Welcome to yet another episode of the Build In Public Podcast! 🎉

Today I'm super excited to have my friend Rishard Rameez, CEO and co-founder of Zown, joining us for what might be one of the most mind-blowing business model conversations I've ever had on this podcast.

Rishard built Zown after a viral Reddit rage post about paying $70,000 in real estate commissions went absolutely nuclear - hitting the front page with 600+ comments and a million views. Instead of *just* complaining, he decided to flip the entire real estate industry on its head.

Here's the crazy part: Instead of YOU paying massive commissions when buying a home, Zown gives YOU a big fat check at closing. 

Yes, you read that right - they PAY you to buy a home through them. When I first heard this, I made him explain it three times because it sounded too good to be true.

In this episode, Rishard breaks down the brilliant math behind how they turn bloated real estate commissions into down payments for buyers, cutting 2-3 years off the path to homeownership. 

We dive deep into their production line approach to real estate, how they unbundled the traditional realtor role, and why they're expanding from from Canada to the US.

What we covered: 
✅ From the viral Reddit post to $300M+ in transaction volume
✅ How Zown gives buyers $15K+ checks instead of bills 
✅ Unbundling realtors: education vs showing vs negotiation 
✅ Why 40x wealth gap exists between homeowners and renters 
✅ Fundraising a radical idea and moving to Silicon Valley 
✅ The production line approach to real estate transactions 
✅ Why you're literally paying someone else's mortgage when renting

This is business model innovation at its finest - taking an industry everyone complains about and completely reimagining how it should work. 

If you've ever been frustrated by real estate commissions or felt priced out of homeownership, this episode will blow your mind.

Relevant links:
My Twitter: https://x.com/thisiskp_
Rishard's Twitter: https://x.com/rameez_rishard
Zown: https://zownhomes.com/ 
The Original Reddit Post: https://www.reddit.com/r/PersonalFinanceCanada/comments/trx40r/do_we_really_need_real_estate_agents/

Past guests include Gary Vaynerchuk (CEO of Vayner Media), Sahil Lavingia (CEO of Gumroad), Alexis Ohanian (co-founder of Reddit), Sheel Mohnot (Better Tomorrow Ventures), and more.

Welcome to yet another episode of the Build In Public Podcast! 🎉

Today's episode is something completely different - a LIVE BUILD SESSION where I teamed up with Conor Martin, one of my favorite builders on Twitter, to show you exactly how vibe coding works from zero to deployed app in real-time.

Conor is a vibe coding expert who's built multiple apps with Bolt.new and created an entire course platform using the tools he teaches. We decided to record this special episode because I keep getting DMs asking "KP, how do I actually get started with vibe coding?" - well, here's your answer!

In this episode, Conor and I walk through building two complete apps live: an import duty calculator for work use cases, and a beautiful gratitude journal for personal projects. We show you the entire process from ChatGPT prompting to final deployment on Netlify - no editing, no shortcuts, just real building.

What we covered:
✅ What vibe coding actually means 
✅ Live builds of two complete apps from scratch to deployment 
✅ The best tools: Bolt.new, Lovable.dev, Cursor, Windsurf, and Replit 
✅ How to use ChatGPT to generate perfect prompts for Bolt 
✅ Integrating Stripe payments, Supabase databases, and OpenAI APIs 
✅ Design tricks and responsive mobile optimization 
✅ Common limitations and security considerations 
✅ Why your v1 should probably suck (but be deployed fast)

This is for anyone who's been curious about vibe coding but didn't know where to start. Conor and I break it down so simply that even complete beginners can follow along and build their first app by the end of this episode. Let us know if you have any Qs along in your journey!

Relevant links:
My Twitter:  https://x.com/thisiskp_
Conor's Twitter: https://x.com/conormartinai
Connor's Bolt Course: https://boltnewcourse.com/
Bolt.new Hackathon: https://hackathon.dev
Story behind the hackathon: https://kp.substack.com/p/hackathon
My side project examples: http://fileforge.in/, http://agencyhunt.xyz/

Past guests on the Build In Public podcast include Gary Vaynerchuk (CEO of Vayner Media), Sahil Lavingia (CEO of Gumroad), Alexis Ohanian (co-founder of Reddit), Sheel Mohnot (Better Tomorrow Ventures), and more.

Welcome to yet another episode of the Build In Public Podcast! 🎉

Today I'm thrilled to have my friend Shamir Allibhai, CEO and founder of Eddie AI, join me for one of my favorite conversations on the podcast yet. Shamir is building the "Cursor for Video Editing" - an AI assistant that helps video professionals focus on their craft and stories by handling the tedious post-production work they hate.

