The Startup Podcast

Yaniv Bernstein and Chris Saad
  • 5.0 (7)
  • ENTREPRENEURSHIP
  • UPDATED FORTNIGHTLY

Advice for founders and entrepreneurs who want to build disruptive startups like they do in Silicon Valley. Not another interview podcast: concrete tips and masterclasses on what founders need to know: raising Venture Capital, strategy, product, marketing, growth, and more. A guide to the unique mindset and approach that drives Silicon Valley style disruption. Hosts Chris Saad and Yaniv Bernstein share practical advice based on decades of experience at Google, Uber, and their own startups.

  1. FEED DROP: Could AI Make Capitalism Better? Henrik Werdelin Is Optimistic (from FAFO with Dan Blumberg)

    1 DAY AGO ·  BONUS

    FEED DROP: Could AI Make Capitalism Better? Henrik Werdelin Is Optimistic (from FAFO with Dan Blumberg)

    This is a bonus feed drop from Dan Blumberg's podcast 'Future Around and Find Out' (FAFO), winner of the 2026 Webby Award for Best Technology Podcast. If you like what you hear, check out FAFO at https://www.futurearound.com/ Original description: Henrik Werdelin is one of my favorite entrepreneurs. He’s founded and incubated several unicorns, most notably BARK, the dog happiness company. Henrik himself is a pretty happy guy — an optimistic guy who likes to ask what could go right? — and on the day we recorded (a few months ago as I was squirreling away interviews for the podcast relaunch), he helped me see through some future of tech gloom I was feeling. I honestly can’t even remember what Trump+tech hellscape we were living through that week, but I do remember that Henrik put me in a better mood. I think he’ll do the same for you, no matter how you’re feeling. 🤗 Henrik believes AI could be a massive force for good. That it could bring forth a whole new — a better! — form of capitalism. He writes about this is in his latest book, Me, My Customer, and AI. He points to those (like Henry Ford) who took advantage of electricity by making drastic, not incremental, changes to how the build things. Our conversation pairs nicely with my recent episode with Azeem Azhar, who said the AI winners will “come from odd places”, as they have in previous tech transformations. Here’s more of what Henrik and I cover: His concept of "relationship capital"—the moat AI can't clone—and why the companies that win next will be defined by who they serve, not what they makeThe three components of relationship capital: intensity, community, and durabilityThe "it sucks that" method for finding problems worth solving (he took it to a fifth grade class; the teacher was not thrilled)His vision for the "headless", agentic web, where your startup's MVP is a group of agents, not an appThe wildly practical AI tools he's built just for himself: a custom CRM that searches by vibes not names, a newsletter bot tuned to his quarterly goals, and an agent that handled his visa paperwork while he was in a meetingWhy entrepreneurial skills—agency, narrative, resourcefulness—are the ultimate career insurance, whether you start a company or notThe absolutely ridiculous story of how a prank on a cruise ship led to him meeting his BARK co-founder in a heart-shaped bedChapters (01:43) - Two Futures: AI Bad vs. AI Really, Really Good(05:44) - Why Positivity Is Actually the Riskier Bet(09:05) - Electricity, AI, and the Rise of Relationship Capital(11:12) - The Three Components of Relationship Capital(14:20) - "It Sucks That" — The Best Way to Find a Real Problem(19:22) - The Headless Future and Minimum Viable Agents(22:40) - N-of-One Software: Building Tools Just for Yourself(26:48) - Henrik's Custom Newsletter Bot and AI-Powered CRM(30:59) - Warp, Obsidian, and Letting Agents Loose on Your Computer(34:45) - Entrepreneurial Skills as Career Insurance(36:53) - The Heart-Shaped Bed: How Henrik Met His BARK Co-Founder Credits for The Startup Podcast: Follow Chris on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrissaad/Follow Yaniv on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ybernstein/Producer: Justin McArthur https://www.linkedin.com/in/justin-mcarthurAssistant Producer: Steph Hefferan https://www.linkedin.com/in/steph-heff/

