Going Direct Conversations

Jordan sits down with Dylan Patel, Founder and Chief Analyst at SemiAnalysis, a research and consulting firm specializing in semiconductor and other AI-infrastructure related research. Dylan started SemiAnalysis in 2020 and has built the business from a solo venture into a cohesive, highly focused team of more than 30 researchers. In this conversation, Dylan shares his version of AI Infrastructure...

Jordan Wolfe sits down with Jeff Epstein , a serial software entrepreneur with deep experience in the affiliate and referral marketing worlds. From building poker affiliate networks in college to starting and exiting Ambassador, a B2B referral software company, Jeff shares his insights on affiliate and referral programs. 🔗 Follow Jordan on X : https://x.com/jrwolfe 👉Links to Jeff’s Work: - Conne...

Jordan sits down with Stefano Bernardi, founder and general partner at Unruly Capital. Unruly is an early-stage venture capital fund investing in what seems crazy today and normal tomorrow. Stefano has an entire investment thesis around the decentralization of the real world. We don’t need to say much more than that…Enjoy! Follow Jordan on X: https://x.com/jrwolfe Links to Stefano’s Work: Stefano’...

Jordan Wolfe sits down with Josef Chen, founder & CEO of Kaikaku for an in-depth conversation on AI, robotics, and the future of restaurants. They dig into how disconnection and loneliness is our generation’s Black Death, what Josef is building, vertical-integration, and how a restaurant with a one-way mirror serves as his living laboratory. Go eat at Common Room, Kaikaku’s 1st restaurant - ht...

Jordan Wolfe sits down with Megan Lightcap and Yoni Rechtman from Slow Ventures for a deep dive into how the creator economy is intersecting with small businesses and real-world entrepreneurship. Megan shares Slow’s unique approach to investing in creators at the holding company level. She explains why the long tail of the creator economy matters and how Slow backs creator-entrepreneurs. Yoni talk...

Jordan Wolfe sits down with Eileen Galván, a content creator and creative lead behind the editing team at Going Direct. In this candid conversation, they explore the complex relationship between Gen Z and overconsumption, the paradox of being hyper-aware yet hyper-influenced, and what it means to build in public with authenticity. Eileen shares her perspective growing up in rural Mexico, navigatin...

Jordan sits down with Rafik Kheffache, founder of Heliosand ( https://heliosand.com/ ), a French start-up using concentrated solar power to transform industrial waste into usable construction materials. Rafik explains how his team is building massive solar furnaces capable of reaching 4,000°C to melt mud and toxic waste into glass-like rock, and why this breakthrough could disrupt cement productio...

Jordan sits down with Khaled Al Mezayen, founder and CEO of Inovaya ( https://inovaya.com/en/ ), a French start-up focused on decentralized water treatment. They dive deep into one of the world’s most overlooked, but vital topics: water. Khaled breaks down how water cycles work, why our current centralized water systems are broken, how treating water as an “infinite utility” is coming to an end, a...

Jordan Wolfe sits down with Ed Mehr, founder and CEO of Machina Labs to explore how America can truly reinvent manufacturing. The key question Ed and his team at Machina are trying to answer with their Robotics Craftsman Platform: Can you build a factory that doesn’t need to change every time you change the product? Ed is rethinking manufacturing from the ground up. One that is much more decentral...

Jordan Wolfe has a conversation with Oliver Beavers, founder of Phosphor , to explore the complex world of project finance and next-gen infrastructure development. Oliver shares insights on the challenges of project financing for next-gen infrastructure and why the true bottleneck isn't capital—it’s the ability to organize large amounts of information and communicate projects properly to investors...

Jordan has a conversation with Packy McCormick, founder of the Not Boring newsletter and Not Boring Capital, an early stage venture capital fund. Packy discusses his journey from writing to investing, the techno-industrial revolution, and why integrators, not aggregators, will define the future. They also dive into the power of optimism, decentralization, and why owning the means of production is...

Jordan has a conversation with Aleks Gampel, co-founder and COO of Cuby Technologies, Inc . Cuby is building micro-factories for new home construction. They discuss why decentralized manufacturing is a critical to solving the US housing crisis, the failure of past construction-tech startups, and why Cuby’s approach could finally bring affordable, high-quality housing to market at scale. Read more...

Jordan has a conversation with Ian Rountree , founder and general partner at Cantos Ventures . They discuss the power and limitations of decentralized production , how venture capital fits into the equation, and the role of AI, robotics, and new industrials in reshaping the global economy. Read more about Cantos here - https://cantos.vc/ Follow Ian on X - @IanRountree Chapters: 00:00 Introduction...

Jordan has a conversation with Jon Olinto, the co-founder and CEO of One Mighty Mill . Jon and his team are on a mission to fix flour. The company is building decentralized stone mills across the US where they mill organic wheat and produce breads and other flour-based products that work for our bodies, not against them. Jon shares how he discovered the broken wheat supply chain in the US and brea...

Description: Kate Judge is a Professor of Law at Columbia Law School focused on banking, financial innovation, and financial crises. She is the author of  Direct: The Rise of the Middleman Economy and the Power of Going to the Source  - where she explores the increasing power of middlemen across our economy. Read more about Kate here -  https://kathrynjudge.com/ More information on her book here -...

Jordan has a conversation with Aleh Kandrashou, co-founder and CEO of Cuby Technologies . Aleh shares his background as a physicist and engineer, why he started Cuby, and how he’s applying lean manufacturing principles to revolutionize home building. In this conversation, Aleh explains why construction is a logistics problem, how Cuby’s mobile micro-factories can reduce costs by up to 40%, and why...