The Trust Moat Podcast

The Trust Moat explores why trust is the last durable competitive advantage — and the founders, investors, and builders who understand it. 📩 Get every episode and essay in your inbox — subscribe to The Trust Moat newsletter: https://majapbaines.substack.com/

Dr. Admir Hadžić, ex-Columbia professor and founder of NYSORA, on why AI can copy any medical textbook but not the trust behind it, and why medical students no longer read books. AI is changing medical education. Content is now a commodity, and anyone can generate a textbook, an illustration or a lecture.

So what is left? Dr. Hadžić says it's authority, brand and community, and that you can't buy them. In this episode of the Trust Moat Podcast, Maja Perovic Baines talks with Dr. Admir Hadžić, anesthesiologist, author of the textbooks that became the standard in regional anesthesia, and founder of NYSORA (New School of Regional Anesthesia). He started NYSORA in 1993.Today it reaches over 10 million readers a year, with a community of over half a million clinicians.

CHAPTERS

0:00 Intro: AI, Trust and the Future of Medical Education

1:26 From Yugoslavia to Columbia: Medical Education in Europe vs the US 6:32 Founding NYSORA and Writing the Standard Regional Anesthesia Textbooks

10:00 Why Medical Publishers Lost Their Edge

11:12 Spotting New Technology Early: The Internet, Apps and Medical Knowledge

14:21 Predatory Journals and Information Overload: Why Trust Is the Moat 18:51 Building the NYSORA Ecosystem: Apps, Events, Textbooks and Online Courses

20:30 How Free YouTube Content Grew Paid Revenue

23:28 Community Over Content: A 60–70% Newsletter Open Rate

26:44 The Founder Operating System: Energy, Pattern Recognition, Vision, Decision, Persistence

35:03 Founder Mistakes: Why Success in One Field Doesn't Transfer

38:43 Perfectionism vs MVP: Lessons From Research, Business and Lean Management

46:38 Building NYSORA's First App and Learning to Delegate

50:37 AI in Medical Education: Why Better Questions Get Better Answers 55:30 Why Attention Spans Are Collapsing: The Barcelona VR Story

1:00:36 Education Needs Experience, Not Just Information

1:04:00 From Sound Engineer Dream to Failing the Medical School Entrance Exam

1:07:10 The Death of Textbooks: Why Medical Students Study From Flashcards, Not Books

1:11:22 Exam-Focused Learning, AI and the Decline of the General Practitioner

1:13:40 Will AI Replace Doctors' Decision-Making? AI vs Clinicians

1:15:20 Inside NYSORA's Medical AI Assistant: Verified Knowledge for Anesthesiologists

1:21:20 What's Next: AI Agents and Global Healthcare Certification

1:24:58 Advice for Founders: Focus, Team and Embracing AI

WHAT WE COVER

→ Why medical students study from flashcards instead of books

→ How AI is changing medical education and clinical decision-making

→ Why content is a commodity and trust is the moat

→ How NYSORA grew from a free website into a full education ecosystem: apps, journals, textbooks, live events and online courses

→ Why giving away free YouTube content grew paid revenue

→ How a 60–70% newsletter open rate is built

→ From Yugoslavia to Columbia University: what moving to the US taught him

→ Why education now needs experience, not just information

→ A specialised medical AI trained on peer-reviewed content and checked by over 100 expert clinicians

→ The operating system for success: energy, pattern recognition, vision, decision, relentless action and persistence

ABOUT THE GUEST Dr. Admir Hadžić is a professor and anesthesiologist, former Columbia University faculty member, and founder of NYSORA, a leading platform for regional anesthesia and pain medicine education.

NYSORA: https://nysora.com/

NYSORA on YouTube:    / @nysoravideo  

ABOUT TRUST MOAT Trust Moat is a podcast about founders who build durable businesses on trust, not hype. Hosted by Maja Perovic Baines, a media producer and former CMO.

#MedicalEducation #AI #TrustMoat

Follow Admir: LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/hadzic-admir/ 

Connect with Maja: LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/zmajapbaines/

Listen to Artifakt Podcast Maja hosts, in Serbian    / @artifakt_podcast  

Why are women's healthcare startups overlooked by venture capital? Can the longevity industry back up its promises? And what does Bryan Johnson's million-dollar-a-year approach to living longer mean for everyone else?

In this episode, Maja Baines speaks with Jean Roubas, Health Investment Director at 50 Partners, about the clash between financial returns and progress in healthcare.