    39 min
  2. The Science of Scaling: Using data to scale your startup perfectly w/ Mark Roberge

    4 DAYS AGO

    The Science of Scaling: Using data to scale your startup perfectly w/ Mark Roberge

    Most founders treat 'scale' like a switch you flip after raising a round: hire 14 reps, 10x the ad spend, and pray. About half scale too early and burn the runway, while the other half scale too late and get caught by a more aggressive competitor. Almost nobody can tell you, in measurable terms, when they're actually ready. In this episode, Yaniv Bernstein is joined by Mark Roberge - founding CRO at HubSpot (where he scaled the company from $0 to $100M ARR), senior lecturer at Harvard Business School, cofounder of Stage 2 Capital, and author of the new book 'The Science of Scaling'. Mark walks Yaniv through his impressive data-driven framework for scaling that he's spent a decade refining, covering how to objectively define product-market fit, why customer retention is the only honest measure of PMF, and how to instrument a Leading Indicator of Retention you can act on in week one. In this episode, you will: Learn why retention is the only honest measure of product-market fit, and why most founders are flying blind without it Discover Mark's framework for building a Leading Indicator of Retention (LIR) you can measure in week one, using Slack, HubSpot, and Facebook as worked examples Hear Mark coach Yaniv through Vera's LIR in real time, and pick up a repeatable method for designing one for your own business Learn the 'Stay/Go/Slow' model for pacing hires and spend post-raise, and why startups should reassess monthly or quarterly rather than locking in an annual plan Get Mark's take on why 'paranoid optimism' is the trait that correlates most strongly with founder success, and the link between that trait and founder mental health Timestamps 00:00 Coming Up 00:26 On Today's Show: The Science of Scaling 01:47 Guest Intro: Mark Roberge 02:31 Why Scaling Needs Data 04:20 Eric Ries and Product Market Fit 06:56 Retention as a North Star 10:15 What Makes a Good Leading Indicator? 15:00 Case Study: Vera (Yaniv's Startup) 17:41 Choosing Frequency and Event 23:55 Instrumenting and Unique Value 31:12 Blitzscaling and Defining PET 34:41 ICP Denominator Rules 37:28 Segmenting By Product 40:40 Go To Market Fit 45:25 Dealing with Revenue-Focused Investor Pressure 50:33 The Pace of Scaling 56:07 About the Book, The Science of Scaling 57:45 Founder Mental Health 01:02:28 Closing Thoughts Resources in this episode: Mark Roberge on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markroberge/ ‘The Science of Scaling: Using Data to Decide When — and How Fast — to Scale Revenue’ by Mark Roberge: https://www.amazon.com/Science-Scaling-Revenue-Mark-Roberge/dp/1394319428 Stage 2 Capital (Mark's B2B SaaS-focused venture firm): https://www.stage2.capital/ Vera (Yaniv's startup): https://vera.guide/ The Pact Honor the Startup Podcast Pact! If you have listened to TSP and gotten value from it, please: Follow, rate, and review us in your listening app Follow us on YouTube for full-video episodes: https://www.youtube.com/@startup-podcast Give us a public shout-out on LinkedIn or anywhere you have a social media following Key links This episode of the Startup Podcast is sponsored by .tech domains. Forget weird prefixes and creative misspellings; the availability for .tech domains is simply way better than .com. For a clean and memorable name, go to https://⁠get.tech/tsp This episode of the Startup Podcast is sponsored by Vanta. Vanta helps businesses get and stay compliant by automating up to 90% of the work for the most in demand compliance frameworks. With over 200 integrations, you can easily monitor and secure the tools your business relies on. For a limited time offer of US$1,000 off, go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://⁠www.vanta.com/tsp⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  The Startup Podcast website: https://www.tsp.show/episodes/ Follow Yaniv on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ybernstein/ Producer: Justin McArthur https://www.linkedin.com/in/justin-mcarthur Assistant Producer: Steph Hefferan https://www.linkedin.com/in/steph-heff/ Intro Voice: Jeremiah Owyang https://web-strategist.com/

