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How a lawyer hacking together email scripts built a $3B+ category-defining company. Jason Boehmig (Jason Boehmig), founder of Ironclad, the contract lifecycle platform used by L’Oréal, Mastercard, Heineken, and hundreds more - never planned to be a founder. He was an associate at Fenwick writing automation hacks for himself…... until curiosity pulled him into building a new category. In this week’s episode of The Library of Minds, we unpack the real story behind Ironclad’s rise: • How a hacked-together “[email protected]” email bot became v0 • The cold inbound that changed the company’s trajectory • The early taste & hiring philosophy that shaped the culture • How to build trust when your customers can’t afford software that breaks • The poem he reads to the team every year (and why) Jason’s lesson: Taste + trust + relentless customer empathy beats everything else - especially in markets people think are “boring. 1:30 - From Fenwick lawyer to AI tinkerer → founding Ironclad 03:02 - Stepping down as CEO after 10 years 05:37 - The workflow → CLM category expansion story 08:49 - The one-line email that changed Ironclad forever 09:56 - Coding a database on a Caltrain before a customer demo 12:13 - Why category language matters for GTM 16:00 - Trust, speed, and why Ironclad hired a “professional breaker” 19:20 - Jason’s #1 interview red flag 23:26 - Poetry, Maya Angelou, and the philosophy behind Ironclad 25:52 - What makes a company enduring 31:27 - Hardest “no”: churning hundreds of YC customersshow more

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337,015 views • 1 year ago

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19,897 views • 6 months ago

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67,145 views • 3 months ago

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521,630 views • 3 months ago

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20,005 views • 1 year ago

"We'll get to a point in intelligence where the human making that decision is going to be less efficient than the AI making that decision themselves." My full conversation with the head of AI at the Solana Foundation on the world coming fast, where AI starts earning, investing and outpacing the humans who built it. 00:00 Intro 02:46 The Wall Street dream he ditched 06:50 The cold email that changed everything 08:07 Meeting the founder of Stable Diffusion 11:36 Why Rishin left investing to build AI 20:31 When AI starts paying for things itself 23:36 The moment that predicted the future 31:35 Three people, five weeks, one product 38:01 When AI stops asking you first 41:09 When your customer is a robot 44:01 How much of the economy will AI run

"We'll get to a point in intelligence where the human making that decision is going to be less efficient than the AI making that decision themselves." My full conversation with the head of AI at the Solana Foundation on the world coming fast, where AI starts earning, investing and outpacing the humans who built it. 00:00 Intro 02:46 The Wall Street dream he ditched 06:50 The cold email that changed everything 08:07 Meeting the founder of Stable Diffusion 11:36 Why Rishin left investing to build AI 20:31 When AI starts paying for things itself 23:36 The moment that predicted the future 31:35 Three people, five weeks, one product 38:01 When AI stops asking you first 41:09 When your customer is a robot 44:01 How much of the economy will AI run

JackGK

19,233 views • 1 month ago

My first interview with Eric Jorgenson 📚 ☀️, Author of The Book of Elon. 0:12 Why Elon outcompetes everyone 1:53 Not wanting to be CEO 6:15 Why there was a 1 in 100 chance of Tesla and SpaceX both succeeding 10:03 Thinking in lost future revenue 11:58 Living with a gun next to his bed 15:02 How Elon starts companies 19:23 Giving Larry Page an early demo of the Roadster 21:27 Why Elon calls people into the factory at 2am 25:01 The 20 people who execute Elon’s will autonomously - MrBeast clones 28:52 Working with Elon is doing a tour of duty 31:18 Creating a grand vision that people can believe in 36:42 How to thrive under Elon 37:30 The Algorithm - question every requirement, delete part or process, simplify and optimize, accelerate, automate 41:38 Setting up a tent factory in the Tesla Fremont parking lot 43:28 How Elon would play the game if he was born 300 years ago 45:10 Empathy for the individual vs empathy for the mission 46:57 Being feared vs being loved 48:38 The endless churn at Elon companies 50:49 Ruthlessness and having a willingness to be disliked 56:08 Creating enemies and chaos 58:37 Shifting SpaceX’s focus from Mars to building a base on the Moon 1:00:07 Justifying Tesla’s valuation by reseting the vision 1:02:21 The S-Curve of ambition - colonizing planets, Starlink, Terafab 1:04:44 Throwing billions of dollars behind new companies 1:06:22 A great team is just the sum of the individual vectors 1:11:09 The idiot index at an industry-scale 1:13:53 Why it’s critical for space companies to control launch 1:15:44 Thinking in limits 1:18:47 Expanding the vision until no one can measure it 1:23:41 Internalizing pain and dealing with setbacks 1:26:03 The evolution of Elon’s operating philosophy over the last 30 years 1:27:37 Effectiveness