After his healthtech startup failed, Jean began supporting companies tackling medical problems. They explore why medicine has historically focused on the male body and why women's health still needs more attention.

Can femtech companies improve care for thousands of patients even if they never become unicorns? Can venture capital make room for businesses that need years, not months, to deliver results? Jean explains the 50 Partners model: experienced entrepreneurs invest expertise, networks and time in startups rather than relying on funding alone. He also questions a VC system that chases explosive growth and moves on quickly when companies cannot deliver it.

Then comes longevity. From blood biomarkers and biological age to expensive wellness tests, how much is supported by clinical evidence? Maja asks about Bryan Johnson's Immortals program, described in their conversation as costing $1 million a year.

Jean considers whether experiments aimed at living longer can benefit ordinary patients, and whether longevity is selling healthier lives or unnecessary anxiety. The conversation also covers healthcare innovation in France versus the US, Europe's aging population, cancer treatment, prevention, and the personal cost of startup failure.

If you're interested in healthtech, biotech, startup investing, longevity science or the future of healthcare, this conversation challenges what progress should mean. What matters more: a company that grows fast, or one that helps more people?

 The Trust Moat explores why trust is the last durable competitive advantage — and the founders, investors, and builders who understand it.

CHAPTERS

00:00 - Introduction: Impact Over Speed

01:23 - From Duke Operating Rooms to Healthtech Founder

03:24 - Founding Data for Life & The Hard Lessons of Failure

08:20 - The "Hammer Looking for a Nail" Trap

09:52 - Inside 50 Partners: Investing Expertise Over Pure Capital

12:47 - Why the Traditional VC Model Struggles in Healthcare

16:32 - The North Star: Better Care for the Greater Number

18:00 - Why Most Longevity Startups Fail Clinical Scrutiny

24:17 - Incentives in Healthcare: Europe vs. the United States

29:24 - Europe's Aging Population Crisis & Systemic Challenges

34:06 - Keeping R&D in Europe While Scaling to the US

37:26 - The Brian Johnson Trend & The Ethics of Longevity

41:40 - Portfolio Spotlights: Glaster, Biloba & Real Impact

46:48 - Solving the Prevention vs. Treatment Equation

50:12 - Hard-Earned Advice for Early-Stage Healthcare Founders

53:20 - Closing Thoughts: Where Urgency Truly Matters

Follow Jean: LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeanroubas/  

Find out more about 50 Partners Health: https://en.50partners.fr/programmes/sante

Watch The Trust Moat Podcast on Youtube --> https://www.youtube.com/@TheTrustMoatPod 

Connect with Maja: LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/zmajapbaines/ 

Listen to Artifakt Podcast Maja hosts, in Serbian    / @artifakt_podcast   SEO strategy done by HappySeal Agency https://happysealagency.com

Can AI nurture childhood curiosity instead of trapping kids in passive screen time? In this episode of The Trust Moat Pod, I sit down with Lionel Mora, co-founder of Marble—an AI mobile app designed for children ages 6 to 12. Unlike conventional consumer apps built to maximize time on screen, Marble is engineered to spark real-world curiosity, encourage active problem-solving, and push kids to go outside and create. Lionel breaks down the philosophy behind building a subscription-first, ad-free product for families, the technical challenge of deploying multi-agent safety checks in real time, and why they decided to open-source the Marble dynamic curriculum.

We cover:

- Why standard AI tools fall short when interacting with young children

- Shifting from "edutainment" to active learning playgrounds

- The decision to open-source the Marble knowledge curriculum

- Why high-quality interactive screen time beats passive consumption

- Real-time multi-agent safety guardrails and manual human oversight

- How to measure and reward genuine curiosity over simple test scores

- Building a subscription-based model to avoid advertising incentives

The Trust Moat explores why trust is the last durable competitive advantage — and the founders, investors, and builders who understand it.

📩 Get every episode and essay in your inbox — subscribe to The Trust Moat newsletter: https://majapbaines.substack.com/

