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BREAKING: Inside Bending Spoons $BSP Milan, Italy Bending Spoons has completed 50+ acquisitions & never sold a single one Buying up some of tech's most recognizable companies, including AOL, Airtable, Vimeo, Eventbrite, Evernote, WeTransfer, Tractive & Brightcove, with Miro now under agreement. I went to Italy to sit down...

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Molly O’Shea

73,942 subscribers

443,287 Aufrufe • vor 5 Tagen •via X (Twitter)

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18 Kommentare

Profilbild von Molly O’Shea
Molly O’Sheavor 5 Tagen

Read on Sourcery: Listen on Spotify: Apple: Watch on YT:

Profilbild von Arny Trezzi
Arny Trezzivor 5 Tagen

@bendingspoons Many precious gems to understand the culture, which is Bending's key product. Great job @MollySOShea. Looking forward to part 2!

Profilbild von Molly O’Shea
Molly O’Sheavor 5 Tagen

@bendingspoons Despite the Italian charm, they are ruthless

Profilbild von Brex
Brexvor 5 Tagen

@bendingspoons tuning in

Profilbild von Molly O’Shea
Molly O’Sheavor 5 Tagen

@bendingspoons

Profilbild von Jaden Masters
Jaden Mastersvor 5 Tagen

@bendingspoons Great breakdown. I appreciate how you explain the setup in a way that both experienced traders and newer traders can follow. @finalstep does a good job of that too.

Profilbild von Molly O’Shea
Molly O’Sheavor 5 Tagen

@bendingspoons @finalstep 🤝

Profilbild von Thayer
Thayervor 5 Tagen

@bendingspoons Another banger. Many in the U.S. still haven't even heard of Bending Spoons. Bill Ackman said their CEO reminds him of Warren Buffett

Profilbild von Molly O’Shea
Molly O’Sheavor 5 Tagen

@bendingspoons Luca is a low key savage

Profilbild von Its Good
Its Goodvor 5 Tagen

@bendingspoons 50+ acquisitions and not a single sale. SplitWise But Cooler calls that a very committed collection.

Profilbild von Gerald Brady
Gerald Bradyvor 5 Tagen

@joehas @bendingspoons Excellent interview. Such an exciting and interesting company, with huge growth potential in front of it.

Profilbild von James Clark 📈📉¯\_(ツ)_/¯
James Clark 📈📉¯\_(ツ)_/¯vor 5 Tagen

@bendingspoons Damn. Your list of interview subjects is insane.

Profilbild von Molly O’Shea
Molly O’Sheavor 5 Tagen

@bendingspoons 😮‍💨😮‍💨

Profilbild von SurgicalCaps.com
SurgicalCaps.comvor 5 Tagen

@bendingspoons $BSP up down

Profilbild von jermaine
jermainevor 5 Tagen

@bendingspoons Impressive that they've never sold a single acquisition after 50+ deals — that's a really unique approach. Curious what @thejudgejordan thinks of their centralized platform thesis for $BSP.

Profilbild von IfhamEllahi
IfhamEllahivor 5 Tagen

@bendingspoons Never selling reads as conviction, but it also means no buyer has ever priced what the platform added. The thesis gets tested on whether users and retention grow after Bending Spoons takes over. What does that curve look like for Evernote or Vimeo a few years in?

Profilbild von Scott Schindler
Scott Schindlervor 5 Tagen

@bendingspoons This is the journalism we needed

Profilbild von Molly O’Shea
Molly O’Sheavor 4 Tagen

@bendingspoons I am not a journalist! Fun look into the company

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Bending Spoons has ~1,000 potential acquisition targets & plans to do 5–10 deals a year. AOL: $1.45B Vimeo: $1.38B Airtable: $1.285B Tractive: $759M Eventbrite: ~$500M Miro: $1.355B, pending But Head of M&A Francesco Patarnello says they aren’t targeting one specific category: “We've always been very agnostic to the vertical and the category. We try to do things in different worlds and constantly expand the capabilities of the things that we can do.” “We don't want to focus on one specific vertical. We want to keep our scope relatively broad. Within this broad scope, the focus is to look for businesses that have a lot of potential to be unlocked.” The question behind every deal: How much more valuable could this business become on Bending Spoons’ platform?
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144,197 Aufrufe • vor 7 Monaten

