Founders in Arms

Topher Haddad is the co-founder and CEO of Albedo, building satellites that fly in very low Earth orbit (VLEO) at 275km—twice as close as traditional imaging satellites. This proximity enables commercial imagery at resolutions previously only available from classified government systems or expensive aircraft operations.

What you'll learn:

1. How VLEO satellites capture imagery quality that replaces planes and drones commercially
2. Why atmospheric drag and atomic oxygen create unique engineering challenges at 275km altitude
3. Topher's journey from Lockheed Martin engineer to Y Combinator space startup founder
4. The pre-sales strategy that secured double-digit millions in binding contracts before launch
5. Why they pivoted from outsourcing to vertical integration mid-development
6. How to navigate defense sales as a startup without traditional prime contractor relationships
7. The surprising accessibility of space—getting a satellite up for $1M in just months
8. Why only imaging and communications make business sense in today's space economy
9. The capital journey from founding in 2020 to $100M raised before first satellite launch
10. How SpaceX's ecosystem is enabling a new generation of space companies

In this episode, we cover:

(00:00) Introduction to Topher Haddad and Albedo

(01:04) What is VLEO and why fly satellites so low

(03:09) Engineering challenges of atmospheric drag and atomic oxygen

(06:12) Solar activity cycles and satellite lifetime considerations

(07:30) Commercial use cases replacing planes and drones

(11:41) Timeline from quitting Lockheed to first satellite launch

(13:24) The surprisingly low barrier to entry for simple satellites

(14:22) What space markets actually work today vs. future bets

(17:08) How launch cost reductions enable new business models

(19:04) Navigating defense sales and government relationships

(25:23) Why space startups survived the 2022 market crash

(38:41) The importance of pre-sales and customer deposits for deep tech

(46:03) Rapid fire: skateboarding, support systems, and space observations

Eric Migicovsky is the Founder of Core Devices, and the original founder of Pebble, the pioneering smartwatch that raised $10 million on Kickstarter before being acquired. Eric has launched Core Devices to continue building the smartwatch platform he believes in, complete with Google's newly open-sourced Pebble operating system.

What you'll learn:

1. The Kickstarter phenomenon: How Pebble became one of the first massive Kickstarter successes, raising $600K in the first day with a $100K goal

2. Hardware's inventory trap: Why missing revenue projections by 20% ($80M vs $100M target) created a $20M inventory crisis that nearly sank Pebble

3. The sustainable hardware model: Eric's new approach of targeting profitability at 5,000 units and eliminating inventory risk through pre-orders

4. Inventor vs. founder mindset: The difference between building products you love versus building scalable companies

5. Fighting Big Tech: How Eric's Beeper Mini challenged Apple's iMessage monopoly and led to DOJ antitrust action

6. Getting software from Google: The surprising story of how Google open-sourced Pebble's operating system to enable Core Devices

7. Hardware manufacturing today: Why building smartwatches is easier now than in 2011, and what's still challenging

8. The artisanal hardware movement: Building premium, limited-run products for passionate niche audiences

9. Regulatory battles: Apple's API restrictions and how they limit third-party smartwatch functionality

10. AI integration: Adding ChatGPT and voice capabilities to modern smartwatches

In this episode, we cover:

(00:00) Introduction and reconnecting with Eric

(01:18) The Core Devices relaunch and getting Pebble IP from Google

(02:33) Eric and Raj's Waterloo connection and early entrepreneurship

(04:48) From Pebble's precursor to YC and the smartwatch vision

(09:30) The legendary Kickstarter launch day and calling Raj at 2am

(14:00) Five years of overnight success and authentic marketing

(16:07) Inventor vs. founder mindset and product obsession

(19:21) The 2015 inventory crisis that changed everything

(27:20) Eric's new sustainable hardware model with Core Devices

(32:00) Using existing Pebble cases and Google's open-source software

(36:58) The artisanal approach: 3 people, no VCs, limited production runs

(41:14) AI integration and ChatGPT on the wrist

(49:36) Secondary markets and public company trading restrictions

Sahil Lavingia is the founder and CEO of Gumroad, a platform that helps creators sell digital products and has facilitated over $1 billion in creator earnings. After raising a $7M Series A from Kleiner Perkins, Sahil took the unconventional path of transitioning from venture-backed growth to a profitable, dividend-paying company—and even spent time as a software engineer with DOGE at the Department of Veterans Affairs.

