The Peel with Turner Novak

• Lessons Selling Two Startups, Crash Course on Govtech and Drones | Rahul Sidhu

  Rahul Sidhu is the co-founder of SPIDRTech and Aerodome, two companies in the public safety space.He’s sold both of them, and our conversation unpacks all the lessons he learned, what he did differently with his second company Aerodome, and why he sold only 17 months after starting it.If you tuned into last week’s episode, Paul told us to never talk to the cops. Rahul gives us the other side of the story, sharing his playbook for selling to police, the government, how he met Nikita Bier in high school, and why he’s still bullish on drones, robotics, and AI in the physical world.Timestamps:(00:00) Intro(04:07) What its like testifying to Congress(08:06) Why 90% of what he knew about police was wrong(13:15) How to sell to police departments(15:24) His first business selling WoW accounts(19:00) Meeting Nikita Bier in high school(21:29) Starting SPIDRTech to improve police + community relationships(27:45) Two biggest mistakes building SPIDR(31:47) How startups break down when scaling(34:19) Selling SPIDR instead of raising a Series B(40:12) Why Aerodome was so much easier to start(42:55) Why Rahul loves unsexy markets with founder market fit(46:03) Starting Aerodome, drones as first responders(53:39) Building a capital efficient hardware startup(56:46) How regulatory changes made an opening for Aerodome(01:00:13) Inside Aerodome’s Series A(01:03:57) Selling Aerodome to Flock Safety within 17 months(01:09:31) Saying “would I work for this team?” when getting acquired(01:14:35) Seeing a homeless guy in an Aerodome shirt(01:17:02) The massive Robotics + AI opportunity this decade(01:21:42) What’s really happening with drones in New JerseyReferenced:SPIDRTech: https://www.spidrtech.com Aerodome: https://www.aerodome.com/ Nikita Bier’s Ted Talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9QTVII_lkg Follow Rahul:Twitter: https://x.com/rahoolsidoo LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rahulsidhu/ Follow Turner:Twitter: https://twitter.com/TurnerNovak LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/turnernovak Subscribe to my newsletter to get every episode + the transcript in your inbox every week: https://www.thespl.it/ 

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• 🅱️ Infrastructure for AI Browsers with Paul Klein, Founder + CEO of Browserbase

  Paul Klein is the Founder and CEO of Browserbase, building infrastructure for AI browsers.Our conversation gets into the future of software and AI agents, why authentication is a huge problem in AI, how the best infrastructure companies become product companies, and the memo he wrote that convinced him to start Browserbase despite not wanting to build another company.A year ago, Paul was a relatively unknown commodity, and definitely did not want to raise venture capital again. He shares the playbook he used to go from zero to raising $27 million in nine months “as a non-famous person” (his words).He shares all his lessons learned in the arena as he’s processing them, like what he thinks will unlock better AI agents, why you should like your own tweets, and how Browserbase competes with incumbents.Timestamps:(00:00) Intro(02:39) How LLMs unlock automation online(08:34) The future of software (AI agents)(11:21) Why AI agents need better authentication(12:59) Lessons from Twilio on building an infrastructure company(17:27) Learnings from his first startup(19:56) Bubbles, and how they drive innovation(20:37) Reasons this moment in AI is special(29:58) Why technical founders love post-PMF(31:55) The memo that started Browserbase(34:09) Why a startup should be a means of last resort(36:53) Being a solo founder(42:24) Importance of in-person culture(45:56) The best place to find engineers(48:34) How Paul hired a contractor army to build Browserbase(50:16) Why you can’t hire mercenaries(54:28) The power of emojis in marketing(57:39) Browserbase's early growth playbook (3 videos)(01:04:00) Benefits of sharing an office with other startups(01:06:00) Sales lessons from his parents(01:08:07) Why startups are like video games(01:13:43) Successful founders work the hardest and are shameless(01:18:44) Customer support is a startups greatest differentiator(01:22:06) Paul’s playbook that raised $27m in nine months as a non-famous person(01:29:03) How investors make decisions(01:33:10) Risks help startups avoid competition(01:36:37) Great infrastructure needs its own frameworks(01:39:05) Long-term thinking in LLMs will enable mass AI agents(01:42:21) Avoiding tech debt with AI moving so fast(01:43:48) Infrastructure companies need to become product companies(01:46:54) The Sine Wave philosophy to startupsReferenced:Browserbase: https://www.browserbase.com/ An Internet Browser for AI: https://memos.hawkhill.ventures/p/an-internet-browser-for-ai Rise of the Product Engineer: https://memos.hawkhill.ventures/p/rise-of-the-product-engineer Death to the Backend: https://memos.hawkhill.ventures/p/death-to-the-backend The three Browserbase marketing videosPre-Seed: https://x.com/pk_iv/status/1775183751800377344 Seed: https://x.com/pk_iv/status/1798731220005883935 Series A: https://x.com/pk_iv/status/1851270308701106383Follow Paul:Twitter: https://x.com/pk_iv LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulkleiniv/Follow Turner:Twitter: https://x.com/TurnerNovak LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/turnernovakSubscribe to my newsletter to get every episode + the transcript in your inbox every week: https://www.thespl.it/ 

