Podcast
Silicon Valley Girl: AI, Tech and Career Growth
Hosted by Marina Mogilko · EN
The world's top CEOs and AI founders explain what's coming next and how you can get ahead.
Silicon Valley Girl is a weekly AI and technology podcast from Silicon Valley hosted by female founder and angel investor Marina Mogilko, covering practical strategies for career growth, mastering AI tools, entrepreneurship and making money with AI.
For startup founders, professionals and creators who want to stay ahead in the AI era.
43episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
$2.1B AI CEO: From "The Worst Idea" to a $2.1B Company | Grant Lee, Co-Founder and CEO Gamma
3d ago00:44:03Tap to summarizeGrant Lee is the co-founder and CEO of Gamma — the $2.1B AI tool that turns one prompt into a finished presentation, now used by 100 million people.We covered:How Gamma hit $100M in revenue with a team of just 50 — profitably, on only $23M of fundingThe two signs you have product-market fit before the money shows up, and why "your friends will lie to you" about your productHow to run a full fundraise in two weeks — Grant did 100+ pitches and how he turned a wall of no's into yes'sHow to tell if an idea is worth a year of your life (he picks by energy, not spreadsheets)Why a top investor called Gamma "the worst idea I've ever heard" — and what that investor actually got rightThe exact first-30-days plan he gives any founder starting today Links: Subscribe to my newsletter: https://siliconvalleygirl.beehiiv.com/subscribe?utm_source=spotify&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=futureproof-sub&utm_content=GrantLee Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/siliconvalleygirl/ X: https://x.com/siliconvalleymmLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marinamogilkoMy Companies & Products: https://partnerships.marinamogilko.co
Transcribe →Your Next Cofounder Is an AI | Edward Kim, Co-Founder & CTO of Gusto ($10B)
5d ago00:34:34Tap to summarizeEddie Kim is the co-founder and CTO of Gusto — the $10B payroll and HR platform that millions of small businesses run on.Gusto just launched Gusto Cofounder — an AI teammate for small businesses: payroll, compliance, and daily ops handled before they become problems.Learn more about cofounder here -> https://gusto.com/cofounder?idgm=2mm6b6i2 We covered:The two levels of using AI in a business, and why almost everyone is still stuck on the first oneHow Gusto's AI found $70M in tax credits owners had no idea they qualified for, including one pool company now collecting $50K a yearHow to hand off the "work before the work" so payroll runs itself two days early and all you do is tap approveHow to run your whole back office from a text message, with your Notion and spreadsheets plugged straight inHow to stay ahead of tens of thousands of changing tax rules without reading a single oneLinks: Subscribe to my newsletter: https://siliconvalleygirl.beehiiv.com/subscribe?utm_source=spotify&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=futureproof-sub&utm_content=Edward KimInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/siliconvalleygirl/ X: https://x.com/siliconvalleymmLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marinamogilkoMy Companies & Products: https://partnerships.marinamogilko.co #GustoPartner
Transcribe →The 5-Layer System to Make Your Business Run on AI
6d ago00:14:37Tap to summarizeIn 5 years the most valuable companies will run as a closed AI loop — every call, email, and content metric feeding back into one system that acts faster than any human team. In this video I walk through the 5 levels we're building inside my own company, from the foundation layer to the part most founders skip. If you're a founder, creator, or operator trying to make this real in your own business, this is the playbook.Links: Subscribe to my newsletter: https://siliconvalleygirl.beehiiv.com/subscribe?utm_source=spotify&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=futureproof-sub&utm_content=5layers-systemInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/siliconvalleygirl/ X: https://x.com/siliconvalleymmLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marinamogilkoMy Companies & Products: https://partnerships.marinamogilko.co
Transcribe →$1.5B CEO: How to Build in a Crowded AI Market Without Marketing | Christopher Pedregal, Granola