    1hr 5min
  3. Refounding: Why this $80m founder quit as CEO, and what it says about the future of startups

    11 MAY

    Refounding: Why this $80m founder quit as CEO, and what it says about the future of startups

    In 2026, startups age like milk. Josh Foreman's solution is a radical one - step down as CEO, go back to basics, and refound the whole company.  Yaniv Bernstein discusses this decision with Josh, founder and (for now) CEO of InDebted - the AI-native debt resolution business he scaled to an $80M revenue run rate, a Series C raise, and operations across 8 markets. Just days before recording, Josh publicly announced he's hiring a new CEO so he can step back into the business as a hands-on operator and refound the company for the agentic AI era. In this conversation, Josh and Yaniv discuss 'refounding' in practice, what it takes to rebuild the company's processes from the ground up, and why technical founders who don't go back on the tools right now are setting themselves up to be outbuilt by a smaller, faster, leaner version of themselves. In this episode, you will: Learn why Josh believes the highest-leverage role for a technical founder in 2026 is no longer CEO, and how to structure a founder-CEO partnership that actually works Understand why 'feature patching' an established business is a losing strategy, and what it really means to rebuild your company function-by-function from a clean slate Discover how revenue-per-employee has become the metric that matters most when raising capital and competing with AI-native upstarts Hear why services-as-software and performance-fee models are suddenly the bull case for investors who hated them 12 months ago - and why the SaaS seat fee is on the way out Find out what it looks like to unbundle your product into agent-ready primitives, and why owning the eval for a narrow domain may be a bigger moat than your full-stack UI Timestamps 00:00 Coming Up: Refounding 00:41 Josh Foreman, CEO (for now) 01:41 What Refounding Means 04:53 Rebuilding the Factory 07:38 Bringing the Team Along 10:51 No Choice but Change 14:56 Aligning the Board and Investors 16:52 Putting Founders Back on the Tools 26:24 'Corporate Ozempic' Shrinking Teams 32:57 Unbundling and Products for Agents 38:39 Hiring a CEO When Refounding 44:11 Closing Thoughts Mentioned in this episode Josh Foreman on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshforeman/ InDebted: https://www.indebted.co/ Scott Galloway on 'Corporate Ozempic': https://www.profgalloway.com/corporate-ozempic/ Surviving the AI SaaSpocalypse with Scotty Allen: https://youtu.be/j84LF4aru8I  'Paranoid Optimism' with Yaniv: https://youtu.be/FGqbdzr0-PM  The Pact Honor the Startup Podcast Pact! If you have listened to TSP and gotten value from it, please: Follow, rate, and review us in your listening app Secure your official TSP merchandise at https://shop.tsp.show/ Follow us here on YouTube for full-video episodes: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNjm1MTdjysRRV07fSf0yGg Give us a public shout-out on LinkedIn or anywhere you have a social media following Key links This episode of the Startup Podcast is sponsored by .tech domains. Forget weird prefixes and creative misspellings; the availability for .tech domains is simply way better than .com. For a clean name that highlights your tech credentials, get a .tech domain at your favorite registrar. The Startup Podcast website: https://www.tsp.show/episodes/ Learn more about Chris and Yaniv Work 1:1 with Chris: http://chrissaad.com/advisory/ Follow Chris on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrissaad/ Follow Yaniv on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ybernstein/ Producer: Justin McArthur https://www.linkedin.com/in/justin-mcarthur Assistant Producer: Steph Hefferan https://www.linkedin.com/in/steph-heff/ Intro Voice: Jeremiah Owyang https://web-strategist.com/

    45 min
  4. Adapting your startup to an AI-native world (w/ Marlon Nichols)

    4 MAY

    Adapting your startup to an AI-native world (w/ Marlon Nichols)

