Podcast
The Startup Podcast
Hosted by Yaniv Bernstein and Chris Saad · EN
Advice for founders and entrepreneurs who want to build disruptive startups like they do in Silicon Valley.
Not another interview podcast: concrete tips and masterclasses on what founders need to know: raising Venture Capital, strategy, product, marketing, growth, and more.
A guide to the unique mindset and approach that drives Silicon Valley style disruption.
Hosts Chris Saad and Yaniv Bernstein share practical advice based on decades of experience at Google, Uber, and their own startups.
16episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
The Science of Scaling: Using data to scale your startup perfectly w/ Mark Roberge
2w ago01:05:03Tap to summarizeMost founders treat 'scale' like a switch you flip after raising a round: hire 14 reps, 10x the ad spend, and pray. About half scale too early and burn the runway, while the other half scale too late and get caught by a more aggressive competitor. Almost nobody can tell you, in measurable terms, when they're actually ready.In this episode, Yaniv Bernstein is joined by Mark Roberge - founding CRO at HubSpot (where he scaled the company from $0 to $100M ARR), senior lecturer at Harvard Business School, cofounder of Stage 2 Capital, and author of the new book 'The Science of Scaling'. Mark walks Yaniv through his impressive data-driven framework for scaling that he's spent a decade refining, covering how to objectively define product-market fit, why customer retention is the only honest measure of PMF, and how to instrument a Leading Indicator of Retention you can act on in week one.In this episode, you will:Learn why retention is the only honest measure of product-market fit, and why most founders are flying blind without itDiscover Mark's framework for building a Leading Indicator of Retention (LIR) you can measure in week one, using Slack, HubSpot, and Facebook as worked examplesHear Mark coach Yaniv through Vera's LIR in real time, and pick up a repeatable method for designing one for your own businessLearn the 'Stay/Go/Slow' model for pacing hires and spend post-raise, and why startups should reassess monthly or quarterly rather than locking in an annual planGet Mark's take on why 'paranoid optimism' is the trait that correlates most strongly with founder success, and the link between that trait and founder mental healthTimestamps00:00 Coming Up00:26 On Today's Show: The Science of Scaling01:47 Guest Intro: Mark Roberge02:31 Why Scaling Needs Data04:20 Eric Ries and Product Market Fit06:56 Retention as a North Star10:15 What Makes a Good Leading Indicator?15:00 Case Study: Vera (Yaniv's Startup)17:41 Choosing Frequency and Event23:55 Instrumenting and Unique Value31:12 Blitzscaling and Defining PET34:41 ICP Denominator Rules37:28 Segmenting By Product40:40 Go To Market Fit45:25 Dealing with Revenue-Focused Investor Pressure50:33 The Pace of Scaling56:07 About the Book, The Science of Scaling57:45 Founder Mental Health01:02:28 Closing ThoughtsResources in this episode:Mark Roberge on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markroberge/‘The Science of Scaling: Using Data to Decide When — and How Fast — to Scale Revenue’ by Mark Roberge: https://www.amazon.com/Science-Scaling-Revenue-Mark-Roberge/dp/1394319428Stage 2 Capital (Mark's B2B SaaS-focused venture firm): https://www.stage2.capital/Vera (Yaniv's startup): https://vera.guide/The PactHonor the Startup Podcast Pact! If you have listened to TSP and gotten value from it, please:Follow, rate, and review us in your listening appFollow us on YouTube for full-video episodes: https://www.youtube.com/@startup-podcastGive us a public shout-out on LinkedIn or anywhere you have a social media followingKey linksThis episode of the Startup Podcast is sponsored by .tech domains. Forget weird prefixes and creative misspellings; the availability for .tech domains is simply way better than .com. For a clean and memorable name, go to https://get.tech/tspThis episode of the Startup Podcast is sponsored by Vanta. Vanta helps businesses get and stay compliant by automating up to 90% of the work for the most in demand compliance frameworks. With over 200 integrations, you can easily monitor and secure the tools your business relies on. For a limited time offer of US$1,000 off, go to https://www.vanta.com/tsp The Startup Podcast website: https://www.tsp.show/episodes/Follow Yaniv on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ybernstein/Producer: Justin McArthur https://www.linkedin.com/in/justin-mcarthurAssistant Producer: Steph Hefferan https://www.linkedin.com/in/steph-heff/Intro Voice: Jeremiah Owyang https://web-strategist.com/
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Refounding: Why this $80m founder quit as CEO, and what it says about the future of startups