3w ago00:44:55Tap to summarize📌 Head to https://granola.ai/marina and enter the code MARINA for 3 months off.Chris Pedregal built a $1.5 billion AI app in 3 years, in a category where Zoom and Google already had similar features before he launched.In this conversation he hands over the exact playbook for breaking out of a crowded market with a tiny team and a small marketing budget — a playbook anyone can use to win in the AI era.We cover:Why Chris kept Granola in closed beta for a full year before launching — and how 150 users taught him more than any public launch wouldThe 2x2 matrix he uses to decide if a startup idea can survive in a market with big competitorsHow Granola grew virally with zero built-in growth loops — no automated emails, no forced sharingThe dot plot: the early-stage retention tool that replaced usage graphs for Chris's teamWhy he doesn't use AI for product decisions — and what he uses it for insteadHow to turn 2,500 meeting recordings into a virtual chief of staffThe one thing small teams can do that Google and Zoom structurally can'tLinks: Subscribe to my newsletter: https://siliconvalleygirl.beehiiv.com/subscribe?utm_source=spotify&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=futureproof-sub&utm_content=ChrisPedregalInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/siliconvalleygirl/ X: https://x.com/siliconvalleymmLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marinamogilkoMy Companies & Products: https://Marinamogilko.co
Transcribe →Airtable CEO: AI Will Make You Almost Superhuman | Howie Liu
3w ago00:30:45Tap to summarizeHowie Liu co-founded Airtable in 2012, the no-code app builder used by over 80% of Fortune 100 companies. After scaling Airtable into one of the biggest software businesses on the planet, he's now building HyperAgent: a platform where anyone can deploy AI agents into their team chats, email, and calendar without writing code.In this conversation, Howie asked me a question I couldn't answer: if you could hire as many people as you wanted for almost zero cost, what roles would you fill first? That's the question agents force you to answer in 2026.We covered:The two skills that separate the people who become almost superhuman from everyone elseHow to build a virtual twin of yourself so you stop being the bottleneck in your own companyWhy builders win the next few years and what the "tinker mindset" actually meansHow to choose between Claude, ChatGPT, and HyperAgent (Howie maps the full landscape)A live demo of his real productivity setup, including an agent that watches X 24/7 and only pings him when something actually mattersHe also walked me through a billboard campaign his agents ran end-to-end (sourcing locations, cross-referencing Google Street View, generating mockups with NanoBanana), and shared his three steps for anyone who's been reading about agents but hasn't deployed one yet.If you've ever felt like the bottleneck in your own work, this one's for you.Links: Subscribe to my newsletter: https://siliconvalleygirl.beehiiv.com/subscribe?utm_source=spotify&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=futureproof-sub&utm_content=HowieLiuInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/siliconvalleygirl/ X: https://x.com/siliconvalleymmLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marinamogilkoMy Companies & Products: https://partnerships.marinamogilko.co
Transcribe →Head of ChatGPT & Codex: AI Agents for Everyone Are HERE | Thibault Sottiaux OpenAI
3w ago00:29:21Tap to summarizeThibault Sottiaux is the head of ChatGPT and Codex at OpenAI. He told me that in a few months, people who don't use AI at all will get the same benefits as those who've spent two years figuring it out. So what's actually going to be your edge in a market this competitive? Thibault opened up and shared a few of his secrets — he showed me how his own agents work and how anyone can set them up. We covered the must-have files everyone should create, the one file you should never write yourself, and the new skill that replaces prompting entirely. If you work with a computer for a living, this is the one to watch this week.Links: Subscribe to my free newsletter where I go deeper on AI tools, career strategies, and everything I can't fit into a 30-minute podcast: https://siliconvalleygirl.beehiiv.com/subscribe?utm_source=spotify&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=futureproof-sub&utm_content=Tibo🔗 My Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/siliconvalleygirl/ 📌 My Companies & Products: https://Marinamogilko.co
Transcribe →Google I/O 2026: A New Era of Work Just Started | Josh Woodward
4w ago00:31:43Tap to summarizeJosh Woodward runs Google Labs, AI Studio, and the Gemini app — basically every AI product Google ships. Google just launched Gemini Spark, the AI agent that works for you 24/7 in the background.In this episode, Marina sits down with Josh during Google I/O to talk about:— Why we're moving from "doing" to "directing"— Why human judgment and taste are becoming more valuable, not less— Why voice is about to become the dominant way we interact with AI— How his small teams ship viral products in two weekends— What Google actually shipped at I/O 2026: Gemini Spark, 3.5 Flash, Ask YouTube, smart Gemini glasses with Gentle Monster, and Docs Live— Whether Google is really losing the AI raceTopics: Google Gemini, AI agents, future of work, voice AI, Notebook LM, AGI, Josh Woodward, Google Labs, Silicon ValleyMore from the Silicon Valley Girl: Newsletter: https://siliconvalleygirl.beehiiv.com/subscribe?utm_source=spotify&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=futureproof-sub&utm_content=guest-name&utm_term=Josh WoodwardInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/siliconvalleygirl/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SiliconValleyGirlLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/marinamogilko