    Many AI startups funded in the last 18 months won't last three years - so what makes a business durable today? Yaniv Bernstein is joined by Marlon Nichols, co-founder and managing general partner of MaC Venture Capital - one of the most active seed-stage AI investors in the market, having scaled MaC to over $600M AUM across three funds in just four years. Marlon's portfolio includes Pipe, Stoke Space, Thrive Market, Chef Robotics, and exits like Wonder Dynamics to Autodesk and Gimlet Media to Spotify. In this conversation, Marlon uses his industry experience to explain the biggest threats to new AI startups, and what the key components of successful startups in the industry will be. In this episode, you will: Hear why Marlon thinks niche or mid-size foundational models are now prime acquisition targets for OpenAI Discover why misreading traction is the #1 mistake VCs are making right now Learn why Marlon is more excited about manufacturing-line prediction and grid-scale batteries than humanoid robots Explore why founder unit economics need a complete rewrite when token costs replace SaaS-style marginal cost Understand why software is no longer a moat — and why data access, deep customer integration, and speed are the only three durable advantages left at the application layer Learn the difference between AI-native companies and AI-bolted-on companies, and what a 5-year-old startup should do if it's on the wrong side of that line Timestamps 00:00 Coming Up 01:07 On Today's Show: Durable Tech 02:33 Meet Marlon Nichols 03:25 Defining 'Durable' AI Startups 05:23 Moats for Foundation Models 07:15 Chef Robotics and AI Native vs AI Enabled 09:24 Upgrading Legacy Startups 10:55 Pipe’s AI Pivot Case Study 13:19 Winning at the App Layer 15:56 Speed and Workflow Stickiness 17:51 Investment Checklist and Team 20:30 Automotive Digital Twins and Regulatory Testing 24:27 Why Physical AI? 26:09 Robotics In Manufacturing 26:55 Energy Storage And Batteries 28:30 Why Cheaper Builds Still Need Talent 30:19 Where Traction Can Be Misleading 33:41 Token Costs And Unit Economics 36:46 Closing Thoughts Mentioned in this episode MaC Venture Capital: https://macventurecapital.com/ Marlon Nichols on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marloncnichols/ 'The Bitter Lesson' by Rich Sutton: http://www.incompleteideas.net/IncIdeas/BitterLesson.html Vera (Yaniv's startup, AI-supported guidance for people caring for ageing parents): https://vera.guide/ The Pact Honor the Startup Podcast Pact! If you have listened to TSP and gotten value from it, please: Follow, rate, and review us in your listening app Secure your official TSP merchandise at https://shop.tsp.show/ Follow us here on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNjm1MTdjysRRV07fSf0yGg Give us a public shout-out on LinkedIn or anywhere you have a social media following Key links This episode of the Startup Podcast is sponsored by .tech domains. Forget weird prefixes and creative misspellings; the availability for .tech domains is simply way better than .com. For a clean name that highlights your tech credentials, get a .tech domain at your favorite registrar. This episode of the Startup Podcast is sponsored by Vanta. Vanta helps businesses get and stay compliant by automating up to 90% of the work for the most in demand compliance frameworks. With over 200 integrations, you can easily monitor and secure the tools your business relies on. For a limited time offer of US$1,000 off, go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://⁠www.vanta.com/tsp⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ The Startup Podcast website: https://www.tsp.show/episodes/ Learn more about Chris and Yaniv Work 1:1 with Chris: http://chrissaad.com/advisory/ Follow Chris on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrissaad/ Follow Yaniv on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ybernstein/ Producer: Justin McArthur https://www.linkedin.com/in/justin-mcarthur Assistant Producer: Steph Hefferan https://www.linkedin.com/in/steph-heff/ Intro Voice: Jeremiah Owyang https://web-strategist.com/

