1st10 Podcast

The long-trodden path to wealth-creation (through job-security) is completely broken. So, the next generation of elite founders is taking control of their own trajectories in a different way! On this episode of the *1st10 Podcast*, Boris Epstein sits down with Alkis Toutziaridis and Shashi Salavath, the prodigy co-founders of Tacit Intelligence, a stealth AI startup backed by Entrepreneurs First,...

Boris Epstein built the tech-recruiting firm Binc over 19 years and got acquired by Robinhood in 2021. Then, he walked away from all of it...On this episode of the 1st10 Podcast, host and founder of 1st10, Boris Epstein, shares the origin story of 1st10 and why he decided to get into the hardest version of Tech Recruiting viz., recruiting for early-stage startups. Tune in to hear Boris share super...

The biggest shift in software isn't AI itself - but the moment software started *talking back*... semantically! On this episode of the 1st10 Podcast, Boris Epstein sits down with Peter Terrill, former Stripe engineering leader and CTO/Co-founder of Grounded Agents, to unpack the real meaning of "agentic software" in 2026. Peter systematically breaks down the transition from "wor...

Alex Vogenthaler built a billion-dollar product at Google, ran the P&L for 93% of Stripe's revenue and then... simply walked away from it all because he wanted to build the exact AI tool that could improve his job! On this episode of the 1st10 Podcast, Boris sits down with Alex Vogenthaler, Co-Founder and CEO of Grounded Agents. Alex's career is fascinating - it begins with NAND gates...

A new class of AI-native startups is accelerating at a pace that feels unnatural, while SaaS companies that looked "perfect" two years ago are suddenly stuck… On this episode of the 1st 10 Podcast, Luke Beseda goes into detail about why the traditional logic of startup hiring - build headcount, develop junior talent, scale the pipeline - has been quietly dismantled by AI. Luke is Partner...

Almost every founder is hunting the exact same 5000 people. And most of them are losing without even knowing it? On this episode of the 1st10 Podcast, Samantha Price breaks down the uncomfortable reality of early-stage hiring: it's not meritocratic, it's not efficient, and it's definitely not passive. Samantha Price is the Founding Talent Partner at Audacious Ventures and she has spent...

You've sent hundreds of applications and landed ZERO jobs because you are playing a game that quietly ended years ago... On this solo episode of the 1st10 Podcast, Boris Epstein dismantles the dominant narrative that AI is killing entry-level jobs and replaces it with a harsher truth: companies aren't rejecting candidates - they're ignoring them. Tune in to hear Boris explain:Why your...

What if everything your financial advisor ever told you was designed to benefit *them*, not you? On this episode of the 1st10 Podcast, Boris Epstein sits down with Shashank Chiranewala, founder of Plutus, to unpack the unconventional journey that took him from investment banking to product leadership at Microsoft and Meta - and ultimately into building fintech startups. Shashank takes us through a...

What happens when you realize in middle school that the greatest impact you can make is solving humanity's most complex diseases? On this episode of the 1st10 Podcast, host Boris Epstein sits down with Alice Zhang, founder and CEO of Verge Genomics, to unpack why drug discovery has been stuck for decades - and why AI, used the right way, might finally change that. Alice dropped out of a presti...

The startup world is splitting into two radically different realities - and 2026 will be the year this divide becomes impossible to ignore. On this episode of the 1st10 Podcast, Boris grades his 2025 forecasts (4.5/5 - not bad!), revealing which bets paid off and where he missed the mark on Bitcoin's meteoric rise. But the real focus is forward: FIVE bold predictions for 2026 that cover everything...

What happens when three PhD students accidentally build the infrastructure that every major AI lab depends on? OR What if the AI benchmarks everyone trusts are measuring the wrong thing entirely? On this episode of the *1st10 Podcast*, host Boris Epstein sits down with Anastasios Angelopoulos, co-founder and CEO of LMArena, to unpack LMArena went from a Berkeley side project built with free pizza...

What if the biggest failure of AI today isn't creativity - but math? On this episode of the *1st10 Podcast*, host Boris Epstein sits down with Sreerama Tripuramallu, a repeat founder whose career spans NVIDIA, a Sequoia-backed startup exit to Harvey AI, and now a stealth consumer product tackling one of the most painful problems professionals face: taxes. Sree walks through his unconventional...

What kind of founder decides to build a full radiology practice, an AI research lab, and a software company - all at once? On this episode of the 1st10 Podcast, Boris Epstein sits down with Rustin Rassoli, founder of Epsilon Labs to talk about why solving the U.S. radiology crisis requires breaking the rules of traditional healthcare tech. Rustin recounts his early entrepreneurial experiments, the...

