The Startup Podcast

If you thought Twitter under Elon was chaotic, just wait. Trump’s DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) is about to take a chainsaw to federal agencies. Up to 80% of government jobs gone. And the guy shaping it? Not elected. No oversight. No accountability. → Mass layoffs? At Twitter, it broke things. Now imagine that, but for an entire country. → Deregulation? Rules won’t just change, there won’t be anyone left to enforce them. → Market chaos? Short-term hype might spike stocks, but uncertainty kills investment appetite. → Trade wars? If you rely on China, your supply chain might be toast. Who checks Musk’s power? The richest guy in the room is making the rules. What could go wrong? Founders, here’s what to do now: ✅ Secure funding ASAP, before markets freak out. ✅ Brace for regulatory whiplash, what’s legal today might not be tomorrow. ✅ Lock down supply chains, especially if your business depends on imports. 🚨 Elon’s "Twitter Playbook" isn’t just a shake-up, it’s a full-blown teardown. Good for startups? A disaster waiting to happen? Share your thoughts with us. And go listen more on this debate between Amir Shevat, Shira Lazar and 🤖 Yaniv Bernstein. 🎧 Link in comments.

The 3 Classic Founder Mistakes: 1. Failure to Recognize Power - Your casual comments = team directives. 2. Failure to Delegate - You can do anything, but not everything.  3. Failure to Adapt - Still acting like a PM when you’re the CEO. These aren’t just rookie mistakes, they’re why even experienced founders get stuck. For deeper insights on how to avoid them, check out our latest episode with Alexis John d'Amecourt from Mochary Method, the coaching firm trusted by leaders like Sam Altman in Silicon Valley. 🎧 Link in the comments. #TSP #Startup #founders #earlystage #leadership #coaching #executivecoaching

Drop your vote and tell us in the comments: Is AI a game-changing edge or just another commodity?

AI Is being commoditized, so what now? DeepSeek AI just shattered the AI cost structure, proving you don’t need a Silicon Valley budget to build cutting-edge AI. A tiny Chinese team built a GPT-4 class model for just $8M, 30x cheaper than OpenAI. And it’s not just training costs collapsing, running AI is now dirt cheap too: Training Costs: OpenAI’s GPT-4: $100M+ DeepSeek’s R1: $8M Running Costs (Per Million Tokens): OpenAI GPT-4o / O1: Up to $37.50 DeepSeek V3 / R1: As low as $0.20 That’s a 99% cost reduction, a complete reset of AI economics! This flips the AI game on its head: ✅ Startups don’t need billions to build frontier AI anymore. ✅ AI will become a commodity fast, owning unique data will matter more than ever. ✅ VCs betting on expensive AI infrastructure are in for a rude awakening. So here’s the real question: How do you see AI evolving? Will commoditization change the startup landscape? Drop your thoughts below! 👇 Found this controversial, you’ll love this week’s Reacts Episode, link in the comments. PS: DeepSeek is open-source but built in China and data privacy is a real concern. If you’re testing it, Perplexity is hosting a cleaned-up version that doesn’t send data to China. Worth considering.

Bootstrapping is Booming. But Is It a Smart Move? New data from Carta shows a massive shift. Bootstrapped solo founders have jumped from 22.2% in 2015 to 38.0% today. So… is this a win for founders? Or are they stuck? Scotty Allen 🚌 , from The Product Bus dropped some brutal truths on our latest episode: 🤭 "Not all great ideas get funded." Some startups will never raise VC, no matter how hard you try. 🤭 "Bootstrapping isn’t safer, it’s just a different kind of risk." You’re just shifting the financial burden onto yourself. 🤭 "Founders treat VC like a lottery ticket. It’s not." If your startup isn’t fundable now, grinding won’t change that. 🤭 "MVPs aren’t what you think they are." Most founders build too much before proving demand. 🤭 "The fundraising game isn’t fair." No network? No track record? Your odds just got worse. What does this data tell us? More founders are going solo and bootstrapping, but is that by choice or by force? Some thrive. Others stay stuck, growing too slow, missing their moment. The best founders don’t worship bootstrapping. They play the funding game right. What do you think? Smart move or founder trap? 🎧 Full episode breakdown here with Scotty Allen 🚌. Link in comments.