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Ti Morse

21,226 Aufrufe • vor 7 Monaten

BREAKING: deel Hits $1.4B+ ARR Co-founded by CEO Alex Bouaziz (Alex Bouaziz) & CRO Shuo Wang (Shuo Wang), Alex shares their hypergrowth playbook.. Founded in 2019, at only 7 years old: - Deel has scaled to $1.4B+ ARR - Reached a $17.3B valuation - 40K+ customers across 150+ countries - 3+ years of being profitable Deel has rapidly become the #1 platform for hiring & paying employees worldwide. We discuss: • Scaling Deel to $1.4B+ ARR • Serving 40K+ companies across 150+ countries • Deel’s 10+ acquisition M&A strategy • Building a profitable hypergrowth SaaS company • The future of global hiring & distributed teams • How AI agents will transform the workforce Recent Financing: Oct 2025, Deel announced a $300 million Series E funding round, valuing the company at $17.3 billion co-led by Ribbit Capital (Ribbit Capital) as a new investor, alongside long-time partners Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) & Coatue Management (COATUE). This was filmed in London February 12, 2026 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐒 (00:00) Alex Bouaziz, Co-Founder & CEO at Deel (02:05) Working with co-founder & CRO Shuo Wang (03:54) What Deel actually does (05:05) Biggest customers (05:54) $17B valuation and latest funding round (06:35) How Deel approaches fundraising (07:50) Hitting $100M ARR and early growth (09:25) Why raise money if you are already profitable? (10:35) Inside the latest funding round (12:03) Why payroll is a huge global opportunity (14:21) How Deel expanded its product stack (15:21) The challenges of hiring globally (16:18) Running a 7,000 person fully remote company (18:29) Tips for building remote teams (19:50) Why Deel went global from day one (22:47) How AI is changing hiring (25:00) Deel’s moat in an AI world (26:19) A question from Micky Malka (26:57) From airlines to oil and gas: who uses Deel (27:58) M&A strategy and integration playbook (34:33) Biggest mistakes companies make with acquisitions (35:56) How to retain founders after acquisitions (36:34) Deel's new CFO (39:09) What it takes to be IPO ready (40:29) How AI could affect Deel’s future (42:55) The "Dubai founder controversy" (46:00) Leading in a competitive market (50:47) The biggest misconception about Deel (53:27) The right people around you (56:51) The "default optimism" (58:33) What’s next for Deel (01:01:05) The future of autonomous agents (01:03:35) Biggest lessons from Shuo (01:06:34) What makes a great salesperson (01:08:32) Partnering with Arsenal
1:11:39

BREAKING: deel Hits $1.4B+ ARR Co-founded by CEO Alex Bouaziz (Alex Bouaziz) & CRO Shuo Wang (Shuo Wang), Alex shares their hypergrowth playbook.. Founded in 2019, at only 7 years old: - Deel has scaled to $1.4B+ ARR - Reached a $17.3B valuation - 40K+ customers across 150+ countries - 3+ years of being profitable Deel has rapidly become the #1 platform for hiring & paying employees worldwide. We discuss: • Scaling Deel to $1.4B+ ARR • Serving 40K+ companies across 150+ countries • Deel’s 10+ acquisition M&A strategy • Building a profitable hypergrowth SaaS company • The future of global hiring & distributed teams • How AI agents will transform the workforce Recent Financing: Oct 2025, Deel announced a $300 million Series E funding round, valuing the company at $17.3 billion co-led by Ribbit Capital (Ribbit Capital) as a new investor, alongside long-time partners Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) & Coatue Management (COATUE). This was filmed in London February 12, 2026 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐒 (00:00) Alex Bouaziz, Co-Founder & CEO at Deel (02:05) Working with co-founder & CRO Shuo Wang (03:54) What Deel actually does (05:05) Biggest customers (05:54) $17B valuation and latest funding round (06:35) How Deel approaches fundraising (07:50) Hitting $100M ARR and early growth (09:25) Why raise money if you are already profitable? (10:35) Inside the latest funding round (12:03) Why payroll is a huge global opportunity (14:21) How Deel expanded its product stack (15:21) The challenges of hiring globally (16:18) Running a 7,000 person fully remote company (18:29) Tips for building remote teams (19:50) Why Deel went global from day one (22:47) How AI is changing hiring (25:00) Deel’s moat in an AI world (26:19) A question from Micky Malka (26:57) From airlines to oil and gas: who uses Deel (27:58) M&A strategy and integration playbook (34:33) Biggest mistakes companies make with acquisitions (35:56) How to retain founders after acquisitions (36:34) Deel's new CFO (39:09) What it takes to be IPO ready (40:29) How AI could affect Deel’s future (42:55) The "Dubai founder controversy" (46:00) Leading in a competitive market (50:47) The biggest misconception about Deel (53:27) The right people around you (56:51) The "default optimism" (58:33) What’s next for Deel (01:01:05) The future of autonomous agents (01:03:35) Biggest lessons from Shuo (01:06:34) What makes a great salesperson (01:08:32) Partnering with Arsenal

Molly O’Shea

284,721 Aufrufe • vor 6 Monaten

BREAKING: Inside Palo Alto Networks ($PANW ) w/ CEO Nikesh Arora (Nikesh Arora) Rogue agents are just the start. "This is the beginning. This is not a moment." Nikesh joined 8 years ago at an $18 Billion market cap. Today it's grown to $300+ Billion "For 8 years I tried to convince CEOs to pay attention to cybersecurity. You know what Mythos did? Every CEO wants to talk about Mythos." "The average time to fix a vulnerability was 55 days.. The average time they'll find it, try & attack you is in minutes.. We launched a capability that delivers patches in 4 hours. From 55 days to 4 hours." We cover: › The liability question behind agent deployment › Why he signed Jensen Huang's open weights letter › 40+ acquisitions behind the run to $300B › End of the 'SaaSpocalypse' ? › Hiring AI natives out of hackathons › Why every piece of software gets rewritten in the next 10 years 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐒 (00:00) Nikesh Arora, Chairman & CEO at Palo Alto Networks (00:51) The AI attack era has already started (03:30) What happens when agents go rogue (04:39) Why AI Labs are slowing down (06:31) The Mythos Fallout (17:25) Cybersecurity's secret weapon (19:43) Buying a company is the easy part (20:48) Where most acquisitions go wrong (24:58) Predicting the SaaSpacolypse (28:03) The question nobody in Tech is asking (30:54) There's never enough Compute (33:12) Palo Alto's bar for AI fluency (35:37) The controversial hire (37:12) Using LinkedIn to spot opportunities (39:19) What a CEO's day actually looks like (43:47) The leadership traits that matter (47:02) Google vs. SoftBank: What was different? (51:02) Why planning horizons are shrinking (52:55) Lessons From Elon & Masa (56:44) What's next for Nikesh?
59:09

