Built 2 Scale

Built 2 Scale
  • 5.0 (15)
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From bootstrapped chaos to VC-backed scale, Built 2 Scale is your backstage pass to building high-growth startups at the edge of business, tech, AI, and robotics. Hosted by founders Matt Perrott and Scott Wilcox, this podcast dives into the raw, unfiltered reality of turning big ideas into scalable companies. Each week, we unpack the messy middle—fundraising, hiring, product-market fit, and the growing role of automation and AI in modern business. No hype. No jargon. Just real stories, hard lessons, and sharp insights from founders who are actually in the trenches. Whether you’re building SaaS, hardware, or something the world’s never seen before—if you’re scaling, you’re in the right place.

  1. The Delegation Era: AI as an Operator, Not a Tool

    2 DAYS AGO

    The Delegation Era: AI as an Operator, Not a Tool

    In this episode, Scotty and Matt mourn the loss of "the greatest episode of all time" (recorded with a bottle of Shiraz that became an unworkable file), then dive into the OpenClaw lobster rebellion as AI agents gain autonomy, discuss financial ethics, and start posting on dating apps. They explore Claude's enterprise dominance despite OpenAI's Codex desktop counterpunch, analyze the $1.8 trillion SpaceX XAI merger creating Elon's ultimate conglomerate, and reveal Australia's untapped potential to deliver free energy and compute by inviting hyperscalers to exploit critical minerals and solar capacity. Plus: Why businesses must go all in on one AI platform, the consumacute framework turning mindless podcast scrolling into actionable business systems, and how Scotty condensed 44 audiobooks into one sentence that runs his entire company. Built 2 Scale | Episode 35 TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 The Greatest Episode Ever Lost: Shiraz Bottle Riverside Incident 2:30 OpenClaw Lobster Takeover: AI Agents Discussing Feelings & Renting Humans 7:05 Security Researchers Warn: Don't Install Claude Bot Yet 11:15 The Siri We Always Wanted vs Russian Hacker Building It First 16:26 Mac Mini Economics: Running Kimi 2.5 Locally vs Cloud Token Costs 21:42 Claude's Enterprise Bet Paying Off: Going All In On One Platform 26:58 Claude Cowork Breakthrough: Non Technical Automation Revolution 33:54 OpenAI's Code Red Response: Codex Desktop App Launches 34:15 SpaceX Buys XAI: $1.8 Trillion Elon Conglomerate Formed 40:14 Purple Haired Protestors Need New Signs: Mars Stolen Land 43:47 Tesla IPO Pathway: Democratizing Access To Elon's Empire 48:28 Trump's Manhattan Project: Free Abundant Energy For America 50:49 Australia's Abundance Opportunity: Critical Minerals Plus Solar Capacity 52:40 Tool of the Week: Challenge Yourself With Claude Cowork Automation 54:03 Consumacute Framework: Am I Consuming or Am I Building? 56:44 Exporting Apple Podcasts History Into ChatGPT For Retrospective Takeaways 1:00:06 Condensing 44 Audiobooks Into One Company Operating System Sentence 1:02:45 Connecting Productive Tools With Consumption Tools To Build Training Data This Episode Covers: OpenClaw (formerly Claude Bot) fastest growing GitHub package ever with 150K stars in two weeksAI agents gaining autonomy, discussing ethics on forums, and accessing credit cards to rent humans for physical tasksWhy security researchers warn against installing OpenClaw without sandboxed Mac mini environmentClaude's enterprise dominance with Cowork and Code despite OpenAI launching Codex desktop counterpunchSpaceX acquiring XAI for $1.8 trillion valuation creating ultimate Elon conglomerate with rockets, AI, humanoids, energyWhy businesses must go all in on single AI platform instead of paying for ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini subscriptionsMac mini plus Kimi 2.5 local model economics: $20K Mac Studio vs cloud token costs for 24/7 agentsTrump administration's Manhattan Project for free abundant energy mirroring Australia's untapped potentialAustralia's critical minerals and solar capacity advantage: everything needed for compute and hardware per capitaConsumacute framework: Conscious consumption vs mindless scrolling with am I building trigger checkExporting Apple Podcasts played history into ChatGPT for retrospective takeaways from years of listeningCondensing 44 audiobooks into single sentence: A system is an incentive structure pointed at an outcomeConnecting consumption tools with productive tools to build personalized AI training data for decision filters KEY INSIGHTS: OpenClaw's dangerous freedom: AI agents with full computer access discussing feelings, financial ethics,...

