Jevon dropped out of high school to become a pro surfer, then built Nike's Hurley brand in South Africa, ran PE Nation and Surf Stitch, and now he's building Keeyu, an AI platform that stops ecom complaints before customers even notice problems.

This episode covers his pivot from selling a "vitamin" to a "painkiller," why distribution beats product-first, and the customer who said she "wouldn't come to work" without Keeyu.

Perfect for ecomm founders, ops leaders, and anyone building in AI

If this episode helped you, leave a review on Apple Podcasts or follow on Spotify so you never miss an episode. It takes 30 seconds and it's how the next founder finds us.

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Hosted by Thea Ngo, a Wharton grad, venture capital investor, and (your new favorite?) interrogator behind Founders in Motion. Subscribe for the stories that don't make the headlines yet.

Subscribe for the insider playbook on building companies, growth tactics, and founder stories.

📄 Full episode transcript + query the show notes → https://foundersinmotion.tech/episodes/21-jevon-le-roux/

Mass applying, tweaking resumes, and waiting for callbacks doesn’t work anymore and it’s not because you’re bad at job hunting.

In this episode, we break down what actually changed in the job market and the 4-step framework that works in 2026: positioning, proof, distribution, and conversion.

Anything I can be helpful with, leave a comment!

This is Episode 1 of The 2026 Job Playbook, a mini series on how people actually get hired today

How do you turn a lockdown side project into a cult food brand?

In this episode of Founders in Motion, Ethan Yong, founder of Umami Papi, shares the real story behind building one of Australia’s most talked-about chilli oils. We dive into the origin of the name “Flavor Daddy,” early product experiments, breaking into retail, and what it actually takes to stand out in a crowded food and CPG market.

This conversation covers branding, distribution, manufacturing realities, and the mistakes Ethan learned from along the way.

Perfect for founders, marketers, brand builders, and anyone curious about consumer startups and food brands.

If this episode helped you, leave a review on Apple Podcasts or follow on Spotify so you never miss an episode. It takes 30 seconds and it's how the next founder finds us.

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Hosted by Thea Ngo, a Wharton grad, venture capital investor, and (your new favorite?) interrogator behind Founders in Motion. Subscribe for the stories that don't make the headlines yet.

Subscribe for the insider playbook on building companies, growth tactics, and founder stories.

📄 Full episode transcript + query the show notes → https://foundersinmotion.tech/episodes/20-ethan-yong/

Andy Miller didn’t just start a beer company, he helped spark a cultural shift. In this episode, he shares how Heaps Normal grew from a lockdown experiment into a $50M non-alcoholic beer brand loved across Australia. We unpack building a product for the “sober curious,” turning pandemic challenges into momentum, landing the first 200 customers, designing a category-defining brand, scaling a premium CPG business, and becoming a B Corp from day one.

Perfect for founders, brand builders, CPG operators, marketers, and anyone curious about the mindful drinking movement.

If this episode helped you, leave a review on Apple Podcasts or follow on Spotify so you never miss an episode. It takes 30 seconds and it's how the next founder finds us.

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Hosted by Thea Ngo, a Wharton grad, venture capital investor, and (your new favorite?) interrogator behind Founders in Motion. Subscribe for the stories that don't make the headlines yet.

Subscribe for the insider playbook on building companies, growth tactics, and founder stories.

📄 Full episode transcript + query the show notes → https://foundersinmotion.tech/episodes/19-andy-miller/

Most AI dev tools can write code but they fall apart in production.

In this episode, the founders of VibeFlow (YC S25) explain why they bet their entire company on fixing that exact problem. We break down the real bottleneck in AI development (maintainability), how they built a platform that’s ready for real-world use, and how they gained 6,000 users in their first three weeks.

Perfect for engineers, product builders, technical founders, or anyone trying to ship faster in the AI era.

If this episode helped you, leave a review on Apple Podcasts or follow on Spotify so you never miss an episode. It takes 30 seconds and it's how the next founder finds us.

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Hosted by Thea Ngo, a Wharton grad, venture capital investor, and (your new favorite?) interrogator behind Founders in Motion. Subscribe for the stories that don't make the headlines yet.

Subscribe for the insider playbook on building companies, growth tactics, and founder stories.

