The Luba Show

Today I'm talking to Sam Parr, Co-Founder of Hampton and Founder of The Hustle, and co-host of My First Million. Sam built The Hustle to over 1.5 million subscribers, sold it for more than $20 million, and now runs one of the most exclusive founder communities in the world.

Sam is a Midwestern kid turned serial entrepreneur: from running a hot dog stand to building a media empire to co-hosting My First Million, one of the biggest business podcasts out there. He's also one of the most refreshingly honest people I've ever talked to about money, marriage, and what it actually takes to build a life you're proud of.

We go deep on relationships, ambition, and what it means to commit — to a partner, to a company, to a version of yourself you haven't become yet. 

Topics we cover

• Why he and his wife had a "co-founder conversation" six months into dating and how it changed everything
• What billionaires all agree on about luck that most people starting out don't want to hear
• His controversial take: overnight successes are real — and sometimes you should quit faster
• How he uses negative visualization to stay grateful 
• SO much more!

Timestamps
00:00 Intro
01:55 When Money Doesn't Feel Real
05:55 Why My Wife Bet on Me
08:35 Run Your Marriage Like a Startup
13:43 Luck Is Real
16:57 Commit Then Figure It Out
21:43 Imagine the Worst, Feel Grateful
24:51 40 Hours Can Make You Rich
27:06 Am I a One-Hit Wonder?
30:43 How to Make Anyone Open Up

Links

Sam Parr
Instagram: https://instagram.com/thesamparr
X: https://x.com/thesamparr 
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@MyFirstMillionPod

Luba Yudasina
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lifeoflubaa
X: https://x.com/LubaYudasina 
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yudasinal

Today I'm talking to Kevin Zhang, Partner at Bain Capital Ventures. BCV sits inside Bain Capital, a $200 billion investment manager spanning private equity, credit, life sciences, and real estate, and Kevin has been there nearly a decade, leading early-stage bets from seed through Series B across AI, crypto, longevity, and industrials.

We talk about confidence, self-doubt, and what it actually takes to back people before it's obvious. Kevin opens up about feeling like there was a pane of glass between him and the people who got to make big decisions — and the slow, honest process of earning his own seat at the table.

We cover

• "Hyperstition": why enough people believing in something can make it true
• Why he thinks imposter syndrome is often just an accurate self-assessment
• The BCV Fellowship: a secret program to find star talent years before they start companies
• Full stack capitalism: why the most ambitious founders need more than just venture dollars
• His dream second career: political talent scout
• SO much more!

Timestamps
00:00 Intro
01:01 The Invisible Glass Ceiling
08:40 Surviving the Almost-Dead Startup
13:40 Full Stack Capitalism
19:24 Bet on People, Not Sectors
23:32 Spotting Greatness Early
27:05 Build Conviction
30:36 Beyond the SaaS Playbook
36:34 Understanding Society
39:21 Why He Stayed at Bain Capital
43:52 Investing in Founders
47:24 Rapid Fire

Links

Kevin Zhang
X: https://x.com/kevinzhang 
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevinzhang711/

Luba Yudasina
Instagram: https://instagram.com/lifeoflubaa
X: https://x.com/LubaYudasina 
LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/yudasinal

Today I'm talking to Hiten Shah, serial entrepreneur and co-founder of Crazy Egg, KISSmetrics, and Nira — which he sold to Dropbox. Hiten has been building SaaS companies for over 20 years and has quietly become one of the sharpest operators and thinkers in tech.

We go deep on metacognition, self-improvement, and what it actually takes to understand yourself well enough to build great companies and great relationships. Hiten opens up about his process for "poking at the world" to test his own thinking, how he uses Enneagram and Human Design with AI to unlock blind spots, and the mental models that have shaped how he works with co-founders, teams, and his own family.

We cover
- His "purple bruise" approach to giving advice — and how he trained himself to go from six-month-delayed feedback to next-day impact
- The Batman and Robin framework for co-founder relationships, partnerships, and even marriage
- Why building faster with AI doesn't mean learning faster — and the companies that have figured out the difference
- "Trust takes ten years" — the advice from a relative in India that keeps proving itself right
His life philosophy: "It was all a dream" — and what that has to do with presence
- SO much more!

