Podcast · 23 episodes
The Upstarts Podcast
by Alex Konrad · English
On The Upstarts Podcast, you’ll hear from some of the most exciting Upstarts today: emerging technology leaders punching above their weight to achieve real impact. Veteran tech reporter Alex Konrad profiled leaders from Marc Benioff to Melanie Perkins in a decade-plus at Forbes. Now as the founder and editor of Upstarts Media, he’s sitting down with breakout entrepreneurs taking on the status quo to shake up their fields in AI, design, nuclear energy, space, and more. You’ll leave each interview with a new understanding of a world-changing technology that’s transforming how we live and work – as well as strategies and tactics any builder can put to use.
Latest episodes
Basis's Matt Harpe: Why AI Won't Replace Accountants — It'll Make Them RicherBasis (AI for accounting) and why AI won’t replace accountants; it should reduce compliance busywork, address a looming accountant shortage, and let firms deliver more advisory value.30 Jul 2026 · 43 min
Abridge's Shiv Rao: The Doctor Founder Taking On Microsoft In Healthcare AIAbridge’s CEO Shiv Rao explains how Abridge uses healthcare AI to improve real-time clinician-patient conversations, reduce clinician burnout and admin burden, and generate patient-friendly visit…23 Jul 2026 · 47 min
Pigment’s Eléonore Crespo: Building France’s Next Unicorn With AI Agents And Tom CruisePigment’s AI agents for enterprise business planning—replacing spreadsheet-heavy, cross-department finance/supply-chain/sales planning with real-time scenario modeling and faster decisions.17 Jul 2026 · 43 min
All episodes
Basis's Matt Harpe: Why AI Won't Replace Accountants — It'll Make Them RicherBasis (AI for accounting) and why AI won’t replace accountants; it should reduce compliance busywork, address a looming accountant shortage, and let firms deliver more advisory value.30 Jul 2026 · 43 min · 23 chapters
Abridge's Shiv Rao: The Doctor Founder Taking On Microsoft In Healthcare AIAbridge’s CEO Shiv Rao explains how Abridge uses healthcare AI to improve real-time clinician-patient conversations, reduce clinician burnout and admin burden, and generate patient-friendly visit…23 Jul 2026 · 47 min · 25 chapters
Pigment’s Eléonore Crespo: Building France’s Next Unicorn With AI Agents And Tom CruisePigment’s AI agents for enterprise business planning—replacing spreadsheet-heavy, cross-department finance/supply-chain/sales planning with real-time scenario modeling and faster decisions.17 Jul 2026 · 43 min · 21 chapters
Radical AI’s Joseph Krause: The Scientist Building The ‘Waymo’ Lab For New MaterialsRadical AI CEO Joseph Krause explains “self-driving labs” for materials discovery, comparing the approach to Waymo (hands-free) rather than automated labs (hands-on).10 Jul 2026 · 40 min · 16 chapters
Blitzy's Brian Elliott: Cursor And Claude Code Are Looking At Your Enterprise Code ‘Through A Straw’Blitzy’s approach to autonomous enterprise software development using thousands of agents to “see” huge codebases beyond LLM context limits, avoiding token-maxing and incremental tech debt.2 Jul 2026 · 42 min · 18 chapters
Writer’s May Habib: Building AI Tools For Corporate ‘Normal People’ The Labs Leave BehindMay Habib (Ryder/Writer) explains how enterprise AI must deliver measurable ROI, brand voice, compliance, and token-efficient “agentic” workflows for non-technical business users.25 Jun 2026 · 45 min · 23 chapters
Mutiny’s Jaleh Rezaei: Walking Away From Millions In Software To Grow Even Faster With Sales AIMutiny’s pivot from a SaaS go-to-market product to an AI-agent “Sales AI” that automates the manual work between sales meetings, aiming to raise selling time from ~21% to mostly customer-facing…19 Jun 2026 · 47 min · 21 chapters
TBC’s Alex Ksendzovsky: The Neurosurgeon Using Brain Cells To Build Better AIBiological Computing Company (TBC) co-founder/CEO Alex Ksendzovsky argues that “biologically-derived algorithms” can improve AI efficiency and quality by encoding data into live neurons grown on…12 Jun 2026 · 37 min · 17 chapters