What you'll learn:

1. How Sahil transitioned Gumroad from venture-backed to profitable without selling or shutting down
2. The remarkable story of Kleiner Perkins selling their stake back for just $1 and the tax implications
3. Why AI coding tools like Cursor and Devin are making senior engineers more valuable while challenging junior developers
4. What it's really like working inside the federal government as a Silicon Valley software engineer
5. How Sahil automated contract reviews at the VA and helped identify $1.6 billion in cuts
6. The three-pronged DOGE strategy: cutting contracts, workforce reduction, and shipping software
7. Why radical transparency (public board meetings, open-source code) became Gumroad's competitive advantage
8. How to implement a dividend model for private companies instead of traditional growth/exit strategies
9. The challenges and opportunities of bringing private sector expertise to government agencies
10. Why cooperation beats disruption when trying to modernize massive bureaucratic systems

In this episode, we cover:

(00:00) Introduction and Sahil's early Pinterest days

(05:26) The decision to drop out of college for startups

(08:12) Building Gumroad and raising from Kleiner Perkins

(25:26) How AI is changing software engineering and hiring

(39:02) The 60-day DOGE experience at the Department of Veterans Affairs

(50:15) Transitioning from venture-backed to profitable company

(57:16) The Kleiner Perkins $1 buyback story

(1:02:45) Implementing dividends and radical transparency

(1:09:04) Why transparency makes you better at everything

Steve Huffman is the co-founder and CEO of Reddit, one of the internet's most essential platforms with 100 million daily active users and a $20 billion public market valuation. Over 20 years, Steve has guided Reddit through multiple existential challenges, from early acquisition to content moderation crises to competing with AI-generated content.

What you'll learn:

1. How Reddit achieved product-market fit in just 2 months and the early signs that indicated massive potential
2. Why Steve sold Reddit for $10 million after 18 months and what he learned during his 9-year absence
3. The existential crisis that brought him back as CEO in 2015 and how he rebuilt the platform
4. Reddit's evolution through three distinct eras: link aggregator, intentionally not social media, and authentic human content in an AI world
5. The strategic decision in 2008 to let users create subreddits and how it transformed the platform
6. Building content moderation and safety infrastructure from scratch while preserving free speech values
7. The challenges and benefits of taking Reddit public while maintaining community ownership
8. How Reddit is addressing AI-generated content and the fight for human authenticity online
9. The business model evolution from advertising to AI data licensing partnerships
10. Steve's vision to make Reddit "universal" and expand from 100 million to billions of users

In this episode, we cover: 

(00:00) Introduction and Reddit's 20-year milestone

(02:40) Early product-market fit signals and the $10M acquisition

(06:25) Steve's 9-year absence and return in 2015

(08:30) Content moderation challenges and building safety infrastructure

(14:10) Reddit's three evolutionary eras and strategic positioning

(16:40) The subreddit explosion and community self-organization

(18:08) Positioning as the human platform in an artificial world

(19:15) Human verification challenges and potential solutions

(25:22) AI partnerships, data licensing, and monetization strategy

(29:02) Search evolution and Reddit's role in the new ecosystem

(35:07) Leadership philosophy and staying true to company values

(37:43) The decision to go public and community ownership

(42:18) Managing public company pressures while maintaining long-term vision

(48:27) Steve's vision for Reddit's universal future

Rahul Sidhu is the co-founder and CEO of Aerodome, which was acquired by Flock Safety for a reported $300M in October 2024—just 17 months after founding. A reserve police officer turned serial entrepreneur, Rahul built his drone-as-first-responder platform by combining deep public safety expertise with cutting-edge technology to revolutionize emergency response.

What you'll learn:

1. How COVID-19 staffing shortages sparked the idea for drone-powered emergency response
2. Why public safety tech has been overlooked by VCs and is now experiencing a renaissance
3. The challenge of selling to 10,000+ small police departments across America
4. How to leverage domain expertise as a competitive moat in specialized industries
5. Strategic advice on when to take a "smaller" exit vs. swinging for bigger outcomes
6. Why investor incentives aren't always aligned with founder success during acquisition talks
7. The regulatory breakthrough that made beyond-visual-line-of-sight drone operations possible
8. How Flock Safety is building American-made drones to compete with Chinese manufacturers
9. The infrastructure challenges and national security implications of drone technology
10. What AI and robotics mean for the future of law enforcement and public safety

Matt Loszak is the co-founder and CEO of Aalo Atomics, building factory-manufactured small modular nuclear reactors designed to power AI data centers. In just 18 months, Aalo has grown from 2 people to 50 employees with a 40,000 square foot factory and a completed full-scale non-nuclear reactor prototype.

