Happy New Year!

In this last episode of 2024, we'll look at Rippling, the Swiss Army knife for HR. Valued at $13 billion, it offers a range of tools to help companies manage their workforce. It has a unique founder-led startup culture. In fact, it has hired 150(!) former startup founders. In this episode, we’ll discuss Rippling's culture, its business model, how it navigates challenges like the SVB shutdown, and its plans for the future.

Revolut first started as a company in 2015 to provide no-fee transactions for international travelers. Since then, it has grown into an all-in-one fintech powerhouse, with over $2 billion in revenue and $45 billion in valuation. In this episode, we tell the story behind its rapid growth, what it's like to work there, and how the company plans to stay ahead of competitions?

Figma is another popular online design platform. Adobe attempted to acquire it for $20 billion, but the deal fell apart earlier this year. In this episode, we’ll look at Figma's story, and compare it to that of Canva. What sets Figma apart, and how is it positioning itself to compete with other design powerhouses?

In this episode, we explore the rise of Canva, an online design platform founded in 2013 and now valued at a staggering A$49 billion. What’s the secret behind its rapid success, and how does it compete with design giants like Adobe? We’ll also discuss the future of design: What does it even mean to be a designer when everyone can design anything using AI, and what lies ahead for this creative powerhouse?

Black Forest Labs is the company behind xAI's Grok text-to-image generator. After raising $31M in seed funding, it's rumored to be gearing up for a $200M raise at a $1B+ valuation. Their FLUX model is not only blazing fast but also open-source. In this episode, we explore how the technology works, how they manage content guidelines with open access to the model, and what’s next as the company continues to scale.

In this episode, we explore how Runway is transforming the filmmaking industry. With cutting-edge generative AI tools, Runway is helping filmmakers push creative boundaries and work more efficiently. We discuss how these tools are being used in practice, the potential impact on jobs, and how AI could shape the future of storytelling.

In this episode, we discuss Cerebras Systems and their Wafer-Scale Engine, currently the fastest LLM inference processor, with 7000x more memory bandwidth than nVidia H100. Together with G42, they’re also developing the Condor Galaxy, potentially the largest AI supercomputer. Is this all just hype? What are the real world use cases and why should average users care about it? 

In this episode we explore Grammarly’s marketing journey—from its start with university students to becoming a global writing tool. How did they expand their reach, from clever ads to a powerful freemium model? What are the strategies behind their rise?

Reddit’s stock is on fire, soaring over 166% since its IPO earlier this year. What’s driving this meteoric rise? Where is Reddit headed next? And how will its unique user-driven economy evolve as AI reshapes the digital landscape?

In this episode, we dive into another AI-powered search engine - Perplexity. It handles over 100 million weekly queries at impressive speed. How does it compare to ChatGPT Search? What’s its business model, and could it be the future of search?