    38 min
  5. How the best founders balance fear and hope

    27 APR

    How the best founders balance fear and hope

    Being a founder has always meant dreaming big while keeping a close eye on potential trip-ups, and in the age of AI, finding and maintaining that balance is more important than ever. Today, Yaniv Bernstein talks about the importance of getting that balance right. Using deep insight and decades of industry experience, he discusses why now is the time for founders to be more ambitious than ever before - while identifying threats to success and keeping a keen, near-paranoid eye on them. In this episode, you will: Understand why ‘paranoid optimism’ has always been the founder superpower, and why AI has made it more essential than everLearn why tokens are ‘the new oil’ and how the ‘token OPEC’ is already exerting price and product leverage over every AI-native startupExplore Garry Tan's ‘boil the lake’ concept and why early-stage founders can now afford to be more ambitious in scope than ever beforeFind out why startups have a bigger speed advantage over incumbents than at any time in history, and how to actually use itDiscover how foundation model providers like Anthropic, OpenAI, and Google can wipe out entire startup categories without ever deliberately competing with you Timestamps 00:00 Coming Up 00:59 On Today's Show: Paranoid Optimism 01:27 Surviving as a Baby Turtle 03:00 Risks of Pure Optimism 05:24 A Herd of Thundering Elephants 07:44 Magic Elephants 09:50 3 Shifts: Compression, Leverage and Startup Advantage 12:54 YC's Garry Tan & 'Boiling The Lake' 15:38 Why Be Paranoid? 15:52 AI Risks Category Collapse 18:13 Anthropic, Google and OpenAI: The OPEC of Tokens 19:51 Identity Collapse 21:54 How to Operate As Paranoid Optimist 21:59 1. Holding Strong Priors and Updating Fast 23:31 2. Architecting For Escape 25:57 3. Stay Closer To The Problem Than The Solution 28:13 Closing Thoughts Resources mentioned in this episode 'Same As Ever' by Morgan Housel: https://www.amazon.com/Same-Ever-Guide-Never-Changes/dp/0593332709Last week’s episode - Same As Ever: 7 rules that HAVEN'T changed about building great startups (w/ Amir Shevat): https://www.tsp.show/same-as-ever-7-rules-that-havent-changed-about-building-great-startups-w-amir-shevat/Previous episode - 'Unlearning' with Yaniv: Why founders need to rewrite outdated, radioactive mindsets: https://www.tsp.show/unlearning-with-yaniv-why-founders-need-to-rewrite-outdated-radioactive-mindsets/Garry Tan’s 'Boil the Ocean' blog post: https://garryslist.org/posts/boil-the-oceanVera, Yaniv's current startup: https://vera.guide/ The Pact Honor the Startup Podcast Pact! If you have listened to TSP and gotten value from it, please: Follow, rate, and review us in your listening appSecure your official TSP merchandise at https://shop.tsp.show/Follow us here on YouTube for full-video episodes: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNjm1MTdjysRRV07fSf0yGgGive us a public shout-out on LinkedIn or anywhere you have a social media following Key links This episode of the Startup Podcast is sponsored by .tech domains. Forget weird prefixes and creative misspellings; the availability for .tech domains is simply way better than .com. For a clean name that highlights your tech credentials, get a .tech domain at your favorite registrar. The Startup Podcast website: https://www.tsp.show/episodes/Learn more about Chris and Yaniv Work 1:1 with Chris: http://chrissaad.com/advisory/ Follow Chris on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrissaad/ Follow Yaniv on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ybernstein/ Producer: Justin McArthur https://www.linkedin.com/in/justin-mcarthur Assistant Producer: Steph Hefferan https://www.linkedin.com/in/steph-heff/ Intro Voice: Jeremiah Owyang https://web-strategist.com/

    29 min
  6. Same As Ever: 7 rules that HAVEN'T changed about building great startups (w/ Amir Shevat)

    20 APR

    Same As Ever: 7 rules that HAVEN'T changed about building great startups (w/ Amir Shevat)

