Solo AI Founder Scales to $80M Exit Without Funding
In 2025, a solo founder named Maor Shlomo built an AI-coded startup alone in 6 months, 300K users, and a $3.5M ARR. Wix bought it for $80M in cash without raising a seed round or hiring engineers. THIS is why I launched the Build with Gemini @XPRIZE. https://t.co/KhUZOchhFh
Scale Only After Retention‑Based PMF and GTM Fit
Just had a great conversation with Yaniv Bernstein on The Startup Podcast about one of the most consequential (and often most botched) decisions a founder makes: when to scale. A few things that Yaniv and I discussed on the pod:...
From $1.5M Startup to Fintech Empire Powering Half of Brokers
She launched a $1.5M trading startup at 29—then built a multibillion-dollar fintech empire powering half of online brokerage accounts.
Idea Stolen, Still Built $44M ARR SaaS
Mark Abbott openly shared his SaaS idea. A competitor stole it and launched 12 months ahead. He still built Ninety io to $44M ARR: "Could I be an investor? Came back and said, no. So I actually started as EOS compatible in...
Hark Secures $700M to Build Next-Gen Personal AI
Today I'm excited to share that Hark has raised $700M at a $6B valuation When I use these AI models today, they feel basic. They should be able to listen and talk naturally, understand vision, retain persistent memory, and become deeply...
Trust Beats Capital: Founders Choose Partners Over Funds
The question I have been asking myself and every founder I meet is the same one: What is your right to win? It sounds simple. It is not. The right to win is not a fixed asset. It is something you...
Avoid These 11 Founder Traits That Doom Startups
📚2048 Ventures Blog Post: 11 Worst Founder Traits That Lead To Failure https://t.co/Wrd1OWCx1d @2048vc // #startuphacks // #VC
Founder‑Led Vision Drives AI‑Powered Growth for All
My conversation with @tobi, founder and CEO of Shopify. Timestamps: (0:00) Intro (0:49) A problem worth solving (5:58) Building products people love (10:14) Why originality matters (11:47) Conformity in Silicon Valley (15:47) Founder-led companies (18:44) Shopify’s AI transition (23:52) Building with urgency (26:52) AI for small businesses (35:18) Raising the standard...
Socket Security Hits $1B Valuation After Major Hack Defense
Socket, a security software firm focused on protecting open source code, said it's valued at $1 billion in a round led by Thrive. @SocketSecurity, also backed by a16z & with clients like Anthropic, played a key role in fending off...
Scaling Startups From Zero to Thousands with SEO
When people ask me what's my favorite SEO gig: Taking Startups from Zero to One. Getting a project from a few users to 100s or 1000s of users in a short amount of time is one of my biggest satisfactions. Then, training a...
Startup Valued Over $10B in OpenAI Credits
i’ll have you know my startup has recently been valued at more than $10 billion in OpenAI API credits
Fiber Lasers Turn Metal to Dust in Seconds
From @jimbelosic on bootstrapping @sendcutsend to a ~$200m revenue run rate: "The best way to cut sheet metal is with high-powered lasers. And I wanted to buy the best laser possible. You take a lot of power, and you focus it down...
Grant Wins Often Stifle Health‑Tech Scaling
Winning a grant can be one of the WORST things that happen to your Health Tech innovation - in fact, winning a grant can be Deadly. Here's what I mean: I've done many, many grant-funded pilots of our Health Tech product...
Self‑Funding Enables Pivot; VC Pressure Stifles Growth
5 years into building, we were pushing Robly hard, trying to break past $2.5M ARR. It was clear it wasn’t working… …so we got super small and figured it out. The same thing happened in 2023. We went all in on scaling the...
From Queens to a $5.3B Hedge Fund Overnight
He grew up in Queens watching Wall Street from afar - never imagining he’d one day launch a $5.3B hedge fund on Day 1.