Transcribe →$4B Box CEO Aaron Levie: The Next 3 Years Are the Best Time to Build — Here's How to Use This Window
May 1500:50:36Tap to summarizeAaron Levie built Box into a $4 billion company used by 64% of the Fortune 500. Now he says we're at the best moment to build an AI company in 15 years — and the window is 3 years.In this episode, Marina sits down with Aaron to talk about what's actually happening inside enterprise AI, why younger founders have a surprising advantage right now, and which jobs are genuinely at risk vs. which ones AI will make more valuable.Aaron shares why AI agents still need humans at the beginning and end of every process, why the real new constraint isn't code — it's sales and marketing, and what he'd do if he were 19 and starting over in 2026.If you're building, thinking about building, or trying to figure out your next career move in an AI world — this one is for you.Topics: AI startups, entrepreneurship, future of work, enterprise AI, career advice, business building, AI agents, Aaron Levie, Box, Silicon ValleyLinks: 📩 Follow my Newsletter: https://siliconvalleygirl.beehiiv.com/subscribe?utm_source=spotify&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=futureproof-sub&utm_content=AaronLevie🔗 My Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/siliconvalleygirl/ 📌 My Companies & Products: https://Marinamogilko.co
Transcribe →"In 6 Months, We'll Start Losing Jobs to AI" — Alpha School Founder MacKenzie Price
May 1000:57:16Tap to summarizeMacKenzie Price built Alpha — an AI-first school where kids do academics for 2 hours a day, score in the top 1% nationally across every grade, and learn from AI tutors instead of teachers.She also has a prediction. In the next 6 months, our friends, the people we work with, maybe even ourselves — will start losing jobs to AI. Which is why she's so urgent about this. The school we grew up in was built to raise factory workers. The world our kids are walking into is something else entirely.I came into this conversation skeptical. I went to school in Russia, my parents and grandparents went through the same system, and a part of me still thinks it's the version that works. But MacKenzie's results are hard to argue with — kids in the 25th percentile growing exponentially, kids in the 95th still gaining 80–90%. Not because the technology is magical. Because for the first time, every kid gets the kind of one-to-one mastery learning that used to cost a private tutor.In this episode, MacKenzie breaks down how the model actually works, why Alpha doesn't use chatbots in classrooms, what kids do for the rest of the day when academics only take 2 hours, the teenage student MacKenzie says is on track to be published in Nature, the 6-year-old who made $1,600 selling cookies, and how to replicate parts of Alpha at home if you can't pay $40K–$75K in tuition.MacKenzie is co-founder of Alpha School and the 2 Hour Learning system. One of the few educators saying out loud what most schools are still pretending isn't happening.Topics: AI education, future of school, AI tutors, mastery learning, homeschool, parenting in the AI era, career replacement, Alpha School, 2 Hour Learning, Silicon Valley GirlLinks: 📩 Follow my Newsletter: https://siliconvalleygirl.beehiiv.com/subscribe?utm_source=spotify&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=futureproof-sub&utm_content=MacKenziePrice 🔗 My Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/siliconvalleygirl/ 📌 My Companies & Products: https://Marinamogilko.co
Transcribe →6 AI Businesses You Can Start in 2026 — No Code, No Funding, Real Advice from Reid Hoffman, 11Labs CEO & Google's VP of Search
May 700:21:36Tap to summarizeIn this episode, Marina breaks down 6 AI business models you can actually start in 2026 — from the easiest (zero tech skills required) to the most scalable (think: automated SaaS with 50% margins). No fluff, no theory. Just specific ideas with action steps you can take this week.You'll hear directly from:Reid Hoffman (LinkedIn founder, legendary investor) on how to double your income right nowMati Staniszewski (CEO of 11Labs, the biggest voice AI company in the world) on where the biggest gap isRobbie Stein (VP of Product, Google Search) on what actually gets you found by AIAlex Mashrabov (founder of Higgsfield, $200M/year) on the agency model that exploded in 2024Daniel Priestley (UK Entrepreneur of the Year) on why "GPT wrapper" is actually a real businessWhether you're a recent grad, a career switcher, or just someone who keeps saying "I should start something" — this episode gives you the clearest roadmap out there.Links: 📩 Follow my Newsletter: https://siliconvalleygirl.beehiiv.com/subscribe?utm_source=spotify&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=futureproof-sub&utm_content=compilation_6aibusiness_ideas🔗 My Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/siliconvalleygirl/ 📌 My Companies & Products: https://Marinamogilko.co
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