    Between AI shaking up the industry, geopolitical upheaval, and unpredictable capital, being a founder has never been more confusing. So what advice, if any, is still relevant? In this episode, Yaniv Bernstein is joined by Amir Shevat (Silicon Valley developer platform veteran and now General Partner at Darkmode Ventures) to answer exactly that. Focusing on what isn't changing rather than what is, Amir walks through seven truths of startup building that have become more important in the age of AI. In this episode, you will: Discover why AI-generated sales outreach is backfiring, and why authenticity, proof of effort, and in-person events are becoming the gold standardExplore the "founder tar pit" of bad markets, and the simple questions that reveal whether yours is one to run fromLearn why design in 2026 is about putting positive interactions and emotions first, and how to prioritize these effectively Timestamps 00:00 Coming Up… 01:07 Guest Intro: Amir Shevat 02:36 On Today's Show: 7 Timeless Truths 04:34 Jeff Bezos and the 'Same As Ever' Mindset 08:19 Rule 1. Hire The Right Team 10:15 How AI Raises The Bar 14:26 Rule 2. A Delightful User Experience 16:27 Conversational Interfaces 18:07 Why You Should Design For Emotions 24:20 Rule 3. Hustle Still Wins 26:05 The Return of Authentic Selling 28:09 Landing Your First Customers 28:50 Rule 4. Build Real Moats 30:48 Mongol Hordes: Is 'Execution Speed' A Moat? 33:00 'Thick' Product Advantage 33:39 Rule 5. Vision Beats TAM 38:07 Rule 6. Choose Great Markets 42:34 Rule 7. Build An Unfair Advantage 47:10 Recap and Closing Thoughts Resources in this episode: Darkmode Ventures (Amir's early-stage fund): https://www.darkmode.vc/Amir Shevat on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirshevat/Designing Bots: https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/designing-bots/9781491974810/Working Backwards by Colin Bryar and Bill Carr: https://www.amazon.com/Working-Backwards-Insights-Stories-Secrets/dp/1250267595Same as Ever by Morgan Housel: https://www.amazon.com/Same-Ever-Guide-Never-Changes/dp/05933327092012 re:Invent Day 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4MtQGRIIuA The Pact Honor the Startup Podcast Pact! If you have listened to TSP and gotten value from it, please: Follow, rate, and review us in your listening appSubscribe to the TSP Mailing List to gain access to exclusive newsletter-only content and early access to information on upcoming episodes: https://thestartuppodcast.beehiiv.com/subscribe Secure your official TSP merchandise at https://shop.tsp.show/ Follow us here on YouTube for full-video episodes: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNjm1MTdjysRRV07fSf0yGg Give us a public shout-out on LinkedIn or anywhere you have a social media following Key links This episode of the Startup Podcast is sponsored by .tech domains. Forget weird prefixes and creative misspellings; the availability for .tech domains is simply way better than .com. For a clean name that highlights your tech credentials, get a .tech domain at your favorite registrar. This episode of the Startup Podcast is sponsored by Vanta. Vanta helps businesses get and stay compliant by automating up to 90% of the work for the most in demand compliance frameworks. With over 200 integrations, you can easily monitor and secure the tools your business relies on. For a limited time offer of US$1,000 off, go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://⁠www.vanta.com/tsp⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Get your question in for our next Q&A episode: https://forms.gle/NZzgNWVLiFmwvFA2A The Startup Podcast website: https://www.tsp.show/episodes/ Learn more about Chris and Yaniv Work 1:1 with Chris: http://chrissaad.com/advisory/ Follow Chris on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrissaad/ Follow Yaniv on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ybernstein/ Producer: Justin McArthur https://www.linkedin.com/in/justin-mcarthur Assistant Producer: Steph Hefferan https://www.linkedin.com/in/steph-heff/ Intro Voice: Jeremiah Owyang https://web-strategist.com/

    50 min
  7. Surviving the AI SaaSpocalypse: Will AI kill your startup? w/ Scotty Allen

