Something New Pod

A weekly podcast by @stephmui and @lmushin. Think "How I Built This" but less Guy Raz, and more Guy Rizz 😏

Drops every Tuesday ✨ follow us on Spotify or Apple

[Steph Mui @stephmui]

from the outside, Tennr seems like an overnight success -- the company raised their seed, Series A, and Series B (announced a month ago lead by Lightspeed) all in 2024 🤯

but what's not as well known is that @TreyHolterman and his co-founders spent almost 2 years trying to find PMF. when they started running out of money (and energy) about 20 months in, they joined YC as a final chance to make something work (and spoiler alert, it did!)

we interviewed Trey for this week's @somethingnewp0d and it's one of my favorite interviews we've ever done! if you're a founder in your trough of sorrow, you'll be inspired

we also talk about:
✨ practical advice on finding a valuable problem to solve (and why "solving your own problem" is bad advice)
✨ trey's strategies for "hijacking authority" (aka building credibility and making people care when you're starting from 0)
✨ ai startup opportunities in healthcare

links to listen:

[Kevin Xu @kevinxu]

IYKYK @stephmui @lmushin @somethingnewp0d #34

spilling AfterHour tea soon? 👀

[Steph Mui @stephmui]

we interviewed @AndrejSafundzic, ceo/co-founder of @lumosidentity ($60M+ raised from a16z, neo, scale, and more) for this week's @somethingnewp0d <3

and talk about:
✨ why optimizing for the "right" market when starting a company is overrated
✨ the signals to look for when deciding whether to double down on an idea in the early days of startup building
✨ his VC fundraising playbook (andrej is legitimately one of the best fundraisers i know 🙃)

i learn something new every time i talk to andrej! links to listen to the full interview:

[Leeor Mushin @lmushin]

Had incredible time chatting with @michaelsayman

My favorite quote: “I was thinking about how we can communicate with the internet and not through it” 🧠

[Steph Mui @stephmui]

'@MichaelSayman is the definition of "you can just do things"

- he started building iPhone apps at 13 as a way to support his family through financial struggles (and had several hits that were making $12k+ / month)

- got recruited to join Facebook by Zuckerberg himself at 17

- raised $3M for his company Friendly Apps in 7 days

- recently launched SocialAI, the viral social media app where any user who signs up can have millions of followers (who all happen to be AI bots)

//

we were lucky to interview him for this week's episode of @somethingnewp0d and covered:
✨ how AI will impact the future of social media (and giants like Meta, Reddit, and more)
✨ how building a charades game called 4Snaps lead to him meeting Zuckerberg as a teen
✨ the strategy and success behind making SocialAI go viral

one of my favorite conversations ever, and a must-listen if you're interested in consumer / social. links to listen:

[Leeor Mushin @lmushin]

Excited to have Patrick Gilligan from Somethings this week on @somethingnewp0d

Somethings was founded in 2022 with a goal of enabling teens to navigate their difficulties, transition into adulthood, and be confident. The company was founded by Patrick who realized from his own personal journey and dealing with tough situations the power of peer mentorship

As an example of that, Something just announced today a partnership with Alliance Health to provide free mental health support for teens in North Carolina

Inspiring mission and company. Links below!

[Alex at Hallow @alexathallow]

Was one of my favorite conversations! Thanks for having me on 🙏

[Something New Pod @somethingnewp0d]

@stephmui 😇

[Steph Mui @stephmui]

Hallow (a catholic meditation app that's raised $100M+) is proof that what VCs think of your idea doesn't matter

Especially when Hallow was getting started in 2018, most VC's perceived religion as uncool/un-investable (and despite it still not being the hottest industry - aka, not AI, lol), Hallow has thrived ($50M Series C most recently, >18M downloads, has hit #1 in the app store, Super Bowl commercial with Mark Wahlberg, etc etc).