BREAKING: Inside Palo Alto Networks ($PANW ) w/ CEO Nikesh Arora (Nikesh Arora) Rogue agents are just the start. "This is the beginning. This is not a moment." Nikesh joined 8 years ago at an $18 Billion market cap. Today it's grown to $300+ Billion "For 8 years I tried to convince CEOs to pay attention to cybersecurity. You know what Mythos did? Every CEO wants to talk about Mythos." "The average time to fix a vulnerability was 55 days.. The average time they'll find it, try & attack you is in minutes.. We launched a capability that delivers patches in 4 hours. From 55 days to 4 hours." We cover: › The liability question behind agent deployment › Why he signed Jensen Huang's open weights letter › 40+ acquisitions behind the run to $300B › End of the 'SaaSpocalypse' ? › Hiring AI natives out of hackathons › Why every piece of software gets rewritten in the next 10 years 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐒 (00:00) Nikesh Arora, Chairman & CEO at Palo Alto Networks (00:51) The AI attack era has already started (03:30) What happens when agents go rogue (04:39) Why AI Labs are slowing down (06:31) The Mythos Fallout (17:25) Cybersecurity's secret weapon (19:43) Buying a company is the easy part (20:48) Where most acquisitions go wrong (24:58) Predicting the SaaSpacolypse (28:03) The question nobody in Tech is asking (30:54) There's never enough Compute (33:12) Palo Alto's bar for AI fluency (35:37) The controversial hire (37:12) Using LinkedIn to spot opportunities (39:19) What a CEO's day actually looks like (43:47) The leadership traits that matter (47:02) Google vs. SoftBank: What was different? (51:02) Why planning horizons are shrinking (52:55) Lessons From Elon & Masa (56:44) What's next for Nikesh?

Molly O’Shea

669,989 Aufrufe • vor 1 Monat

I had an incredible chat with se, co-founder of fomo (now @fomo). fomo launched less than a year ago but has already had a remarkable rise, becoming a go-to trading app for both crypto-native and mainstream users alike. We cover a lot of ground, from the original motivation to build fomo, to recruiting the early team, what worked (and didn't work) with user acquisition, and what he's learned over the past year. Sometimes the success behind certain crypto products can feel random, but it's clear that fomo's is not. They've been extremely intentional with every part of the company (team/product/growth/fundraising), and it reflects in the feedback from users. Was a pleasure recording this one. (0:00) Intro (1:13) Early life. Jersey and Yale (7:03) Working on product at dYdX and meeting Paul (14:06) The genesis of fomo, early team formation (33:42) Product-first philosophy and obsession with UX (46:24) User-led growth and getting to know your customers (59:48) Raising Series A from Benchmark (1:06:22) Where fomo is heading; the speculation graph era (1:21:49) Building a social product to match its growth (1:28:58) Memecoins as a category (1:40:35) Other teams that Se admires
1:43:58

I had an incredible chat with se, co-founder of fomo (now @fomo). fomo launched less than a year ago but has already had a remarkable rise, becoming a go-to trading app for both crypto-native and mainstream users alike. We cover a lot of ground, from the original motivation to build fomo, to recruiting the early team, what worked (and didn't work) with user acquisition, and what he's learned over the past year. Sometimes the success behind certain crypto products can feel random, but it's clear that fomo's is not. They've been extremely intentional with every part of the company (team/product/growth/fundraising), and it reflects in the feedback from users. Was a pleasure recording this one. (0:00) Intro (1:13) Early life. Jersey and Yale (7:03) Working on product at dYdX and meeting Paul (14:06) The genesis of fomo, early team formation (33:42) Product-first philosophy and obsession with UX (46:24) User-led growth and getting to know your customers (59:48) Raising Series A from Benchmark (1:06:22) Where fomo is heading; the speculation graph era (1:21:49) Building a social product to match its growth (1:28:58) Memecoins as a category (1:40:35) Other teams that Se admires