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• Robinhood Co-founder Baiju Bhatt on the Journey to $40B, Building Space Solar Power with Lasers

  You’re probably familiar with Baiju Bhatt’s work as the co-founder of Robinhood. But he’s also obsessed with space, and recently started Aetherflux, a space solar power company.We get into the physics of using lasers to beam solar power to the Earth, Aetherflux’s early roadmap, and how he went from zero to one going from building software to physical products.We also talk through the early days of Robinhood, getting turned down by hundreds of early investors, the accidental launch, how to know if you really have product market fit, how Aaron Levie at Box helped get Robinhood.com, the value of creativity and design, Baiju’s philosophies on combining qualitative and quantitative user research, and his favorite animal and classic car. He also tried to cut my hair.Timestamps:(00:00) Intro(02:31) Aetherflux: a space solar energy company(02:50) Origins of space solar power in the 40's & 70's(10:31) Safely beaming energy from space to Earth with lasers(13:46) Building floating space solar farms(21:27) Aetherflux's early roadmap(27:08) Growing up with dad as a Physics professor(32:18) Going zero to one building physical products(35:15) Baiju's favorite car, attempting a haircut, contemplating mustaches(38:27) Trying to prove Einstein wrong(41:42) Meeting Robinhood Co-founder Vlad at Stanford(44:10) Starting an algorithmic trading company(46:41) The beginnings of Robinhood(52:04) Getting turned down by hundreds of early investors(56:49) How they convinced Tim Draper to invest(59:39) Getting Robinhood.com because of Aaron Levie(01:01:28) Accidentally launching on a Friday afternoon(01:03:09) How to know if you have Product Market Fit(01:06:35) Combining qualitative and quantitative user research(01:14:23) Loving cats despite being allergicReferenced: Robinhood: https://www.robinhood.comAetherflux: https://www.aetherflux.com/TechCrunch coverage: https://techcrunch.com/2024/10/09/billionaire-robinhood-co-founder-launches-aetherflux-a-space-based-solar-power-startup/Seinfeld mustache scene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzZsLaLChRgThe Michelson–Morley experiment: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelson%E2%80%93Morley_experimentEpisode with Aaron Levie @ Box: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLn_tqPvNf4Follow Baiju:X/Twitter: https://x.com/BaijuBhatt LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bprafulkumar Follow Turner:X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/TurnerNovakLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/turnernovak Subscribe to my newsletter to get every episode + the transcript in your inbox every week: https://www.thespl.it/   

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• Sheel Mohnot on All Things Fintech, Starting Better Tomorrow Ventures

