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The Startup Podcast

The Startup Podcast

De : Yaniv Bernstein and Chris Saad
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 Advice for founders and entrepreneurs who want to build disruptive startups like they do in Silicon Valley. Not another interview podcast: concrete tips and masterclasses on what founders need to know: raising Venture Capital, strategy, product, marketing, growth, and more. A guide to the unique mindset and approach that drives Silicon Valley style disruption. Hosts Chris Saad and Yaniv Bernstein share practical advice based on decades of experience at Google, Uber, and their own startups.Yaniv Bernstein and Chris Saad Direction Economie Management et direction
Épisodes
  • Refounding: Why this $80m founder quit as CEO, and what it says about the future of startups

    Refounding: Why this $80m founder quit as CEO, and what it says about the future of startups
    May 11 2026
    In 2026, startups age like milk. Josh Foreman's solution is a radical one - step down as CEO, go back to basics, and refound the whole company. Yaniv Bernstein discusses this decision with Josh, founder and (for now) CEO of InDebted - the AI-native debt resolution business he scaled to an $80M revenue run rate, a Series C raise, and operations across 8 markets. Just days before recording, Josh publicly announced he's hiring a new CEO so he can step back into the business as a hands-on operator and refound the company for the agentic AI era.In this conversation, Josh and Yaniv discuss 'refounding' in practice, what it takes to rebuild the company's processes from the ground up, and why technical founders who don't go back on the tools right now are setting themselves up to be outbuilt by a smaller, faster, leaner version of themselves.In this episode, you will:Learn why Josh believes the highest-leverage role for a technical founder in 2026 is no longer CEO, and how to structure a founder-CEO partnership that actually worksUnderstand why 'feature patching' an established business is a losing strategy, and what it really means to rebuild your company function-by-function from a clean slateDiscover how revenue-per-employee has become the metric that matters most when raising capital and competing with AI-native upstartsHear why services-as-software and performance-fee models are suddenly the bull case for investors who hated them 12 months ago - and why the SaaS seat fee is on the way outFind out what it looks like to unbundle your product into agent-ready primitives, and why owning the eval for a narrow domain may be a bigger moat than your full-stack UITimestamps00:00 Coming Up: Refounding00:41 Josh Foreman, CEO (for now)01:41 What Refounding Means04:53 Rebuilding the Factory07:38 Bringing the Team Along10:51 No Choice but Change14:56 Aligning the Board and Investors16:52 Putting Founders Back on the Tools26:24 'Corporate Ozempic' Shrinking Teams32:57 Unbundling and Products for Agents38:39 Hiring a CEO When Refounding44:11 Closing ThoughtsMentioned in this episodeJosh Foreman on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshforeman/InDebted: https://www.indebted.co/Scott Galloway on 'Corporate Ozempic': https://www.profgalloway.com/corporate-ozempic/Surviving the AI SaaSpocalypse with Scotty Allen: https://youtu.be/j84LF4aru8I 'Paranoid Optimism' with Yaniv: https://youtu.be/FGqbdzr0-PM The PactHonor the Startup Podcast Pact! If you have listened to TSP and gotten value from it, please:Follow, rate, and review us in your listening appSecure your official TSP merchandise at https://shop.tsp.show/Follow us here on YouTube for full-video episodes: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNjm1MTdjysRRV07fSf0yGgGive us a public shout-out on LinkedIn or anywhere you have a social media followingKey linksThis episode of the Startup Podcast is sponsored by .tech domains. Forget weird prefixes and creative misspellings; the availability for .tech domains is simply way better than .com. For a clean name that highlights your tech credentials, get a .tech domain at your favorite registrar.The Startup Podcast website: https://www.tsp.show/episodes/Learn more about Chris and YanivWork 1:1 with Chris: http://chrissaad.com/advisory/Follow Chris on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrissaad/Follow Yaniv on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ybernstein/Producer: Justin McArthur https://www.linkedin.com/in/justin-mcarthurAssistant Producer: Steph Hefferan https://www.linkedin.com/in/steph-heff/Intro Voice: Jeremiah Owyang https://web-strategist.com/
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    45 min
  • Adapting your startup to an AI-native world (w/ Marlon Nichols)