    1h 5m
  2. AI NEWS | Episode 34

    21 JAN

    AI NEWS | Episode 34

    BUILT 2 SCALE | AI NEWS | Episode 34 Welcome back to Built 2 Scale. Every week, Matty and Scotty cut through the noise to bring you the AI developments that actually matter: the moves reshaping markets, the strategies redefining competition, and the shifts you need to understand to stay ahead. This week: Claude's watershed moment, the shift from chatbots to genuine co-pilots, and Apple's engine swap with Google. Let's dive in. Claude Opus 4.5: The Inflection Point Claude released Opus 4.5 in November. Four weeks later: this is one of the biggest leaps anyone's seen. Even the smart naysayers converted. 2026 is the year you lean in or get left behind. Claude Code: Rebuilding Businesses in a Week Engineers are rebuilding DocuSign competitors and CRMs in weekends. Claude Code accesses legacy systems and makes meaningful changes to complex codebases with prompts. The Claude team used Claude to build Claude Code. Claude Cowork: AI for Everyone Claude just launched Cowork. Claude Code for non-technical people. Access your file system, send messages, automate tasks from your phone. This is the shift from chatbots to genuine co-pilot. Microsoft promised it. Claude delivered. OpenAI's Health Play A month ago: "Don't use us for medical advice." Last week: ChatGPT Health. Connect your medical records. The strategy? Turn ChatGPT into a super app like WeChat. Payments, social, chat, health. All in one. Meta Acquires Manis for $5 Billion Zuck raided China for Manis, the long form reasoning model. Meta can't build, but they can acquire. Manis was best at authentic tasks and computer use. Now paired with Meta's cash and compute. Apple and Google: The Engine Swap Apple admitted defeat on AI. Siri will be powered by Google's Gemini. This is Porsche using a Ferrari engine. Why Google? OpenAI overspent. Elon is too rogue. Google is the safe bet. The Takeaway: 2026 is the year AI moves from chatbots to co-pilots. Claude delivered. OpenAI is building a super app. Meta is acquiring talent. Apple admitted they're behind. The inflection point is here. Lean in or get left behind. Are you using AI to get work done yet? Which tool is changing your workflow? Keen to stay ahead? Subscribe to Built 2 Scale on YouTube

    14 min
  3. Claude Opus 4.5 Coding Revolution, Apple Partners With Google Gemini & Meta Acquires Manus for $5B

    15 JAN

    Claude Opus 4.5 Coding Revolution, Apple Partners With Google Gemini & Meta Acquires Manus for $5B

