Pioneer Series

#15 - Jean Arnaud: Building with Purpose, Philosophy in Tech

Most founders obsess over what they're building, but completely skip the why. In this episode, tech philosopher Jean Arnaud breaks down why that's backwards. After studying at Stanford and building (then pivoting from) a metaverse education startup, Jean's learned that without a clear philosophy, you're basically building blind. We dive into: * Why "accelerating for acceleration's sake" leads nowhere * The real difference between California and East Coast investor mindsets * How his "failed" metaverse company taught him about market timing * Why money should never be your primary goal (and what should be instead) Jean's take? We've abandoned our responsibility to actually shape the future we want. Time to take it back. Whether you're pre-idea or scaling up, this conversation will make you rethink how you approach building. Episode Links: Jean Arnaud's Website: https://www.jeanarnaud.org/ Jean Arnaud's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jean-arnaud-14887b1b4 Aethos: aethos.org

#14 - Samantha Tabone: VC Secrets, Human 3, Deep Tech

Ever wonder how to really get VCs to listen? Extremely interesting conversation with Samantha Tabone: General Partner at XEIA Ventures. She invests in early-stage companies driving "Human 3" - the next era of health, wellbeing and performance through life sciences, AI, hardware, and deep tech. Extremely interesting convo on:- Deep tech startups + due diligence- How to reach out to VCs…- The next era of health - Human 3- Startup ideas with untapped potentialEpisode Links:Samantha's LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/samtabone [https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=video_description&redir_token=QUFFLUhqbk5NNHhFMVVfQnBiQnZhLTZVd3JaU1V3TXNqQXxBQ3Jtc0tuMUg4bE5aZ0ZWWndCOWNsMzFoR29zVFVuR1dESlEzeTNSZS01WHgydGgwb1c2Z0hsb1ZjSUhlS1lyTXZaWFRWdm5oSnVaSXZ3WnVsODVCZnAxM1ZVakdMNjBxUE1CekROMVVQRzlZR00xb1Vpdl9yYw&q=http%3A%2F%2Flinkedin.com%2Fin%2Fsamtabone&v=43CsGkJTiIw]XEIA Ventures: https://www.xeiavp.com/ [https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=video_description&redir_token=QUFFLUhqa1Byc2hDRW5RQlRlckxnVUJhMWdIQlVfRGJwQXxBQ3Jtc0ttWDBZZ3I1UjJ1SnAxVVVEdWU4S1JSWWM0UkMxT3VsVGRCUDBCYTZES2lDVGVvb0hmb1o2MmY3el9sTnJrR1NpMnpzdkRWdzkySW01dlBYLW1jeHpkNG5rSFhPNzVSbkw0emtDZzNQXzZQS00xWWRoWQ&q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.xeiavp.com%2F&v=43CsGkJTiIw]