  Sheel Mohnot is the Co-founder of Better Tomorrow Ventures, an early stage fintech focused fund leading rounds in pre-seed and seed-stage companies.Our conversation weaves through Sheel’s two decades of building and investing in fintech, starting BTV, and why they started a fintech-focused accelerator, The Mint.Fun facts on Sheel, he was a contestant on the Zoom Bachelor during COVID lockdowns, in a Justin Bieber music video, got married in the Taco Bell Metaverse, and was once banned from Uber.We talk lessons competing against Stripe before selling his first company, common fintech startup pitfalls, and the trick every VC should use when fundraising.Timestamps:(00:00) Intro(03:13) Why fintech makes disproportionate positive change(07:49) Most interesting opportunities in fintech today(09:09) The accountant shortage(12:59) Common early fintech startup pitfalls(16:09) Building Fee Fighters to cut payment processing fees(21:15) Lessons competing with Stripe(21:57) Getting acquired by Groupon and adding $600m in market cap(25:11) Biggest first-time startup mistakes(29:21) Getting $10k in Uber credit via paid Google ads(32:13) Investing in Flexport(36:19) Navigating hot vs underhyped rounds(43:39) Sheel’s domain auction company(53:18) How he started angel investing(54:57) Spotify acquiring his podcast “The Pitch”(59:55) Why accelerators succeed and fail(01:06:07) The Mint, BTV’s fintech-focused accelerator(01:09:56) Camp BTV in the Santa Cruz Mountains(01:11:41) Early days of NerdWallet(01:14:55) Raising $75m BTV Fund 1 with Jake to fill a gap in the market(01:18:36) Understanding Fund of Funds incentives(01:22:15) References in VC fundraising(01:24:02) $150m BTV Fund 2(01:27:13) Importance of following-on when leading roundsReferenced:BTV: https://www.btv.vc/ The Mint: https://www.themint.vc/ Fee Fighters: https://techcrunch.com/2011/09/23/feefighters-launches-payment-gateway-samurai/ Follow Sheel:Twitter: https://x.com/pitdesi LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/smohnot/ Follow Turner:Twitter: https://twitter.com/TurnerNovak LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/turnernovak Subscribe to my newsletter to get every episode + the transcript in your inbox every week: https://www.thespl.it/ 

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  1:32:10
• Life360's 17-Year Journey to $3B | Chris Hulls, Founder and CEO

  Chris Hulls is the co-founder and CEO of Life360, the social network for families. At the time of recording, its the 15th largest app in the US, with over $330 million in annual revenue, and valued at over $3 billion in the public markets.We go inside the two decade journey building Life360, competing against Sam Altman and Woz, almost getting cancelled on TikTok, and going public twice - first in Australia, then again in the US.Timestamps:(00:00) Intro(02:04) Why CEO’s are getting more authentic(04:59) Building a social network for family(08:14) Starting Life360 after Hurricane Katrina(12:23) $30k from mom and a professor(13:52) $300k grant from Google(16:13) Launching on the first Android phones(18:20) Competing against Sam Altman, Steve Wozniak(19:06) “If we trusted the data, we would’ve shut down”(24:22) Why doubters lead to less competition(25:49) Fundraising in an unsexy market(32:21) Almost getting cancelled on TikTok(41:42) Building a contextual advertising business(48:36) Acquiring Tile, launching hardware products(52:41) Defeating patent trolls(57:22) IPO’ing in Australia and the US(01:01:00) Why its hard to go public below a certain size(01:07:50) 70% drop in downloads during COVID(01:10:03) Get to know your competitors(01:15:05) Lean Startup philosophy went too far Referenced:Try Life360: https://www.life360.com/ Wheels of Zeus: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheels_of_Zeus Chris’ TikTok journey: https://www.entrepreneur.com/leadership/how-life360s-founder-dealt-with-teens-mocking-him-on-tiktok/457879 Chris’ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@life360ceo Follow Chris:Twitter: https://x.com/ChrisHulls LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrishulls/ Follow Turner:Twitter: https://twitter.com/TurnerNovak LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/turnernovak Subscribe to my newsletter to get every episode + the transcript in your inbox every week: https://www.thespl.it/ 

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