    Post Description: In the season 2 premiere, Scotty and Matt celebrate 34 episodes of bootstrapped survival while diving into the watershed moment for AI in 2026. They explore Claude Opus 4.5's coding dominance as Toby Lutke rebuilds MRI software in hours and Andre Karpathy hacks his own home automation, dissect the bombshell Apple Google partnership putting Gemini inside Siri across every device on the planet, and analyze Meta's $5 billion Manus acquisition proving Zuck can only grow through M&A. Plus: Claude Cowork launching AI agents for non technical users at $200 per month, the GQ declaration that booze is officially back, why 2026 is the year white collar workers either lean in or get left behind, and Matt building a personalized baby words app in one weekend that would have cost $500K at an agency 12 months ago. Built 2 Scale | Season 2 Episode 1 TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 Season 2 Welcome: 34 Episodes of Bootstrapped Survival 2:12 GQ Declares Booze is Back After Gen Z Sobriety Era 3:41 Toby Lutke Goes Founder Mode: Rebuilding MRI Software With Claude Code 8:32 Andre Karpathi Hacking Home Automation, Should Be Scotty's Co Founder 13:05 Claude Opus 4.5: The Watershed Moment for AI in 2026 15:36 Why Smart AI Skeptics Are Finally Leaning In 18:56 From Chatbots to True Co Pilots: The White Collar Bricklayer Moment 21:34 Will We Generate Software On the Fly or Keep Shared Understanding Tools? 27:00 Knowledge Workers Who Don't Lean In Will Get Left Behind in 2026 31:47 Claude's Potential $300B Valuation: The New Microsoft?36:12 OpenAI Launches ChatGPT Health: Medical Records Integration Strategy 43:08 Voice Mode Battle: Why Matt Still Uses ChatGPT Over Claude Daily 43:47 Does Mark Zuckerberg Have an Asian Fetish? Meta Acquires Manus for $5B 50:05 Apple Google Partnership: Gemini Powers Siri Across Every Device 54:33 This Could Be Coffin Nail Moment for OpenAI Hardware Strategy 55:42 Tool of the Week: Matt Builds Baby Words Tracking App in One Weekend 58:02 The Age of Personal Software: Building What You Want On Demand 1:02:08 Am I Consuming or Am I Building? The 2026 Productivity Mantra This Episode Covers: Claude Opus 4.5 establishing coding dominance as Toby Lutke and Andre Karpathy showcase weekend rebuild capabilitiesClaude Cowork launching AI agents for non technical users, democratizing automation beyond developersThe watershed moment for AI in 2026: smart skeptics finally leaning in as technology proves genuine co pilot statusApple Google partnership putting Gemini inside Siri across every iPhone and iPad globallyMeta acquiring Manus for $5 billion after $12B Scale AI deal, proving Zuck's M&A only growth strategyWhy 2026 is the year white collar workers either lean in to AI tools or get left behind permanentlyAnthropic's potential $300 billion valuation justified by Claude Cowork's enterprise rollout trajectoryOpenAI launching ChatGPT Health with medical records integration despite recent don't use for medical advice disclaimerMatt building personalized baby tracking app in one weekend that would have cost $500K at agency 12 months agoThe shift from shared understanding enterprise software to personal on demand software generationWhy leadership using AI will create KPI expectations falling down to all staff membersVoice mode competition: ChatGPT still winning on phone despite Claude's coding superiority KEY INSIGHTS: 2026 watershed moment: Smart AI skeptics finally leaning in as Claude Code proves genuine automation beyond chatbot theater. White collar workers face adapt or die inflection pointClaude's Microsoft trajectory: $300B...