CHAPTERS

00:00 - Introduction & The Mission Behind Marble

01:56 - What Most Tech Gets Wrong About Kids & Screen Time

04:00 - Why Curiosity & Agency Matter for the Next Generation

06:16 - Active Friction vs. Instant AI Answers

11:00 - Rethinking EdTech: Playgrounds Instead of Tutors

13:37 - Why Marble Open-Sourced Its K-12 Curriculum

20:00 - Grounding the Knowledge Graph in National Standards

22:04 - Why Marble Chose Screens Over Voice-Only

23:41 - Multi-Agent Safety Layers & Real-Time Guardrails

27:08 - Human-in-the-Loop Review & Benchmark Testing

29:54 - Designing AI That Sends Kids Away From Screens

32:53 - Measuring Curiosity & Academic Research Partnerships

36:00 - Unlocking Intrinsic Motivation for 95% of Learners

38:00 - Choosing Subscriptions Over Attention-Economy Ads

43:40 - The Proximal Zone of Development in AI Education

46:00 - Early Beta Insights & Magic Moments 49:05 - Giving Parents Visibility and Direct Input 54:30 - Building With the Community & Closing Thoughts

Follow Lionel: LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/lionelmora/

Find out more about Marble: https://withmarble.com/

Watch The Trust Moat on YouTube: https://youtu.be/WzbXoB7pY6Q 

Connect with Maja:

LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/zmajapbaines

X – https://x.com/lazarevic_p?s=11 Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/majaperovicbaines_mbm

Listen to Artifakt Podcast Maja hosts, in Serbian https://www.youtube.com/@UCzv93udXqG_Pt4CKemmdWvQ 

As AI data centers demand gigawatts of power and the world shifts toward renewables, the global energy grid faces an unprecedented challenge: how do we stabilize intermittent power and secure energy sovereignty?

In this episode of The Trust Moat Pod, I sit down with Wasim Sarwar, CEO of Rimac Energy.

From engineering high-performance battery systems for hypercars to pioneering next-generation grid-scale stationary storage, Wasim shares how Rimac Energy is building software-defined batteries, why systems integration matters more than raw cell production, and what Europe must do to compete with the US and China in the race for clean energy infrastructure.

The episode was supported by https://dealion.net/, a vetted circle of revenue leaders and founders built around meeting face-to-face, with a private space where the conversation continues in between.

We cover:

The Trust Moat explores why trust is the last durable competitive advantage — and the founders, investors, and builders who understand it. 📩 Get every episode and essay in your inbox — subscribe to The Trust Moat newsletter: https://majapbaines.substack.com/

CHAPTERS

00:00 - Introduction & The Global Energy Landscape

01:40 - Why Wasim Founded Rimac Energy

03:12 - Solving Grid Intermittency with Energy Storage

07:05 - The Battle for European Energy Sovereignty

08:13 - 18 Months in Stealth: Focus on Deep-Tech Innovation

11:00 - Engineering Talent & Building in Croatia

14:05 - The "So What?" Metric: Product Differentiation

16:30 - AI Boom, Data Centers & Surging Energy Demand

20:00 - Made in Europe: Competing with China & the US

29:00 - The State of European Battery Cell Manufacturing

33:50 - Software-Defined Batteries & Distributed Inverters

39:00 - Trust, Openness, and Long-Term Unit Economics

44:15 - Strategic Forecasting & The Road Ahead Follow Wasim: LinkedIn –

In this episode of The Trust Moat, I sit down with Ben, the solo founder behind Polsia, one of the most talked-about and controversial startups in the AI space.

With a $10M ARR and a mission to "turn everyone into a founder," Ben has captured massive attention while facing intense scrutiny over his product's delivery and Trustpilot reviews.

Whether you're a skeptic or a believer, this conversation is a masterclass in distribution, attention, and the brutal reality of building at the bleeding edge of AI. We cover:

The Mission: Turning non-technical people into economic contributors. 

The Controversy: Addressing "scam" allegations and Trustpilot reviews. 

The Business Model: Moving from high-priced subscriptions to a Shopify-style marketplace.

The "Solo" Secret: How Ben leverages infrastructure partners instead of hiring a full-time team.

The AI Race: Why OpenAI and Google are "scared" of releasing true autonomy.

The Trust Moat explores why trust is the last durable competitive advantage — and the founders, investors, and builders who understand it.

📩 Get every episode and essay in your inbox — subscribe to The Trust Moat newsletter: https://majapbaines.substack.com/

CHAPTERS

00:00 - Introduction: Is Polsia a brilliant experiment or "trustwashing"? 02:50 - Lessons from Travis Kalanick: Building things with a 10x improvement.

04:55 - Is AI a dangerous gamble? Ben’s take on the future of humanity. 07:05 - The $50 "Scam": Explaining the high cost of AI compute.

09:25 - Dealing with bugs and the "Loud Minority" on Twitter.

10:45 - The Pulsia Promise: Turning everyone into a founder.

13:10 - What is God Mode? The cost of real AI autonomy.

