Biography

The Man Behind Google Docs Has A Warning For Every Founder In 2026

In this episode, ⁠Wouter⁠ [https://x.com/WouterTeunissen%E2%81%A0] sits down with ⁠Zach Lloyd⁠ [https://x.com/zachlloydtweets%E2%81%A0], founder and CEO of ⁠Warp⁠ [https://x.com/warpdotdev%E2%81%A0], the AI-powered terminal used by close to a million developers worldwide, to talk about what it takes to build in a market moving faster than anyone can plan for.   Before Warp, Zach spent over a decade at Google leading the team that took Google Sheets from a five-person experiment to over a billion users.   He then left, started a company that didn't work out, and came back with a much clearer playbook.   Warp launched two years before ChatGPT. By the time the AI wave hit, they were ready.   In this conversation Zach talks about why he hired a designer before any engineers, how he's taking big swings against Anthropic, OpenAI, and Microsoft, and why one always-on agent is saving Warp tens of thousands of dollars a day while the team sleeps.   This is one of the most honest takes on what building in the AI era actually looks like from the inside.   If you're still thinking about your company the old way, this episode will change that.   Presented by ⁠Rho⁠ [https://rho.co/biography], the all-in-one banking platform for startups. Thousands of companies like Perplexity and Product Hunt use Rho to manage their cash. Biography Pod listeners and viewers can get a $1,500 statement credit plus exclusive perks.   To learn more, visit ⁠https://rho.co/biography⁠ [https://rho.co/biography]   This episode is also presented by ⁠AssemblyAI⁠ [https://www.assemblyai.com/explore/biography-podcast?utm_source=biography&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=credit_grant], the leading Speech AI platform. Their API gives developers access to production-ready models for transcription, speaker detection, summarization, and more. If you're building anything with voice or audio data, AssemblyAI is the standard.   Check them out at ⁠https://www.assemblyai.com/explore/biography-podcast?utm_source=biography&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=credit_grant⁠ [https://www.assemblyai.com/explore/biography-podcast?utm_source=biography&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=credit_grant]   And by ⁠beehiiv⁠ [https://www.beehiiv.com/], the newsletter platform built for growth. If you're thinking about starting or scaling a newsletter, beehiiv is what the best operators use — including Biography.   Get started at ⁠https://www.beehiiv.com⁠ [https://www.beehiiv.com/]   Follow Wouter: ⁠https://x.com/WouterTeunissen⁠ [https://x.com/WouterTeunissen] Follow Zach: ⁠https://x.com/zachlloydtweets⁠ [https://x.com/zachlloydtweets] Follow Warp: ⁠https://x.com/warpdotdev⁠ [https://x.com/warpdotdev]   Biography Newsletter: ⁠https://biography.beehiiv.com/⁠ [https://biography.beehiiv.com/]   (00:00) Trailer (01:07) Google Sheets: from 5 people to a billion users (03:25) Scaling challenges and security scares (06:09) Educating users on cloud-based products (07:13) Warp's user education challenges (11:31) The future of coding interfaces (15:31) Warp as an agent development environment (18:36) Apps are becoming obsolete (26:30) Introducing Oz: cloud agent orchestration (29:37) Catching $60k fraud while sleeping (33:10) Models and harnesses (38:54) A mid-pandemic solo founder  (46:05) Competing with the tech giants (54:58) Building company culture through writing (59:52) When business models don't work (01:06:54) Filling skill gaps as a solo founder (01:15:38) Hire agents, not just people (01:17:16) Wrap-up