    13 APR

    Surviving the AI SaaSpocalypse: Will AI kill your startup? w/ Scotty Allen

    Will AI kill your startup? For a lot of startups, probably yes. But which ones? And more importantly, how do you make sure yours isn't one of them? Yaniv Bernstein is joined by returning guest Scotty Allen (bootstrapper, founder of The Product Bus, and startup strategist extraordinaire) to reason through one of the most pressing questions of 2026: how do you build a startup to survive the SaaSpocalypse? They discuss why this AI wave is more of a threat to tech startups than Google and Facebook ever were, and why the B2B/B2C distinction has never mattered more. Along the way, Yaniv discusses why making your software 'headless' will be a key survival strategy, and the pair explore what it means to build products that cater to agents. In this episode, you will: Learn why the best B2B SaaS strategy is to strip the UI and invest everything in defensible, thick capability that agents want to useHear why the B2B/B2C split has sharpened dramatically, and why deep user empathy and design remain incredibly importantFind out what "agentic engine optimisation" means, and why creating an agent-centric tool could be your most powerful growth channelUnderstand why your tolerance for ambiguity may be the single most important skill you can develop as a founder right now Timestamps 00:00 Coming Up… 00:54 On Today's Show: Will AI Kill Startups? 01:32 Is This Different to Google/Facebook? 05:15 The Threat to 'MD-able' SaaS 10:49 Headless SaaS Advantage 15:19 Thin and Thick Wrappers 18:19 Bottom Up Disruption 20:34 Platform Fragility Risks 22:22 When DIY Systems Backfire 24:46 B2B vs B2C Distinction 28:53 Tools Agents Prefer 30:56 Claude 'Skills' As Distribution 32:05 Platforms Are Dead 34:09 Tool Use As An Inflection Point 35:42 Managing Agents Like Staff 38:55 B2B Headless vs. B2C Design 41:48 Who Pays In B2C? 44:10 Why Vera Is A 'Guide', Not An Agent 45:39 Embrace Ambiguity And Build 46:30 Closing Thoughts Resources mentioned in this episode: The Product Bus (Scotty Allen's startup validation and product strategy firm): https://theproductbus.com/Scotty Allen on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thescottyallen/ The Bootstraps Podcast (Scotty's own podcast, 'Straight Up From Scratch'): https://thebootstrap.tech/ Vera (Yaniv's startup, AI-supported guidance for people caring for ageing parents): https://vera.guide The Pact Honor the Startup Podcast Pact! If you have listened to TSP and gotten value from it, please: Follow, rate, and review us in your listening app Subscribe to the TSP Mailing List to gain access to exclusive newsletter-only content and early access to information on upcoming episodes: https://thestartuppodcast.beehiiv.com/subscribe Secure your official TSP merchandise at https://shop.tsp.show/ Follow us here on YouTube for full-video episodes: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNjm1MTdjysRRV07fSf0yGg Give us a public shout-out on LinkedIn or anywhere you have a social media following Key links This episode of the Startup Podcast is sponsored by .tech domains. Forget weird prefixes and creative misspellings; the availability for .tech domains is simply way better than .com. For a clean name that highlights your tech credentials, get a .tech domain at your favorite registrar. Get your question in for our next Q&A episode: https://forms.gle/NZzgNWVLiFmwvFA2A The Startup Podcast website: https://www.tsp.show/episodes/ Learn more about Chris and Yaniv Work 1:1 with Chris: http://chrissaad.com/advisory/ Follow Chris on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrissaad/ Follow Yaniv on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ybernstein/ Producer: Justin McArthur https://www.linkedin.com/in/justin-mcarthur Assistant Producer: Steph Hefferan https://www.linkedin.com/in/steph-heff/ Intro Voice: Jeremiah Owyang https://web-strategist.com/ #SaaS #SaaSpocalypse #Startups #TechStartups #Founder #TechBusiness #TheStartupPodcast

    48 min
  8. ‘Unlearning’ with Yaniv: Why founders need to rewrite outdated, radioactive mindsets

    6 APR

    ‘Unlearning’ with Yaniv: Why founders need to rewrite outdated, radioactive mindsets