What makes this episode special is the honest and authentic exploration of various topics that founders often have to think through. Like why he chose to focus exclusively on video professionals (and said no to everyone else), the internal struggle of picking your ICP,  how Eddie AI bridged the gap between customer expectations and AI output, the three vectors that lead to startup success, Reid Hoffman's message of why your v1 should probably suck, and so much more.

Shamir and I also dive deep into his founder journey, from his days at the BBC making documentaries to building a venture-backed AI startup. We explore the fascinating paradox of applying non-deterministic AI technology to the precision-demanding world of professional video editing, and he and his team solve it. 

This is the kind of founder-to-founder conversation I live for - honest, vulnerable, and packed with insights you won't hear anywhere else. Grab some coffee and enjoy this fun chat ☕️

Relevant links:
My Twitter: https://x.com/thisiskp_
Shamir's Twitter: https://x.com/theShamir 
Shamir's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shamirallibhai/
Eddie AI: https://heyeddie.ai/

Past guests on the Build In Public podcast include Gary Vaynerchuk (CEO of Vayner Media), Alexis Ohanian (co-founder of Reddit), Sheel Mohnot (Better Tomorrow Ventures), Gina Bianchini (CEO of Mighty Networks), Adam Draper (MD of BoostVC), Sahil Lavingia (CEO of Gumroad), Arvid Kahl (Author of Zero To Sold), Tiago Forte (author of Building A Second Brain), and more. Check out the website here: https://www.buildinpublicpodcast.com/

Welcome to 2025's 1st episode [and my comeback episode] of the Build In Public Podcast! 🎉

After a long hiatus from podcasting, I finally mustered the courage and strength needed to step into the arena with a very authentic conversation. Thanks to my friend Andrew Tsao who has graciously agreed to act as a host and interview me so we could bring this show together.

In the special and atypical episode, we touch on topics like: 

• reflections of a pivotal year in my life 
• why I stopped & what I was focusing on instead
• going from a dad of 1 to dad of 3
• shocking diagnosis about our son Liam 
• the roller coaster journey of pain and hope 
• witnessing miracle after miracle 
• lessons learned and what’s ahead

This episode is for my friends and well wishers (all of you) who have been incredibly supportive.

Would love to hear from you - my Twitter DMs are open. Thank you!

Relevant links:
My Twitter: https://x.com/thisiskp_
Andrew's Twitter: https://x.com/atsaotsao
Andrew's website: https://andrew-tsao.com/

Past guests on the Build In Public podcast include Gary Vaynerchuk (CEO of Vayner Media), Sahil Lavingia (CEO of Gumroad), Alexis Ohanian (co-founder of Reddit), Sheel Mohnot (Better Tomorrow Ventures), Gina Bianchini (CEO of Mighty Networks), Adam Draper (MD of BoostVC), Arvid Kahl (Author of Zero To Sold), Tiago Forte (author of Building A Second Brain), Mariam Hakobyan (CEO of Softr), Kat Cole (COO of Athletic Greens) and more

Welcome to yet another episode of the Build In Public Podcast! 🎉

Today's episode was live recorded in Austin where I interviewed Chris Cunningham at the SaaStock conference in May 2024.  Chris is a Founding Member and Head of Social Marketing for Clickup which is a workforce productivity platform that was last valued at $4b based in San Diego.

Despite his massive social audience and influence across X, Linkedin and TikTok, Chris is one of my favorite people to talk to because he's fun, energetic and always experimenting with cool marketing moves.  
 
In this episode, Chris and I talk about how Clickup succeeds in standing out in the noisy B2B social world, how to gain 30m views on TikTok, the "ABCD" framework he uses and his POV on brand building in general. Enjoy our authentic and curious conversation! 