Derek Hsue

39,225 Aufrufe • vor 5 Monaten

BREAKING: Mark Pincus (mark pincus) on How to Build Billion-Dollar Products "Your # 1 job as a founder is to be right." "F*ck scale." "Don't be a fake CEO." Mark founded Zynga in 2007, grew FarmVille + Words With Friends to 1B+ users in 4 years, & sold the company to Take-Two for $12.7B. Before that he was an early investor in Facebook & Twitter. Across 10 companies, he's spent 30 years learning how to build products people love. Now he's put it into "Life at the Speed of Play," aka the "Product Maker Bible" His goal: something you can reread in 10 years & still use, the way he rereads Peter Thiel's Zero to One. We went deep on the framework: - Your product instinct is right ~95% of the time, but your specific idea is wrong at least 75% of the time. The whole job is separating the two & k*lling your B+ idea to find the A. - Proven Better New: copy what already works, make it objectively better, then add one new bet. - 40,000 games launched in the App Store last year. 0% held a top 25 spot. Why products win on day 365 retention, not virality.. lessons from Nikita Bier & more - Why he's an AI maximalist who still calls consumer AI un-investable, & thinks today's $2-5T companies become $10-20T companies. 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐒 (00:00) Mark Pincus, Chairman & Founder at Zynga (01:07) Why it took so long to write the book (01:52) Why the book starts with Elon (07:29) How frustration becomes market research (08:16) The gap between Airbnb and hotels (09:14) Why people don't want flight attendants on private jets (13:13) The goal behind Life at the Speed of Play (15:07) The instincts vs. ideas framework (21:01) Do instincts improve with experience? (22:49) A framework for building winning products (29:38) Becoming a student of yourself (31:16) Finding great ideas in overlooked products (34:39) Why AI makes building easier & winning harder (39:17) Cracking Zynga's record-setting retention (44:59) What Mark looks for in startups (50:42) Jeff Bezos' boldest decision (53:03) What happens when founders realize they're wrong (59:37) How Mark found talent others overlooked (1:06:58) Don't be a fake CEO (1:12:15) Inside Silicon Valley's early days (1:14:58) Why he funded Friendster & Napster as "experiments" (1:17:00) The 'think weekend' with Thiel, Zuckerberg, Reid Hoffman & Sean Parker (1:18:58) Launching Zynga when nobody believed him (1:21:42) Why Mark is an AI maximalist
1:27:01

BREAKING: Mark Pincus (mark pincus) on How to Build Billion-Dollar Products "Your # 1 job as a founder is to be right." "F*ck scale." "Don't be a fake CEO." Mark founded Zynga in 2007, grew FarmVille + Words With Friends to 1B+ users in 4 years, & sold the company to Take-Two for $12.7B. Before that he was an early investor in Facebook & Twitter. Across 10 companies, he's spent 30 years learning how to build products people love. Now he's put it into "Life at the Speed of Play," aka the "Product Maker Bible" His goal: something you can reread in 10 years & still use, the way he rereads Peter Thiel's Zero to One. We went deep on the framework: - Your product instinct is right ~95% of the time, but your specific idea is wrong at least 75% of the time. The whole job is separating the two & k*lling your B+ idea to find the A. - Proven Better New: copy what already works, make it objectively better, then add one new bet. - 40,000 games launched in the App Store last year. 0% held a top 25 spot. Why products win on day 365 retention, not virality.. lessons from Nikita Bier & more - Why he's an AI maximalist who still calls consumer AI un-investable, & thinks today's $2-5T companies become $10-20T companies. 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐒 (00:00) Mark Pincus, Chairman & Founder at Zynga (01:07) Why it took so long to write the book (01:52) Why the book starts with Elon (07:29) How frustration becomes market research (08:16) The gap between Airbnb and hotels (09:14) Why people don't want flight attendants on private jets (13:13) The goal behind Life at the Speed of Play (15:07) The instincts vs. ideas framework (21:01) Do instincts improve with experience? (22:49) A framework for building winning products (29:38) Becoming a student of yourself (31:16) Finding great ideas in overlooked products (34:39) Why AI makes building easier & winning harder (39:17) Cracking Zynga's record-setting retention (44:59) What Mark looks for in startups (50:42) Jeff Bezos' boldest decision (53:03) What happens when founders realize they're wrong (59:37) How Mark found talent others overlooked (1:06:58) Don't be a fake CEO (1:12:15) Inside Silicon Valley's early days (1:14:58) Why he funded Friendster & Napster as "experiments" (1:17:00) The 'think weekend' with Thiel, Zuckerberg, Reid Hoffman & Sean Parker (1:18:58) Launching Zynga when nobody believed him (1:21:42) Why Mark is an AI maximalist