3w ago00:45:17Tap to summarizeIn 2026, startups age like milk. Josh Foreman's solution is a radical one - step down as CEO, go back to basics, and refound the whole company. Yaniv Bernstein discusses this decision with Josh, founder and (for now) CEO of InDebted - the AI-native debt resolution business he scaled to an $80M revenue run rate, a Series C raise, and operations across 8 markets. Just days before recording, Josh publicly announced he's hiring a new CEO so he can step back into the business as a hands-on operator and refound the company for the agentic AI era.In this conversation, Josh and Yaniv discuss 'refounding' in practice, what it takes to rebuild the company's processes from the ground up, and why technical founders who don't go back on the tools right now are setting themselves up to be outbuilt by a smaller, faster, leaner version of themselves.In this episode, you will:Learn why Josh believes the highest-leverage role for a technical founder in 2026 is no longer CEO, and how to structure a founder-CEO partnership that actually worksUnderstand why 'feature patching' an established business is a losing strategy, and what it really means to rebuild your company function-by-function from a clean slateDiscover how revenue-per-employee has become the metric that matters most when raising capital and competing with AI-native upstartsHear why services-as-software and performance-fee models are suddenly the bull case for investors who hated them 12 months ago - and why the SaaS seat fee is on the way outFind out what it looks like to unbundle your product into agent-ready primitives, and why owning the eval for a narrow domain may be a bigger moat than your full-stack UITimestamps00:00 Coming Up: Refounding00:41 Josh Foreman, CEO (for now)01:41 What Refounding Means04:53 Rebuilding the Factory07:38 Bringing the Team Along10:51 No Choice but Change14:56 Aligning the Board and Investors16:52 Putting Founders Back on the Tools26:24 'Corporate Ozempic' Shrinking Teams32:57 Unbundling and Products for Agents38:39 Hiring a CEO When Refounding44:11 Closing ThoughtsMentioned in this episodeJosh Foreman on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshforeman/InDebted: https://www.indebted.co/Scott Galloway on 'Corporate Ozempic': https://www.profgalloway.com/corporate-ozempic/Surviving the AI SaaSpocalypse with Scotty Allen: https://youtu.be/j84LF4aru8I 'Paranoid Optimism' with Yaniv: https://youtu.be/FGqbdzr0-PM The PactHonor the Startup Podcast Pact! If you have listened to TSP and gotten value from it, please:Follow, rate, and review us in your listening appSecure your official TSP merchandise at https://shop.tsp.show/Follow us here on YouTube for full-video episodes: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNjm1MTdjysRRV07fSf0yGgGive us a public shout-out on LinkedIn or anywhere you have a social media followingKey linksThis episode of the Startup Podcast is sponsored by .tech domains. Forget weird prefixes and creative misspellings; the availability for .tech domains is simply way better than .com. For a clean name that highlights your tech credentials, get a .tech domain at your favorite registrar.The Startup Podcast website: https://www.tsp.show/episodes/Learn more about Chris and YanivWork 1:1 with Chris: http://chrissaad.com/advisory/Follow Chris on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrissaad/Follow Yaniv on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ybernstein/Producer: Justin McArthur https://www.linkedin.com/in/justin-mcarthurAssistant Producer: Steph Hefferan https://www.linkedin.com/in/steph-heff/Intro Voice: Jeremiah Owyang https://web-strategist.com/
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Adapting your startup to an AI-native world (w/ Marlon Nichols)
May 400:38:15Tap to summarizeMany AI startups funded in the last 18 months won't last three years - so what makes a business durable today?Yaniv Bernstein is joined by Marlon Nichols, co-founder and managing general partner of MaC Venture Capital - one of the most active seed-stage AI investors in the market, having scaled MaC to over $600M AUM across three funds in just four years. Marlon's portfolio includes Pipe, Stoke Space, Thrive Market, Chef Robotics, and exits like Wonder Dynamics to Autodesk and Gimlet Media to Spotify.In this conversation, Marlon uses his industry experience to explain the biggest threats to new AI startups, and what the key components of successful startups in the industry will be.In this episode, you will:Hear why Marlon thinks niche or mid-size foundational models are now prime acquisition targets for OpenAIDiscover why misreading traction is the #1 mistake VCs are making right nowLearn why Marlon is more excited about manufacturing-line prediction and grid-scale batteries than humanoid robotsExplore why founder unit economics need a complete rewrite when token costs replace SaaS-style marginal costUnderstand why software is no longer a moat — and why data access, deep customer integration, and speed are the only three durable advantages left at the application layerLearn the difference between AI-native companies and AI-bolted-on companies, and what a 5-year-old startup should do if it's on the wrong side of that lineTimestamps00:00 Coming Up01:07 On Today's Show: Durable Tech02:33 Meet Marlon Nichols03:25 