INDIE AUDIO

In this conversation we unpack their journey of building a “lifestyle business”. Some takeaways: — Chris and Brendan emphasize the importance of patience, focus, and long-term thinking in building a sustainable business. They challenge the notion that raising large amounts of venture capital is necessary for success by finding that being profitable allows for more long-term focus and creative risk...

Product-market fit requires both customers willing to pay and stay. It’s not just about initial sales, but also retention. Early-stage sales should focus on research and understanding customer problems rather than immediate revenue generation. Founders often skip this crucial research phase. Abstract solutions require focusing on specific problems rather than leading with the technology itself. To...

— Capital has no insights Eric argues that venture capital alone doesn’t solve business problems, and having more capital doesn’t necessarily lead to better outcomes. — Compounding value vs. negative value The importance of building companies that compound positive value over time, rather than scaling prematurely and compounding negative value. Funding should primarily be used for experimentation...

Some takeaways: — There’s a significant gap between the hype around AI and its actual implementation in businesses. Many companies are still in the experimental phase, with few AI solutions in production. The main barriers to AI adoptions are technical challenges, cost considerations, and lack of expertise. We’re still very early in realizing AI’s promise. — AI adoption was slow, then immediate. I...

A few takeaways from this conversation: — Early crypto applications were challenging to use and primarily attracted tech enthusiasts and speculators. Over time, the technology matured, making applications more user-friendly and broadening the user base. While there’s still a long way to go, the maturation of the technology also led to a shift in focus from speculative gains to building durable and...

When you end an essay with a line like: "Majoring in computer science today will be like majoring in journalism in the late 90’s.” You’re bound to ruffle some feathers. In the case of Chris Paik’s “ End of Software” essay , not only were feathers ruffled, but the entire farm was flustered. And then the pitchforks came out… Given the violent response to the piece, both positive and negative, we app...

This is really one you should watch on our YouTube. Like, all of them are. But this one has Will going to a White Board. What if we could know whether the business idea you can’t shake is worth pursuing? What if we could ensure that we're pairing the right ideas with the right capital sources to ensure the best possible outcomes? Will Quist, from Slow Ventures, is on a mission to answer these ques...

My friend, Michael Dempsey , Managing Partner at Compound , and I have an ongoing thread about the intersection of indie ideals and his areas of focus in deep tech. Most of these conversations happen over meals or online, so we decided to dive in a bit with the cameras on. Our conversation was as fun as it was wide ranging. I’ve watched for years as Michael has built Compound into a research focus...

We invited our friend, Reggie James , to help unpack what's happening in hardware and break down what's behind many of the recent negative viral product review videos currently hitting the internet. Reggie is a longtime friend to indie and prolific advisor to many of this new crop of hardware startups in market and in development. He cuts right to the point with strong opinions and spicy takes tha...

One of the most frequent requests we get is to hear directly from indie founders. Today's conversation is just that. And we did it in style. James Nord, founder of Fohr, has had a front row seat to indie having been one of the very first investments we made. In turn, I've had a front row seat for their growth from hundreds of thousands in revenue to 10s of millions.

I had the opportunity to know Christina Cacioppo early in her time at Union Square Ventures . Always whip-smart and ever curious, we found ourselves drawn to similar founders and edges of emerging markets. When her time at USV ended, we lost touch. She moved from NYC to San Francisco, took a job at Dropbox, and carried on with her post-VC life. Fast forward a few more years, and she’s leading one...

A few weeks back, we had the unique opportunity to sit down with Tom Preston-Werner, co-founder and former CEO of Github. We met in a church he recently renovated into an incredible event space and rolled the cameras to capture our wide-ranging conversation. Over the better part of an hour, we covered his early years, the founding and scaling of Github prior to its acquisition by Microsoft for $7....