Podcast · 64 episodes
The Peel with Turner Novak
by Turner Novak · English
Exploring the world’s greatest startup stories. Get a behind the scenes look into the founding stories of your favorite companies. Learn how the industries they operate in actually work, and learn playbooks and tactics you can use to launch and scale your own business.
Latest episodes
How Gusto Built a $9.5B Company with Co-founder Tomer LondonHow Gusto (15 years old; $9.5B valuation implied; 500,000+ customers; 1B+ revenue) scaled by staying obsessed with small-business customers, and how AI is changing the product via a new “CoFounder”…24 Sep 2026 · 1 h 25 min
Building a Venture Firm Like a Product | Jeff Morris Jr, Chapter OneJeff Morris Jr (Chapter One) explains how the firm “builds a venture firm like a product” by publishing weekly anonymized investment committee (IC) meeting notes, and how they’ve evolved from a “pure…17 Sep 2026 · 1 h 37 min
How Databricks Went $1M to $7B+ ARR in 10 Years | Ron Gabrisko, CRORon Gabrisko, Databricks CRO, explains how Databricks scaled from under $1M revenue to about $6.9B+ (as of disclosure) by betting early on cloud, open source monetization, and data/AI; he also…10 Sep 2026 · 1 h 42 min
All episodes
How Gusto Built a $9.5B Company with Co-founder Tomer LondonHow Gusto (15 years old; $9.5B valuation implied; 500,000+ customers; 1B+ revenue) scaled by staying obsessed with small-business customers, and how AI is changing the product via a new “CoFounder”…24 Sep 2026 · 1 h 25 min · 34 chapters
Building a Venture Firm Like a Product | Jeff Morris Jr, Chapter OneJeff Morris Jr (Chapter One) explains how the firm “builds a venture firm like a product” by publishing weekly anonymized investment committee (IC) meeting notes, and how they’ve evolved from a “pure…17 Sep 2026 · 1 h 37 min · 34 chapters
How Databricks Went $1M to $7B+ ARR in 10 Years | Ron Gabrisko, CRORon Gabrisko, Databricks CRO, explains how Databricks scaled from under $1M revenue to about $6.9B+ (as of disclosure) by betting early on cloud, open source monetization, and data/AI; he also…10 Sep 2026 · 1 h 42 min · 40 chapters
How Athletes Get Into the Top VC Funds | Ryan Nece, Next LegacyHow former NFL athlete Ryan Nece (Next Legacy) says athletes can break into top venture capital, what to look for in people and deals, and how Next Legacy’s fund structure blends VC with philanthropy…3 Sep 2026 · 1 h 39 min · 39 chapters
Leaving Sequoia to Bet on Ohio: Why America is the Best Emerging Market | Chris Olsen, Drive CapitalChris Olsen (Drive Capital) argues that the U.S. is the best emerging market and that venture should “go long America” by funding founders outside Silicon Valley.27 Aug 2026 · 1 h 47 min · 45 chapters
Brex’s 1st Employee On Thinking Like a Founder | Michael Tannenbaum, CEO of FigureFounder-style operating as a later CEO hire; “executive mindset” vs “operator/owner mindset”; how Figure and Brex built value through first-principles decisions, customer feedback loops, and…24 Aug 2026 · 1 h 28 min · 41 chapters
Re-founding a Company for the AI Era | Shensi Ding, MergeShensi Ding (Merge) explains Merge’s “second founding” as the company’s pivot from early, mostly SMB-focused AI integrations to production connective infrastructure for the AI era.14 Aug 2026 · 1 h 22 min · 43 chapters
The 18x Midas Lister Betting $3B on AI (and calling most of it fake) | Navin Chaddha, MayfieldNavin Chaddha (Mayfield) discusses AI data-center infrastructure, why optics are replacing copper for GPU connectivity, and why many “billion-dollar seed” rounds may be overhyped or unsustainable.7 Aug 2026 · 1 h 43 min · 42 chapters
Healthcare Skipped The Internet And Went Straight To AI | Alamin Uddin, NexHealthHow COVID-era tech adoption and AI increased healthcare’s demand for better UX and automation, but healthcare still lags fintech because EHR data interoperability is blocked by legacy systems, vendor…30 Jul 2026 · 2 h 9 min · 55 chapters
Inside Solana's Plan to Replace Wall Street | Anatoly Yakovenko, SolanaAnatoly Yakovenko explains how Solana enables trading “real-world” assets via tokenization, why US securities infrastructure is slow due to layered intermediaries, and how Solana’s technical design…23 Jul 2026 · 1 h 26 min · 35 chapters