Defining 'Durable' AI Startups05:23 Moats for Foundation Models07:15 Chef Robotics and AI Native vs AI Enabled09:24 Upgrading Legacy Startups10:55 Pipe’s AI Pivot Case Study13:19 Winning at the App Layer15:56 Speed and Workflow Stickiness17:51 Investment Checklist and Team20:30 Automotive Digital Twins and Regulatory Testing24:27 Why Physical AI?26:09 Robotics In Manufacturing26:55 Energy Storage And Batteries28:30 Why Cheaper Builds Still Need Talent30:19 Where Traction Can Be Misleading33:41 Token Costs And Unit Economics36:46 Closing ThoughtsMentioned in this episodeMaC Venture Capital: https://macventurecapital.com/Marlon Nichols on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marloncnichols/'The Bitter Lesson' by Rich Sutton: http://www.incompleteideas.net/IncIdeas/BitterLesson.htmlVera (Yaniv's startup, AI-supported guidance for people caring for ageing parents): https://vera.guide/The PactHonor the Startup Podcast Pact! If you have listened to TSP and gotten value from it, please:Follow, rate, and review us in your listening appSecure your official TSP merchandise at https://shop.tsp.show/Follow us here on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNjm1MTdjysRRV07fSf0yGgGive us a public shout-out on LinkedIn or anywhere you have a social media followingKey linksThis episode of the Startup Podcast is sponsored by .tech domains. Forget weird prefixes and creative misspellings; the availability for .tech domains is simply way better than .com. For a clean name that highlights your tech credentials, get a .tech domain at your favorite registrar.This episode of the Startup Podcast is sponsored by Vanta. Vanta helps businesses get and stay compliant by automating up to 90% of the work for the most in demand compliance frameworks. With over 200 integrations, you can easily monitor and secure the tools your business relies on. For a limited time offer of US$1,000 off, go to https://www.vanta.com/tspThe Startup Podcast website: https://www.tsp.show/episodes/Learn more about Chris and YanivWork 1:1 with Chris: http://chrissaad.com/advisory/Follow Chris on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrissaad/Follow Yaniv on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ybernstein/Producer: Justin McArthur https://www.linkedin.com/in/justin-mcarthurAssistant Producer: Steph Hefferan https://www.linkedin.com/in/steph-heff/Intro Voice: Jeremiah Owyang https://web-strategist.com/
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How the best founders balance fear and hope
Apr 2700:29:27Tap to summarizeBeing a founder has always meant dreaming big while keeping a close eye on potential trip-ups, and in the age of AI, finding and maintaining that balance is more important than ever.Today, Yaniv Bernstein talks about the importance of getting that balance right. Using deep insight and decades of industry experience, he discusses why now is the time for founders to be more ambitious than ever before - while identifying threats to success and keeping a keen, near-paranoid eye on them.In this episode, you will:Understand why ‘paranoid optimism’ has always been the founder superpower, and why AI has made it more essential than everLearn why tokens are ‘the new oil’ and how the ‘token OPEC’ is already exerting price and product leverage over every AI-native startupExplore Garry Tan's ‘boil the lake’ concept and why early-stage founders can now afford to be more ambitious in scope than ever beforeFind out why startups have a bigger speed advantage over incumbents than at any time in history, and how to actually use itDiscover how foundation model providers like Anthropic, OpenAI, and Google can wipe out entire startup categories without ever deliberately competing with youTimestamps00:00 Coming Up00:59 On Today's Show: Paranoid Optimism01:27 Surviving as a Baby Turtle03:00 Risks of Pure Optimism05:24 A Herd of Thundering Elephants07:44 Magic Elephants09:50 3 Shifts: Compression, Leverage and Startup Advantage12:54 YC's Garry Tan & 'Boiling The Lake'15:38 Why Be Paranoid?15:52 AI Risks Category Collapse18:13 Anthropic, Google and OpenAI: The OPEC of Tokens19:51 Identity Collapse21:54 How to Operate As Paranoid Optimist21:59 1. Holding Strong Priors and Updating Fast23:31 2. Architecting For Escape25:57 3. Stay Closer To The Problem Than The Solution28:13 Closing ThoughtsResources mentioned in this episode'Same As Ever' by Morgan Housel: https://www.amazon.com/Same-Ever-Guide-Never-Changes/dp/0593332709Last week’s episode - Same As Ever: 7 rules that HAVEN'T changed about building great startups (w/ Amir Shevat): https://www.tsp.show/same-as-ever-7-rules-that-havent-changed-about-building-great-startups-w-amir-shevat/Previous episode - 'Unlearning' with Yaniv: Why founders need to rewrite outdated, radioactive mindsets: https://www.tsp.show/unlearning-with-yaniv-why-founders-need-to-rewrite-outdated-radioactive-mindsets/Garry Tan’s 'Boil the Ocean' blog post: https://garryslist.org/posts/boil-the-oceanVera, Yaniv's current startup: https://vera.guide/ The PactHonor the Startup Podcast Pact! If you