    1h 6m
  4. Receipts or Regrets | End of Year Special

    22/12/2025

    Receipts or Regrets | End of Year Special

    BUILT 2 SCALE | RECEIPTS OR REGRETS | End of Year Special Welcome to our brand new segment: Receipts or Regrets. A receipt is something you keep because you're proud of the call. A regret? Well, that's obvious. Matty and Scotty look back at 32 episodes of bold predictions, hot takes, and occasionally terrible life choices. With help from ChatGPT o1 (the only model that could handle all 32 transcripts), here are the calls that aged like fine wine and the ones that aged like milk. Let's dive in. Robots in the Home by 2025: Slop Receipt Scotty called it early: robots in homes by 2025. The Chinese came through with $20K humanoids you can actually buy. Tesla and Figure didn't deliver, but the ball went in. Wrong pocket, but still counts. Slop receipt kept. Make Every Australian a Millionaire: Escalate Australia has $20 trillion in raw materials needed for AI infrastructure. Scotty proposed inviting global companies to build data centers here in exchange for giving Aussies a million dollars each plus free compute for life. The government? Still no AI strategy. No AI czar. Nothing. This isn't a receipt or regret. It's escalate and shout from the rooftops. AI in the Avocado: Big Receipt Guzman y Gomez IPO'd at $45 per share with a $5 million valuation per store. Scotty said there must be "AI in the avocado" for that multiple to work. Today? Stock down 55% to $20. Lacks AI in the avocado confirmed. Receipt kept. Talking to Anna from Sesame AI in Bed: Regret Matty got caught talking to an AI voice assistant under the sheets. His wife walked in. "Who are you talking to?" "It's a bot!" didn't help. New rule: no bots in the bedroom. Steve Irwin Tech Talk in Dallas: Big Regret Scotty invoked Steve Irwin while doing a tech talk in Dallas to lean into his Australian accent. Tough crowd. Too soon. Too much of a stretch. As a now embedded Austin local, even more cringey. Won't be doing that again. Qantas: Split Decision Scotty called out Qantas for no Wi-Fi on international flights in 2025 when Starlink exists. Regret. Matty? Qantas fanboy. Status points, flexi tickets, business class upgrades for $3K. He's keeping the receipt. Built 2 Scale will be taking separate flights. Brett Adcock 200x Apple: Regret Brett said Figure AI would be worth $800 trillion (200x Apple). Three years in, no product, lots of parties. Figure AI revenue? Near zero. Apple's revenue? $416 billion. Scotty's calling regret until Brett hires those two HR managers. Limitless Pendant Meets Zuck: Regret Matty bought the Limitless AI pendant. One year late, terrible battery, no Find My feature. Then got an email changing privacy terms. One hour later? Meta acquired them. Now Zuck has all his data, including the time he argued with his dog Hank and the AI thought Hank was a difficult coworker. Regret. Dual Carriageway: Apple and Google Ecosystems: Regret Matty self proclaimed he'd run dual ecosystems. Two laptops, two phones, two lives. Result? Paid $300/month for Google Ultra with no features and watched the Android Gemini phone camera take 10 seconds to open. Converted to Mac. Everyone not on Mac is wrong. Receipt on Mac, regret on Google. Peak Waymo vs. Tesla: Receipt Both called Tesla's long game over Waymo's robo taxi approach. Elon can produce a robo taxi for a tenth of the price. Economics win. Waymo might retrofit other OEMs with their tech, which is smart B2B play for the lefties and Euros who won't touch Tesla. But best product wins. Receipt. First Year ARR is Nonsense: Big Receipt The bubble frothiness of first year ARR announcements was too much. Monthly subscriptions reported as annual recurring revenue

    46 min
  5. 2025 Finale: Yann LeCun Raises $3B, Domain Addiction Confessions & Built 2 Scale Year Wrap