Molly O’Shea

220,531 Aufrufe • vor 2 Monaten

BREAKING: Google Completes $32B Acquisition of Wiz $6M Seed → $32 Billion Exit First seed investor Gili Raanan (Gili Raanan // Cyberstarts) of Cyberstarts explains how a $6M seed check became the largest cybersecurity exit ever — & what it’s like working with CEO Assaf Rappaport. Cyberstarts stats: - $1.5B+ AUM across 7 funds - Backed 30 companies - Portfolio represents over $61B in combined value (50% of the worldwide private cybersecurity companies market) - Backed at Seed: Wiz, Island, Fireblocks, Cyera, Transmit Security - 9 exits including Noname, Axis, Bionic, Dazz, Avalor This conversation took place in London February 12th, 2026. We cover: • Early days of Wiz & how the company evolved from seed to a $32B outcome • Why Wiz achieved such strong product market fit • What made Assaf (Assaf Rappaport) and the founding team special • How Cyberstarts picks founders before there is product or code • Why Gili believes AI could create the darkest decade in cybersecurity • What the next generation of $50B–$100B cyber companies could look like 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐒 (00:00) Gili Raanan, Founder Cyberstarts (01:05) From Sequoia to building a Cyber only venture fund (04:39) Building CAPTCHA and the first web application firewall at 27 (05:35) Growing up in a small Israeli town and discovering computers (09:15) Why he decided to focus only on cybersecurity (11:05) Investing in people, not ideas (12:45) The kind of founders he looks for (14:05) Why adversity creates better entrepreneurs (16:11) When a small fund delivers outsized returns (19:00) A portfolio with 50% of private cyber market value (20:12) Growing up introverted & learning to observe people (26:30) What makes a company truly important (30:48) Why do Israeli founders dominate cybersecurity? (31:05) Helping founders become the best version of themselves (37:06) Israeli culture, pressure, and resilience (41:25) Breaking the ceiling with companies like Wiz (43:24) Why limits exist mostly in our minds (46:15) Facing fears, Yoga and overcoming internal limits (47:32) The “Sunrise” method for finding PMF (51:55) Why building startups is an emotional journey (56:25) How cybersecurity ideas actually emerge (58:15) The dark decade of cybersecurity (01:06:45) Asimov’s laws of robotics and AI guardrails (01:09:55) The three biggest cybersecurity risks in 2026 (01:12:25) Inside the $32B Wiz deal (01:22:23) What makes Wiz co-founder Assaf exceptional (01:24:33) Surrounding yourself with great people (01:28:48) The biggest takeaways from his time at Sequoia: Doug Leone, Mike Moritz (01:32:05) What’s next for Cyberstarts?
1:36:36

BREAKING: Google Completes $32B Acquisition of Wiz $6M Seed → $32 Billion Exit First seed investor Gili Raanan (Gili Raanan // Cyberstarts) of Cyberstarts explains how a $6M seed check became the largest cybersecurity exit ever — & what it’s like working with CEO Assaf Rappaport. Cyberstarts stats: - $1.5B+ AUM across 7 funds - Backed 30 companies - Portfolio represents over $61B in combined value (50% of the worldwide private cybersecurity companies market) - Backed at Seed: Wiz, Island, Fireblocks, Cyera, Transmit Security - 9 exits including Noname, Axis, Bionic, Dazz, Avalor This conversation took place in London February 12th, 2026. We cover: • Early days of Wiz & how the company evolved from seed to a $32B outcome • Why Wiz achieved such strong product market fit • What made Assaf (Assaf Rappaport) and the founding team special • How Cyberstarts picks founders before there is product or code • Why Gili believes AI could create the darkest decade in cybersecurity • What the next generation of $50B–$100B cyber companies could look like 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐒 (00:00) Gili Raanan, Founder Cyberstarts (01:05) From Sequoia to building a Cyber only venture fund (04:39) Building CAPTCHA and the first web application firewall at 27 (05:35) Growing up in a small Israeli town and discovering computers (09:15) Why he decided to focus only on cybersecurity (11:05) Investing in people, not ideas (12:45) The kind of founders he looks for (14:05) Why adversity creates better entrepreneurs (16:11) When a small fund delivers outsized returns (19:00) A portfolio with 50% of private cyber market value (20:12) Growing up introverted & learning to observe people (26:30) What makes a company truly important (30:48) Why do Israeli founders dominate cybersecurity? (31:05) Helping founders become the best version of themselves (37:06) Israeli culture, pressure, and resilience (41:25) Breaking the ceiling with companies like Wiz (43:24) Why limits exist mostly in our minds (46:15) Facing fears, Yoga and overcoming internal limits (47:32) The “Sunrise” method for finding PMF (51:55) Why building startups is an emotional journey (56:25) How cybersecurity ideas actually emerge (58:15) The dark decade of cybersecurity (01:06:45) Asimov’s laws of robotics and AI guardrails (01:09:55) The three biggest cybersecurity risks in 2026 (01:12:25) Inside the $32B Wiz deal (01:22:23) What makes Wiz co-founder Assaf exceptional (01:24:33) Surrounding yourself with great people (01:28:48) The biggest takeaways from his time at Sequoia: Doug Leone, Mike Moritz (01:32:05) What’s next for Cyberstarts?

