Founders in Arms

• Building a LinkedIn for Hourly Workers with Instawork's Sumir Meghani

  Sumir Meghani is the founder and CEO of Instawork, a staffing marketplace connecting 9 million hourly workers with businesses that need flexible labor. Starting with just line cooks in San Francisco restaurants, Instawork now serves warehouses, stadiums, hotels, and hospitality businesses across the country, creating what Sumir calls "employment at the touch of a button."What you'll learn:Why starting "boring and narrow" (one city, one job type) is the key to marketplace successHow Instawork is building a "LinkedIn for hourly workers" with hundreds of data points per profileThe hidden costs of 100%+ annual turnover in restaurants and hospitalityWhy people actually want to work MORE hours when friction is removedThe concept of "robot wranglers" as the next major labor categoryHow Instawork is using its worker pool to train physical AI and robotics modelsThe difference between "leading by disappointment" vs. celebrating wins as a CEOWhy labor costs range from 30% (restaurants) to 80% (hospitals) of revenueThe labor market as a "Tetris board" of micro-jobs and available workersWhy Silicon Valley undervalues hourly work despite 100 million workers depending on itIn this episode, we cover:(00:00) Introduction and YPO CEO forum discussion(03:42) Sumir's journey from Groupon to founding InstaWork(04:58) The restaurant visit that sparked the idea(06:28) Why the hourly labor shortage is a global problem(08:07) Building profiles for 9 million workers(08:54) Starting narrow: San Francisco restaurants and line cooks only(12:28) The hourly worker crisis in hospitality(13:04) Why wages haven't risen despite labor shortages(15:58) The true cost of labor beyond hourly rates(17:48) AI's role in reducing onboarding friction(19:42) Physical AI and the future of robotics(20:16) Introducing "robot wranglers" as a new labor category(22:36) Using InstaWork's workforce to train robot models(23:34) Navigating the AI hype cycle as a consumer(26:47) White collar vs. blue collar labor market dynamics(29:29) Why more jobs will shift to physical industries(30:43) The cultural bias against hourly work in Silicon Valley(32:11) Rapid fire: Biggest entrepreneurial mistakes(33:36) Most rewarding parts of the founder journey(34:30) Why Silicon Valley should start simple, not big(36:30) The uncomfortable feedback: "Leading by disappointment"(38:50) Balancing high standards with celebration(39:58) What inspires Sumir: Physical AI and robotics innovation

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• David vs. Goliath in the Wearables Industry With Eric Migicovsky

  We're reposting this episode following major news: Pebble officially relaunched its companion app on iOS and Android, bringing exciting and new apps and watch faces to both new Pebble devices and original watches. The Pebble 2 Duo has begun shipping to customers who preordered earlier this year.Eric Migicovsky is the Founder of Core Devices, and the original founder of Pebble, the pioneering smartwatch that raised $10 million on Kickstarter before being acquired. Eric has launched Core Devices to continue building the smartwatch platform he believes in, complete with Google's newly open-sourced Pebble operating system.What you'll learn:1. The Kickstarter phenomenon: How Pebble became one of the first massive Kickstarter successes, raising $600K in the first day with a $100K goal2. Hardware's inventory trap: Why missing revenue projections by 20% ($80M vs $100M target) created a $20M inventory crisis that nearly sank Pebble3. The sustainable hardware model: Eric's new approach of targeting profitability at 5,000 units and eliminating inventory risk through pre-orders4. Inventor vs. founder mindset: The difference between building products you love versus building scalable companies5. Fighting Big Tech: How Eric's Beeper Mini challenged Apple's iMessage monopoly and led to DOJ antitrust action6. Getting software from Google: The surprising story of how Google open-sourced Pebble's operating system to enable Core Devices7. Hardware manufacturing today: Why building smartwatches is easier now than in 2011, and what's still challenging8. The artisanal hardware movement: Building premium, limited-run products for passionate niche audiences9. Regulatory battles: Apple's API restrictions and how they limit third-party smartwatch functionality10. AI integration: Adding ChatGPT and voice capabilities to modern smartwatchesIn this episode, we cover:(00:00) Introduction and reconnecting with Eric(01:18) The Core Devices relaunch and getting Pebble IP from Google(02:33) Eric and Raj's Waterloo connection and early entrepreneurship(04:48) From Pebble's precursor to YC and the smartwatch vision(09:30) The legendary Kickstarter launch day and calling Raj at 2am(14:00) Five years of overnight success and authentic marketing(16:07) Inventor vs. founder mindset and product obsession(19:21) The 2015 inventory crisis that changed everything(27:20) Eric's new sustainable hardware model with Core Devices(32:00) Using existing Pebble cases and Google's open-source software(36:58) The artisanal approach: 3 people, no VCs, limited production runs(41:14) AI integration and ChatGPT on the wrist(49:36) Secondary markets and public company trading restrictions

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• From Venmo to Jelly: The Founder Who Changed How the World Pays (and Connects)

  Iqram Magdon-Ismail is the co-founder of Venmo and current founder of Jelly, a video-first social app. After building Venmo from a text-message prototype to a verb used by millions (ultimately acquired by PayPal via Braintree), Iqram is now tackling what he sees as social media's biggest problem: it became all ads, influencers, and flexing instead of genuine connection.What you'll learn:How Venmo started from forgetting a wallet at dinner and evolved into a cultural phenomenonThe near-shutdown moments when Wells Fargo threatened to close their accountWhy Venmo raised only $3.4M total before the Braintree acquisitionThe strategy behind keeping Venmo invite-only for five yearsHow the team's close friendship shaped Venmo's personality as a productWhy Iqram believes AI made startups polished but soullessThe shift from building for purpose (helping musicians) to building for metrics (ARR, funding)What it's like working at PayPal after selling your startupHow Jelly uses crypto infrastructure to enable global money movement through videoWhy immigrant founders bring a different hunger and work ethic to building companiesIn this episode, we cover:(00:00) Introduction to Iqram and his founder journey(00:49) The origin story of Venmo - forgetting a wallet(03:08) Building on Google Voice and eating credit card fees(08:40) The near-death moment with Wells Fargo(12:01) How the Braintree acquisition saved Venmo(16:56) Working with Bryan Johnson at Braintree(18:57) The regret of not having more equity in Venmo's success(21:06) What makes Venmo feel different than other payment apps(22:16) Why modern startups lost their personality and purpose(26:00) Life at PayPal after the acquisition(27:38) Consumer vs B2B founder-product fit(30:23) Social media became a nightmare of ads and flexing(32:20) Demo and vision for Jelly(39:06) Using crypto and meme coins in social apps(41:15) Why invite-only launches create quality users(42:38) Rapid fire questions on inspiration and mistakes(45:28) What it means to be an immigrant entrepreneur

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• The Founder’s Pulse: AI, Markets, and Lessons from the Front Lines

  In this one-on-one episode, Immad and Raj catch up on what's happening in tech, and what founders should actually be paying attention to right now.Fresh from DC, Immad shares a surprising disconnect he observed about AI regulation and market sentiment. The conversation moves through whether we're in another bubble, the startup metrics that are being gamed again, and the infrastructure realities that might change everyone's timelines.They also get into the fundamentals that separate sustainable companies from hype-driven ones: why retention matters more than growth, what to do after raising at a high valuation, and the frameworks they actually use to make spending decisions.Plus updates on what they're building at Mercury, Tribe, and Lima—and the lessons they're learning along the way.A candid founder-to-founder conversation about navigating uncertainty and building for the long term.

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• 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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