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Roy Lee is the 21-year-old founder and CEO of Interview Coder a breakout startup that has taken the internet by storm. In one year, Roy went from having his Harvard acceptance rescinded to building an AI tool used by thousands of aspiring developers to land jobs at companies like Amazon, Meta, and TikTok. His story — marked by risk-taking, resilience, and relentless building — has captivated millions on social media and sparked a firestorm of controversy in academia and Big Tech alike.

In this episode, we cover:

• Why Roy's Harvard acceptance was rescinded, and how he bounced back
• How a year of isolation turned into a coding bootcamp of one
• Why community college is underrated — and how it shaped Roy’s founding team
• How Interview Coder went from MVP to $10K MRR in a few months
• The Amazon interview video that triggered a firestorm at Columbia
• How going viral led to threats of expulsion — and Roy’s strategic response
• Why Roy believes controversy is essential for attention
• How the Z Fellows program changed his trajectory
• A sneak peek into Roy’s new startup: Pike
• Much more

Brought to you by:

• Fondo — All-in-one accounting platform for startups. Bookkeeping, taxes, and cash back from the IRS: https://trifondo.com

Where to Find Roy Lee

• X: https://x.com/im_roy_lee
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/roy-lee-swe/
• Website: https://www.interviewcoder.co/

Where to Find David Phillips

• X: https://x.com/davj
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davjphillips/

In This Episode, We Cover

• (00:00) Welcome and intro
• (01:05) Roy's Harvard saga and forced gap year
• (03:00) Learning to code in isolation
• (05:10) Attending community college and meeting co-founders
• (07:00) Transferring to Columbia and launching Interview Coder
• (08:00) Building a viral-first product in 4 days
• (10:20) The MVP, tech stack, and early traction
• (12:00) Using the tool to land offers from Amazon, Meta, and more
• (13:30) Turning open source into $10K MRR
• (15:00) The infamous Amazon video and Columbia’s response
• (17:30) Leveraging virality to fight institutional pressure
• (19:30) Controversy and creator growth strategy
• (20:40) Getting into Z Fellows and its impact
• (22:00) Roy’s new startup: Pike
• (23:30) What's next and where to follow along

Referenced

• Interview Coder: https://www.interviewcoder.co
• Z Fellows: https://zfellows.com
• Roy’s Amazon interview post: Roy’s X Profile
• LeetCode: https://leetcode.com
• Cursor (AI code editor): https://www.cursor.sh
• Claude (AI assistant by Anthropic): https://www.anthropic.com/index/claude

Jay Reno is the founder and CEO of PointHound, a free platform helping hundreds of thousands of people earn and redeem credit card points for maximum value—often unlocking free business class flights. But Jay’s journey started long before PointHound. He previously founded Feather, a furniture subscription startup that redefined how millennials furnish their homes. Under Jay’s leadership, Feather scaled to $15M in annual recurring revenue, raised over $70M in funding, and was ultimately acquired in 2022.

In this conversation, Jay and David dive deep into the full founder arc—from early failures to scaling a venture-backed operation—and everything he's applying to his new startup. They discuss:

• How Jay lost his life savings on his first company—and what he learned
• The origin story behind Feather and the cold email that changed his life
• How Feather scaled from a duct-taped operation to $15M in ARR
• The operational challenges of running a semi-vertical logistics business
• Why the pandemic forced a complete shift in strategy
• What it’s like raising capital when everything looks perfect—but still isn’t easy
• How to build loyalty and change consumer behavior with time
• Why most people are wasting their credit card points—and what to do instead
• How PointHound helps anyone fly business class for free
• The cards Jay wishes he used while running Feather
• What Jay learned going through YC… twice
• Much more

Brought to you by:

• Fondo — Your all-in-one accounting platform for startups. Bookkeeping, taxes, and R&D credits, on autopilot. https://tryfondo.com
• PointHound — Redeem credit card points for free flights. No guesswork, just travel. https://pointhound.com

Find the transcript at: Startup Growth Podcast

Where to Find Jay Reno

• X: @jayjreno
• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jayjreno
• Website: https://pointhound.com