have listened to TSP and gotten value from it, please:Follow, rate, and review us in your listening appSecure your official TSP merchandise at https://shop.tsp.show/Follow us here on YouTube for full-video episodes: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNjm1MTdjysRRV07fSf0yGgGive us a public shout-out on LinkedIn or anywhere you have a social media followingKey linksThis episode of the Startup Podcast is sponsored by .tech domains. Forget weird prefixes and creative misspellings; the availability for .tech domains is simply way better than .com. For a clean name that highlights your tech credentials, get a .tech domain at your favorite registrar.The Startup Podcast website: https://www.tsp.show/episodes/Learn more about Chris and YanivWork 1:1 with Chris: http://chrissaad.com/advisory/Follow Chris on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrissaad/Follow Yaniv on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ybernstein/Producer: Justin McArthur https://www.linkedin.com/in/justin-mcarthurAssistant Producer: Steph Hefferan https://www.linkedin.com/in/steph-heff/Intro Voice: Jeremiah Owyang https://web-strategist.com/
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Same As Ever: 7 rules that HAVEN'T changed about building great startups (w/ Amir Shevat)
Apr 2000:49:52Tap to summarizeBetween AI shaking up the industry, geopolitical upheaval, and unpredictable capital, being a founder has never been more confusing.So what advice, if any, is still relevant?In this episode, Yaniv Bernstein is joined by Amir Shevat (Silicon Valley developer platform veteran and now General Partner at Darkmode Ventures) to answer exactly that. Focusing on what isn't changing rather than what is, Amir walks through seven truths of startup building that have become more important in the age of AI.In this episode, you will:Discover why AI-generated sales outreach is backfiring, and why authenticity, proof of effort, and in-person events are becoming the gold standardExplore the "founder tar pit" of bad markets, and the simple questions that reveal whether yours is one to run fromLearn why design in 2026 is about putting positive interactions and emotions first, and how to prioritize these effectivelyTimestamps00:00 Coming Up…01:07 Guest Intro: Amir Shevat02:36 On Today's Show: 7 Timeless Truths04:34 Jeff Bezos and the 'Same As Ever' Mindset08:19 Rule 1. Hire The Right Team10:15 How AI Raises The Bar14:26 Rule 2. A Delightful User Experience16:27 Conversational Interfaces18:07 Why You Should Design For Emotions24:20 Rule 3. Hustle Still Wins26:05 The Return of Authentic Selling28:09 Landing Your First Customers28:50 Rule 4. Build Real Moats30:48 Mongol Hordes: Is 'Execution Speed' A Moat?33:00 'Thick' Product Advantage33:39 Rule 5. Vision Beats TAM38:07 Rule 6. Choose Great Markets42:34 Rule 7. Build An Unfair Advantage47:10 Recap and Closing ThoughtsResources in this episode:Darkmode Ventures (Amir's early-stage fund): https://www.darkmode.vc/Amir Shevat on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirshevat/Designing Bots: https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/designing-bots/9781491974810/Working Backwards by Colin Bryar and Bill Carr: https://www.amazon.com/Working-Backwards-Insights-Stories-Secrets/dp/1250267595Same as Ever by Morgan Housel: https://www.amazon.com/Same-Ever-Guide-Never-Changes/dp/05933327092012 re:Invent Day 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4MtQGRIIuAThe Pact Honor the Startup Podcast Pact! If you have listened to TSP and gotten value from it, please:Follow, rate, and review us in your listening appSubscribe to the TSP Mailing List to gain access to exclusive newsletter-only content and early access to information on upcoming episodes: https://thestartuppodcast.beehiiv.com/subscribe Secure your official TSP merchandise at https://shop.tsp.show/ Follow us here on YouTube for full-video episodes: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNjm1MTdjysRRV07fSf0yGg Give us a public shout-out on LinkedIn or anywhere you have a social media followingKey linksThis episode of the Startup Podcast is sponsored by .tech domains. Forget weird prefixes and creative misspellings; the availability for .tech domains is simply way better than .com. For a clean name that highlights your tech credentials, get a .tech domain at your favorite registrar.This episode of the Startup Podcast is sponsored by Vanta. Vanta helps businesses get and stay compliant by automating up to 90% of the work for the most in demand compliance frameworks. With over 200 integrations, you can easily monitor and secure the tools your business relies on. For a limited time offer of US$1,000 off, go to https://www.vanta.com/tspGet your question in for our next Q&A episode: https://forms.gle/NZzgNWVLiFmwvFA2A The Startup Podcast website: https://www.tsp.show/episodes/Learn more about Chris and YanivWork 1:1 with Chris: http://chrissaad.com/advisory/ Follow Chris on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrissaad/ Follow Yaniv on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ybernstein/Producer: Justin McArthur https://www.linkedin.com/in/justin-mcarthurAssistant Producer: Steph Hefferan https://www.linkedin.com/in/steph-heff/Intro Voice: Jeremiah Owyang https://web-strategist.com/