Timestamps
00:00 Intro
01:45 Start Your Year in October
06:15 The Purple Bruise Method
12:23 AI as a Thinking Partner
20:13 Thinking About Your Thinking
25:06 Find Your Triggers First
29:32 Decide Fast With Less
34:50 Entrepreneur Since Age Four
42:17 Shed Judgment, Stay Curious
46:09 When Strengths Become Sabotage
49:56 Batman and Robin Partnerships
52:43 Finding the Right Co-Founder
59:53 Trust Takes Ten Years
1:05:04 Fast Success Hides Lessons
1:11:57 Build Faster ≠ Learn Faster
1:21:31 The Lost Craft of Startups
1:29:38 Follow Energy, Not Goals
1:36:05 The Crisis Nobody Sees
1:44:03 Selling at Peak Value
1:52:00 Know Yourself Through AI
2:07:15 One Idea, Many Posts
2:19:20 "It Was All a Dream"

Links

Hiten Shah 
X: https://x.com/hnshah
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hnshah/

Luba Yudasina
Instagram:  https://instagram.com/lifeoflubaa
X: https://x.com/LubaYudasina
LinkedIn:  https://linkedin.com/in/yudasinal

Today I'm talking to Ankur Nagpal - founder of Teachable (nine-figure exit) and Carry (acquired by AngelList), angel investor in 100+ startups, and now a GP at USVC, AngelList's public venture fund.

We talk about what it really feels like to sell two companies, why honesty is more powerful than hype, and what Ankur's learned about building, investing, and knowing when enough is enough. He gets refreshingly real about the parts of startup life nobody talks about — from emotional runway to the immigrant lens on America's self-help culture.

We cover:
- Why most people should never raise venture capital
- The three things he looks for in founders (and why the third one is controversial)
- From reading Losing My Virginity at 13 to wanting to buy a sports team — and put himself on the roster
- SO much more!

Timestamps
00:00 Intro
00:55 Twice Lucky, Still Humble
05:53 Confidence Is Just Age
08:18 Stress Beats Every Biohack
12:28 Venture Investing for Everyone
19:17 What Makes a Great Founder
23:05 Emotional Runway Kills First
27:53 Don't Raise Venture Capital
30:02 Your Happy Number
34:17 The $20K That Becomes Millions
37:42 Finding Your Zone of Genius
41:59 Read for Joy, Not Optimization
48:23 Maximize Your Surface Area

Links

Ankur Nagpal
X: https://x.com/ankurnagpal
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ankurnagpal/

Luba Yudasina
Instagram:  https://instagram.com/lifeoflubaa
X: https://x.com/LubaYudasina
LinkedIn:  https://linkedin.com/in/yudasinal

Grant Sanderson, (@3Blue1Brown) created one of the most beloved math channels on the internet.

Grant is a Stanford math grad, Khan Academy alum, and self-taught animator who built his own open-source visualization engine from scratch. From students learning linear algebra for the first time, to researchers, to millions of curious people on the internet, @3blue1brown makes math feel beautiful.

Topics we cover

• How Grant wrote the "best wedding speech anyone's ever heard" with 24 hours notice
• Why he's never felt the burnout other creators describe after 10+ years
• His take on the algorithm
• The real problem with modern education 
• Being a source vs. being a relay and original thinking
• Why he's now building a team and rethinking sponsorships

Timestamps

00:00 Intro

01:05 How to Write a Wedding Speech

07:04 Use Pauses Like a Pro

11:39 Going Full Time on YouTube

17:27 Why I Left Academia

20:51 Explain It vs. Discover It

27:53 Be a Source, Not a Relay

39:00 The Analytics Dopamine Trap

43:23 Your Algorithm = Your Audience

47:36 Fun Work vs. Strategic Work

52:12 Mental Hygiene for Creators

54:15 Write to Think, Not to Publish

56:49 How My Team Changed Everything

01:01:36 New Ways I'm Making Money

01:06:05 The Loneliness of Solo Creating

01:09:37 How Ego Shapes Your Topics

01:11:31 The Beauty of High Dimensions

01:17:36 Pretty Videos vs. Clear Videos

01:23:14 Will LLMs Kill Motivation to Learn?

01:29:32 Don't Niche Down Too Early

01:34:37 Happiness vs. Fulfillment

01:38:01 Growth vs. Serving Your Audience

01:48:37 Teaching Empathy to Kids

01:51:48 Lightning Round

I hope you enjoy this one!!