He Ignored Every Startup Rule and Built a $2.5B AI Company

In this episode, Wouter [https://x.com/WouterTeunissen] sits down with Erik Bernhardsson [https://x.com/bernhardsson], founder and CEO of Modal [https://x.com/modal], the cloud compute platform that powers some of the fastest-growing AI companies in the world, including Lovable, Meta, and Chai.   Before Modal, Erik built Spotify's recommendation engine from scratch; then scaled Bolt's engineering team from 10 to 10,000 people in five years; and watched it nearly collapse when interest rates rose.    He started Modal self-funded, with a tiny team and almost no customers, two years before anyone noticed. Then stable diffusion dropped, and everything changed overnight.   Erik talks about why you learn more from success than failure, how he keeps a pulse on an 80-person organization, and the fundraising advice he gives every founder: raise less than you think, at a lower valuation than you want, and never confuse VC enthusiasm for a strategy.   If you're building something hard and wondering whether conviction is enough to carry you through, Erik is proof that sometimes it is. ----more---- Presented by Rho, the all-in-one banking platform for startups. Thousands of companies like Perplexity and Product Hunt use Rho to manage their cash. Biography Pod listeners and viewers can get a $1,500 statement credit plus exclusive perks. To learn more, visit https://rho.co/biography [https://rho.co/biography] ----more---- This episode is also presented by AssemblyAI, the leading Speech AI platform. Their API gives developers access to production-ready models for transcription, speaker detection, summarization, and more. If you're building anything with voice or audio data, AssemblyAI is the standard. Check them out at  https://www.assemblyai.com/explore/biography-podcast?utm_source=biography&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=credit_grant [https://www.assemblyai.com/explore/biography-podcast?utm_source=biography&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=credit_grant] ----more---- And by beehiiv, the newsletter platform built for growth. If you're thinking about starting or scaling a newsletter, beehiiv is what the best operators use — including Biography.  Get started at https://www.beehiiv.com [https://www.beehiiv.com] ----more---- Follow Wouter: https://x.com/WouterTeunissen [https://x.com/WouterTeunissen] Follow Erik: https://x.com/bernhardsson [https://x.com/bernhardsson] Follow Modal: https://x.com/modal [https://x.com/modal] ----more---- Biography Newsletter: https://biography.beehiiv.com/ [https://biography.beehiiv.com/] ----more---- (00:00) Trailer (01:23) Why study physics over CS (03:03) Physics thinking in business (05:35) Random sampling for accountability (07:44) Many ways to fail, few to win (09:33) Listen to pain, not solutions (11:05) Infrastructure requires conviction (14:00) Joining Spotify as employee 40 (19:00) Leaving and scaling from 10 to 10,000 (23:30) Starting Modal (25:59) Stable diffusion changes everything (28:28) Finding product-market fit (31:50) Product-led growth (34:09) Should have hired sales earlier (37:00) Keeping the org simple (41:26) Co-locating across offices (43:31) Hire from successful companies (47:29) Don't take too much funding (51:39) Modal's funding rounds (55:49) Advice for younger founders (59:30) Modal's multi-product future (01:05:02) US vs Europe startups (01:08:46) Wrap-up

SaaS is dead: This is how Intercom became a true AI first company and made $100M from ONE product.

In this episode, Wouter [https://x.com/WouterTeunissen] sits down with Des Traynor [https://x.com/destraynor], co-founder of Intercom [https://x.com/intercom] and the mind behind Fin [https://x.com/fin_ai], one of the fastest-growing AI products in SaaS history, approaching $100M in revenue less than three years after launch.   Before Fin, Des was a PhD dropout who walked out of university and never came back — not because he failed, but because the opportunity in front of him was too interesting to ignore. That instinct for making painful U-turns became the thread running through everything Intercom has done since.   In this conversation, Des talks about why Intercom gave back $50M in revenue on purpose, why most SaaS companies trying to survive AI are taking the path that'll kill them, why most AI products are broken because they shipped on time, and why the alternative to making painful decisions isn't safety, it's a peaceful, long, slow death.   If you're building with AI, leading a team through this era, or trying to make high-stakes decisions when nobody knows what's coming next, this one's for you.   This episode is presented by Rho [https://rho.co/biography], the all-in-one banking platform for startups. Thousands of startups like Perplexity, Product Hunt, and more use Rho. You get everything you need to manage your startup's cash. Exclusively for Biography Pod listeners and viewers, you'll get a $1500 statement credit plus a ton of exclusive perks when you manage your company cash with Rho. To learn more, visit https://rho.co/biography [https://rho.co/biography]   This episode is also presented by AssemblyAI [https://www.assemblyai.com/explore/biography-podcast?utm_source=biography&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=credit_grant], the leading Speech AI platform. Their API gives developers access to production-ready models for transcription, speaker detection, summarization, and more. If you're building anything with voice or audio data, AssemblyAI is the standard. Check them out at https://www.assemblyai.com/explore/biography-podcast?utm_source=biography&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=credit_grant [https://www.assemblyai.com/explore/biography-podcast?utm_source=biography&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=credit_grant]   And by beehiiv [https://www.beehiiv.com], the newsletter platform built for growth. If you're thinking about starting or scaling a newsletter, beehiiv is what the best operators use — including Biography. Get started at https://www.beehiiv.com [https://www.beehiiv.com/]   * Follow Wouter: https://x.com/WouterTeunissen [https://x.com/WouterTeunissen] * Follow Des: https://x.com/destraynor [https://x.com/destraynor] * Follow Intercom: https://x.com/intercom [https://x.com/intercom] * Follow Fin: https://x.com/fin_ai [https://x.com/fin_ai] * Biography Newsletter: https://biography.beehiiv.com/ [https://biography.beehiiv.com/]