    Adapting your startup to an AI-native world (w/ Marlon Nichols)
    May 4 2026
    Many AI startups funded in the last 18 months won't last three years - so what makes a business durable today?Yaniv Bernstein is joined by Marlon Nichols, co-founder and managing general partner of MaC Venture Capital - one of the most active seed-stage AI investors in the market, having scaled MaC to over $600M AUM across three funds in just four years. Marlon's portfolio includes Pipe, Stoke Space, Thrive Market, Chef Robotics, and exits like Wonder Dynamics to Autodesk and Gimlet Media to Spotify.In this conversation, Marlon uses his industry experience to explain the biggest threats to new AI startups, and what the key components of successful startups in the industry will be.In this episode, you will:Hear why Marlon thinks niche or mid-size foundational models are now prime acquisition targets for OpenAIDiscover why misreading traction is the #1 mistake VCs are making right nowLearn why Marlon is more excited about manufacturing-line prediction and grid-scale batteries than humanoid robotsExplore why founder unit economics need a complete rewrite when token costs replace SaaS-style marginal costUnderstand why software is no longer a moat — and why data access, deep customer integration, and speed are the only three durable advantages left at the application layerLearn the difference between AI-native companies and AI-bolted-on companies, and what a 5-year-old startup should do if it's on the wrong side of that lineTimestamps00:00 Coming Up01:07 On Today's Show: Durable Tech02:33 Meet Marlon Nichols03:25 Defining 'Durable' AI Startups05:23 Moats for Foundation Models07:15 Chef Robotics and AI Native vs AI Enabled09:24 Upgrading Legacy Startups10:55 Pipe’s AI Pivot Case Study13:19 Winning at the App Layer15:56 Speed and Workflow Stickiness17:51 Investment Checklist and Team20:30 Automotive Digital Twins and Regulatory Testing24:27 Why Physical AI?26:09 Robotics In Manufacturing26:55 Energy Storage And Batteries28:30 Why Cheaper Builds Still Need Talent30:19 Where Traction Can Be Misleading33:41 Token Costs And Unit Economics36:46 Closing ThoughtsMentioned in this episodeMaC Venture Capital: https://macventurecapital.com/Marlon Nichols on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marloncnichols/'The Bitter Lesson' by Rich Sutton: http://www.incompleteideas.net/IncIdeas/BitterLesson.htmlVera (Yaniv's startup, AI-supported guidance for people caring for ageing parents): https://vera.guide/The PactHonor the Startup Podcast Pact! If you have listened to TSP and gotten value from it, please:Follow, rate, and review us in your listening appSecure your official TSP merchandise at https://shop.tsp.show/Follow us here on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNjm1MTdjysRRV07fSf0yGgGive us a public shout-out on LinkedIn or anywhere you have a social media followingKey linksThis episode of the Startup Podcast is sponsored by .tech domains. Forget weird prefixes and creative misspellings; the availability for .tech domains is simply way better than .com. For a clean name that highlights your tech credentials, get a .tech domain at your favorite registrar.This episode of the Startup Podcast is sponsored by Vanta. Vanta helps businesses get and stay compliant by automating up to 90% of the work for the most in demand compliance frameworks. With over 200 integrations, you can easily monitor and secure the tools your business relies on. For a limited time offer of US$1,000 off, go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://⁠www.vanta.com/tsp⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Startup Podcast website: https://www.tsp.show/episodes/Learn more about Chris and YanivWork 1:1 with Chris: http://chrissaad.com/advisory/Follow Chris on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrissaad/Follow Yaniv on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ybernstein/Producer: Justin McArthur https://www.linkedin.com/in/justin-mcarthurAssistant Producer: Steph Hefferan https://www.linkedin.com/in/steph-heff/Intro Voice: Jeremiah Owyang https://web-strategist.com/
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    38 min
  • How the best founders balance fear and hope

    How the best founders balance fear and hope
    Apr 27 2026

    Being a founder has always meant dreaming big while keeping a close eye on potential trip-ups, and in the age of AI, finding and maintaining that balance is more important than ever.