AI Robots, Drones, $20m+ Series A? -- Amarjot Singh, Skylark Labs

Amarjot Singh, Founder of Skylark Labs, is revolutionizing physical AI. He's building brain-inspired foundational robotic models that run efficiently on edge devices, challenging the LLM scaling paradigm. A must-listen for founders and future-builders in deep tech. Episode Links: Amarjot's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amarjot-singh-phd-b5269815/ Skylark Labs: https://skylarklabs.ai/ Other Resources Mentioned: Ryan Holiday, Calm App Podcast Links:Substack: https://thinkingthomas.substack.com/⁠ [https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=video_description&redir_token=QUFFLUhqa2p4NkxHTzZTREw4cVBad3Y2Z0htWmp5cTVqZ3xBQ3Jtc0tsNENXNm01Ukl4TlRnem5GOWpQaWItS3h2UG9haW92N2ZobkJwX3F2bzE4cmQtM1BTY0drSFVKZE5WMF9OZ0l6V2pZMWN6QVJ6SkFBVXJqb3gyT0lPelNCUWkwNjBlZkdady1LWmJock5OZm4zLXRNcw&q=https%3A%2F%2Fthinkingthomas.substack.com%2F%E2%81%A0&v=lPl-AgLXRhI] X: https://x.com/fortoulthomas⁠ [https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=video_description&redir_token=QUFFLUhqbnNjRk9fV0s3X0JUaVk2amFUdnQ3S0hkMURmZ3xBQ3Jtc0treWNUUU1kRlFBQ3U4c2Y2R3VXMTZaRTI4NDZBbnZvX09TUTdobENvc2hZUnNGb1RZS2RsM2I2ODd2RHBubUNvQkhnd0pBOEpoOUhKRHhDTVhZNmF6RUE1eTJ0N1Z3QkJJdWxlckhtWVJWaEJhYWNNMA&q=https%3A%2F%2Fx.com%2Ffortoulthomas%E2%81%A0&v=lPl-AgLXRhI]Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/pioneer-series/id1797833313 [https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=video_description&redir_token=QUFFLUhqbEI4VFhhZ0JFZGw5OHBoQ2pUbTVHUmxqei1XZ3xBQ3Jtc0tuTVQ0UXhWbHpzN3BzWFdXaWRheG9UY2JvamNmelNOeHF0Sm1LYlpxRzhDQkMydnVZWFRsZURVY0JIRGVfVGZMaTNiVHBLNGpQOUxsQWtqa3BqcHhZdGs5R3l0NFU3QlNzQVlWVGNJNEtGdFVZV0NhRQ&q=https%3A%2F%2Fpodcasts.apple.com%2Fus%2Fpodcast%2Fthinking-tech%2Fid1797833313&v=lPl-AgLXRhI]LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomas-fortoul/ [https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=video_description&redir_token=QUFFLUhqbU5PNjUxYk1fVVlySWpQV3VnWGlaYkpXcmFnUXxBQ3Jtc0tsYlczU01KVnVwMm10MmVoTDl5UVhiQkx2aWZuNlYtbVlJSkN6aDlDYzZ0M2Z0WFYyQUQ1bjR6Yzc1aTliRlpwQVlIZU5xY05jRUxFVmZfRUxEa0l6TW1tRXQ4VU9kZW1aOGdNUlpzbDJINnVzNml5QQ&q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.linkedin.com%2Fin%2Fthomas-fortoul%2F&v=lPl-AgLXRhI]

#12 - BK Nayak: Billion Dollar Patents, Living to 200 and the Future of Healthcare with AI

🚨 He generated billions from a single patent. Now he's on a mission to help humans live to 200 years old. Meet Dr. BK Nayak (PhD in Electrical Engineering, MIT MBA), and the mind behind a breakthrough in optical connectivity that reshaped an entire industry. Today, he’s building Spike Well, an AI company reimagining healthcare, not to treat illnesses, but to prevent them entirely. I sat down with Dr. Nayak on the Thinking Tech podcast, and what he shared blew me away: 💡 “With personalized medicine and ai, human lifespan easily go to 200 years” From predictive AI to biological age reversal, this episode dives into the science (and ambition) of radical longevity, and why the next healthcare revolution will start before you ever feel unwell. This isn’t science fiction. It’s a glimpse at your future.

#11 - Nicholas Khami: The Real Magic of Building a YC-Backed Startup (It’s Not the Tech)

Nick quit his job to build Trieve.1 year later, he joined YC with $3.5M raised.Here's the story:Trieve is an AI search platform powering 30k+ experiences.But it isn't just a search bar.It's building the future of online retail: replicating the human retail associate experience online using AI.Imagine a personal retail shopper that you can talk to.• Voice Input? Yes.• Image Search? Upload a pic, find similar items.• Even Image Generation? See what you'd look like wearing those shoes by uploading your photo. Wild.I asked Nick the #1 mistake founders make.What he said goes against most advice you'll hear.“If it's not worth doing manually? It's likely not a worthwhile business.”I sat down with Nick to explore:- Building an AI infrastructure startup- The surprising reality of founder strategy- and the #1 mistake building for developersCheck it out!