My first interview with Eric Jorgenson 📚 ☀️, Author of The Book of Elon. 0:12 Why Elon outcompetes everyone 1:53 Not wanting to be CEO 6:15 Why there was a 1 in 100 chance of Tesla and SpaceX both succeeding 10:03 Thinking in lost future revenue 11:58 Living with a gun next to his bed 15:02 How Elon starts companies 19:23 Giving Larry Page an early demo of the Roadster 21:27 Why Elon calls people into the factory at 2am 25:01 The 20 people who execute Elon’s will autonomously - MrBeast clones 28:52 Working with Elon is doing a tour of duty 31:18 Creating a grand vision that people can believe in 36:42 How to thrive under Elon 37:30 The Algorithm - question every requirement, delete part or process, simplify and optimize, accelerate, automate 41:38 Setting up a tent factory in the Tesla Fremont parking lot 43:28 How Elon would play the game if he was born 300 years ago 45:10 Empathy for the individual vs empathy for the mission 46:57 Being feared vs being loved 48:38 The endless churn at Elon companies 50:49 Ruthlessness and having a willingness to be disliked 56:08 Creating enemies and chaos 58:37 Shifting SpaceX’s focus from Mars to building a base on the Moon 1:00:07 Justifying Tesla’s valuation by reseting the vision 1:02:21 The S-Curve of ambition - colonizing planets, Starlink, Terafab 1:04:44 Throwing billions of dollars behind new companies 1:06:22 A great team is just the sum of the individual vectors 1:11:09 The idiot index at an industry-scale 1:13:53 Why it’s critical for space companies to control launch 1:15:44 Thinking in limits 1:18:47 Expanding the vision until no one can measure it 1:23:41 Internalizing pain and dealing with setbacks 1:26:03 The evolution of Elon’s operating philosophy over the last 30 years 1:27:37 Effectiveness

Ti Morse

126,252 views • 3 months ago

I sat down with Nicolas Sharp, founder of Attio, to talk in depth about how his company is disrupting the $80 billion CRM market. Attio has raised $116m, is 4x'ing ARR and is one of the fastest growing companies in Europe. We talk about: - Why Attio went against all conventional wisdom and spent years 3 years building the product before launching - Why Attio doesn’t hire ‘Software Engineers’ and who they hire instead. - How Attio chose investors who would back a long-term bet against multi-billion $ incumbents - How Attio is building CRM from first principles for the AI era - Who should you avoid hiring at all costs, and who should you hire for your startup And so much more. If you’re interested in learning about the story of how Nick built Attio into the incredible company it is today and is disrupting one of the most important software categories, you’re going to want to see this. Enjoy // Timestamps 00:00 Intro 00:39 Why Attio spent 3 years building their product before launch 5:05 The Power of Building Systems, Not a Box of Features 9:05 How to know when it’s time to launch 13:30 Nick’s Playbook For a Killer Product Launch 18:09 How To Go From an Investor to a Founder 23:05 How Failure Led to Attio's Big Break 28:07 Why startups need to hire "Hidden Gems," 34:05 Fundraising 49:36 Why Attio Invests In Inexperienced Talent 55:07 The Case For Not Hiring Software Engineers (& Who You Should Hire Instead) 1:02:46 The 8 Persona Hiring Framework 1:09:05 How Attio doesn’t use OKR's 1:27:11 Where does Nick's Ambition and Grit come from? 1:36:59 How Attio is Building CRM from First Principles for the AI era 1:45:29 How to Successfully Market In A Crowded Industry 1:51:10 Breaking Down Attio’s Viral Marketing Strategies 2:02:15 The Change That Had The Biggest Impact on Customer Conversion 2:05:04 Why Attio created A “Reverse Trial” 2:10:16 Why Nick is building from London, not Silicon Valley 2:22:48 The 10-Year Vision for Attio