Links

Grant Sanderson
YouTube: https://youtube.com/3blue1brown
X: https://x.com/3blue1brown 

Luba Yudasina
Instagram: https://instagram.com/lifeoflubaa
X: https://x.com/LubaYudasina 
LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/yudasinal

Today I'm talking to Jay Graber, founder and former CEOof Bluesky. Bluesky recently announced raising $100M in Series B funding to build a decentralized social protocol that could reshape how we think about online communication.

Jay is a blockchain builder who accidentally became the CEO of a social media platform — one the internet cast as a protest movement whether she liked it or not.

Jay's story is the opposite of a straight path. She grew up in rural Oklahoma with a Chinese immigrant mother and a Swiss-American father, went to Beijing for a year as a teenager, hitchhiked through Europe, learned to code through a bootcamp, and eventually landed on the mission that defines her work: building social media architecture that protects freedom of expression by removing centralized control. She's the rare founder who can talk equally fluently about the Cultural Revolution, decentralized protocols, Twitter's DNA, and why moderation at scale is a nearly unsolvable problem—because she's actually grappled with each of these.

We talk about the relationship between technology and power, and why Jay is convinced that the internet's architecture—not good intentions—determines whether a society stays free. She opens up about the bet she's making on decentralization, the years of research that led to Bluesky, and what it actually takes to rebuild social media from first principles.

• How a childhood name became destiny: "Blue Sky" in Chinese, then Jack Dorsey's unannounced Twitter project

• The moment she realized: you can't change systems from the outside—you have to know how to code

• Why "protocols, not platforms" could solve moderation at billion-person scale

• From Zcash experiments to scuttlebutt to designing her own protocol—the long road to Bluesky

• What it means to bet your career on decentralization when most of the world isn't ready

and much more…

Timestamps
 (0:00) Introduction
 (1:16) Early Life & Cultural Heritage
 (5:41) Year Abroad in China
 (18:34) Learning Programming & Career Transition
 (38:42) Getting into Cryptocurrency
 (47:47) Working on Zcash & Privacy Technology
 (58:34) Happening.app & Event Platform
 (1:08:30) Blue Sky Origins & Early Days
 (1:11:18) COVID & the Working Group
 (1:24:16) Becoming Blue Sky Lead
 (1:33:06) Decentralized Social Media Explained
 (1:36:09) Twitter Acquisition & Independence
 (1:39:19) Building a Social Media Company
 (2:05:17) Leadership & Management Philosophy
 (2:13:53) Life Philosophy & Closing Thoughts

Links

X: https://x.com/arcalinea

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaygraber/

Luba Yudasina

Instagram: / lifeoflubaa

X: https://x.com/LubaYudasina

LinkedIn: / yudasinal

Today I'm talking to Haseeb Qureshi, Managing Partner of Dragonfly Capital. Dragonfly just closed a 650M fund 4 with over 4B raised in total. 

Haseeb is a former professional poker player, self-taught engineer, Airbnb alum, and one of the most respected voices in crypto investing.

We talk about manhood, meaning, and what it takes to build a life worth living. Haseeb opens up about his unlikely path — from poker tables to Silicon Valley, from viral salary blog posts to leading one of the most competitive funds in crypto — and what it's actually taken to prove himself at each step.

Topics covered
- How a viral salary blog post made Haseeb the most controversial new hire at Airbnb
- The genealogy of his love for teaching — and why it starts with his mother
- Why he thinks VC is "kind of cringe" — and how Dragonfly is different
- From poker to code to crypto: how he chose his path using first principles
- What makes a great co-founder partnership (and how to stress-test one)
- Masculinity, strength, and responsibility in a feminized society
- Greatness vs. excellence: why he stopped caring about legacy

SO much more!

