Founders in Arms

• Engineering vs Lawyerly Societies: The US-China Competition with Dan Wang

  Dan Wang is a research fellow at Stanford's Hoover Institute and author of "Breakneck: China's Quest to Engineer the Future." After spending six years living in Hong Kong, Beijing, and Shanghai (2017-2023), Dan witnessed China's technology growth, the US-China trade and tech war, Xi Jinping's increasing authoritarianism, and three years of zero-COVID pandemic controls firsthand.What you'll learn:Dan's framework of "engineering societies vs lawyerly societies" for understanding the US-China competitionHow China deliberately promoted engineers to power—by 2002, all nine Politburo Standing Committee members had engineering degreesWhy the one-child policy and zero-COVID demonstrate the dangers of literal-minded engineering applied to societyHow America transformed from building the transcontinental railroad and Apollo missions to being unable to fix its subway systemsWhy lawyers took over American governance in the 1960s and created a self-reinforcing systemThe stark reality: China builds 500 gigawatts of solar capacity annually vs America's 50, and has 30 nuclear plants under construction vs zeroWhy China's electricity advantage could determine who wins the AI race—not just better modelsHow American AI leadership is threatened by power constraints and Chinese researchers potentially returning homeWhy robotics applications of AI matter more than reasoning models for geopolitical competitionThe dual reality of America: trillion-dollar tech companies exist alongside broken infrastructure that only works for the wealthyDan's writing process: traveling, eating (twice), reading novels and history, and being deliberately provocativeThe future of US-China competition in semiconductors, aviation, manufacturing, and whether America's technological lead is sustainableIn this episode, we cover:(00:00) Introduction and Dan's AI/electricity thesis(01:15) Dan's journey from San Francisco tech to China analyst(03:40) Engineering society vs lawyerly society framework(04:21) Why engineers running governments can be dangerous(05:46) The one-child policy: designed by a missile scientist(06:56) China's path from Mao to engineering-focused leadership(09:51) America's transformation from builder to regulator (1960s shift)(11:08) Can the pendulum swing back? Housing, transit, and infrastructure failures(13:12) The self-reinforcing nature of lawyerly societies(14:12) Yale Law ambition vs Stanford engineering ambition(16:13) Is there bipartisan consensus on building?(17:41) Why left and right can't agree on solutions(19:32) China's engineering design flaws and authoritarian feedback loops(22:19) US technological advantages: semiconductors, AI, aviation(23:07) The electricity bottleneck: China's massive power advantage(24:31) If AI is everything, what should America do?(26:29) Why Dan doesn't buy the "AI is everything" premise(27:27) Robotics as the real AI battleground(29:35) Silicon Valley codes, China builds power plants(30:37) Anti-AI populism emerging on left and right(33:41) Dan's meta process: philosophy, eating, traveling, reading, being provocative(37:20) China's rural infrastructure and redistribution through building(40:39) Peter Thiel question: acknowledging China's dual reality(44:54) America's core tension: works great for the rich, broken for everyone else(46:35) Will China get stuck in the 2010s like Japan in the 1980s?

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• Three Exits in 10 Years: Lessons from Serial Entrepreneur Iñaki Berenguer

  Iñaki Berenguer is a serial entrepreneur with three successful exits: Pixable (sold to Singtel), Clink (sold to Thinking Phones), and CoverWallet (sold to Aon for $300M). He's now a partner at Flive Ventures, a $100M fund investing at the intersection of AI and healthcare, and president and co-founder of Ipronics, an AI infrastructure company for data centers.What you'll learn:How Iñaki built CoverWallet from 0 to $100M in premium revenue and 400 employees in just 4 yearsWhy he'd rebuild his 250-person company with only 10 people in the AI eraThe hidden time cost of scaling teams: 40% of CEO time spent on HR, hiring, and one-on-onesHow strategic partnerships with potential acquirers create acquisition optionalityWhy investment bankers matter: the difference between 3-month and 8-month due diligence timelinesThe critical mistake of taking common stock vs. preferred in acquisition dealsWhy "paranoid optimist" is the ideal founder mindsetThe lifestyle reality check: VC work vs. founder intensity and what actually counts as "high pressure"Reference check strategies that reveal integrity under pressureHow luck and timing determine exits more than founders want to admitIn this episode, we cover:(00:51) Iñaki's journey: three companies, three exits across different industries(03:21) Why Pixable's "always on" consumer product was harder than enterprise(09:04) The decision to sell CoverWallet despite investor pressure to keep building(12:20) Product-market fit doesn't exist in AI: markets change faster than products(19:43) How Iñaki would rebuild differently: from 250 employees to AI agents(22:32) The real time cost of hiring: 100 employees = 1,000 interviews(27:16) M&A lessons: why time kills deals and investment bankers matter(29:03) Building optionality through strategic partnerships with potential acquirers(32:37) The fulfillment of building vs. investing: team wins and external validation(36:23) Why founders struggle to celebrate wins that took years to achieve(40:25) The "paranoid optimist" mindset: assuming someone is always working harder(42:14) AI in healthcare: the most underhyped opportunity(45:20) Comparing entrepreneurial cultures: Silicon Valley vs. New York vs. Europe(46:16) The biggest mistake: not doing enough reference checks on people(48:44) What drives founders: proving doubters wrong, not money