Where to Find David Phillips

• X: @davj
• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/davjphillips

In This Episode, We Cover

• (00:00) Introduction and welcome
• (01:22) Jay’s first founder punch with his grocery delivery startup
• (03:06) Early lessons from failure and jumping into Feather
• (04:43) Starting Feather and how the West Elm deal happened
• (06:55) Applying to YC from a pizza shop Wi-Fi
• (08:59) Feather’s scrappy early operations—manual delivery and DIY logistics
• (13:14) Raising a $3.5M seed and hitting 7% week-over-week growth
• (19:46) Operating out of a chaotic Dumbo retail space
• (22:34) Discovering a B2B growth channel and building a team
• (26:48) The surprising difficulty of raising a Series A
• (30:22) Closing a $30M warehouse line to unlock scale
• (33:20) How COVID froze growth and forced strategy shifts
• (36:02) Selling Feather to Vesta in 2022
• (37:03) Jay’s time in VC and why he returned to building
• (38:53) The pain of points mistakes and the birth of PointHound
• (40:20) The best (and worst) credit cards for startups
• (41:51) Making points redemption 10x easier and smarter
• (43:40) Getting PointHound’s first users through Reddit and Bookface
• (45:32) Final thoughts and where to find Jay

Referenced

• Feather: https://feather.com
• Y Combinator (YC): https://www.ycombinator.com
• 645 Ventures: https://645ventures.com
• Brex Card: https://www.brex.com/card
• Amex Business Gold: https://www.americanexpress.com/en-us/business/credit-cards/business-gold-card
• Capital One Spark Miles: https://www.capitalone.com/small-business/credit-cards/spark-miles
• Bookface (YC network): https://bookface.ycombinator.com
• Reddit r/Churning: https://www.reddit.com/r/churning/

Tade Oyerinde is the founder and chancellor of Campus, a revolutionary online community college reimagining access to higher education. Starting with viral dorm-room startups, Tade’s journey took him from building UniRoulette and CampusWire to acquiring an accredited college and launching Campus. Today, Campus serves over 2,000 students, employs 240+ staff, and has raised $100M+ in venture capital, all while helping students graduate debt-free.

In this conversation, Tade shares the winding path to building Campus, including:

• Building viral products from a college dorm
• Pivoting away from unsustainable growth and recognizing false signals
• Learning the limitations of synchronous social platforms
• Discovering the adjunct professor pay gap—and turning it into a wedge
• The insight that top professors teach at community colleges too
• Why he acquired a college instead of starting one from scratch
• Building custom education software from the ground up
• Raising capital from Sam Altman, Jason Citron, and General Catalyst
• Why Campus prioritizes human support over AI
• Much more

🔑 Key Takeaways

• Viral ≠ Valuable: Tade learned early that virality alone doesn’t lead to retention or sustainable business models.
• Adjuncts are the secret weapon: Many top professors are adjuncts—underpaid and overlooked—yet open to better platforms.
• Perception ≠ quality: Community colleges often offer courses from the same professors as elite schools, but carry social stigma.
• Build infrastructure, not integrations: Campus runs fully on internally built tools for instruction, administration, and student support.
• Debt-free college is viable: Through Pell Grants and optimized economics, 86% of Campus students pay $0 out-of-pocket.
• Support at scale is human-powered: Every 50 students are supported by a real advisor, counselor, or coach—not AI.
• Raising was milestone-driven: Capital was unlocked at each inflection point—acquisition, accreditation, first students, scaled cohorts.
• Skepticism is a superpower: Having experienced the hype-crash cycle before, Tade built Campus with deliberate, durable conviction.

Brought to you by:

• Fondo — The all-in-one accounting platform for startups: https://www.fondo.com

Where to Find Tade Oyerinde

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tadeoyerinde
• Website: https://www.campus.edu

Where to Find David Phillips (Host)

• X: https://x.com/davj
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davjphillips

In This Episode, We Cover

• (00:00) Intro to Tade and the Campus vision
• (01:35) The Tade origin story: homeschool, aerospace, and building UniRoulette
• (03:45) Going viral and raising a seed round in London
• (05:55) The retention issue with synchronous social apps
• (07:15) Pivoting into mobile apps for universities
• (09:35) Building CampusWire and avoiding enterprise sales
• (11:05) Cold emailing 1M professors to grow
• (12:45) How COVID created a head-fake spike
• (14:20) Discovering the adjunct pay gap
• (15:35) The insight that UCLA profs teach at community colleges too
• (16:25) Why community college students weren’t retaining
• (18:10) Walking away from CampusWire to start Campus
• (19:45) Meeting Ralph Wolff, and the plan to buy a college
• (21:10) How Tade raised to acquire an accredited school
• (23:05) The challenge of buying a college as a dropout
• (24:40) Getting the first students and launching Campus
• (26:10) Making college free via Pell Grants
• (27:40) The impact of improving retention on gross margins
• (29:10) Building all the software from scratch
• (30:10) Campus’ live class model and top professors
• (31:05) Hiring a full-time human for every 50 students
• (32:10) Lowering CAC from $15K to sustainable levels
• (33:50) Unlocking funding across inflection points
• (35:10) What’s next for Campus