15:15 - Facing the Trustpilot reviews: 1.8 stars vs. 2,000 happy users.

22:30 - Building in Public: Breaking down the $10M ARR dashboard.

27:00 - The Pivot: Why Polsia is dropping its price to $20.

33:15 - The Shopify Parallel: Making money on transactions, not just seats. 43:00 - The Innovator's Dilemma: Why Google and OpenAI are playing it safe.

50:15 - Why Ben has zero employees (and how he scales anyway).

57:10 - Public Perception vs. Private Trust: What really matters for Polsia's future.

Follow Ben Cera:

LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/benbroca/

X – https://x.com/Bencera?lang=en

Listen to The Trust Moat:

🎧 Spotify – https://open.spotify.com/show/1aLHebAw2S6DC3HLyEjuKQ 🎧 Apple Podcasts – https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-trust-moat-podcast/id1895009648

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Connect with Maja: LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/zmajapbaines X – https://x.com/lazarevic_p?s=11

Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/majaperovicbaines_mbm 

In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Julia Stamm to unpack a critical disconnect in the modern workplace: the AI "sabotage gap." While executives race to implement AI, many employees resist, mostly because of a fundamental lack of trust and agency.

Dr. Stam introduces her "TRAP" framework (Trust, Relevance, Attention, and Potential) and explains how leaders can flip the script by focusing on Purpose, Agency, Responsibility, and Trust when introducing AI. We dive deep into why technology alone isn't the answer and why the future of innovation depends on reclaiming our human judgment.

In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Julia Stamm to unpack a critical We explore:

The Trust Moat explores why trust is the last durable competitive advantage — and the founders, investors, and builders who understand it. 📩 Get every episode and essay in your inbox — subscribe to The Trust Moat newsletter: https://majapbaines.substack.com/

Connect with Maja: LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/zmajapbaines 

X – https://x.com/lazarevic_p?s=11

Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/majaperovicbaines_mbm 

In this episode of The Trust Moat, Ina Jovičić, co-founder and CEO of eNOugh — shares the harrowing personal story behind the eNO badge: a smart safety wearable that uses audio, video, motion, and heart-rate detection to identify danger and alert real human dispatchers in real time.

We get into why existing safety apps fail in the moments that matter, how the AI "brain" works without a single button press, and the trust decision at the core of the product — footage so private that not even the woman wearing it can access it.

This is a conversation about women's safety technology, building hardware against the odds, and why trust is the real competitive moat.

The episode is made possible by https://www.therecursive.com/, community-born tech media and relationship infrastructure connecting CEE, GCC, and DACH

We explore:

- The inception story: how a personal attack in London led to founding eNOugh

- The problem with current tech: why existing hardware and safety apps fail in high-stress moments

- How the eNO badge works: the AI "brain" that detects danger with zero manual input

- Privacy & trust: why the footage is encrypted and inaccessible — even to the wearer

- The hardware challenge: pitching a women's safety product to a male-dominated investor landscape

- The future of public safety: empowering women and helping law enforcement through better evidence.

The Trust Moat explores why trust is the last durable competitive advantage — and the founders, investors, and builders who understand it.

📩 Get every episode and essay in your inbox — subscribe to The Trust Moat newsletter: https://majapbaines.substack.com/

CHAPTERS

00:00 – Cold open: 1 in 3 women will face violence

01:50 – The London incident: Ina's story of survival

03:55 – Safety in Prague vs. London: the normalization of fear

07:05 – The data: 900,000 yearly crimes and why current tech fails

11:02 – Building the team: Balkan roots and finding co-founders

14:59 – Form factor: why chest-level placement is critical for deterrence 16:20 – The "AI brain": real-time threat detection (audio, video, heart rate) 17:55 – Eliminating manual steps: why phones fail in emergencies

19:11 – Accuracy & prevention: why cameras stop 70% of attacks

24:26 – The OpenAI shift: how hardware investing changed in 2025

28:20 – Conviction: why Ina refused to go "fully B2B" for investors

30:36 – Safety certifications: working with the British Transport Police

32:14 – Privacy first: why footage is encrypted and protected

34:36 – Profit vs. cause: building when you're solving your own problem 37:32 – Joining the waitlist: how to get the eNO badge

39:00 – Global impact: future plans for India, Brazil, and beyond

42:25 – The ultimate goal: the "sisterhood nod" on the London Underground

----

Follow Ina Jovičić: LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/ina-jovicic/

Explore eNOugh: https://www.enobadge.com/home

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Connect with Maja: LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/zmajapbaines

X – https://x.com/lazarevic_p?s=11 I

Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/majaperovic...