Vanta’s Christina Cacioppo: The Underdog Turning ‘Nonsense’ Compliance Into A $4.2B Security StandoutVanta’s CEO Christina Cacioppo explains how Vanta turned SOC 2 security/compliance into a scalable product, why distribution and constant delivery mattered, and how AI agents are now being used to…5 Jun 2026 · 41 min · 19 chapters
Orchid’s Noor Siddiqui: Rigging The Genetic Lottery To Create Healthier ‘Superbabies’Orchid Health’s embryo-genome screening via IVF to reduce risk of genetic disease, framed as creating “superbabies” by “rigging the genetic lottery” toward healthier outcomes.28 May 2026 · 39 min · 20 chapters
Runway’s Cris Valenzuela: Building The Hollywood-Friendly Video AI That OpenAI Couldn’tRunway co-founder/CEO Chris Valenzuela explains Runway’s video/world-model approach, why “world models simulate reality” (video-trained vs language-trained), how they differentiate via user control…1 May 2026 · 43 min · 17 chapters
Chapter's Cobi Blumenfeld-Gantz: From Palantir To $3B Medicare DisruptorUpstarts interviews Chapter co-founder/CEO Cobi (Kobe) Blumenfeld-Gantz about building a mission-driven Medicare advisor that uses technology to counter misaligned broker incentives.24 Apr 2026 · 44 min · 24 chapters
Cohere's Aidan Gomez: The Canadian Founder Taking AI Models To The World, Not Just Big TechAiden Gomez, co-founder/CEO of Cohere, explains why AI should be deployed in privacy- and security-sensitive enterprises and democracies, arguing AI can restore growth and liberal-democratic…16 Apr 2026 · 42 min · 17 chapters
Decagon’s Jesse Zhang: Closing Customer Service Doom Loops With AI ConciergesDecagon CEO Jesse Zhang explains how Decagon builds “AI concierges” for enterprise customer support and why the key challenge isn’t deploying AI, but iterating it fast enough to avoid frustrating…10 Apr 2026 · 45 min · 26 chapters
Axiom’s Carina Hong: Solving Math’s Hardest Problems With AI, And AI's Problems With MathAxiom Math CEO Karina Hong explains “verified AI” for math and code—using Lean-based formal proofs to solve hard problems reliably, avoiding “Schrodinger’s superintelligence” from unverifiable LLM…2 Apr 2026 · 39 min · 21 chapters
Harvey's Winston Weinberg: From Law Associate To $11 Billion Legal AI Startup CEOWinston Weinberg (Harvey) explains how legal AI should be built for accuracy, review workflows, and regulated “infrastructure,” not just prompt automation—plus lessons from scaling from law associate…26 Mar 2026 · 37 min · 18 chapters
Star Catcher’s Andrew Rush: Harnessing The Sun To Build The First Energy Grid In SpaceAndrew Rush, CEO of Star Catcher19 Mar 2026 · 38 min · 20 chapters
Synthesia's Victor Riparbelli: Using AI To Replace Boring PowerPoints With Interactive VideoHosted by veteran tech reporter Alex Konrad, this podcast features interviews with emerging technology leaders and entrepreneurs who are shaking up their fields, providing insights into…12 Mar 2026 · 45 min · 22 chapters
Flexport’s Ryan Petersen: tech’s trade expert on solving tariff chaos with AI agents & winning againRyan Petersen, CEO of Flexport, aims to retrieve $50 billion in tariff refunds for U.S. citizens using AI agents developed by Flexport.5 Mar 2026 · 39 min · 20 chapters
Valar Atomics’ Isaiah Taylor: Solving AI’s Energy Crisis With Nuclear ‘Gigasites’Alex Konrad, veteran tech reporter and founder of Upstarts Media.26 Feb 2026 · 31 min · 16 chapters
Loyal’s Celine Halioua: From Defying Doubters To Pioneering Dog LongevityCeline Halioua, Founder and CEO of Loyal19 Feb 2026 · 38 min · 21 chapters
Canva’s Melanie Perkins on scaling startup vision and values for global impactCanva’s Melanie Perkins on Scaling Startup Vision and Values for Global Impact12 Feb 2026 · 37 min · 21 chapters
The Upstarts Podcast | TrailerA platform featuring emerging technology leaders who challenge the status quo and make significant impacts in various fields, including AI, design, nuclear energy, and space.8 Feb 2026 · 1 min · 1 chapter