    Today, Yaniv Bernstein talks about the importance of getting that balance right. Using deep insight and decades of industry experience, he discusses why now is the time for founders to be more ambitious than ever before - while identifying threats to success and keeping a keen, near-paranoid eye on them.


    In this episode, you will:

    • Understand why ‘paranoid optimism’ has always been the founder superpower, and why AI has made it more essential than ever
    • Learn why tokens are ‘the new oil’ and how the ‘token OPEC’ is already exerting price and product leverage over every AI-native startup
    • Explore Garry Tan's ‘boil the lake’ concept and why early-stage founders can now afford to be more ambitious in scope than ever before
    • Find out why startups have a bigger speed advantage over incumbents than at any time in history, and how to actually use it
    • Discover how foundation model providers like Anthropic, OpenAI, and Google can wipe out entire startup categories without ever deliberately competing with you



    Timestamps

    00:00 Coming Up

    00:59 On Today's Show: Paranoid Optimism

    01:27 Surviving as a Baby Turtle

    03:00 Risks of Pure Optimism

    05:24 A Herd of Thundering Elephants

    07:44 Magic Elephants

    09:50 3 Shifts: Compression, Leverage and Startup Advantage

    12:54 YC's Garry Tan & 'Boiling The Lake'

    15:38 Why Be Paranoid?

    15:52 AI Risks Category Collapse

    18:13 Anthropic, Google and OpenAI: The OPEC of Tokens

    19:51 Identity Collapse

    21:54 How to Operate As Paranoid Optimist

    21:59 1. Holding Strong Priors and Updating Fast

    23:31 2. Architecting For Escape

    25:57 3. Stay Closer To The Problem Than The Solution

    28:13 Closing Thoughts



    Resources mentioned in this episode

    • 'Same As Ever' by Morgan Housel: https://www.amazon.com/Same-Ever-Guide-Never-Changes/dp/0593332709
    • Last week’s episode - Same As Ever: 7 rules that HAVEN'T changed about building great startups (w/ Amir Shevat): https://www.tsp.show/same-as-ever-7-rules-that-havent-changed-about-building-great-startups-w-amir-shevat/
    • Previous episode - 'Unlearning' with Yaniv: Why founders need to rewrite outdated, radioactive mindsets: https://www.tsp.show/unlearning-with-yaniv-why-founders-need-to-rewrite-outdated-radioactive-mindsets/
    • Garry Tan’s 'Boil the Ocean' blog post: https://garryslist.org/posts/boil-the-ocean
    • Vera, Yaniv's current startup: https://vera.guide/



    The Pact

    Honor the Startup Podcast Pact! If you have listened to TSP and gotten value from it, please:

    • Follow, rate, and review us in your listening app
    • Secure your official TSP merchandise at https://shop.tsp.show/
    • Follow us here on YouTube for full-video episodes: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNjm1MTdjysRRV07fSf0yGg
    • Give us a public shout-out on LinkedIn or anywhere you have a social media following



    Key links

    This episode of the Startup Podcast is sponsored by .tech domains. Forget weird prefixes and creative misspellings; the availability for .tech domains is simply way better than .com.

    For a clean name that highlights your tech credentials, get a .tech domain at your favorite registrar.

    The Startup Podcast website: https://www.tsp.show/episodes/Learn more about Chris and Yaniv


    Work 1:1 with Chris: http://chrissaad.com/advisory/

    Follow Chris on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrissaad/

    Follow Yaniv on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ybernstein/



    Producer: Justin McArthur https://www.linkedin.com/in/justin-mcarthur

    Assistant Producer: Steph Hefferan https://www.linkedin.com/in/steph-heff/

    Intro Voice: Jeremiah Owyang https://web-strategist.com/
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    29 min
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