We were lucky to interview Alex (@alexathallow) for @somethingnewp0d this week! Unsurprisingly he does things own way (vs following the standard startup advice) and it was inspiring to hear about. Listen to the full episode:

[Steph Mui @stephmui]

the story behind @PhilzCoffee is incredibly underrated:

✨ started off as a bodega, which father/son co-founders Phil/Jacob slowly converted into a coffee shop after visiting 1100+ coffee shops and restaurants for inspiration/learning

✨ Jacob dropped out of school and took over Philz as CEO at 17

✨ Philz is a force, having raised $65M+ and now serving across 70 (!) locations

//

we interviewed @JacobJaber for this week's @somethingnewp0d and talked about:

- why school is overrated, and how the best business lessons are learned by doing

- why brick and mortar businesses are underrated, and why more founders should think about them

- the lessons he's learned from growing Philz, and how it impacts how he thinks about investing in businesses w/ physical presences through his new venture, Humble Lion

Especially as a Philz customer with an embarrassingly high LTV (Mocha Tesora all the way!!), this was a treat. Links to listen to the full interview:

[Something New Pod @somethingnewp0d]

@mrmikerosenthal Spotify: https://t.co/tIQb3N5AIi
Apple: https://t.co/dCbOpUJVCr

[Something New Pod @somethingnewp0d]

"You're not gonna get everything right, and that’s okay."

We had a blast chatting with @mrmikerosenthal, the CEO and co-founder of It’s Good, about the ups and downs of building a startup. In this week’s episode of @somethingnewp0d:

[Steph Mui @stephmui]

🎧

Spotify: https://t.co/oQCE9jujy7

Apple: https://t.co/bIj1ErCt8h

[Steph Mui @stephmui]

creator co-founders (or celebrity co-founders) are the new technical co-founders -- i.e. recruiting one for the team will be seen as a given for most startups one day

we really enjoyed talking about this with @mrmikerosenthal, the CEO of It's Good, a Lightspeed-backed restaurant recommendation platform that he co-founded with @johnlegend

on @somethingnewp0d this week, we talk about:
✨ how the entertainment + tech industries will continue to collaborate and build great companies
✨ lessons for raising VC and building a startup with no prior experience in tech (Mike is an accomplished photographer and director)
✨ how to turn the fear of uncertainty/switching industries into a fulfilling, non-linear career path

loved this interview! links to listen below:

[Something New Pod @somethingnewp0d]

"The mega trend we didn’t see coming… 😂 Check out this week's episode of Something New with Mike Rosenthal! #itsgood #MegaTrends #venturecapital #SomethingNew @stephmui @lmushin
https://t.co/uLbXswKPRG

[Leeor Mushin @lmushin]

On this week's @somethingnewp0d, we chat with @zanemountcastle from @Picogrid, which is building the Unified Platform for Autonomous Systems

We chat with Zane on:
- How to think about building in defense tech
- Why pure software companies won't win and Picogrid's middleware/hardware approach
- And of course, how "The Gundo" happened

[Leeor Mushin @lmushin]

"May all of you be saddled with similarly competent critics"

Someone named Emily was trying to cancel @MentavaInc before it really got started

The crime? The audacity of trying to teach 2 and 3-year olds how to read

On this episode of Something New, we chat with @NielsHoven on:
- his journey from food stamps to founding
- taking advantage of an absurd situation to successfully launch his product early
- thoughts on the future of education

[Niels Hoven 🐮 @NielsHoven]

I don’t think I’ve mentioned my time on food stamps publicly before, but I guess it’s out there now. 🤷‍♂️

@lmushin is a great interviewer, thanks for encouraging me to share some personal backstory and some thoughts on accelerating education!

[Steph Mui @stephmui]

one of my favorite startup stories of all time: how @NielsHoven turned a viral twitter post from a hater into enough waitlist sign-ups for his company @MentavaInc to become cash flow positive (and launch its product a year ahead of schedule!)

@somethingnewp0d is back with season 2 (and will have new episode drops every tuesday)! on this episode with niels, we talk about:
✨ why having haters is a good thing for your startup
✨ his unique fundraising playbook from raising from 50+ incredible angels including @garrytan , @tferriss, @ericries and more
✨ building in edtech, and why a lot of the companies in the space fail

links to listen below:

[Leeor Mushin @lmushin]

The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) was the Day the Earth Stood Still in startup land in March of 2023. It was, after all, the 3rd largest bank failure in the U.S. and the largest since the 2008 Financial Crisis.

Someone in the middle of it providing these innovating companies with emergency liquidity options and reimagining their startup banking stack was @donmuir_, the CEO and Cofounder of @join_arc.

On this week's episode of @somethingnewp0d, Don chats with Steph and I about:

- Turning the SVB crisis into opportunity
- Navigating the original idea maze such that they were ready for this moment
- Going through @ycombinator, even though they had raised money and didn't need the capital
- Perceived "Bloody Oceans" versus "Blue Lakes"
- The nuts and bolts of building an entrepreneurial, high-achieving team

Links below!