Relevant links:
My Twitter: https://x.com/thisiskp_
Chris's Twitter: https://x.com/ChrisClickUp
Chris's Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisclickup/
Clickup Website: https://clickup.com/

Past guests on the Build In Public podcast include Gary Vaynerchuk (CEO of Vayner Media), Sahil Lavingia (CEO of Gumroad), Alexis Ohanian (co-founder of Reddit), Sheel Mohnot (Better Tomorrow Ventures), Gina Bianchini (CEO of Mighty Networks), Adam Draper (MD of BoostVC), Arvid Kahl (Author of Zero To Sold), Tiago Forte (author of Building A Second Brain), Mariam Hakobyan (CEO of Softr), Kat Cole (COO of Athletic Greens) and more

Welcome to yet another episode of the Build In Public Podcast! 🎉

Today's episode was live recorded in Austin where I interviewed Jason Cohen at the SaaStock conference in May 2024.  Jason Cohen is a four-time entrepreneur across 24 years who has built both bootstrapped and VC-funded businesses in his career. He had two exits and two unicorns and has been writing for 17 years on the Internet. You may have seen him on X as @asmartbear or read one of his articles at this blog: asmartbear.com

Jason is currently the Chief Innovation Officer of WP Engine which is a startup unicorn that he started in 2010. The company raised over $300m in funding, has over 1,200 employees globally and serves billions of web requests daily for 200,000 customers as one of the top-ten largest web platforms in the world. 
 
In this episode, Jason and I discuss why "strategy" matters, how it is the key driver to help you win at every stage as a startup, how to get your team rallied around this, what signs tell you it's working vs it's not and Jason's advice on evaluating feedback coming from multiple sources.

Relevant links:
My Twitter: https://x.com/thisiskp_
Jason's Twitter: https://x.com/asmartbear
https://longform.asmartbear.com/jason-cohen 

Past guests on the Build In Public podcast include Gary Vaynerchuk (CEO of Vayner Media), Sahil Lavingia (CEO of Gumroad), Alexis Ohanian (co-founder of Reddit), Sheel Mohnot (Better Tomorrow Ventures), Gina Bianchini (CEO of Mighty Networks), Adam Draper (MD of BoostVC), Arvid Kahl (Author of Zero To Sold), Tiago Forte (author of Building A Second Brain), Mariam Hakobyan (CEO of Softr), Kat Cole (COO of Athletic Greens) and more

Welcome to yet another episode of the Build In Public Podcast! 🎉

Today's episode is a fun one where the tables have turned and I got to be interviewed by my friend and a fellow podcaster Andrew Tsao. This episode was originally recorded in February 2024 and the publishing step got delayed due to other priorities until now (May 2024).

In this conversation, Andrew and I discuss the winding down story of my last startup "BIPF", my reflections and rationale behind the decision, founder lessons learned for the future, how my "build in public" efforts led to my new role at Paddle, my excitement for the AI Launchpad program and more.

Relevant links:
Paddle's AI Launchpad: https://www.paddle.com/ai-launchpad
My Twitter: https://x.com/thisiskp_
Andrew's Twitter: https://x.com/atsaotsao

Past guests on the Build In Public podcast include Gary Vaynerchuk (CEO of Vayner Media), Sahil Lavingia (CEO of Gumroad), Alexis Ohanian (co-founder of Reddit), Sheel Mohnot (Better Tomorrow Ventures), Gina Bianchini (CEO of Mighty Networks), Adam Draper (MD of BoostVC), Arvid Kahl (Author of Zero To Sold), Tiago Forte (author of Building A Second Brain), Mariam Hakobyan (CEO of Softr), Kat Cole (COO of Athletic Greens) and more.

Welcome to yet another episode of the Build In Public Podcast! 🎉

Today's episode features Tharshan Thavaharan who leads Partnerships at Paddle, a fintech company last valued at $1.4b where I also work now.

In 2023, he started the AI Launchpad, a global founder program at Paddle which attracted 59 AI startups from 21 countries and in 6 weeks helped them accelerate their journey to find product-market fit, reach target audiences, and establish a financial base for scaling. Now he's passing the captain's armband to me and I'll be running this year's cohort. Applications open now, check out our site: https://www.paddle.com/ai-launchpad

In this episode, Tharshan and I discuss the behind-the-scenes story of winding down my previous edtech startup (BIPF),  how I ended up at Paddle,  what lessons Tharshan learned by running the AI accelerator, the types of companies who were part of it, the big focus for 2024 for us and more.

Relevant links:
AI Launchpad website: https://www.paddle.com/ai-launchpad
Tharshan on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tharshant/
KP on X: https://twitter.com/thisiskp_
KP on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karthikpuvvada/

Past guests on the Build In Public podcast include Gary Vaynerchuk (CEO of Vayner Media), Sahil Lavingia (CEO of Gumroad), Alexis Ohanian (co-founder of Reddit), Sheel Mohnot (Better Tomorrow Ventures), Gina Bianchini (CEO of Mighty Networks), Adam Draper (MD of BoostVC), Arvid Kahl (Author of Zero To Sold), Tiago Forte (author of Building A Second Brain), Mariam Hakobyan (CEO of Softr), Kat Cole (COO of Athletic Greens) and more.