Molly O’Shea

161,060 Aufrufe • vor 6 Monaten

E114: Walrus 🦭/acc : Decentralizing Data Storage, the perfect complement to the SUI Network George Danezis is the Chief Scientist at MystenLabs.sui , co-creator of the Sui , and one the minds behind Walrus 🦭/acc Timestamps 0:00 Intro 2:00 Partnerships: Jupiter, Bitwise, SUI & Mantle 2:46 Sleeping Habits 4:05 Who is George? 4:23 What is a Chief Scientist? 5:16 Research at Microsoft vs. Now 6:59 What is “Good Research”? 8:49 Corporate Innovation vs. Reality 10:31 Why I Love Teaching Security 11:52 Self Custody with Trezor 12:44 Teaching vs. Real-World Application 16:28 What Makes an Idea Great? 17:51 The Idea That Never Worked Out 19:50 Being Late to Ideas, Not Early 20:56 The Essence of Peer-to-Peer Networks 23:50 Why We Need Peer-to-Peer Systems? 27:51 Why Decentralization Was Hard to Realize 31:09 Bitcoin's Game-Changing Impact 33:10 ETH Aha Moment 34:46 Facebook’s Conviction in Blockchain 37:39 Scaling DIEM/LIBRA to Sui 39:20 Biggest Issue at Facebook 40:20 Why Facebook Bet on Crypto 41:40 Why I Left Facebook 45:07 Balancing Passion and Pay 46:43 What is a Blockchain Good For? 51:42 Understanding Blockchain’s Limitations 53:21 CryptoKitties 54:36 Meme Coins: Culture vs. Scam 57:02 The Role of Norms in Crypto 1:00:32 What is the Sui Network? 1:02:32 Why Do We Need The Sui Network? 1:03:34 Layer 1 vs. Layer 2 1:05:07 Why Build a Layer One? 1:09:21 Top Layer One Competitors 1:10:45 Decentralization vs. Practicality 1:14:06 Minimum Decentralization 1:16:33 Data Storage & Its Biggest Problem 1:20:05 What is Walrus Protocol? 1:22:09 Why Walrus is Possible Now 1:25:35 Why Sui Network for Data Storage? 1:27:37 Vision of Walrus Protocol 1:28:59 Building a Neutral Tech Future 1:30:44 Using Existing Blockchains 1:33:03 Future of Decentralized Production 1:35:51 Prediction For The Next 12 Months 1:39:04 Concluding Remarks
1:39:56

E114: Walrus 🦭/acc : Decentralizing Data Storage, the perfect complement to the SUI Network George Danezis is the Chief Scientist at MystenLabs.sui , co-creator of the Sui , and one the minds behind Walrus 🦭/acc Timestamps 0:00 Intro 2:00 Partnerships: Jupiter, Bitwise, SUI & Mantle 2:46 Sleeping Habits 4:05 Who is George? 4:23 What is a Chief Scientist? 5:16 Research at Microsoft vs. Now 6:59 What is “Good Research”? 8:49 Corporate Innovation vs. Reality 10:31 Why I Love Teaching Security 11:52 Self Custody with Trezor 12:44 Teaching vs. Real-World Application 16:28 What Makes an Idea Great? 17:51 The Idea That Never Worked Out 19:50 Being Late to Ideas, Not Early 20:56 The Essence of Peer-to-Peer Networks 23:50 Why We Need Peer-to-Peer Systems? 27:51 Why Decentralization Was Hard to Realize 31:09 Bitcoin's Game-Changing Impact 33:10 ETH Aha Moment 34:46 Facebook’s Conviction in Blockchain 37:39 Scaling DIEM/LIBRA to Sui 39:20 Biggest Issue at Facebook 40:20 Why Facebook Bet on Crypto 41:40 Why I Left Facebook 45:07 Balancing Passion and Pay 46:43 What is a Blockchain Good For? 51:42 Understanding Blockchain’s Limitations 53:21 CryptoKitties 54:36 Meme Coins: Culture vs. Scam 57:02 The Role of Norms in Crypto 1:00:32 What is the Sui Network? 1:02:32 Why Do We Need The Sui Network? 1:03:34 Layer 1 vs. Layer 2 1:05:07 Why Build a Layer One? 1:09:21 Top Layer One Competitors 1:10:45 Decentralization vs. Practicality 1:14:06 Minimum Decentralization 1:16:33 Data Storage & Its Biggest Problem 1:20:05 What is Walrus Protocol? 1:22:09 Why Walrus is Possible Now 1:25:35 Why Sui Network for Data Storage? 1:27:37 Vision of Walrus Protocol 1:28:59 Building a Neutral Tech Future 1:30:44 Using Existing Blockchains 1:33:03 Future of Decentralized Production 1:35:51 Prediction For The Next 12 Months 1:39:04 Concluding Remarks

MR SHIFT 🦁

111,082 Aufrufe • vor 1 Jahr

Nathan rolled up 11 tiny (<$1M EBITDA) HVAC companies, paying low 3x multiples. Now PE is interested in buying the group, and Nathan is already planning to do it all over again. “I see a lot of opportunity in taking these really small mom-and-pop shops and building them up to the lower end of what a PE firm would be interested in acquiring. You can pick them up at 3x, sell them at 10x and repeat that process over and over.” But this story almost ended before it began... After acquiring his first two companies with an SBA loan, Nathan watched revenue collapse, burned through his cash, nearly lost his father's retirement savings and came dangerously close to bankruptcy. The turning point was a complete rethink of incentives, compensation and how to build an acquisition platform that actually compounds. Give it a listen. I hope you appreciate Nathan Lindley extreme transparency on everything, even him sharing how he overcame daily stress through drinking and how, to this day, he is still paying down his SBA note of $8,500 a month… Year six of 10 years on that. It’s very hard out there. Timestamps: 0:00 Nathan's 11 acquisitions and $16M run-rate HVAC platform 0:25 From the first deal in 2020 to acquisition #11 1:24 From book publishing to buying HVAC businesses 3:55 Selling real estate to fund the first acquisition 4:33 Buying a one-technician HVAC company—and the costly assumptions that followed 7:58 Losing 40% of revenue almost immediately after closing 10:26 Acquisition #2 makes every problem much bigger 11:20 Running out of cash—twice 14:18 The decision to put everyone on commission 15:15 Every employee quits on the same day 16:21 The Indeed hire who changed the entire business 18:59 Fear, alcohol and nearly going bankrupt 23:13 One technician outperforms the rest of the company 25:52 Why Nathan waited a full year before doing acquisition #3 27:00 Acquisitions #3 and #4—and buying businesses the second time around 28:46 How his M&A due diligence completely changed 29:30 The "buying at-bats" framework for acquisitions 33:08 Why Lindley spends almost nothing on marketing 34:15 Turning acquired customer databases into new revenue 36:27 Hiring exceptional technicians and building repeatable systems 37:35 The company today: 50 employees across three markets 39:13 How Lindley integrates acquired businesses 42:38 Teaching acquired technicians to double their income 43:17 The acquisitions that didn't work—and why 46:47 Planning an exit and doing it all over again 49:04 Where to connect with Nathan
49:35

