important products on the modern internet.

Today, billions of people use Google Maps every day without thinking twice!

In this episode, Lars shares:
• How Google Maps accidentally went viral before launch and nearly overwhelmed @Google infrastructure
• Why speed, not features, was the real unlock that changed everything
• How a failed VC raise directly led to selling the company to Google
• What it was like building on the web before smartphones, APIs or modern tooling
• Why founders today have more leverage than ever, yet still feel late
• His shift from builder to ecosystem builder and why he’s now creating @PanatheneaFest, a major founder conference in Athens

Chapters:
- The Google Maps Story
- Larry Page Discussion
- How Widely Google Maps is Used
- Growth Challenges
- 10 Millions Users on Day One!
- Panathenea
- Advice To Young Founders

⭐ Listener Suggestion Of The Week – Canva https://t.co/r5UnvnID5K

👍 Why subscribe? If you build companies, invest in startups, or care about technology shaping the future, this channel is for you.

🔔 Subscribe and turn notifications on so you never miss an episode.

@foundersbuilder

#GoogleMaps #LarsRasmussen #Startups #Founders #TechHistory #Entrepreneurship

[Joe Wear @Joewearofficial]

This year Lukas Biewald sold @wandb to @CoreWeave for $1.7 Billion.

I’ve spent the last 4 years inside W&B, and in this special episode shot in SF we go behind the curtain on how it all happened.

Lukas sold his first company, CrowdFlower, then joined @OpenAI as an unpaid intern back when they were only 20-person nonprofit. After that, he founded Weights & Biases, the toolset used by every top AI lab/company in the world.

Chapters:
00:00 Intro – The gold rush of AI
01:18 From CrowdFlower to OpenAI
02:54 The insight: data beats algorithms
04:47 Joining OpenAI as an unpaid intern
07:57 The origin story of Weights & Biases
09:03 Getting the first 100 users
11:00 “You think you're late, but you're probably early”
12:56 Fundraising: CrowdFlower vs W&B
16:45 Building for builders, not platforms
17:22 Why seeding researchers made W&B win
22:10 Advice most founders get wrong
37:15 Breaking through ‘paper walls’
44:56 What it was all for

⭐ Listener Suggestion – CoreWeave - https://t.co/r4vnofQKtT

👍 Why subscribe? If you build, code, invest or care about the future of AI, startups or developer tools, this channel is for you.

#AI #startups #wandb #founders #machinelearning #openai

[Joe Wear @Joewearofficial]

Super excited for this special episode of Founders & Builders.

@yanda is 4x founder, sold his company to LinkedIn before becoming an early angel + exec at @wandb (acquired by @CoreWeave for $1.7B). Today he’s at B Capital with Eduardo Saverin, leading investment into awesome companies like Perplexity.

I was lucky to work with Yanda for 2 years, I’ve always admired his perspective from both sides of the founder/investor table.

In this episode, he shares:

1.⁠ ⁠How to build a business (and a life) around what comes naturally to you
2.⁠ ⁠How to pick the right ideas and co-founders when the world is full of options
3.⁠ ⁠The real pattern behind every new technology wave (Yanda calls them sneaky big markets)
4.⁠ ⁠Why every startup is really just a series of experiments to see if a company deserves to exist

Chapters:
00:00 Intro
02:10 What gets founders through dark times
05:40 Trend-chasing vs authentic problems
09:15 Effortless work and founder-market fit
12:50 The “Cheesecake Factory” problem of choice
16:05 How to pick the right market
19:20 Yanda’s founder journey
23:40 Quitting Google to build his first startup
27:50 Becoming an investor
31:10 Investing early in Weights & Biases
35:00 Sneaky big markets
38:45 AI agencies to in-house teams
42:20 Meditation and founder mindset
46:15 Permissionless leverage in 2025
50:30 What it’s all for

#ai #yandaerlich

[Joe Wear @Joewearofficial]

Companies that win are the ones who master go-to-market faster than anyone else - even if it feels uncomfortable, risky or counterintuitive.

Mirko Novakovic is the co-founder & CEO of @dash0hq - the platform helping engineering teams ship faster by eliminating the complexity and noise around modern software observability.

Before Dash0, Mirko built and scaled multiple high-growth companies. Today, he’s applying those lessons to a new category and teaching founders why revenue is the only real feedback that matters.

From understanding sales math, to hiring ahead of growth, to pushing against the safety-first mindset many founders default to, Mirko breaks down why speed wins, how to be your own salesperson #1 and what it really takes to get to that first million in revenue.

Chapters:
00:00 Intro
01:45 The sales math every founder must know
03:10 Why you must hire 12 months ahead
04:32 The burn + risk problem in high growth
06:00 Why founders must sell early
07:20 Conversations vs real revenue
08:42 How to ask questions that close deals
10:05 Getting to the first $1M in revenue
11:32 When to hire sales and add fuel to the fire
13:12 The mindset shift every technical founder needs

Huge thanks to Mirko for making the time!

#dash0 #mirkonovakovic

[Joe Wear @Joewearofficial]

Yesterday at @SlushHQ 2025, we sat down with one of the most seasoned investors in the global venture landscape.

@eliaw is a General Partner at IVP - the multi-billion-dollar firm behind companies like @coinbase, @supercell, @Snapchat and @zynga .

Since joining @IVP in 2011, Eric has partnered with some of the world’s most exceptional founders, backing category-defining businesses across consumer, B2B, infrastructure, gaming and more.

Chapters:
00:00 Intro
00:25 Big Tech copying your startup
01:58 Foundation models vs real startups
03:01 How enterprise startups stay strong
04:05 Eric’s journey and wins
05:20 What great founders share
06:14 Sectors Eric watches now
07:09 Pitch mistakes founders often make
08:08 Why seed rounds are harder
09:03 Smart fundraising process advice
10:15 Advice to younger self

Huge thanks to Eric for making the time!