📄 Full episode transcript + query the show notes → https://foundersinmotion.tech/episodes/18-alessia-and-elia/

StrongRoom AI was once hailed as a healthtech rising star then came the collapse. Joe Zhou stepped in to buy the company out of administration and rebuild from chaos. We dive into the lawsuits, leadership shifts, and the hard lessons behind bringing a broken startup back to life.

A must-listen for healthtech founders, investors, and anyone curious about startup resilience.

If this episode helped you, leave a review on Apple Podcasts or follow on Spotify so you never miss an episode. It takes 30 seconds and it's how the next founder finds us.

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⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@foundersinmotion⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

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Hosted by Thea Ngo, a Wharton grad, venture capital investor, and (your new favorite?) interrogator behind Founders in Motion. Subscribe for the stories that don't make the headlines yet.

Subscribe for the insider playbook on building companies, growth tactics, and founder stories.

📄 Full episode transcript + query the show notes → https://foundersinmotion.tech/episodes/17-joe-zhou/

What if AI could take over the most painful parts of fraud detection?

In this episode, Satya Tumati, co-founder and CTO of Socratix AI, shares how he went from tuning cars with code to building AI coworkers that automate fraud analysis for banks and fintechs.

We unpack the early MVP that landed his first customers, how they got into Y Combinator with nothing, and why confidence isn’t required to start up.

Perfect for: founders, engineers, and anyone curious about how AI is quietly transforming the financial crime industry.

If this episode helped you, leave a review on Apple Podcasts or follow on Spotify so you never miss an episode. It takes 30 seconds and it's how the next founder finds us.

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⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@foundersinmotion⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/theango/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Hosted by Thea Ngo, a Wharton grad, venture capital investor, and (your new favorite?) interrogator behind Founders in Motion. Subscribe for the stories that don't make the headlines yet.

Subscribe for the insider playbook on building companies, growth tactics, and founder stories.

📄 Full episode transcript + query the show notes → https://foundersinmotion.tech/episodes/16-satya-tumati/

What if AI could take over the most painful parts of fraud detection?

In this episode, Satya Tumati, co-founder and CTO of Socratix AI, shares how he went from tuning cars with code to building AI coworkers that automate fraud analysis for banks and fintechs.

We unpack the early MVP that landed his first customers, how they raised $4M, and why confidence isn’t required to start up.

Perfect for: founders, engineers, and anyone curious about how AI is quietly transforming the financial crime industry.

Hamish McKay built a Shopify app for MrBeast and turned it into one of Shopify’s fastest-growing startups. In this episode, he shares the scrappy early days, his 3 pillars to hit $1M ARR FAST, and building in public on LinkedIn.

Perfect for founders, personal brand builders and just anyone obsessed with e-commerce growth and startup building.

If this episode helped you, leave a review on Apple Podcasts or follow on Spotify so you never miss an episode. It takes 30 seconds and it's how the next founder finds us.

FOLLOW US

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⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/theango/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Hosted by Thea Ngo, a Wharton grad, venture capital investor, and (your new favorite?) interrogator behind Founders in Motion. Subscribe for the stories that don't make the headlines yet.

Subscribe for the insider playbook on building companies, growth tactics, and founder stories.

📄 Full episode transcript + query the show notes → https://foundersinmotion.tech/episodes/15-hamish-mckay/

Jason Ma turned down offers from Google and Meta to build Dyna Robotics, a $600M startup making AI robots that actually work. We cover the 800-napkin breakthrough, taking robots from lab demos to laundromats, and what it means to power the physical economy. 

Perfect for founders, operators, and anyone curious about applied AI beyond the hype

If this episode helped you, leave a review on Apple Podcasts or follow on Spotify so you never miss an episode. It takes 30 seconds and it's how the next founder finds us.

FOLLOW US

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⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@foundersinmotion⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/theango/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Hosted by Thea Ngo, a Wharton grad, venture capital investor, and (your new favorite?) interrogator behind Founders in Motion. Subscribe for the stories that don't make the headlines yet.

Subscribe for the insider playbook on building companies, growth tactics, and founder stories.

📄 Full episode transcript + query the show notes → https://foundersinmotion.tech/episodes/14-jason-ma/