Four hundred episodes.

When I started this podcast, I had one simple belief: the best lessons in building a remarkable software company don't come from business books or consulting frameworks. They come from CEOs who've lived it — the ones who made the hard calls, paid for the wrong assumptions, and built something worth talking about.

I went back through the last 99 conversations — and pulled the 18 insights that I believe will genuinely open your eyes. Not the ones that make you nod. The ones that hold a mirror.

I selected them for one reason: each one connects directly to the traits I write about in The Remarkable Effect. The patterns that separate the software companies people keep talking about from the ones that quietly disappear.

Six don'ts. Twelve do's.

The don'ts follow one thread — each one is an assumption that ended up costing a CEO everything. The do's move from the inside out — who you need to be, how you compete, how you grow, and who you put around you.

Here's who you'll hear from:

DON'TS

• Harpreet Singh, Co-CEO Launchable — on the mistake that erodes confidence in leadership faster than anything else
• Josh Ellars, CEO OpenGTM — on the decision he kept making wrong, more than once
• Ed Bradley, CEO Virtualstock — on why being turned down by every investor was the best thing that happened to him
• Emeric Ernoult, CEO Agorapulse — on the reason he almost gave away part of his company for nothing
• Krishna Raj Raja, CEO SupportLogic — on which hiring mistake is actually more dangerous
• Jason Cohen, Founder WPEngine — on the belief that quietly kills more scaling companies than anything else

DO'S

• Matt van Itallie, CEO Sema — on why the leadership book's answer didn't work
• Richard White, CEO Fathom — on what the best YC founders had in common that surprised him
• Matt Achariam, CEO Mesh — on what falls apart when momentum arrives too fast
• Scott Reynolds, CEO UpCodes — on the question most AI founders can't answer
• Mark Walker, CEO Nue — on why creating a new market isn't always the best idea
• Caitlin MacGregor, CEO Plum — on why CEOs should spend more time selling
• Tal Peretz, CEO Onfire — on saying no to customers who wanted to pay him
• Jason Cohen, Founder WPEngine — on the one thing worth fixing before everything else
• Emeric Ernoult, CEO Agorapulse — on why testing for the outcome is the wrong test
• Theo Saville, CEO CloudNC — on the difference between a busy team and a focused one
• Randy Wootton, CEO Maxio — on what nobody tells you before you sit in the CEO chair
• Jon Jorgensen, CEO The Access Group — on how he actually went about finding the right people
• Dinakara Nagalla, CEO EmpowerMx (acquired by IFS) — on what remarkable actually means when nobody is watching