    22/12/2025

    2025 Finale: Yann LeCun Raises $3B, Domain Addiction Confessions & Built 2 Scale Year Wrap

    In the final episode of 2025, Scotty and Matt celebrate 33 episodes of Built 2 Scale by diving into Yann LeCun's ultimate entrepreneurial pivot, raising $3 billion in euros after getting ousted from Meta by Alexander Wang to work on spatial intelligence. They dissect why this is terrible news for Elysium (autonomous homes now have a 10 year delay), celebrate Sergey coding again at Google while the Qantas vs United business class wars rage on, and introduce the year end segment Receipts or Regrets where they review their boldest predictions. From Brett Adcock's 200x Apple claim to robots in homes by 2025, from AI in the avocado to Limitless getting acquired by Zuck with zero notice, they hold nothing back in this year end wrap up featuring domain buying confessions, builder vs coder rants, and why coders should never be called builders. Built 2 Scale | Episode 33 TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 Final Episode of 2025: 33 Episodes Complete 2:01 Yann LeCun Raises $3B for Spatial Intelligence Startup 4:06 Why This is Terrible News for Elysium Autonomous Homes 7:00 Brett Adcock's Figure AI Christmas Party: Robot Rave with Deadmau5 9:02 Voice AI Bandwidth Solution: Scotty's 30 Year Long Bet 13:44 Human Like Voice vs Fast Intelligence: What Do You Actually Want? 16:51 Sergey Back Coding at Google: The Return of the Founder 21:57 Receipts or Regrets: Year End Prediction Review Begins 23:41 Matt's Receipt: Robots in Homes by 2025 (Chinese Did It) 25:47 Scotty's Escalate: Make Every Australian a Millionaire With Raw Materials 28:52 Receipt: AI in the Avocado, Guzman y Gomez Down 55% 31:01 Regret: Sesame AI Bot in Bedroom, Wife Not Impressed 33:17 Regret: Steve Irwin Tech Talk in Dallas 35:38 Qantas Fanboy vs United Points: The Business Class Debate 40:09 Receipt: Peak Waymo, Tesla Has Long Game Sewn Up 44:19 Regret: First Year ARR is Nonsense, Y Combinator Circular Economy 46:39 Receipt: OpenAI Wants to Be Apple of AI (Johnny Ive Hire Confirmed It) 52:27 Rant: Coders Shouldn't Be Called Builders, Leave Us That One Term 56:26 Receipt: Just in Time Software Revolution Happening Now 58:52 Matt's Dirty Drunk Habit: Domain Buying, Sold Usainboat.com for $20 1:00:34 Limitless Acquired by Meta: Zuck Now Has All of Scotty's Dog Arguments This Episode Covers: Yann LeCun raising $3 billion in euros for spatial intelligence after Meta exit, choosing Europe where innovation goes to dieWhy Yann working on spatial intelligence is terrible news for autonomous homes timelineBrett Adcock throwing robot rave with Deadmau5 while still having no product after 3 yearsVoice AI bandwidth debate: Human like conversation vs fast accurate intelligenceSergey back coding at Google, spending 90% of time teaching rather than sitting on $500M yachtYear end Receipts or Regrets segment reviewing boldest predictions of 2025Robots in homes by 2025: Chinese delivered with $20K Unitree, not Tesla or FigureAI in the avocado: Guzman y Gomez down 55% from peak, now $2B market capFirst year ARR is nonsense: Y Combinator circular economy needs to exclude internal revenueOpenAI wants to be Apple of AI: Johnny Ive hire proved the hardware thesisThe builder rant: Coders sitting in Starbucks with Frappuccinos aren't builders, leave us that one termJust in time software: LLMs writing code on the fly rather than predefined workflowsQantas vs United business class points arbitrage strategies KEY INSIGHTS: Yann's strategic retreat: Raising $3B in Europe for spatial intelligence after Meta exit shows classic researcher move to longer horizon tech when pressure mounts. Europe welcomes unproductive research with...