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Surviving the AI SaaSpocalypse: Will AI kill your startup? w/ Scotty Allen
Apr 1300:47:52Tap to summarizeWill AI kill your startup? For a lot of startups, probably yes.But which ones? And more importantly, how do you make sure yours isn't one of them?Yaniv Bernstein is joined by returning guest Scotty Allen (bootstrapper, founder of The Product Bus, and startup strategist extraordinaire) to reason through one of the most pressing questions of 2026: how do you build a startup to survive the SaaSpocalypse?They discuss why this AI wave is more of a threat to tech startups than Google and Facebook ever were, and why the B2B/B2C distinction has never mattered more. Along the way, Yaniv discusses why making your software 'headless' will be a key survival strategy, and the pair explore what it means to build products that cater to agents.In this episode, you will:Learn why the best B2B SaaS strategy is to strip the UI and invest everything in defensible, thick capability that agents want to useHear why the B2B/B2C split has sharpened dramatically, and why deep user empathy and design remain incredibly importantFind out what "agentic engine optimisation" means, and why creating an agent-centric tool could be your most powerful growth channelUnderstand why your tolerance for ambiguity may be the single most important skill you can develop as a founder right nowTimestamps00:00 Coming Up…00:54 On Today's Show: Will AI Kill Startups?01:32 Is This Different to Google/Facebook?05:15 The Threat to 'MD-able' SaaS10:49 Headless SaaS Advantage15:19 Thin and Thick Wrappers18:19 Bottom Up Disruption20:34 Platform Fragility Risks22:22 When DIY Systems Backfire24:46 B2B vs B2C Distinction28:53 Tools Agents Prefer30:56 Claude 'Skills' As Distribution32:05 Platforms Are Dead34:09 Tool Use As An Inflection Point35:42 Managing Agents Like Staff38:55 B2B Headless vs. B2C Design41:48 Who Pays In B2C?44:10 Why Vera Is A 'Guide', Not An Agent45:39 Embrace Ambiguity And Build46:30 Closing ThoughtsResources mentioned in this episode:The Product Bus (Scotty Allen's startup validation and product strategy firm): https://theproductbus.com/Scotty Allen on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thescottyallen/ The Bootstraps Podcast (Scotty's own podcast, 'Straight Up From Scratch'): https://thebootstrap.tech/ Vera (Yaniv's startup, AI-supported guidance for people caring for ageing parents): https://vera.guideThe Pact Honor the Startup Podcast Pact! If you have listened to TSP and gotten value from it, please:Follow, rate, and review us in your listening appSubscribe to the TSP Mailing List to gain access to exclusive newsletter-only content and early access to information on upcoming episodes: https://thestartuppodcast.beehiiv.com/subscribe Secure your official TSP merchandise at https://shop.tsp.show/ Follow us here on YouTube for full-video episodes: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNjm1MTdjysRRV07fSf0yGg Give us a public shout-out on LinkedIn or anywhere you have a social media followingKey linksThis episode of the Startup Podcast is sponsored by .tech domains. Forget weird prefixes and creative misspellings; the availability for .tech domains is simply way better than .com. For a clean name that highlights your tech credentials, get a .tech domain at your favorite registrar.Get your question in for our next Q&A episode: https://forms.gle/NZzgNWVLiFmwvFA2A The Startup Podcast website: https://www.tsp.show/episodes/Learn more about Chris and YanivWork 1:1 with Chris: http://chrissaad.com/advisory/ Follow Chris on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrissaad/ Follow Yaniv on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ybernstein/Producer: Justin McArthur https://www.linkedin.com/in/justin-mcarthurAssistant Producer: Steph Hefferan https://www.linkedin.com/in/steph-heff/Intro Voice: Jeremiah Owyang https://web-strategist.com/#SaaS #SaaSpocalypse #Startups #TechStartups #Founder #TechBusiness #TheStartupPodcast
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‘Unlearning’ with Yaniv: Why founders need to rewrite outdated, radioactive mindsets