I sat down with Nicolas Sharp, founder of Attio, to talk in depth about how his company is disrupting the $80 billion CRM market. Attio has raised $116m, is 4x'ing ARR and is one of the fastest growing companies in Europe. We talk about: - Why Attio went against all conventional wisdom and spent years 3 years building the product before launching - Why Attio doesn’t hire ‘Software Engineers’ and who they hire instead. - How Attio chose investors who would back a long-term bet against multi-billion $ incumbents - How Attio is building CRM from first principles for the AI era - Who should you avoid hiring at all costs, and who should you hire for your startup And so much more. If you’re interested in learning about the story of how Nick built Attio into the incredible company it is today and is disrupting one of the most important software categories, you’re going to want to see this. Enjoy // Timestamps 00:00 Intro 00:39 Why Attio spent 3 years building their product before launch 5:05 The Power of Building Systems, Not a Box of Features 9:05 How to know when it’s time to launch 13:30 Nick’s Playbook For a Killer Product Launch 18:09 How To Go From an Investor to a Founder 23:05 How Failure Led to Attio's Big Break 28:07 Why startups need to hire "Hidden Gems," 34:05 Fundraising 49:36 Why Attio Invests In Inexperienced Talent 55:07 The Case For Not Hiring Software Engineers (& Who You Should Hire Instead) 1:02:46 The 8 Persona Hiring Framework 1:09:05 How Attio doesn’t use OKR's 1:27:11 Where does Nick's Ambition and Grit come from? 1:36:59 How Attio is Building CRM from First Principles for the AI era 1:45:29 How to Successfully Market In A Crowded Industry 1:51:10 Breaking Down Attio’s Viral Marketing Strategies 2:02:15 The Change That Had The Biggest Impact on Customer Conversion 2:05:04 Why Attio created A “Reverse Trial” 2:10:16 Why Nick is building from London, not Silicon Valley 2:22:48 The 10-Year Vision for Attio

Wouter Teunissen

26,369 views • 10 months ago

Launching a new podcast today! Filmed at our NYC office, each episode of The Archive focuses on a founder or operator who has built an important crypto business/protocol. The first episode is with Keone Hon, founder of Monad. We dive into Keone’s upbringing, the early days of Monad and the journey to raising the seed round. Plus, we talk about recruiting + scaling the team, and the philosophies they used to launch and grow the network. Here's what we discussed: 0:00 - Intro 0:42 - Altitude 1:32 - Monad's Launch 4:25 - Keone’s early life and interests 16:52 - Where Keone’s work ethic came from 19:52 - Working at Jump and how the culture passed on to Monad 24:26 - Starting Monad 30:05 - Raising the seed round for Monad 32:29 - Growing the Monad community and open-sourcing code 36:35 - How Keone hired for the early team 44:07 - The future of Category Labs 51:26 - Which metrics is Monad focusing on 1:00:24 - Building a base of loyal and passionate users 1:07:45 - The personality of an L1 founder 1:13:46 - Founders that Keone looks up to 1:18:34 - Day in the life of Keone 1:23:57 - The endgame vision for Monad

Launching a new podcast today! Filmed at our NYC office, each episode of The Archive focuses on a founder or operator who has built an important crypto business/protocol. The first episode is with Keone Hon, founder of Monad. We dive into Keone’s upbringing, the early days of Monad and the journey to raising the seed round. Plus, we talk about recruiting + scaling the team, and the philosophies they used to launch and grow the network. Here's what we discussed: 0:00 - Intro 0:42 - Altitude 1:32 - Monad's Launch 4:25 - Keone’s early life and interests 16:52 - Where Keone’s work ethic came from 19:52 - Working at Jump and how the culture passed on to Monad 24:26 - Starting Monad 30:05 - Raising the seed round for Monad 32:29 - Growing the Monad community and open-sourcing code 36:35 - How Keone hired for the early team 44:07 - The future of Category Labs 51:26 - Which metrics is Monad focusing on 1:00:24 - Building a base of loyal and passionate users 1:07:45 - The personality of an L1 founder 1:13:46 - Founders that Keone looks up to 1:18:34 - Day in the life of Keone 1:23:57 - The endgame vision for Monad

Derek Hsue

69,907 views • 6 months ago

"A week is 2% of the year. The cadence we operate on is: A week is not the shortest timeline. It's the longest timeline. What can we decide by tomorrow?" - Michael Grinich. Michael Grinich. Founder and CEO of WorkOS. The company powering the enterprise adoption of AI. Knuckle Up ↓ -- 00:00 Introduction 01:33 From design-obsessed founder to enterprise infrastructure 04:20 Michael’s year off and what made the WorkOS bet obvious 06:54 Why a great startup idea has to look bad first 09:46 Minimum awesome product beats MVP 11:09 The org with no CRO, no VP of sales, and one PM 13:29 Hiring for curiosity, not credentials 16:25 The "AI pilled" interview red flag 18:25 A week is 2% of the year 26:00 How WorkOS approaches brand 33:00 The future shape of engineering orgs 43:20 Why senior engineers benefit most from AI 44:45 Micro-leadership over micromanagement 49:10 Tough times in the early days 59:04 The reverse Peter principle 1:04:38 Quickfire: red flags, hires too early, and biggest fears 1:10:30 Michael's advice to his 25-year-old self