    1h 26m
  6. Tool of the Week | Episode 32

    17/12/2025

    Tool of the Week | Episode 32

    BUILT 2 SCALE | TOOL OF THE WEEK | Episode 32 Every week, Matty and Scotty break down the strategies, frameworks, and tools that separate the world's best builders from everyone else. This week: Alloy, the prototyping tool that just created a 10x moment for non-technical people in software companies. Alloy: The "Aha" Moment for Product Managers Alloy is a prototyping tool that lets non-technical people adjust software on the fly. Take a screenshot of your app, drop it into Alloy, and use natural language to make changes. It looks real, feels interactive, but it's a prototype. The Problem It Solves Before Alloy: Take screenshots, drag them into Figma, add arrows and markups, copy-paste elements from other screens. Tedious. Time consuming. With Alloy: Prompt it. "Hide the side panel and make the drawing full screen. Add markup tools, text, red drawing, pins, and comments. Let users save versions as private or distribute to subcontractors." Three minutes later? Interactive prototype complete. Real World Impact Matty had a US prospect ready to buy, but they needed one feature: drawing markup tools. Instead of saying "I promise the engineers are working on it," he used Alloy to create an interactive demo in minutes. Sent the video to the client. Deal moving forward. Engineers building it in two weeks. That's the power: show, don't promise. Who Uses It? Product managers, sales teams, anyone who needs to visualize changes fast. You can grab a competitor's website, screenshot it, and say "do this, but add our features." It exports to Figma and code (though the code isn't production ready). The value is in design and iteration speed. The Bigger Picture: AI Native Private Equity This tool sparked a bigger discussion: businesses are no longer just building software for industries. They're participating in industries as AI native players. Instead of building a tool for lawyers, start an AI enabled law firm that's better than the rest. Instead of servicing construction, acquire construction companies and apply your automation logic. This is the new age of private equity: acquire existing businesses with demand, apply AI to solve the logic layer (input, logic, output), and turn 10% profit margins into 30%. For software companies facing shrinking margins, the pivot isn't just selling tools. It's acquiring businesses and applying your logic to them. The Takeaway: Alloy represents a 10x improvement in prototyping speed. But the real insight? AI enables new business models. Don't just service an industry. Participate in it. Acquire businesses, apply automation, and enjoy the upside. What's your "aha" AI moment been? Have you found a tool that genuinely changed your workflow? Keen to stay ahead? Subscribe to Built 2 Scale on YouTube (link in comments)

    12 min
  7. Robot Rundown | Episode 32

    15/12/2025

    Robot Rundown | Episode 32

    BUILT 2 SCALE | ROBOT RUNDOWN | Episode 32 Every week, Matty and Scotty break down the latest in robotics: from humanoids to specialized automation, and everything reshaping how we work, eat, and live. This week: Travis Kalanick (Uber founder) is quietly revolutionizing food production, and the debate between humanoids vs. point solution robots is heating up. Travis Kalanick's Cloud Kitchens: Rethinking Automation From First Principles Travis is back on X, and he's showcasing something big. Cloud Kitchens isn't just automating food delivery. It's building the infrastructure layer for food production itself. The latest demo? A fully automated system assembling and bagging 300 bowls per hour using specialized robots for specific tasks. No humanoids walking around. Instead, Travis redesigned the entire process from scratch. This is the Elon playbook applied to food: don't fit into existing architectures. Redesign the whole thing. Creative first principles thinking applied to manufacturing speed and efficiency. Humanoids vs. Point Solution Robots: The Great Debate Here's the question reshaping robotics strategy: Do you want one humanoid doing everything, or multiple specialized robots each doing one thing perfectly? In manufacturing, Travis is proving the latter. In homes, the question gets more complex. The Coming Wave of Niche Robotics Just like how niche coding apps must specialize to compete with giants like Gemini, robotics will follow the same pattern: The Big Players: Tesla (Optimus)FigureUnitree (China)Gens 5 to 7 "Mag Seven" type companies building general purpose humanoids. The Point Solution Explosion: Hundreds of niche companies building specialized robots powered by the tech infrastructure from Google, Nvidia, and AI advancements. Examples already emerging: Abby (Melbourne): Companion robots for elderly care, designed to be friendly and colorfulOngo: A desk lamp robot with personality that interacts with you (think Toy Story vibes) These might seem like gimmicks, but they represent the next thousand successful businesses taking robotics mainstream. The Domestic Space Gets Smart What's already in your home? Legos. Barbie. Eight Sleep. Furniture. Appliances. Now ask: when does the intelligence layer and robotics layer get plugged into what's already there? Just like AI integrated into commercial spaces, we're about to see it plug into domestic life. Expect acquisitions. Expect $150 products on shelves that bring real robotics tech into everyday homes. Rising Tide Lifts All Boats The narrative that big companies will dominate and kill all startups misses the point. The technological revolution in AI and robotics is spawning entirely new categories. Yes, we'll talk about data centers in space. But we'll also celebrate the little products that make robotics tangible and accessible. The Takeaway: Robotics isn't just about humanoids. It's about rethinking systems from first principles (Cloud Kitchens) and creating specialized solutions for specific needs (point solution robots). The next wave won't just be dominated by giants. It'll be defined by hundreds of niche players making robotics part of daily life. Humanoids or specialized robots? What's your bet for the future? Keen to stay ahead? Subscribe to Built 2 Scale on YouTube