56% more job openings, 3x more applications, but 8 MORE days to fill roles! CEO of Gem.ai shares data that explains why most recruiting careers are about to hit a wall…In this eye-opening conversation, Boris Epstein sits down with Steven Bartel, CEO of Gem.ai, to explore the shocking transformation happening in recruiting right now. From North Korean actors infiltrating hiring processes to AI-gene...

On this episode of the 1st10 Podcast, Boris Epstein, founder of 1st10 and former FAANG-level recruiter, reveals a shocking reality behind AI startup hiring practices and why the most talented engineers in tech might be getting left behind. Drawing from his decade of experience recruiting for top tech firms like Robinhood, Instacart, and Stripe, Boris explores why AI founders are wary of FAANG tale...

In this episode of the 1st10 Podcast, Boris Epstein sits down with Sara Ali, Senior Director of Corporate Development & Strategy at Yahoo, to dissect the frenzy around AI-driven M&A. From Meta's $14.3 billion partial acquisition of Scale AI to Google's talent-grab deals with Character. AI, Sara breaks down the creative deal structures that are bypassing regulatory scrutiny while co...

On this episode of the 1st10 Podcast, Boris Epstein sits down with Daniel Rock - economist, professor at Wharton, and co-founder of Workhelix - to decode the messy reality of AI's impact on jobs, productivity, and enterprise transformation. Daniel brings a unique perspective as both an academic economist studying digital technologies and an entrepreneur building AI solutions for enterprises. T...

Mark Zuckerberg dropping $100 million each on SIXTEEN engineers (and counting) might be a wild strategy that could hand Meta the AI crown. On this episode of the 1st10 Podcast, host Boris Epstein dives into Meta's jaw-dropping AI talent acquisition spree that's sending shockwaves through Silicon Valley. From $100 million sign-on bonuses to billion-dollar offers, Meta is rewriting the rules...

What if the AI revolution doesn't take all jobs but *just* enough to crash society? On this first episode of the latest season of the 1st10 Podcast, host Boris Epstein is joined by ex-Microsoft, ex-Meta, and ex-OpenAI engineer and founder of the AI-powered podcast app Superphonic, Philip Su for a conversation about AI, jobs, and the future of humanity. Philip lays out why he's building small while...

Summary On this final episode of Season 2 of the 1st10 Podcast, Boris Epstein and Alexis Munger outline a comprehensive Hiring Playbook for founders building early-stage startups. They list seven critical steps to attract and hire top talent, emphasizing the importance of storytelling, leveraging networks, and the founder's active role in recruiting. Through anecdotes, examples, and actionable...

Summary On this episode of the 1st10 podcast, hosts Boris Epstein and Alexis Munger sit down with Ilya Sukhar, a seasoned entrepreneur, engineer, and venture capitalist. Ilya shares his journey from immigrating to the U.S. as a child to founding Parse, getting acquired by Facebook, and eventually transitioning into venture capital. Ilya shared with us his experiences building and scaling startups...

Summary On this episode of the 1st10 Podcast, hosts Boris Epstein and Alexis Munger sit down with Kevin Liu, Engineering Lead at AngelList and a seasoned builder in the tech industry. Kevin shares his journey from being a fresh computer science graduate during the post-dot-com bust to becoming a key player in high-growth startups like Klout and Nextdoor. He discusses the importance of staying hand...

On this episode of the 1st10 Podcast, hosts Boris Epstein and Alexis Munger sit down with Joshua Inkenbrandt, Pinterest's first frontend engineer and a seasoned builder. Josh shares his journey from being one of Pinterest's early engineers to transitioning into product management, and eventually co-founding startups. He also discusses the unique situation of navigating second stints with h...

On this episode of the 1st10 Podcast, Boris Epstein and Alexis Munger sit down with Sophie Z. Novati, founder and CEO of Formation.dev. Formation is a company dedicated to build a more equitable tech industries by helping underrepresented engineers reach their full potential. Sophie shares her journey from being an early engineer at Facebook and Nextdoor to founding Formation, driven by her missio...

Summary On this episode of the 1st10 Podcast, hosts Boris Epstein and Alexis Munger sit down with Yash Nelapati, Pinterest's first engineer and first-ever employee! Yash shares his journey from being a young engineer navigating the challenges of the 2008 recession to joining Pinterest in its infancy and helping scale it into a global platform. He reflects on the chaotic early days, the importa...