The Hardest Person to Fire Might Be… You This is the hard truth Mona Sabet, author of Sale to Scale, shared with us. Founders often believe that because they built the startup, they’re the best person to scale it. But the leadership style that gets you through the launch wave can destroy you in the scale wave. In the early days, you wear every hat, you’re the product manager, salesperson, recruiter, and even customer support. That works when speed and experimentation matter more than structure. But when your company starts to scale, that same approach becomes your biggest liability. Suddenly, doing everything yourself slows the company down. Scrappiness turns into chaos. The people who once thrived on wearing multiple hats now struggle in roles that require deep specialization. And the hardest part? You might be the biggest bottleneck. The best founders recognize this shift before it’s too late. They move from: 🚀 Executing tasks → Building systems 🚀 Hiring generalists → Hiring specialists 🚀 Controlling everything → Empowering teams In The Startup Podcast, Mona Sabet breaks down why making this mindset shift is the hardest, but most essential, thing a founder must do to survive the scale wave. 🎧 Tune in to the full episode to learn how to evolve before your startup outgrows you. #TSP #Startup #founders #scaling #scaleup #growth

An AI Just Raised Its Own Seed Round. No, Really. This might be the most insane startup story of the year so far: A startup called Boardy built an AI “super connector” that automatically reaches out to investors, pitches them, and even handles negotiations. And here’s the kicker: the AI raised its own seed round. Let’s break this down: ✅ Investors met Boardy on a Friday. ✅ Over the weekend, it introduced itself to their partners. ✅ By Monday, it had closed the round. So… is this the future of fundraising? Or are we now at the point where bots are pitching other bots while humans just watch? Because let’s be real: 🤖 Founders are already using AI to draft cold emails. 🤖 VCs are using AI to filter deal flow. 🤖 Soon, AI agents will be negotiating with each other while their human “bosses” take the credit. But here’s the deeper question: If AI can raise money, what else can it do? - Will AI CEOs be a thing? - Will startups be able to “auto-pilot” their own growth? - And most importantly, does this even work at scale? The hype is massive. The reality? A lot of AI startups are still smoke and mirrors. But if Bordy.ai is even half as effective as the buzz suggests, this could be a turning point in how deals get done. What do you think? Will AI agents replace human fundraisers or is this just a stunt? Drop your thoughts below. 👇 🎧 Tune in to this week's Reacts episode with Elli Hanson and Shira Lazar, "TikTok Trolls USA + Trump’s Crypto Scam, OpenAI's Agent Strategy" available on all podcasting platforms and YouTube in the comments.

Bootstrapping might be the riskiest bet you’ll ever make. Let’s get a bit uncomfortable founders. We have just recorded an episode where Chris and Yan reveal: 🚨 10 Brutal Truths About Self-Funding Your Startup 1️⃣ Bootstrapping isn’t freedom. You’re just controlled by your own lack of money. 2️⃣ The more of your money you invest, the harder quitting becomes. 3️⃣ You think you're keeping control, but you’re locking yourself in. 4️⃣ Investors diversify across 20 startups. You're betting everything on just one. 5️⃣ Running out of cash is stressful, but wasting years is worse. 6️⃣ Bootstrapping forces "penny-wise, pound-foolish" decisions that kill big opportunities. 7️⃣ If you fail, you're not just broke, you’re years behind financially. 8️⃣ A failing startup is bad. Losing your life savings is worse. 9️⃣ The longer you bootstrap, the harder it is to raise VC. 🔟 Emotional attachment makes bootstrapped founders double down on bad decisions. Which one do you strongly agree or disagree with? Drop a number below. 🎧 If you want more, we break down the entire startup funding spectrum in today's episode: bootstrapping, VC, debt, revenue-based financing, floats, and cross-subsidies. Before you choose your funding path, make sure you know the trade-offs. Link in the comments. #TSP #Startup #founders #earlystage #funding #bootstrapping #vc #fundraising #venturecapital

Un chistecito incómodo pa comenzar la semana mis queridos founders.

Investors? Nah, just me, Wilson, and my maxed-out credit card. 😅 💡 Don’t miss Monday’s EDU episode, where we break down the Startup Funding Spectrum and help you avoid dumb money moves.