@foundersbuilder

#slush2025 #foundersandbuilders #ericliaw #ivp #venturecapital

[Joe Wear @Joewearofficial]

Today on @foundersbuilder we’re joined by someone right at the centre of one of the most influential AI companies in the world.

@gabepereyra is the co-founder and President of @harvey - the legal AI powerhouse now used by more than 700 customers across 58 countries.

Gabe comes to us straight off the back of a major announcement here at @SlushHQ: a new partnership with @elevenlabs , unveiled on stage with Harvey investor Ilya Fushman, who led their Series B.

If you want to find out more about what Gabe and the team are doing at Harvey, click here: https://t.co/03jK1ZPyRQ

Chapters:
00:00 – Introduction
00:08 – The Origin of Harvey
00:55 – Why Legal?
01:47 – Landing the First 100 Users
02:31 – How the Product has Evolved
03:53 – Lessons from DeepMind & Meta
05:07 – The Future of Law Firms
06:05 – Scaling Harvey: Biggest Surprises
07:17 – Fundraising Journey
07:57 – Advice for Founders
08:25 – Advice to His Younger Self
09:30 – Harvey are hiring!

#slush2025 #foundersandbuilders

[Founders & Builders podcast @foundersbuilder]

Next up on our 10-minute Founders & Builders specials👇

Guest: @eliaw

Main topics discussed:

1. How to raise for first time founders
2. The secret behind finding unicorns like @coinbase @RobinhoodApp

#slush2025

[Founders & Builders podcast @foundersbuilder]

Next up on our 10-minute Founders & Builders specials 👇

Tom Wehmeier @atomico

#slush2025

[Founders & Builders podcast @foundersbuilder]

Who should join us next? Drop your suggestions below 👇

[Founders & Builders podcast @foundersbuilder]

Awesome to chat with @gabepereyra on the future of AI in legal at @SlushHQ

@harvey
@Joewearofficial

#slush2025

[Founders & Builders podcast @foundersbuilder]

@Joewearofficial 👉 Do you think we’ll ever fully crack realistic human AI?

In this clip, you’ll hear:

1. The science behind the Uncanny Valley
2. Why ‘almost perfect’ feels worse than unrealistic
3. The biggest challenge in creating digital humans

[Joe Wear @Joewearofficial]

Will AI rewrite the future of film? 🎬

Yaron Inger is the co-founder and CTO of Lightricks - the company behind FaceTune, one of the most downloaded creative apps in history, now evolving into AI video with LTXV, an open-source foundation model for filmmakers and creators.

In this episode, Yaron breaks down what it really takes to build products people love, why video AI is accelerating so fast, and where the future of storytelling is headed.

Chapters:
00:00 Intro
02:15 Yaron’s journey
05:40 Early Lightricks vision
09:10 Facetune breakthrough
12:35 Creativity vs tech
16:20 Scaling creator tools
19:55 Product intuition
24:10 Building LTXV
27:45 AI video today
31:20 The realism problem
35:05 Open source moment
39:30 Community collaboration
43:15 AI in Hollywood
47:50 Cost to create video
52:30 The future of storytelling

Enjoy the episode!

#ai #aifilm #tech

[Founders & Builders podcast @foundersbuilder]

@Joewearofficial The unfair advantage every founder wants

In this clip, you’ll hear:

1. Why a founder intro hits different to a VC intro
2. The power of getting industry insiders in your corner
3. Why strategic alliances open doors cold outreach never will

[Founders & Builders podcast @foundersbuilder]

@Joewearofficial Full episode with Hussein Kanji out now on all platforms.

👉 Be honest, are too many founders chasing investors over impact?

[Founders & Builders podcast @foundersbuilder]

@Joewearofficial The European Founders Who Cracked The US Market🇺🇸

In this clip, you’ll hear:

How UiPath, Hugging Face, and Darktrace scaled globally

Full episode with Hussein Kanji out now on all platforms.

👉 Which European startup do you think will be next to go global?

#tech

[Joe Wear @Joewearofficial]

Hussein Kanji backed Deliveroo at seed, before they had any riders

He backed Darktrace before AI security was a trend

... and took both to IPO

In this episode of Founders & Builders, we cover how to find generational startups before anyone else does 👇
– How to see what others miss (before the press and the hype)
– AI, regulation & trillion-dollar deep tech bets
– The brutal lessons from his biggest misses

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro
00:52 The birth of Hoxton Ventures
02:47 Europe’s first wave of VC funds
05:41 Finding the next breakout founder
08:52 Winner-take-all markets
11:40 What great outcomes look like
12:26 The deals that got away
13:24 Deep tech and rare earth minerals
18:57 Building networks and expert circles
28:13 Lessons from 12 years of VC
29:41 Why founders must expand to the US
35:22 What early-stage founders get wrong
41:29 How to build a fund
42:52 Why social signalling matters
45:25 The balance between conviction and consensus
54:45 How to make better decisions as a fund

The latest Founders & Builders episode with @hkanji and @HoxtonVentures 👇

[Founders & Builders podcast @foundersbuilder]

YouTube 👉 https://t.co/z7WdoJX3gA

Spotify 👉 https://t.co/7sUHpPOyGB

[Founders & Builders podcast @foundersbuilder]

What if Europe’s next billion-dollar startup isn’t born in Silicon Valley, but in London, Berlin or Stockholm?

🎧 Full episode with Hussein Kanji is out now on Founders and Builders. Links in comments 👇

#startups #venturecapital #AI #deeptech