Apr 600:29:28Tap to summarizeYou may have spent years (or even decades) building your expertise. But is any of it still relevant? And how much of it is an active detriment to your startup?In this special solo episode, Yaniv Bernstein delivers a no-guest monologue on the most critical skill any founder can develop right now: ‘unlearning’. Drawing on Morgan Housel's ‘Same as Ever’; real-world examples from his own startup, Vera; and frameworks for rebuilding beliefs from the ground up, Yaniv makes the case that obsolete knowledge is as bad as radioactive waste actively distorting your decisions. In this episode, you will:Understand why AI is making the half-life of expertise shorter than ever beforeLearn how the sunk cost fallacy stops founders from discarding knowledge that’s causing more harm than goodDiscover why the identities you've built around your craft ("I am a programmer", "I am a copywriter") may be the single biggest barrier to adapting in 2026Find out what skills are actually worth holding onto, and how to combine them with the meta-skill of rapid adaptationLearn three practical mental models for unlearning: belief audits, first principles thinking, and systems thinkingTimestamps:00:00 Coming Up00:42 On Today's Show: Unlearning02:03 Morgan Hausel's Same as Ever04:13 When Knowledge Turns Toxic07:00 What Unlearning Means07:42 Why Unlearning Is Hard08:32 Sunk Cost Fallacy12:32 Identity Threat17:17 Redefining Expertise18:15 Meta Skills For Experts21:55 Auditing Your Beliefs24:14 First Principles Thinking25:21 Systems Thinking27:24 You Should: Make Time To Adapt28:14 You Should: Embrace Discomfort29:01 Closing ThoughtsResources mentioned in this episode:'Same as Ever: A Guide to What Never Changes' by Morgan Housel — the book Yaniv references throughout this episode on timeless principles of human behavior: https://www.amazon.com/Same-Ever-Guide-Never-Changes/dp/0593332709Naval Ravikant on identity — Yaniv attributes the idea of being cautious about taking on identities to Naval. Naval's writing and podcast appearances are a good starting point: https://nav.al The Pact Honor the Startup Podcast Pact! If you have listened to TSP and gotten value from it, please:Follow, rate, and review us in your listening appSubscribe to the TSP Mailing List to gain access to exclusive newsletter-only content and early access to information on upcoming episodes: https://thestartuppodcast.beehiiv.com/subscribe Secure your official TSP merchandise at https://shop.tsp.show/ Follow us here on YouTube for full-video episodes: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNjm1MTdjysRRV07fSf0yGg Give us a public shout-out on LinkedIn or anywhere you have a social media followingKey linksThis episode of the Startup Podcast is sponsored by .tech domains. Forget weird prefixes and creative misspellings; the availability for .tech domains is simply way better than .com. For a clean name that highlights your tech credentials, get a .tech domain at your favorite registrar.Get your question in for our next Q&A episode: https://forms.gle/NZzgNWVLiFmwvFA2A The Startup Podcast website: https://www.tsp.show/episodes/Learn more about Chris and YanivWork 1:1 with Chris: http://chrissaad.com/advisory/ Follow Chris on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrissaad/ Follow Yaniv on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ybernstein/Producer: Justin McArthur https://www.linkedin.com/in/justin-mcarthurIntro Voice: Jeremiah Owyang https://web-strategist.com/#unlearning #psychology #Startups #TechStartups #Founder #TechBusiness #TheStartupPodcast
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Your co-founder relationship could break your startup! Here's how to fix it
Mar 3000:22:46Tap to summarize(This is Part 2 of a conversation with Dr. Matthew Jones about co-founder relationships. You can find Part 1 here: https://www.tsp.show/how-to-identify-red-flags-early-in-your-cofounder-relationship-w-dr-matthew-jones/)Co-founder conflict is tough to deal with, but it also has ripple effects through your entire organization. When a tough relationship is left to fester, it can erode your team culture, spike turnover, and eventually turn into a full-blown crisis.Continuing last week's conversation with Yaniv, Dr. Matthew Jones - author of The Cofounder Effect and founder of Cofounder Clarity - walks you through actionable ways to repair a flailing co-founder relationship. From identifying and avoiding common mistakes, to finding good coaching, Dr. Jones brings valuable insights that will ensure you and your founding team thrive together.In this episode, you will:Understand how co-founder dysfunction ripples through your organization, driving up employee churn and instability.Learn why most companies are in dire need of a 'co-founder date'.Discover why avoiding relationship repair makes the problem more difficult to deal with over time.Explore the Three Languages Framework, and how to use it to diagnose where your co-founder communication is breaking down.Learn why working on the 1–2% of bandwidth that goes to your co-founder relationship is actually the highest-ROI investment you can make as a founding team.Chapters00:00 Coming Up...00:41 On Today's Show: Co-founder Relationships, Part 201:17 Ripple Effects on Company Culture04:15 Stats on Employee Stress And Churn05:28 Co-founder Syncs and Co-founder Dates09:33 Using 'The Cofounder Effect' to Navigate Conflict10:30 Enduring Discomfort12:28 Co-founder Coaching: 'Couples Therapy For Founders'?16:18 Why Self-Work Is 'High Leverage'17:44 Today's Action: Use The Three Languages Framework19:48 'Nonviolent Communication' and Naming The Elephant In The Room22:20 Closing Thoughts and ResourcesResources mentioned in this episode:Part 1 of