Nathan rolled up 11 tiny (<$1M EBITDA) HVAC companies, paying low 3x multiples. Now PE is interested in buying the group, and Nathan is already planning to do it all over again. “I see a lot of opportunity in taking these really small mom-and-pop shops and building them up to the lower end of what a PE firm would be interested in acquiring. You can pick them up at 3x, sell them at 10x and repeat that process over and over.” But this story almost ended before it began... After acquiring his first two companies with an SBA loan, Nathan watched revenue collapse, burned through his cash, nearly lost his father's retirement savings and came dangerously close to bankruptcy. The turning point was a complete rethink of incentives, compensation and how to build an acquisition platform that actually compounds. Give it a listen. I hope you appreciate Nathan Lindley extreme transparency on everything, even him sharing how he overcame daily stress through drinking and how, to this day, he is still paying down his SBA note of $8,500 a month… Year six of 10 years on that. It’s very hard out there. Timestamps: 0:00 Nathan's 11 acquisitions and $16M run-rate HVAC platform 0:25 From the first deal in 2020 to acquisition #11 1:24 From book publishing to buying HVAC businesses 3:55 Selling real estate to fund the first acquisition 4:33 Buying a one-technician HVAC company—and the costly assumptions that followed 7:58 Losing 40% of revenue almost immediately after closing 10:26 Acquisition #2 makes every problem much bigger 11:20 Running out of cash—twice 14:18 The decision to put everyone on commission 15:15 Every employee quits on the same day 16:21 The Indeed hire who changed the entire business 18:59 Fear, alcohol and nearly going bankrupt 23:13 One technician outperforms the rest of the company 25:52 Why Nathan waited a full year before doing acquisition #3 27:00 Acquisitions #3 and #4—and buying businesses the second time around 28:46 How his M&A due diligence completely changed 29:30 The "buying at-bats" framework for acquisitions 33:08 Why Lindley spends almost nothing on marketing 34:15 Turning acquired customer databases into new revenue 36:27 Hiring exceptional technicians and building repeatable systems 37:35 The company today: 50 employees across three markets 39:13 How Lindley integrates acquired businesses 42:38 Teaching acquired technicians to double their income 43:17 The acquisitions that didn't work—and why 46:47 Planning an exit and doing it all over again 49:04 Where to connect with Nathan

PrivateEquityGuy (Mikk Markus)

137,437 Aufrufe • vor 2 Monaten

My guest today is Brian Chesky (Brian Chesky), founder and CEO of Airbnb and one of the great consumer founders of the last 20 years. Paul Graham coined "founder mode" based on Brian's experience running Airbnb. This conversation is about what comes after it, what he calls AI founder mode, and how it will force founders to focus even more on the details. We talk about his eleven-star exercise for finding product market fit, why your first hire should be a recruiter, and why Airbnb's $100B IPO became one of the saddest days of his life. Brian still comes across like the 17 year-old at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) who picked to study industrial design. His heroes are all artists. Da Vinci, Van Gogh, Walt Disney, and Steve Jobs, all of whom were working the week they died because they loved what they did. Rick Rubin taught him that an artist is only an artist when they make things for themselves. Now Brian believes AI is the opportunity for all of us to do the same. Enjoy! Timestamps: 1:00 Studying Industrial Design 11:33 AI Founder Mode 17:02 Lack of Consumer AI Companies 22:10 Small Teams and Focused Problems 30:52 The Evolution from Founder to CEO 38:13 The 11-Star Experience 41:07 AI as a Canvas for Creativity 48:17 Detaching from Success 53:12 Founder-Led Moats 58:34 The Next Chapter of Airbnb 1:03:08 What Endures in the Age of AI 1:06:43 Lessons from Bodybuilding 1:10:20 The CEO's No. 1 Job 1:17:01 Activating Talent 1:20:39 The Kindest Thing
1:23:28