Referenced
UniRoulette (inspired by ChatRoulette):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chatroulette

The Social Network (Film):
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1285016/

Clubhouse liquidity challenges:
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/11/style/clubhouse-app-decline.html

Andreessen Horowitz's investment in Clubhouse:
https://a16z.com/2021/01/24/investing-in-clubhouse/

CampusWire (Tade's previous startup):
https://www.campuswire.com/

General Catalyst:
https://www.generalcatalyst.com/

UC San Diego Transfer Admissions:
https://admissions.ucsd.edu/transfer/

FAFSA Application (for Pell Grants):
https://studentaid.gov/h/apply-for-aid/fafsa

In this episode of the Startup Growth Podcast, I sit down with Jason Levin, the founder and CEO of Memelord Technologies. Jason shares his unconventional path—from creating YouTube videos as a kid and ghostwriting for founders to authoring Memes Make Millions and launching a software that empowers companies like HubSpot and Coinbase to create viral memes. Discover how he leveraged newsletter hacks, guest posts, and cold DMs to build an organic growth engine and why starting small can lead to massive success.

Timestamps & Key Topics:
(00:00) – Introduction: David introduces the episode and welcomes Jason.
(00:49) – Origin Story: Jason recounts his early journey—from making YouTube videos at age 11 to mastering creative software in middle school.
(03:00) – Book Inspiration: Learn how a controversial lyric sparked the idea behind Memes Make Millions.
(04:00) – Transition to Software: Discover how Jason pivoted from ghostwriting to developing meme software that now drives billions of impressions.
(11:00) – Growth Hacks: Insight into how a simple newsletter (“meme alerts”), strategic guest posts, and cold DMs fueled his growth.
(21:00) – Pricing & Iteration: Jason explains his playful pricing strategy (6.9/month) and the value of early user feedback.
(29:00) – Evolving the Product: New features like SMS/Telegram alerts, AI-powered captions, and face swapping innovations.
(33:00) – Final Thoughts: Jason’s parting advice on staying true to your creative vision and the power of humor in branding.

Key Takeaways:

• Embrace Your Passion: Transform early creative interests into scalable business ideas.
• Organic Growth Wins: Use persistent, human-driven strategies—like newsletters and cold DMs—to build an engaged audience without relying solely on paid ads.
• Start Small, Iterate Quickly: A low initial price attracts early adopters and sets realistic expectations for continuous improvement.
• Focus on Revenue: Prioritize metrics like Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR) over follower counts to gauge true business success.

Guest Information & Resources:

• Jason Levin Socials:
  • X (Twitter): @iamjasonlevin
  • LinkedIn: Jason Levin
  • Instagram: @iamjasonlevin
• Memelord Technologies: Visit memelord.tech for more details on his innovative software.

Brought to you by tryfondo.com:
This episode is proudly sponsored by tryfondo.com – the easy accounting solution that helps startups get their bookkeeping done, file taxes, and claim up to $500k in tax credits effortlessly. Check them out for founder-friendly financial services!

Kush Patel is the co-founder of App Academy, a pioneering coding bootcamp that introduced the income share agreement (ISA) model to tech education. With a background in finance and a deep passion for unlocking access to opportunity, Kush helped scale App Academy from a modest, bootstrapped startup into a $25 million revenue business with global reach. In this episode, we dive into Kush's entrepreneurial journey, from launching the first free cohort on Hacker News to transforming lives through coding education. We discuss:

• How growing up with an entrepreneurial father shaped Kush’s mindset
• His transition from hedge fund finance to tech entrepreneurship
• The origin story behind App Academy and why the ISA model was revolutionary
• How Kush scaled the company from 20 students to thousands worldwide
• The challenges of transitioning from in-person education to online learning
• Why bootstrapping gave App Academy a competitive edge
• Leadership lessons from growing a team from zero to over 100 employees
• His current focus as Board Chair and why he’s investing in personal growth and health
• Much more

Brought to you by:

• Fondo — The best all-in-one accounting platform for startups: https://www.tryfondo.com

Where to Find Kush Patel

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kush-patel-3490994b/

Where to Find the Host

• X: https://x.com/davj
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davjphillips/

In This Episode, We Cover:

(00:21) Entrepreneurial inspiration from family.

(04:49) Coding bootcamp's innovative launch.