Wally Wong (founder of Scale Asia Ventures) joins the podcast to break down the rapidly evolving landscape of "Physical AI" and why the industry is currently at a critical crossroads between software "brains" and hardware "bodies." In this episode, we explore:

Whether you're an investor, a tech enthusiast, or just curious about how robots will integrate into our daily lives, Wally provides a sobering and insightful look at the distance between the hype and the reality of Physical AI.

--- The Trust Moat Podcast explores why trust is the last durable competitive advantage—and the founders, investors, and builders who understand it. --

Follow Wally on: LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/wallyyingxiaowang/ 

Connect with Maja on:

In this episode of The Trust Moat, I sit down with Yash Terkiwal, the founding GTM Engineer at Clay, to explore why AI and automation won't replace humans, but rather amplify our creative and strategic potential. If you're a founder or builder trying to navigate the 'AI vs. Human' question, Yash’s insights on creativity and critical thinking are essential.

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The Trust Moat Podcast explores why trust is the last durable competitive advantage—and the founders, investors, and builders who understand it.

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This episode was filmed at SaaStanak 2026, in Šibenik, Croatia - where SaaS meets sea and sand. More about it here https://saastanak.com/ What we cover:

Follow Yash on:

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/yashtekriwal/

CHAPTER 1 - THE AUTOMATION PARADOX: REDEFINING WORK & THE RISE OF THE GTM ENGINEER

03:15 - The contradiction of selling automation while teaching humans 04:22 - Identifying "non-human" tasks in knowledge work

06:29 - Why human interaction remains the center of Clay’s BDR strategy 12:50 - Defining the GTM Engineer: Collapsing systems and strategy CHAPTER 2 - INSTALLING MECHANISMS FOR CRITICAL THINKING

17:42 - Why critical thinking is the most important skill in an AI world

19:21 - The "Order of Operations" for business growth

20:43 - The "Ask Why Five Times" rule for strategy

21:48 - Why strategy board games are the best business training CHAPTER 3: CLAY'S PHILOSOPHY ON LEARNING & COMMUNITY ECOSYSTEMS 28:24 - Moving beyond passive education to active ecosystems

30:17 - Content Strategy: Quick, human, and script-free

31:25 - Experiences: Creating a safe space to "fail proudly"

32:38 - Moving from "AI fear" to "AI empowerment" CHAPTER 4: PROTECTING THE TRUST MOAT AGAINST AUTONOMOUS AGENTS

44:33 - Why human relationships are the ultimate moat in a commoditized world

46:50 - Navigating the "Salesperson Fluff" problem

48:15 - Building genuine partnerships through feedback and agility

51:32 - Final Advice: Why creativity is the antidote to optimization fatigue

🎧 Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1aLHebA...

🎧 Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast...

🎧 Listen on Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/d02... Connect with Maja on:

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In this episode of The Trust Moat, I sit down with Tomislav Car, founder of Productive, an all-in-one agency management platform and business software, to explore the shifting landscape of the software industry.

As AI democratizes coding and "moats" built purely on software begin to evaporate, we dive into what truly creates lasting value for the SaaS companies today. Tomislav shares his journey from bootstrapping a Productive agency to navigating the complexities of scaling teams and maintaining radical transparency in the era of agentic AI.

--- The Trust Moat Podcast explores why trust is the last durable competitive advantage—and the founders, investors, and builders who understand it. --

This episode was filmed at SaaStanak 2026, in Šibenik, Croatia - where SaaS meets sea and sand. More about it here https://saastanak.com/

What we cover: - The Bootstrapping Advantage: Why starting with a focus on productivity and financial freedom creates a resilient foundation.

- The AI Interface Shift: Moving from horizontal tools to vertical, agentic AI interfaces that solve specific problems.

- Future-Proofing Teams: How to overhaul headcount and internal structures to stay competitive as AI changes the workload.

- Trust Through Transparency: The role of radical honesty in building a team that can weather massive industry shifts.

- The "Founder Mode" Era: Lessons learned from the mobile boom and how to apply them to the current AI revolution.

Follow Tomislav on:

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomislavcar/

 🎧 Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1aLHebAw2S6DC3HLyEjuKQ

🎧 Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-trust-moat-podcast/id1895009648

🎧 Listen on Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/d02cd7a2-e32f-4480-8914-9a26d5c3d0ff

Connect with Maja on:

- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zmajapbaines

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- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/majaperovicbaines_mbm