The Luba Show

Today I’m speaking with Anatoly Yakovenko, co-founder and CEO of Solana, to trace his journey from a childhood in the Soviet Union to building one of the largest blockchain networks in the world. They discuss his years at Qualcomm, the eureka moment that led to Solana, surviving the FTX collapse, and how he uses AI to run multiple side projects. The conversation closes with reflections on stress,...

I got to walk with Leah Solivan, founder of TaskRabbit and now Managing Director of Precedent VC, through her journey from IBM engineer to startup founder to venture capitalist. We got into the early days of building TaskRabbit, the decision to sell the company to IKEA, and her transition into investing. Leah also shared her philosophy on evaluating founders, the AI-powered deal scoring tool she b...

Today I’m talking to Joe Cohen, founder and CEO of Infinite Machine, a company building electric vehicles. But this conversation is really about something bigger: what it means to live freely and build things that matter. Joe has built companies across education, fashion, software, and now vehicles — and what ties them together is his obsession with freedom, accessibility, and enabling people to d...

Today I’m talking to Robbie Bent, CEO and co-founder of Othership. Othership has scaled from a DIY backyard ice bath to a cult-like wellness brand with multiple sold-out locations across North America and plans to open a first-of-its-kind “social spa” on the Upper East Side. Robbie is a former drug addict-turned founder who’s built something genuinely novel: a space where emotional processing and...

Today I'm talking to Sam Parr, Co-Founder of Hampton and Founder of The Hustle, and co-host of My First Million. Sam built The Hustle to over 1.5 million subscribers, sold it for more than $20 million, and now runs one of the most exclusive founder communities in the world. Sam is a Midwestern kid turned serial entrepreneur: from running a hot dog stand to building a media empire to co-hosting My...

Today I'm talking to Kevin Zhang, Partner at Bain Capital Ventures. BCV sits inside Bain Capital, a $200 billion investment manager spanning private equity, credit, life sciences, and real estate, and Kevin has been there nearly a decade, leading early-stage bets from seed through Series B across AI, crypto, longevity, and industrials. We talk about confidence, self-doubt, and what it actually tak...

Today I'm talking to Hiten Shah, serial entrepreneur and co-founder of Crazy Egg, KISSmetrics, and Nira — which he sold to Dropbox. Hiten has been building SaaS companies for over 20 years and has quietly become one of the sharpest operators and thinkers in tech. We go deep on metacognition, self-improvement, and what it actually takes to understand yourself well enough to build great companies an...

Today I'm talking to Ankur Nagpal - founder of Teachable (nine-figure exit) and Carry (acquired by AngelList), angel investor in 100+ startups, and now a GP at USVC, AngelList's public venture fund. We talk about what it really feels like to sell two companies, why honesty is more powerful than hype, and what Ankur's learned about building, investing, and knowing when enough is enough. He gets ref...

Grant Sanderson, (@3Blue1Brown) created one of the most beloved math channels on the internet. Grant is a Stanford math grad, Khan Academy alum, and self-taught animator who built his own open-source visualization engine from scratch. From students learning linear algebra for the first time, to researchers, to millions of curious people on the internet, @3blue1brown makes math feel beautiful. Topi...

Today I'm talking to Jay Graber, founder and former CEOof Bluesky. Bluesky recently announced raising $100M in Series B funding to build a decentralized social protocol that could reshape how we think about online communication. Jay is a blockchain builder who accidentally became the CEO of a social media platform — one the internet cast as a protest movement whether she liked it or not. Jay's sto...

Today I'm talking to Haseeb Qureshi, Managing Partner of Dragonfly Capital. Dragonfly just closed a 650M fund 4 with over 4B raised in total.  Haseeb is a former professional poker player, self-taught engineer, Airbnb alum, and one of the most respected voices in crypto investing. We talk about manhood, meaning, and what it takes to build a life worth living. Haseeb opens up about his unlikely pat...

Juan Benet is the founder of Protocol Labs, where he focuses on advancing humanity's knowledge systems through tech like IPFS and Filecoin, and funding projects advancing the cause. Juan dedicated his career to understanding and accelerating how humanity creates, stores, and expands knowledge. What’s unique about Juan is that he thinks in decades and has organized his ventures to represent this. T...

Today I'm joined by Michelle Volz, solo GP of Pax, a VC fund focused on American Dynamism. Michelle is a Guinness World Record holder for the fastest aggregate marathon time across seven continents, a former Andreessen Horowitz investor, and a Palantir alumna. We have a wide-ranging conversation about endurance, ambition, and what it takes to build hard things. Michelle opens up about her unconven...

Today I’m joined by Eugene Wei. Eugene is former executive at Amazon, Hulu, Flipboard, and Oculus, a writer, a product thinker, and as I like to think about him - a renaissance man. We have a wide-ranging conversation about technology, culture, and what it means to be human in the digital age. Eugene, known for his influential long-form essays on tech and culture, opens up about stepping back from...

Kathryn Cross, founder of Anja Health, and Rajya Atluri, founder of Coral AI join The Luba Show to share their unique startup journeys and insights. One has raised over 6M in funding, while the other bootstrapped her company to 1M ARR. We discuss imposter syndrome, why they think it's overrated, and how keeping a positive mindset can open up many opportunities. We compare notes on bootstrapping vs...

Jacob Peters, co-founder and CEO of Superpower, joins The Luba Show. We talk about the mindsets that push founders forward, how childhood shapes ambition, why he believes the body is a data system, and the role of delusion, intuition, and “vibes” in building a generational team. Jacob also opens up about personal transformation, transcendental meditation, and what he’s learned about co-founders, h...

Marty Kausas, co-founder & CEO of Pylon joins Luba to open up about the real cost, mindset, and psychology behind building a company in “grind mode.” Marty recently went viral after being profiled in the Wall Street Journal for his 100 hour work week lifestyle. We talk about why he works 90–100 hour weeks, how he thinks about ambition, fun, burnout, and why he sees company-building as a 10-yea...