(09:46) Selecting students for coding class.

(12:49) Income share agreements in education.

(15:19) Launching and iterating contracts.

(19:04) Growth channels for App Academy.

(23:02) In-person coding bootcamp launch.

(27:17) Continuous product improvement strategies.

(30:39) Hiring for high potential talent.

(35:09) Online education challenges and opportunities.

(36:11) Online education community building.

(42:11) Freemium model and brand equity.

(44:39) Product funnel management strategies.

(49:29) Bootstrapped company growth success.

(51:35) Building a sustainable business.

Referenced:

• App Academy: https://www.appacademy.io/
• Hacker News: https://news.ycombinator.com/
• Income Share Agreement (ISA): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Income_share_agreement
• Twilio (Early hiring partner): https://www.twilio.com/
• Massdrop: https://drop.com/
• The Coding Bootcamp Market Landscape: https://www.coursereport.com/reports

Harsh Patel is a repeat founder, investor, and board member who has built and sold multiple companies, including MakerSquare, Hack Reactor, and Galvanize, which had a $165 million exit. With experience scaling businesses from zero to one, finding product-market fit, and navigating M&A, Harsh has seen it all.

In this conversation, we discuss:

• The hardest part of startup growth: Going from nothing to product-market fit
• How Harsh hacked early distribution to get first customers
• The rapid scale and exit of MakerSquare in under a year
• What made Hack Reactor grow from $1M to $8M in revenue so quickly
• How to know when to sell your startup
• The future of crypto and AI, and why meme coins might be the next big thing
• Why Harsh believes company equity will eventually live on the blockchain
• And much more!

Brought to you by:

• Fondo — The #1 accounting platform for startups. Get bookkeeping, taxes, and tax credits handled: TryFondo.com

Where to Find Harsh Patel

• X (Twitter): @HarshOnInternet
• LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/harshpatel1
• Website: https://hpatel.com

Where to Find Dav J Phillips

• X (Twitter): @davj
• LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/davjphillips

In This Episode, We Cover

• (00:00) Welcome and introduction
• (02:15) The challenge of finding product-market fit
• (06:40) Harsh’s first startup experiences in second grade and beyond
• (14:20) How he got the first users for MakerSquare using Quora
• (22:10) Scaling MakerSquare to $1M revenue in 8 months and selling
• (30:45) Growth lessons from Hack Reactor’s rapid scale to $8M revenue
• (41:00) Why Hack Reactor sold to Galvanize and what changed
• (50:35) Turning around Galvanize and selling for $165M
• (1:02:10) How startups might raise money through on-chain tokenized equity
• (1:14:00) Crypto, meme coins, and the future of decentralized businesses
• (1:22:30) Final thoughts and lessons for founders

Referenced in This Episode

• MakerSquare acquisition by Hack Reactor: TechCrunch
• Hack Reactor and Galvanize $165M exit: Forbes
• Quora's role in early startup growth: Quora
• Pump.fun: The rise of meme coins and tokenized businesses: Pump.fun
• Trump launching a meme coin and its regulatory implications: Bloomberg
• The future of AI in startups: OpenAI

Brought to you by...

Fondo: Your all-in-one accounting platform for startups. Get your books closed, taxes filed, and cash back from the IRS. - https://www.tryfondo.com/

In this podcast episode, I had the pleasure of speaking with Chris Bakke, who shared his journey from working in private equity to finding success in the tech startup world. He described how his experience in private equity was challenging and often felt like a grind, which led him to seek a more fulfilling career in technology. This transition taught him the importance of hard work and resilience, especially when facing tough tasks that may seem unglamorous at first.

Chris emphasized that the key to his success was not just about having a great product but also about persistence and adaptability. He learned that building a business requires a lot of cold outreach and networking, which can be exhausting but ultimately rewarding. His insights highlight that maintaining mental health and motivation is crucial when navigating the ups and downs of entrepreneurship, as it can lead to significant achievements and personal growth

Timestamp
(0:00) - Intro

(0:17) - Origin Story: Growing Up and Early Career

(0:48) - Transition from Private Equity to Tech Startups

(3:03) - Lessons from Private Equity: The Importance of Scrappiness

(8:21) - Building Interviewed: The Idea and Early Customers

(12:01) - Sales Process: From Cold Emails to Conferences

(35:05) - Acquisition by Indeed: The Negotiation Process and Insights

Host Links:

https://x.com/davj

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

Guest Links:

https://x.com/ChrisJBakke

https://www.linkedin.com/in/bakk3/

https://www.tryfondo.com/