Nakul Mandan

671,989 views • 3 months ago

Brex co-founder and CEO Pedro Franceschi believes most people still underestimate how much AI will change the way companies are built. AI isn't just another tool, it's a new foundation for building products, teams, and companies. In this episode of Lightcone Podcast, Pedro Franceschi explains why we're only months into a platform shift as significant as the invention of electricity, why the CEO needs to be the chief AI officer, and why founders should rethink what's possible when intelligence is available on demand. 01:13 – How Pedro Became AI-Pilled 04:08 – The Electricity Analogy 05:21 – Free the Claw 06:56 – Making AI Safe for Enterprise 10:57 – Why Most Companies Are Behind 13:09 – AI Teammates, Not Chatbots 14:22 – The Case for Tokenmaxxing 18:24 – The Company of One 20:54 – The One Thing AI Can't Replace 28:06 – Building Customer World Models 32:58 – Rebuilding Brex Around AI 39:02 – The CEO Must Be the Chief AI Officer 43:50 – Building Company AGI 51:43 – Why We're Still So Early

Brex co-founder and CEO Pedro Franceschi believes most people still underestimate how much AI will change the way companies are built. AI isn't just another tool, it's a new foundation for building products, teams, and companies. In this episode of Lightcone Podcast, Pedro Franceschi explains why we're only months into a platform shift as significant as the invention of electricity, why the CEO needs to be the chief AI officer, and why founders should rethink what's possible when intelligence is available on demand. 01:13 – How Pedro Became AI-Pilled 04:08 – The Electricity Analogy 05:21 – Free the Claw 06:56 – Making AI Safe for Enterprise 10:57 – Why Most Companies Are Behind 13:09 – AI Teammates, Not Chatbots 14:22 – The Case for Tokenmaxxing 18:24 – The Company of One 20:54 – The One Thing AI Can't Replace 28:06 – Building Customer World Models 32:58 – Rebuilding Brex Around AI 39:02 – The CEO Must Be the Chief AI Officer 43:50 – Building Company AGI 51:43 – Why We're Still So Early

Y Combinator

198,105 views • 2 months ago

What happens when AI agents make mistakes? On this week’s episode of The Investment Memo, Lightspeed Partner James Alcorn sits down with Judgment Labs co-founder Alex Shan to discuss the agent workflow (and more). Alex started researching AI performance at Stanford when he was just 16. Today, alongside co-founders Andrew Li and Joseph Camyre, the team is building the quality layer for the agent era. The episode goes deep into many critical questions, like why agent evaluation is becoming critical infrastructure, how to measure trust and reliability, and what breaks when agents move from demos to production. We’re excited to have led the Seed and co-led the Series A, totaling $32M in funding. Tune into the full conversation about the future of AI evaluation, in the era where judgment is everything. Chapters 0:00 Putting Agent Improvement On Autopilot 2:20 What Judgment Labs Actually Does 3:09 Being A Full Lifecycle Agent Behavior Monitoring Platform 4:59 How The Co-Founders Met 7:57 The Fundraising Journey With Lightspeed 11:57 Two Core Technological Bets That Shaped The Product 14:49 The Philosophy Behind Partnering With Customers 17:28 How They Choose Their Early Customers 19:40 The 5-Year Vision For Judgment Labs 22:10 Where The Business Goes From Here 24:39 How To Get In Touch With Alex And The Team

What happens when AI agents make mistakes? On this week’s episode of The Investment Memo, Lightspeed Partner James Alcorn sits down with Judgment Labs co-founder Alex Shan to discuss the agent workflow (and more). Alex started researching AI performance at Stanford when he was just 16. Today, alongside co-founders Andrew Li and Joseph Camyre, the team is building the quality layer for the agent era. The episode goes deep into many critical questions, like why agent evaluation is becoming critical infrastructure, how to measure trust and reliability, and what breaks when agents move from demos to production. We’re excited to have led the Seed and co-led the Series A, totaling $32M in funding. Tune into the full conversation about the future of AI evaluation, in the era where judgment is everything. Chapters 0:00 Putting Agent Improvement On Autopilot 2:20 What Judgment Labs Actually Does 3:09 Being A Full Lifecycle Agent Behavior Monitoring Platform 4:59 How The Co-Founders Met 7:57 The Fundraising Journey With Lightspeed 11:57 Two Core Technological Bets That Shaped The Product 14:49 The Philosophy Behind Partnering With Customers 17:28 How They Choose Their Early Customers 19:40 The 5-Year Vision For Judgment Labs 22:10 Where The Business Goes From Here 24:39 How To Get In Touch With Alex And The Team

Lightspeed

18,045 views • 1 month ago