Timestamps
(00:00) Intro
(01:14) How We Met at Airbnb
(03:00) The Viral Salary Blog Post
(06:38) Imposter Syndrome and Proving Yourself
(09:14) The Airbnb Culture Mismatch
(17:41) Running Dragonfly Like a Championship Team
(22:00) The Instinct to Teach
(26:40) Learning by Teaching: How to Master Any Domain
(37:40) From Poker Player to Engineer to Crypto Investor
(41:13) Why He Chose Crypto Over AI
(43:47) Marc Andreessen and the Danger of Role Models
(48:20) Joining Metastable and Founding Dragonfly
(55:00) Why VC is Cringe (But Dragonfly Isn't)
(58:00) How to Stress-Test Co-Founder Trust
(01:11:55) The Search for Meaning in His 20s
(01:15:00) Greatness vs. Excellence vs. Flourishing
(01:18:00) Legacy — and Why He No Longer Cares
(01:22:00) Personal Writing and the Need to Be Witnessed
(01:32:45) Masculinity, Strength, and Responsibility
(01:41:50) Society's Masculinity Crisis
(01:55:30) Discipline Systems and Contracts With Yourself
(02:02:10) Vipassana and the Valley of Darkness
(02:07:20) Goal Setting: Outcome vs. Process Goals
(02:13:45) Lightning Round: Money, Mentors, Movies, and More
(02:23:20) Is Crypto Happening?

Links

Haseeb Qureshi
X: https://x.com/hosseeb

Luba Yudasina
Instagram: https://instagram.com/lifeoflubaa
X: https://x.com/LubaYudasina
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yudasinal/

Juan Benet is the founder of Protocol Labs, where he focuses on advancing humanity's knowledge systems through tech like IPFS and Filecoin, and funding projects advancing the cause.

Juan dedicated his career to understanding and accelerating how humanity creates, stores, and expands knowledge.

What’s unique about Juan is that he thinks in decades and has organized his ventures to represent this.

Topics Covered

- Early curiosity and the quest for knowledge
- The three knowledge systems: genetic, neural, and digital
- From Bell Labs inspiration to Protocol Labs
- Building IPFS and Filecoin
- Innovation networks vs traditional companies
- Brain-computer interfaces and the future of human enhancement
- Predictions for 10 and 50 years

Timestamps

(01:37) Early Curiosity and Encyclopedia Reading
(04:18) The Internet and Information Overload
(06:42) Knowledge as Capability
(15:42) Morality and Scientific Understanding
(28:57) Three Knowledge Systems
(29:42) Genetic Knowledge System
(35:42) Neural Knowledge System
(42:18) Digital Knowledge System
(44:42) The Tree of Knowledge
(49:18) Path to Protocol Labs
(51:42) Bell Labs Inspiration
(54:18) Building IPFS and Filecoin
(56:42) Crypto and Bitcoin
(01:09:42) Innovation Networks vs Companies
(01:12:18) Protocol Labs Structure
(01:18:42) PL Focus Areas
(01:19:18) Web3 and Digital Human Rights
(01:21:42) AI and Robotics
(01:24:18) Neurotech and Brain-Computer Interfaces
(01:27:42) Three Cases for Neurotech
(01:28:42) Medical Applications and Repair
(01:33:18) Enhancing Human Experience
(01:38:42) Digital Evolution and AI Coexistence
(01:46:18) Consciousness and Digital Minds
(01:54:42) Predictions for 2036
(02:04:18) Predictions for 2076
(02:11:42) Wrap up

Links

Juan Benet
X: https://x.com/juanbenet
Protocol Labs: https://www.protocol.ai/

Luba Yudasina
https://instagram.com/lifeoflubaa

https://linkedin.com/in/yudasinal

Today I'm joined by Michelle Volz, solo GP of Pax, a VC fund focused on American Dynamism. Michelle is a Guinness World Record holder for the fastest aggregate marathon time across seven continents, a former Andreessen Horowitz investor, and a Palantir alumna.

We have a wide-ranging conversation about endurance, ambition, and what it takes to build hard things. Michelle opens up about her unconventional path from biomedical engineering to running marathons on every continent, to becoming one of the most active early-stage investors in defense tech and American Dynamism.

We explore the psychology of pain, the difference between process and outcome-oriented people, and why ego can be a powerful motivator when channeled correctly.

It's a thoughtful look at someone who's chosen the hard path repeatedly: whether it's running 100 kilometers through Zion National Park or leaving the comfort of a16z to start her own fund and why betting on yourself is the ultimate endurance sport.