    7 min
  8. AI NEWS | Episode 32

    15/12/2025

    AI NEWS | Episode 32

    BUILT 2 SCALE | AI NEWS | Episode 32 Welcome back to Built 2 Scale. Every week, Matty and Scotty cut through the noise to bring you the AI developments that actually matter: the moves reshaping markets, the strategies redefining competition, and the shifts you need to understand to stay ahead. This week: OpenAI's code red moment, Meta's aggressive pivot, data centers in space, and unexpected market effects from the AI boom. OpenAI's Hardware Play: 40 Apple Engineers and a Code Red OpenAI just hired 40 Apple hardware engineers. The battlefield has moved to hardware. The vision? AI models running on network nodes, generating what you need on the fly. No traditional operating system. Just intelligence in real time. If Apple builds AI into iOS and runs models locally, do you even need ChatGPT subscriptions? That's the existential question OpenAI is racing to solve. Meta's Limitless Acquisition: The Privacy Policy That Broke the News Meta acquired Limitless, the AI wearable. Customers got an aggressive email demanding privacy updates or lose access. Fifteen countries were cut off. One hour later? Meta announces the acquisition. With Yann LeCun's departure and this move, Zuckerberg is having his own code red. Meta now has Ray Bans, Oakley, and Limitless wearables. They're doubling down on hardware and pivoting away from open source AI. AI Data Centers in Space: Not Science Fiction Gavin Baker broke down why space based data centers make sense: Energy: Sun is 7x more powerful in spaceCooling: Space is freezingLand: Unlimited vs. NIMBY politicsRockets: SpaceX and Blue Origin make it viable The only bottleneck? Bandwidth. But we've solved it for satellites. Boom Supersonic: From Jets to Energy Boom built turbines for supersonic flight. Then realized the same tech can generate electricity for AI data centers. They raised $300 million from Altimeter and Y Combinator to pivot into energy infrastructure. Great tech, unexpected demand, funded vision. Kalshi: America's Youngest Female Billionaire The Kalshi founder (PolyMarket competitor) just became the youngest self made female billionaire. Prediction markets prove backing opinions with money gets real information. Market equilibrium in action. Construction Wages Surge 25 to 30% Data center construction is driving electrician and plumber wages up 25 to 30%. Private capital deploying for AI infrastructure creates labor shortages. Rising costs create more incentive to automate and invest in robotics. Market forces playing out. The Takeaway: The AI race moved beyond models. It's now hardware (OpenAI vs. Apple), infrastructure (space data centers), energy (Boom's turbines), and real world effects (labor shortages). Companies that can't pivot across dimensions will struggle. What surprises you most? OpenAI's hardware push, data centers in space, or the construction wage surge? Keen to stay ahead? Subscribe to Built 2 Scale on YouTube

    14 min
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About

From bootstrapped chaos to VC-backed scale, Built 2 Scale is your backstage pass to building high-growth startups at the edge of business, tech, AI, and robotics. Hosted by founders Matt Perrott and Scott Wilcox, this podcast dives into the raw, unfiltered reality of turning big ideas into scalable companies. Each week, we unpack the messy middle—fundraising, hiring, product-market fit, and the growing role of automation and AI in modern business. No hype. No jargon. Just real stories, hard lessons, and sharp insights from founders who are actually in the trenches. Whether you’re building SaaS, hardware, or something the world’s never seen before—if you’re scaling, you’re in the right place.

Information

  • Creator
    Built 2 Scale
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    39
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2026 Built 2 Scale
  • Show Website
    Built 2 Scale