this conversation, 'How to identify red flags early in your co-founder relationship': https://www.tsp.show/how-to-identify-red-flags-early-in-your-cofounder-relationship-w-dr-matthew-jones/Dr. Matthew Jones' website, Cofounder Clarity (further information on his coaching practice and his book, The Cofounder Effect): https://www.cofounderclarity.comStartup Snapshot: https://www.startupsnaphot.comNonviolent Communication (NVC): https://www.cnvc.orgDr. Matthew Jones on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-matthew-jones-7a832a37/The Pact Honor the Startup Podcast Pact! If you have listened to TSP and gotten value from it, please:Follow, rate, and review us in your listening appSubscribe to the TSP Mailing List to gain access to exclusive newsletter-only content and early access to information on upcoming episodes: https://thestartuppodcast.beehiiv.com/subscribe Secure your official TSP merchandise at https://shop.tsp.show/ Follow us here on YouTube for full-video episodes: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNjm1MTdjysRRV07fSf0yGg Give us a public shout-out on LinkedIn or anywhere you have a social media followingKey linksThis episode of the Startup Podcast is sponsored by .tech domains. Forget weird prefixes and creative misspellings; the availability for .tech domains is simply way better than .com. For a clean name that highlights your tech credentials, get a .tech domain at your favorite registrar.Get your question in for our next Q&A episode: https://forms.gle/NZzgNWVLiFmwvFA2A The Startup Podcast website: https://www.tsp.show/episodes/Learn more about Chris and YanivWork 1:1 with Chris: http://chrissaad.com/advisory/ Follow Chris on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrissaad/ Follow Yaniv on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ybernstein/Producer: Justin McArthur https://www.linkedin.com/in/justin-mcarthurIntro Voice: Jeremiah Owyang https://web-strategist.com/
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How to identify red flags early in your cofounder relationship w/ Dr. Matthew Jones
Mar 2300:39:58Tap to summarizeYour co-founder relationship is the single most important variable in your startup's success, and one of the most likely things to destroy it.Today, Yaniv Bernstein sits down with Dr. Matthew Jones, author of ‘The Cofounder Effect’ and founder of Cofounder Clarity, to dig into the psychology of co-founder relationships: why they break down and what the warning signs look like.Matt brings a rare combination of clinical depth and startup-world pragmatism to the topic - an essential skillset to help you properly understand common co-founder pitfalls, and how to avoid them. In this episode, you will:Learn what 'negative sentiment override' is, why it's the tipping point in a deteriorating co-founder relationship, and how to catch it before it takes hold.Discover how the co-founder relationship is structurally different from a marriage, and why that means you have to deliberately repair and reconnect with your co-founder.Hear why power dynamics in founding teams are almost always present and are often more destructive when left unnamed.Find out why being able to navigate conflict is more important than finding the 'right' co-founder pairing.Understand the risks of identity fusion with your startup, and why professional distance is a feature rather than a weakness.Learn why co-founder agreements need to evolve over time, and what a healthy renegotiation looks like.Explore the unique dynamics of three- and four-person founding teams, including the coalition patterns that tend to emerge and why they're so destructive.Resources mentioned in this episode:Dr. Matthew Jones’ website, Cofounder Clarity (his coaching practice): https://www.cofounderclarity.com‘The Founder's Dilemmas’ by Noam Wasserman: https://www.amazon.com/Founders-Dilemmas-Anticipating-Princeton-Entrepreneurship/dp/0691158304'Knowing This Data Will Make You A Better Fundraiser', the TSP episode with Carta's Head of Insights, Peter Walker: https://open.spotify.com/episode/7aI9NeIVZ7JqkSH2OsizBFThe Gottman Institute - the research behind 'negative sentiment override' discussed in this episode: https://www.gottman.comDr. Matthew Jones on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-matthew-jones-7a832a37/ The Pact Honor the Startup Podcast Pact! If you have listened to TSP and gotten value from it, please:Follow, rate, and review us in your listening appSubscribe to the TSP Mailing List to gain access to exclusive newsletter-only content and early access to information on upcoming episodes: https://thestartuppodcast.beehiiv.com/subscribe Secure your official TSP merchandise at https://shop.tsp.show/ Follow us here on YouTube for full-video episodes: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNjm1MTdjysRRV07fSf0yGg Give us a public shout-out on LinkedIn or anywhere you have a social media followingKey linksThis episode of the Startup Podcast is sponsored by .tech domains. Forget weird prefixes and creative misspellings; the availability for .tech domains