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• The AI Superconnector Transforming The Future Of Networking With Andrew D’Souza (Founder & CEO, Boardy)

  Andrew D'Souza is the founder and CEO of Boardy AI, an AI "super connector" that helps founders, investors, and operators make high-value introductions through voice conversations. Previously, Andrew co-founded and scaled Clearco (formerly ClearBank) from a YC Fellowship company to over $100M in revenue and 600 employees across 11 countries before stepping down as CEO to pursue AI innovation.What you'll learn:How Andrew pivoted Clearco through three different markets before finding product-market fit with e-commerce financingWhy customers who "want to be found" create fundamentally easier go-to-market strategiesThe psychology behind why financial incentives destroy natural networking behaviors and trustHow the best companies now generate inbound investor demand instead of running traditional fundraising processesWhy Andrew learned to trust founder intuition even when he couldn't articulate it to stakeholdersThe technical and business model evolution from merchant cash advances to AI-powered networkingHow Boardy uses voice AI to create more human-like relationship building at scaleStrategic insights on building in regulated industries like financial servicesThe transition from scaling a fintech business to creating AI characters with their own objectivesWhy VCs don't actually remember your previous pitches and how to leverage that realityIn this episode, we cover:(00:00) Introduction and Andrew's journey from Waterloo to YC(02:32) Clearco's evolution from Uber driver financing to e-commerce(04:27) The pivotal board meeting and Series A pivot decision(05:25) Finding product-market fit with customers who "want to be found"(09:35) Scaling Clearco to $100M+ revenue and 600 employees(11:08) The COVID boom and building Clear Angel with GPT-3(13:31) Andrew's decision to step down as CEO(15:58) Introduction to Boardy AI and the AI super connector concept(18:43) Live demonstration of Boardy's voice capabilities(26:33) Business model and the "economy of Boardy" vision(29:09) Why financial incentives destroy network effects(33:36) Fundraising evolution from process-driven to inbound demand(37:13) The reality of investor relationships and memory(43:00) Rapid fire: biggest mistakes, inspiration, and founder psychology(47:29) The creative expression of building AI characters

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• Building an AI Business Beyond the Hype with Jesse Zhang from Decagon

  How do you build a sustainable AI business when investors are throwing money at anything with "AI" in the pitch deck? We're bringing back one of our best episodes featuring Jesse Zhang (Decagon AI CEO). This is a strategic conversation that centers on the business challenges of building an enterprise AI company that can sustain beyond the current hype cycle.Jesse reveals how AI moves beyond being a mere chatbot to become a "system of intelligence" that encodes complex business logic, creating moats for companies that implement it effectively. The conversation also explores the realities of implementation, adoption, and enterprise sales strategies that actually work.Technology founders, customer experience leaders, and investors will find this episode particularly illuminating as it bridges the gap between AI hype and practical implementation. Whether you're evaluating customer service AI, selling enterprise technology, or navigating fundraising, this conversation provides the strategic context and tactical insights needed to make better decisions.

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• Inside David Gu’s $38M Raise: The Pivot That Put Recall.ai on the Map

  David Gu is the co-founder and CEO of Recall.ai, building conversation recording infrastructure that powers over 1,000 AI companies. Fresh off announcing a $38 million Series B led by Bessemer, David shares the journey from a Winter 2020 Y Combinator call recording tool to becoming the backbone of AI conversation intelligence.What you'll learn:How David pivoted from application to infrastructure after spending 80% of engineering time on recording problemsWhy the social shift toward recording acceptance created a massive infrastructure opportunityThe systematic approach David used to learn enterprise sales with zero experienceHow Recall's desktop recording SDK eliminates the need for bots in meetingsWhy Series B fundraising still requires a 100x growth vision even at scaleThe framework David uses to validate new products and channels before investing timeHow Amanda Gu built 45,000 LinkedIn followers and turned social media into a lead generation engineWhy David records and reviews every sales pitch to improve his closing rateThe mental shift from seeking external validation to embracing continuous failureHow the conversation data revolution will transform every B2B software applicationIn this episode, we cover:(00:00) Introduction and David's Y Combinator background(01:30) Announcing Recall.ai's $38M Series B funding round(03:18) The pivot from call recording app to infrastructure platform(09:42) Why recording infrastructure became their nightmare and salvation(15:36) Learning enterprise sales as a technical founder(22:13) Amanda's LinkedIn growth and social media lead generation(28:26) Systematic approach to testing new products and channels(34:52) Why Series B still requires 100x vision and growth story(42:17) The social transformation that made recording acceptable(48:23) Working seven days a week for three years in the early days(53:05) The framework for embracing failure as a learning tool

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