The Hidden Layer Every AI Agent Runs On | Tony Holdstock-Brown, InngestInngest’s durable “step functions” execution layer for AI agents, focused on reliability (automatic retries without losing state), deterministic replay, built-in observability (agent…17 Jul 2026 · 1 h 29 min · 34 chapters
Rebuilding a $600M Company From Scratch | Peter Rahal, DavidRebuilding a $600M food company by designing protein-focused nutrition products from first principles, using evidence-based nutrition instead of ideology, and scaling via differentiated technology…10 Jul 2026 · 1 h 28 min · 36 chapters
Inside Goldman’s $22B Bet on Venture Capital | Hans Swildens, Industry VenturesHans Swildens (Industry Ventures) discusses Industry Ventures’ 25-year journey, its phased relationship and eventual acquisition by Goldman Sachs via the XIG alternatives platform, and how scale in…3 Jul 2026 · 1 h 45 min · 40 chapters
The Past, Present, and Future of Pre-Seed | Charles Hudson, PrecursorCharles Hudson (Precursor) discusses how “pre-seed” should be defined, why round naming has become confusing, and how early-stage investing has shifted over the past decade—especially with…25 Jun 2026 · 1 h 42 min · 48 chapters
Inside Elbow Grease, NYC's Hands-On Accelerator | Dan Teran, Gutter CapitalDan Teran of Gutter Capital discusses the launch of Elbow Grease, a New York City hands-on accelerator, and how Gutter’s fund strategy is built around operational involvement.18 Jun 2026 · 1 h 48 min · 43 chapters
The AI-Native GTM Playbook | Sam Blond, MonacoHow AI and agents are changing sales and go-to-market by automating “labor” workflows (TAM building, account scoring, signal gathering, buyer identification, and outreach sequencing) so teams can…11 Jun 2026 · 1 h 57 min · 48 chapters
Inside the First Quant-Driven VC Fund | Nuno Goncalves Pedro, ChamaeleonChamaeleon (Chameleon) and its quant/AI VC platform “Mantis” explain how they use multi-factor, backtested analysis to underwrite venture risk and sourcing/diligence at scale.5 Jun 2026 · 2 h 1 min · 52 chapters
15 Hot Takes on VC and AI from the 2026 Allocate Beyond SummitA live “hot takes” roundup from the 2026 Allocate Beyond Summit on VC and AI—whether traditional seed is “dead,” why VC is unusually consensus-driven, the “power law” getting more extreme, and how AI…29 May 2026 · 1 h 37 min · 26 chapters
Building Got Easy. This Startup Solves What to Build | Alfred Wahlforss, Listen LabsListen Labs builds an AI agent that replaces traditional surveys with parallel, video-based qualitative interviews to help marketers and product teams understand specific user segments faster and…22 May 2026 · 1 h 14 min · 38 chapters
Inside the AI Sprint, Understanding Anthropic's Strategy | Tomasz Tunguz, Theory VenturesThe “AI sprint” driving GPU scarcity, rapid model turnover, and aggressive customer acquisition; how inference economics and data-center buildout shape winners; why Anthropic trades at a discount…15 May 2026 · 1 h 32 min · 42 chapters
asdfThe “state of AI” sprint—why GPU scarcity, rapid model turnover (~41 days to stay SOTA), and aggressive customer acquisition are driving an infrastructure and adoption race.14 May 2026 · 1 h 32 min · 37 chapters
Cursor + Kalshi Seed Investor on Spotting Outlier Talent | Ali Partovi, NeoAli Partovi (Neo) and a seed investor discuss how to spot “outlier” startup talent, how Neo’s college scholar/residency model works, and lessons from Ali’s missed investments (PayPal, Google) and how…7 May 2026 · 1 h 56 min · 51 chapters
How a Hillbilly in Nevada Bootstrapped a $140M ARR Manufacturing Company | Jim Belosic, SendCutSendJim Belosic explains how SendCutSend built a self-serve, on-demand manufacturing business (sheet metal fabrication and CNC machining) reaching about $140M ARR by removing friction in quoting and…30 Apr 2026 · 1 h 32 min · 41 chapters
The $5B Venture Growth Buyout Playbook | Alex Israel, MetropolisMetropolis’ “venture growth buyout” strategy and applied AI recognition platform for frictionless real-world experiences, starting with parking and expanding into mobility and other verticals.24 Apr 2026 · 1 h 30 min · 42 chapters