Welcome to yet another episode of the Build In Public Podcast! 🎉

Today's episode features Ariel Renous, co-founder and CEO of Augment.org.  

Augment is a modern online alternative to the traditional MBA program. Augment's approach is to reshape education by leveraging online tools to offer high-quality business knowledge straight from the minds of the brightest business leaders. Partnering with experts in business education and world-class entrepreneurs from companies like Wikipedia, YouTube, Waze, and Shazam, they crafted an innovative MBA program. The fast-growing startup based out of Paris raised a $6 million funding round from top tier investors in 2023.

In this episode, Ariel and KP discuss the founding story of Augment, the evolution of business education over the years, the power of cold emailing influential people in Silicon Valley, lessons from building in public and more. 

The list of topics covered and relevant timestamps are:
00:00  Introduction
03:09  Origin Story of Augment
08:35  Cold Emailing Everyone in Silicon Valley
12:20  The Power of Mission and Storytelling
29:45  The Upside of Building in Public
30:04  Lessons from Fundraising
33:07  Building Augment
36:14  Non-Zero Sum Game
39:45  Finding the Right Idea
45:09  Challenges Before Starting Augment
52:04  Building a Team and Managing Challenges

Relevant links:
Ariel's handle on X: https://twitter.com/ArielRenous
Augment's website: https://augment.org/
KP handle on X: https://twitter.com/thisiskp_
KP's YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/KarthikPuvvadaKP

Past guests on the Build In Public podcast include Gary Vaynerchuk (CEO of Vayner Media), Sahil Lavingia (CEO of Gumroad), Alexis Ohanian (co-founder of Reddit), Sheel Mohnot (Better Tomorrow Ventures), Gina Bianchini (CEO of Mighty Networks), Adam Draper (MD of BoostVC), Arvid Kahl (Author of Zero To Sold), Tiago Forte (author of Building A Second Brain), Mariam Hakobyan (CEO of Softr), Kat Cole (COO of Athletic Greens) and more.

Other episodes you might enjoy: 

• Episode 4 with Gary Vaynerchuk
• Episode with Alexis Ohanian (Co-Founder of Reddit and 776 Fund)
• The Must-Have Qualities For You To Become A Successful Entrepreneur (feat. Sheel Mohnot
• Episode 10 with Kat Cole
• Life After One Of India's Biggest Startup Exits (feat. Phanindra Sama)

Welcome to 2024's 1st episode of the Build In Public Podcast! 🎉

Today's episode features Jason Cohen, four-time entrepreneur across 24 years who has built both bootstrapped and VC-funded businesses in his career. He had two exits and two unicorns and has been writing for 17 years on the Internet. You may have seen him on X as @asmartbear or read one of his articles at this blog: asmartbear.com

Jason is currently the Chief Innovation Officer of WP Engine which is a startup unicorn that he started in 2010. The company raised over $300m in funding, has over 1,200 employees globally and serves billions of web requests daily for 200,000 customers as one of the top-ten largest web platforms in the world. 

In this episode, Jason and KP discuss the significance of passion, the role of writing in personal growth, and the story behind Jason's beef with the term "MVP" in startups :) The conversation touches on challenges entrepreneurs face, the difference between missionaries and mercenaries in business, and strategies for finding great startup ideas.

The list of topics covered and relevant timestamps are:

00:00 Intro
05:26 Jason's Writing Routine
08:34 Redefining Product Development: From MVP to SLC
23:25 The Power of Being Mission-Driven in Building a Company
27:48 Finding Great Startup Ideas
30:48 How to Select Between Multiple Business Ideas Effectively
40:48 Finding the Perfect Work Companion: Balancing Strengths and Weaknesses in Hiring
41:38 Tips for Maximizing Productivity and Authentic Engagement on Twitter
51:38 Wrap-Up

Build In Public Podcast is an interview show where KP chats with ambitious startup founders, CEOs, and top Internet creators to unpack their stories, insights, and lessons.

Note: If you loved the conversation or had questions/comments to share, please post on X or DM me directly :) Always hungry for feedback. Thank you!

Links:
Jason's handle on X: https://twitter.com/asmartbear
Jason's blog:  https://longform.asmartbear.com/
KP handle on X: https://twitter.com/thisiskp_
KP's YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/KarthikPuvvadaKP