What you'll learn:

1. How Aalo's liquid metal cooled reactors could transform clean energy production
2. Why data centers are the perfect first customer for next-generation nuclear power
3. Matt's transition from selling his software company Hume to pursuing nuclear innovation
4. The regulatory strategies that could enable faster nuclear deployment
5. Why factory mass manufacturing could solve nuclear's historical cost and timeline challenges
6. The safety advantages of liquid metal cooling and small modular designs
7. How the US compares to China and Russia in nuclear innovation
8. Matt's surprising perspective on fusion vs. fission energy investment
9. The capital journey from $6M seed to $30M Series A to upcoming $100M round
10. A vision for how abundant nuclear energy could enable everything from desalination to vertical farming

• Subscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4FHXFiOtyO3QfUi3Y1kwYF?si=1dc9acc8409f448c
• Subscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/founders-in-arms/id1679703534 
• Subscribe to Founders in Arms Substack:  https://substack.com/@foundersinarms 
• Join the conversation on Tribe: https://join.tribechat.com/sR-wYn8zUH
• Follow Founders in Arms on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/founders-in-arms/
• Follow Immad on X: https://x.com/immad
• Follow Raj on X: https://x.com/rajatsuri
• Follow Matt on X: https://x.com/MattLoszak
• Follow Immad on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/iakhund/
• Follow Raj on LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/rajatsuri/
• Follow Matt on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-loszak/

Severin Hacker, co-founder and CTO of Duolingo, joins Immad Akhund and Raj Suri to unpack how Duolingo became the world’s most engaging education platform.

They explore how Duolingo leverages AI to personalize learning, the company's obsession with retention, and why relentless experimentation is at the heart of its product strategy. 

Severin also shares insights on building a mission-driven culture, the immigrant founder advantage, and how to scale design thinking without losing your edge.

In this founders-only episode of Founders in Arms, Immad Akhund and Raj Suri analyze Meta's aggressive acquisition playbook alongside other major tech developments reshaping the industry landscape.

The conversation begins with how Zuckerberg's "buy or get crushed" approach to acquisitions leaves founders with an impossible choice: accept a lucrative buyout or face ruthless competition. They note how "every founder who comes out of Meta regrets selling their company," yet Meta's willingness to clone features makes rejecting their offers extremely difficult.

The founders then dissect the Epic vs. Apple lawsuit ruling that ended Apple's 30% App Store monopoly and examine antitrust actions against tech giants, questioning whether surgical regulation targeting specific practices might be more effective than breaking up companies entirely. The discussion highlights how AI foundation models have rapidly commoditized, making monopoly concerns in that space less pressing.

The episode concludes with Immad's sobering economic prediction that Trump's tariffs will trigger a recession by late 2025, creating a market where only AI companies secure funding while other promising startups struggle despite solid fundamentals - potentially creating opportunities for contrarian investors and resilient founders.

In this episode of Founders in Arms, Immad Akhund and Raj Suri speak with Dan Hobbs, co-founder and CEO of Protex AI, a company using computer vision to identify safety risks in warehouses and factories before accidents happen. Dan shares his journey from bootstrapping his first startup (where he survived on store-brand Rice Krispies for three weeks) to building a 70-person team serving Fortune 500 clients like Amazon and DHL.

The conversation explores how Protex leverages existing CCTV infrastructure to detect dangerous behavior patterns, the advantages of being "outsiders" disrupting traditional industries, and how the AI boom has transformed both fundraising and customer conversations. Dan offers insights on navigating enterprise sales, building trust-based relationships with clients, and managing an international team across Ireland, Boston, and London.

From pivoting through multiple startup ideas to selling multi-million dollar contracts, this episode provides valuable perspectives on computer vision applications, scaling an AI company in today's market, and the unique challenges of leadership growth. Whether you're interested in AI applications, enterprise sales strategies, or the founder journey, Dan's candid experiences offer practical wisdom for entrepreneurs at any stage.

In this episode, Jay Shah joins Immad and Raj to talk about his new startup, Poppy—a screenless, AI-native phone designed for kids. He shares what led him to pivot from enterprise SaaS to building hardware in his basement, why he believes kid-first tech needs a rethink, and how intentional design can create healthier relationships with technology.

Jay reflects on lessons from BufferBox, the realities of manufacturing and tariffs, and the power of network effects in consumer hardware. The conversation spans everything from AI in education to emotional resilience as a second-time founder, the state of Canadian tech, and how Y Combinator continues to shape founder journeys.