You should build a consumer AI company today (Connor Zwick, Speak)

In this episode, Wouter sits down with Connor Zwick, founder and CEO of Speak, to talk about building one of the most ambitious consumer AI companies in the world. Before Speak, Connor built an app in high school that became #1 in the App Store. But instead of taking VC money at 17, he spent years going deep on AI research. He then flew to South Korea, where 1% of GDP was spent on learning English and nobody could actually speak. That decision set the foundation for everything that followed. In this conversation, Connor shares lessons on finding product market fit, the danger of magical thinking, building with AI before anyone cared, and why the consumer AI goldrush is just getting started. If you're a founder building in AI, this one will hit hard. This episode is presented by Rho, the all-in-one banking platform for startups. Thousands of startups like Perplexity, Product Hunt, and more use Rho. You get everything you need to manage your startup's cash. Exclusively for Biography Pod listeners and viewers, you'll get a $1500 statement credit plus a ton of exclusive perks when you manage your company cash with Rho. To learn more, visit ⁠rho.co/biography⁠ [https://rho.co/biography%E2%81%A0] This episode is also presented by AssemblyAI, the leading Speech AI platform. Their API gives developers access to production-ready models for transcription, speaker detection, summarization, and more. If you're building anything with voice or audio data, AssemblyAI is the standard. Check them out at  ⁠assemblyai.com/biography⁠ [https://assemblyai.com/biography%E2%81%A0] And by beehiiv, the newsletter platform built for growth. If you're thinking about starting or scaling a newsletter, beehiiv is what the best operators use — including Biography. Get started at ⁠beehiiv.com⁠ [https://www.beehiiv.com] Follow Wouter: ⁠@WouterTeunissen⁠ [https://x.com/WouterTeunissen%E2%81%A0] Follow Connor: ⁠@connorzwick⁠ [https://x.com/connorzwick%E2%81%A0] Speak: ⁠speak.com⁠ [https://www.speak.com] Biography Newsletter: ⁠biography.beehiiv.com [https://biography.beehiiv.com/]

Hard Work is Overrated: How Shaan Puri Built a Multi Million Dollar Podcast Empire

In this episode, Wouter sits down with Shaan Puri, co-host of My First Million and serial entrepreneur, to talk about why grinding harder is often the wrong strategy—and what actually leads to outsized success. Before podcasts and exits, Shaan made a counterintuitive decision: he quit a $120k job, moved in with friends, and committed to a year of being strategically broke. Not because it was easy, but because it maximised learning, adventure, and freedom. That decision set the foundation for everything that followed. In this conversation, Shaan shares stories from selling his company to Twitch/Amazon, lessons from his father, insights from people like Naval Ravikant, Warren Buffet, MrBeast, Derek Sivers, and hard-earned beliefs about choosing projects, partners, and environments that compound over time. I really enjoyed this conversation because it is about choosing better games, increasing your odds, and designing a life where effort compounds instead of drains you. If you’ve ever felt stuck doing “the right thing” but sensing it’s the wrong path, this episode will hit hard. As a reminder this episode is presented by Rho , the all-in-one banking platform for startups. Thousands of startups like Perplexity, Product Hunt, and more use Rho. You get everything you need to manage your startup’s cash. Exclusively for Biography Pod listeners and viewers, you’ll get a $1500 statement credit plus a ton of exclusive perks when you manage your company cash with Rho. To learn more, visit https://rho.co/biography [https://rho.co/biography]   Follow Shaan: https://x.com/shaanVP [https://x.com/shaanVP] MyFirstMillion:  @MyFirstMillionPod  [https://studio.youtube.com/channel/UCyaN6mg5u8Cjy2ZI4ikWaug] Follow Wouter: https://x.com/WouterTeunissen [https://x.com/WouterTeunissen] Biography Newsletter: https://biography.beehiiv.com/ [https://biography.beehiiv.com/]   Timestamps: 00:00:00 - Intro 00:00:54 - Quitting a $120k job to be broke and live with 3 friends (Don’t linger on bad decisions) 00:08:31 - Fear is what holds people back more so than anything else 00:11:53 - How to get what you (actually) want. 00:15:04 - Most people are not serious 00:20:34 - Ask others and see what super power does that give me 00:27:04 - Who is the most important voice in your life? 00:29:57 - Why I decided to sell my company to Twitch & Amazon. 00:38:42 - The biggest waste of time is doing something that needn’t been done at all (Elon) 00:40:38 - “You can’t run an A/B test on life” (Act Accordingly!) 00:51:15 - There are no bonus points for making things harder for yourself (location) 00:58:56 - The best people are 'down' (Buffet)