My guest today is Brian Chesky (Brian Chesky), founder and CEO of Airbnb and one of the great consumer founders of the last 20 years. Paul Graham coined "founder mode" based on Brian's experience running Airbnb. This conversation is about what comes after it, what he calls AI founder mode, and how it will force founders to focus even more on the details. We talk about his eleven-star exercise for finding product market fit, why your first hire should be a recruiter, and why Airbnb's $100B IPO became one of the saddest days of his life. Brian still comes across like the 17 year-old at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) who picked to study industrial design. His heroes are all artists. Da Vinci, Van Gogh, Walt Disney, and Steve Jobs, all of whom were working the week they died because they loved what they did. Rick Rubin taught him that an artist is only an artist when they make things for themselves. Now Brian believes AI is the opportunity for all of us to do the same. Enjoy! Timestamps: 1:00 Studying Industrial Design 11:33 AI Founder Mode 17:02 Lack of Consumer AI Companies 22:10 Small Teams and Focused Problems 30:52 The Evolution from Founder to CEO 38:13 The 11-Star Experience 41:07 AI as a Canvas for Creativity 48:17 Detaching from Success 53:12 Founder-Led Moats 58:34 The Next Chapter of Airbnb 1:03:08 What Endures in the Age of AI 1:06:43 Lessons from Bodybuilding 1:10:20 The CEO's No. 1 Job 1:17:01 Activating Talent 1:20:39 The Kindest Thing

Patrick OShaughnessy

2,677,595 Aufrufe • vor 4 Monaten

E133: Sam Blackshear - How Libra Sparked the Move Language and Why Sui Is the Real Endgame! Sam Blackshear is the Co-founder and CTO of MystenLabs.sui , the company behind the Sui, and the Creator of the Move programming language that's revolutionizing smart contract development. Timestamps: 0:00 Introduction 1:54 Partnerships: Jupiter, KAST (old), , Sui, Mantle, Forza! BTC 2:44 The Power of Preparation 5:14 Discipline Behind the Podcast 6:27 Translating Thought Into Code 8:19 Who is Sam Blackshear? 9:27 Choosing What Truly Matters 10:25 Self-Custody with Trezor 11:18 Crypto vs. AI Thinking 12:28 The Power of Support 16:04 From Court Dreams to Reality 17:55 Challenging the Limits of Code 22:52 Chose Learning Over a Job 24:09 The Internship That Changed Everything 27:35 PhD Skills Meet Facebook 29:05 Entering Crypto Through Facebook 32:15 Why Libra Needed Move 33:42 Solving Scarcity in Code 36:37 Bitcoin & Ethereum Mistakes 38:45 Creating a New Language 41:41 Problem-Driven Innovation 44:47 Avoiding Analysis Paralysis 48:11 What is Unstructured Thinking? 50:50 Why Unstructured Thinking Works 53:14 Future of Crypto Protocols 54:21 Why Move is the Best Programming Language 55:00 What is the Sui Network? 56:25 What Makes Sui Different? 57:05 Why is Sui The Best Blockchain? 59:05 Managing Energy Long-Term 1:01:02 Satisfaction Without Closure 1:03:37 90% Love, 10% Grind 1:05:37 Mental State of Surfing 1:06:47 Non-Consensus Beliefs 1:07:34 What is Memory Safety? 1:09:07 What Was the Equifax Hack? 1:10:53 Rethinking Software Safety 1:12:00 Right Dose of Regulation 1:13:00 Biggest Prediction for the Next 24 Months? 1:14:02 Scaling Crypto Developers 1:16:07 Concluding Remarks
1:16:31

E133: Sam Blackshear - How Libra Sparked the Move Language and Why Sui Is the Real Endgame! Sam Blackshear is the Co-founder and CTO of MystenLabs.sui , the company behind the Sui, and the Creator of the Move programming language that's revolutionizing smart contract development. Timestamps: 0:00 Introduction 1:54 Partnerships: Jupiter, KAST (old), , Sui, Mantle, Forza! BTC 2:44 The Power of Preparation 5:14 Discipline Behind the Podcast 6:27 Translating Thought Into Code 8:19 Who is Sam Blackshear? 9:27 Choosing What Truly Matters 10:25 Self-Custody with Trezor 11:18 Crypto vs. AI Thinking 12:28 The Power of Support 16:04 From Court Dreams to Reality 17:55 Challenging the Limits of Code 22:52 Chose Learning Over a Job 24:09 The Internship That Changed Everything 27:35 PhD Skills Meet Facebook 29:05 Entering Crypto Through Facebook 32:15 Why Libra Needed Move 33:42 Solving Scarcity in Code 36:37 Bitcoin & Ethereum Mistakes 38:45 Creating a New Language 41:41 Problem-Driven Innovation 44:47 Avoiding Analysis Paralysis 48:11 What is Unstructured Thinking? 50:50 Why Unstructured Thinking Works 53:14 Future of Crypto Protocols 54:21 Why Move is the Best Programming Language 55:00 What is the Sui Network? 56:25 What Makes Sui Different? 57:05 Why is Sui The Best Blockchain? 59:05 Managing Energy Long-Term 1:01:02 Satisfaction Without Closure 1:03:37 90% Love, 10% Grind 1:05:37 Mental State of Surfing 1:06:47 Non-Consensus Beliefs 1:07:34 What is Memory Safety? 1:09:07 What Was the Equifax Hack? 1:10:53 Rethinking Software Safety 1:12:00 Right Dose of Regulation 1:13:00 Biggest Prediction for the Next 24 Months? 1:14:02 Scaling Crypto Developers 1:16:07 Concluding Remarks

MR SHIFT 🦁

164,299 Aufrufe • vor 1 Jahr