Topics covered

• Guinness World Record for fastest seven-continent marathon aggregate time
• The psychology of loving pain and seeking hard challenges
• Why Marines and ultra-runners make great founders
• Ego as a tool: using external motivation to achieve internal goals
• Her path to Venture
• Why talent from Palantir, SpaceX, and Anduril is reshaping hard tech
• Starting a solo GP fund and the parallels to founding a company

and much more…

Timestamps

(00:00) Intro

(01:16) Guinness World Record Journey

(06:00) Being Process vs Outcome Orientation

(10:06) Training Philosophy and Competition

(13:57) The 100K Ultra Experience

(16:42) Type Two Fun and Founders

(17:26) The Love of Pain

(18:46) Marines and Pain-Seeking Personality

(25:54) High Ego, Low Discipline

(28:57) From Biomedical Engineering to Tech

(33:31) Working at Palantir Experience

(47:41) Mission vs Loving the Game

(51:10) MIT and Defense Tech Club

(56:11) Getting into a16z

(58:59) What is American Dynamism

(01:01:57) Palantir, SpaceX, and Anduril's Impact

(01:06:05) Cultural Shift Toward Hard Problems

(01:09:00) Bipartisan Nature of American Dynamism

(01:14:33) Working at Andreessen Horowitz

(01:18:21) Starting Pax

(01:20:37) Everyone Said Don't Do It

(01:24:36) LP Market and Fundraising Reality

(01:35:50) Time Management and Saying No

Links

Michelle Volz
X: https://x.com/MichelleVolz
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michellevolz1/

Luba Yudasina
Instagram: https://instagram.com/lifeoflubaa
X: https://x.com/LubaYudaisna
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yudasinal/

Today I’m joined by Eugene Wei. Eugene is former executive at Amazon, Hulu, Flipboard, and Oculus, a writer, a product thinker, and as I like to think about him - a renaissance man.

We have a wide-ranging conversation about technology, culture, and what it means to be human in the digital age. Eugene, known for his influential long-form essays on tech and culture, opens up about stepping back from Silicon Valley's relentless pace to reconnect with what matters.

The conversation moves through the performative nature of modern life, the decline of authentic community, and why Eugene believes we need to reclaim friction in our lives. They discuss the loneliness epidemic, the death of the blogging era, creator burnout, and whether we're ready to live entirely through screens.

It's a thoughtful, grounded look at someone who's choosing depth over speed, real connection over virtual performance, and asking the hard questions about what technology is doing to our humanity.

Topics covered:

• Why film festivals are his form of meditation
• The "slow cancellation of the future" and cultural stagnation
• How algorithms shape our perception of reality
• The economics of indie film and streaming
• Why tech needs better storytellers
• Finding community in an age of isolation
• The hidden costs of frictionless living
• Collective agency and hope for the future

Timestamps:

(00:00) Trailer

(01:16) Introduction to Eugene Wei

(04:31) Film Festivals and the End of Summer

(11:06) Boredom as Meditation and Creative Space

(12:32) The Slow Cancellation of the Future

(17:17) Rear Window and Social Media as Voyeurism

(20:39) The Performative Self and Creator Burnout

(21:25) Audience Capture and Writing

(24:26) The Comfort of Joining a Crowd

(28:48) Film Festival Economics and Indie Cinema

(31:15) The Streaming Model's Impact on Hollywood

(38:23) Pricing Anchors: Netflix and OpenAI

(40:32) Stepping Back from Tech's Take Culture

(43:55) Silicon Valley Culture

(47:07) AI and Desensitization to Breakthroughs

(50:17) Tech's Responsibility and Steve Jobs

(59:32) Personal Technology Hygiene

(01:03:25) Social Media as Our Perceptual Field

(01:06:31) The Pandemic Experiment: Living Through Screens

(01:09:11) Missing the Social Networking Era

(01:10:50) The Blogging Era and Tech Meme

(01:16:33) Writing as Therapy

(01:21:05) The Decline of Community Structures

(01:22:05) College as Peak Community

(01:23:26) Friction, Flaking, and the Smartphone Era

(01:26:45) Religious Movements and Community Sacrifice

(01:28:17) Remote Work and Lost Social Structures

(01:29:39) The Future is Bright: Young People at Interact

(01:31:14) Hope: Collective Agency and Micro-Communities

(01:35:47) Closing Thoughts

Eugene Wei
**https://eugenewei.substack.com/**
**https://x.com/eugenewei**

Luba Yudasina

**https://instagram.com/lifeoflubaa**

**https://linkedin.com/in/yudasinal**