is simply way better than .com. For a clean name that highlights your tech credentials, get a .tech domain at your favorite registrar.This episode of the Startup Podcast is sponsored by Vanta. Vanta helps businesses get and stay compliant by automating up to 90% of the work for the most in demand compliance frameworks. With over 200 integrations, you can easily monitor and secure the tools your business relies on. For a limited time offer of US$1,000 off, go to https://www.vanta.com/tspGet your question in for our next Q&A episode: https://forms.gle/NZzgNWVLiFmwvFA2A The Startup Podcast website: https://www.tsp.show/episodes/Learn more about Chris and YanivWork 1:1 with Chris: http://chrissaad.com/advisory/ Follow Chris on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrissaad/ Follow Yaniv on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ybernstein/Producer: Justin McArthur https://www.linkedin.com/in/justin-mcarthurIntro Voice: Jeremiah Owyang https://web-strategist.com/
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Why Claude never stops listening to our meetings (w/ Minikai's Keoki Alexander-Chang)
Mar 1600:41:57Tap to summarizeIn a deeply regulated industry such as healthcare, building an AI-native app poses a host of unique challenges, particularly when it comes to navigating customer privacy and industry red tape. How do you create an industry-leading resource and stay on the cutting edge of tech, while managing these constraints?Keoki Alexander-Chang can help you there. He's the founder and CEO of Minikai, a Melbourne-based startup using AI agents to slash the administrative burden on disability and aged care providers. Before launching Minikai, he led Deloitte's Forensic AI lab, so he's been thinking about applied AI in complex, regulated environments for far longer than most founders.In this episode, Yaniv sits down with Keoki to explore what it really means to build a person-centred AI product in a high-stakes regulated sector — and how Minikai applies that same AI-native mindset to their internal operations, through fine-grained access control, human-in-the-loop design, and AI agents keeping the entire sales pipeline up to date in the background.In this episode, you will:Learn how to design agentic AI products for high-stakes regulated environmentsUnderstand the importance of intentionally including fine-grained access control, provenance and adding friction to the process in order to keep humans in the loopMake sense of the fundamental shift within the build vs. buy equation, and why Minikai is questioning every SaaS tool in their stackFind out why Keoki treats his product like a garden, and why pruning is just as important as growingUnderstand what "person-centred AI" actually means in the disability and aged care contextHear how Minikai's team now uses continuously running AI agents to keep their entire HubSpot pipeline up to dateLearn about the story of the lapel mics: how Minikai is condensing the entire workflow from meeting to working code, skipping Jira entirelyResources mentioned in this episodeMinikai (Keoki's startup: AI agents for disability and aged care providers): https://www.minikai.com/Keoki Alexander-Chang on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/keokichang/DJI Mic (the lapel mic Keoki's team uses to capture all meeting audio for Claude): https://www.dji.com/micInsiders React: How OpenClaw and Claude Cowork changed Gary Lo's approach to startups (the companion TSP episode referenced by Yaniv): https://www.tsp.show/insiders-react-how-openclaw-and-claude-cowork-changed-gary-los-approach-to-startups-w-gary-lo-op/The Pact Honor the Startup Podcast Pact! If you have listened to TSP and gotten value from it, please:Follow, rate, and review us in your listening appSubscribe to the TSP Mailing List to gain access to exclusive newsletter-only content and early access to information on upcoming episodes: https://thestartuppodcast.beehiiv.com/subscribe Secure your official TSP merchandise at https://shop.tsp.show/ Follow us here on YouTube for full-video episodes: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNjm1MTdjysRRV07fSf0yGg Give us a public shout-out on LinkedIn or anywhere you have a social media followingKey linksThis episode of the Startup Podcast is sponsored by .tech domains. Forget weird prefixes and creative misspellings; the availability for .tech domains is simply way better than .com. For a clean name that highlights your tech credentials, get a .tech domain at your favorite registrar.Get your question in for our next Q&A episode: https://forms.gle/NZzgNWVLiFmwvFA2A The Startup Podcast website: https://www.tsp.show/episodes/Learn more about Chris and YanivWork 1:1 with Chris: http://chrissaad.com/advisory/ Follow Chris on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrissaad/ Follow Yaniv on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ybernstein/Producer: Justin McArthur https://www.linkedin.com/in/justin-mcarthurIntro Voice: Jeremiah Owyang https://web-strategist.com/
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