    You may have spent years (or even decades) building your expertise. But is any of it still relevant? And how much of it is an active detriment to your startup? In this special solo episode, Yaniv Bernstein delivers a no-guest monologue on the most critical skill any founder can develop right now: ‘unlearning’. Drawing on Morgan Housel's ‘Same as Ever’; real-world examples from his own startup, Vera; and frameworks for rebuilding beliefs from the ground up, Yaniv makes the case that obsolete knowledge is as bad as radioactive waste actively distorting your decisions. In this episode, you will: Understand why AI is making the half-life of expertise shorter than ever beforeLearn how the sunk cost fallacy stops founders from discarding knowledge that’s causing more harm than goodDiscover why the identities you've built around your craft ("I am a programmer", "I am a copywriter") may be the single biggest barrier to adapting in 2026Find out what skills are actually worth holding onto, and how to combine them with the meta-skill of rapid adaptationLearn three practical mental models for unlearning: belief audits, first principles thinking, and systems thinking Timestamps: 00:00 Coming Up 00:42 On Today's Show: Unlearning 02:03 Morgan Hausel's Same as Ever 04:13 When Knowledge Turns Toxic 07:00 What Unlearning Means 07:42 Why Unlearning Is Hard 08:32 Sunk Cost Fallacy 12:32 Identity Threat 17:17 Redefining Expertise 18:15 Meta Skills For Experts 21:55 Auditing Your Beliefs 24:14 First Principles Thinking 25:21 Systems Thinking 27:24 You Should: Make Time To Adapt 28:14 You Should: Embrace Discomfort 29:01 Closing Thoughts Resources mentioned in this episode: 'Same as Ever: A Guide to What Never Changes' by Morgan Housel — the book Yaniv references throughout this episode on timeless principles of human behavior: https://www.amazon.com/Same-Ever-Guide-Never-Changes/dp/0593332709Naval Ravikant on identity — Yaniv attributes the idea of being cautious about taking on identities to Naval. Naval's writing and podcast appearances are a good starting point: https://nav.al The Pact Honor the Startup Podcast Pact! If you have listened to TSP and gotten value from it, please: Follow, rate, and review us in your listening app Subscribe to the TSP Mailing List to gain access to exclusive newsletter-only content and early access to information on upcoming episodes: https://thestartuppodcast.beehiiv.com/subscribe Secure your official TSP merchandise at https://shop.tsp.show/ Follow us here on YouTube for full-video episodes: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNjm1MTdjysRRV07fSf0yGg Give us a public shout-out on LinkedIn or anywhere you have a social media following Key links This episode of the Startup Podcast is sponsored by .tech domains. Forget weird prefixes and creative misspellings; the availability for .tech domains is simply way better than .com. For a clean name that highlights your tech credentials, get a .tech domain at your favorite registrar. Get your question in for our next Q&A episode: https://forms.gle/NZzgNWVLiFmwvFA2A The Startup Podcast website: https://www.tsp.show/episodes/Learn more about Chris and Yaniv Work 1:1 with Chris: http://chrissaad.com/advisory/ Follow Chris on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrissaad/ Follow Yaniv on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ybernstein/ Producer: Justin McArthur https://www.linkedin.com/in/justin-mcarthur Intro Voice: Jeremiah Owyang https://web-strategist.com/ #unlearning #psychology #Startups #TechStartups #Founder #TechBusiness #TheStartupPodcast

    29 min
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5
out of 5
7 Ratings

About

Advice for founders and entrepreneurs who want to build disruptive startups like they do in Silicon Valley. Not another interview podcast: concrete tips and masterclasses on what founders need to know: raising Venture Capital, strategy, product, marketing, growth, and more. A guide to the unique mindset and approach that drives Silicon Valley style disruption. Hosts Chris Saad and Yaniv Bernstein share practical advice based on decades of experience at Google, Uber, and their own startups.

Information

  • Creator
    Yaniv Bernstein and Chris Saad
  • Years Active
    2022 - 2026
  • Episodes
    302
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Yaniv Bernstein and Chris Saad
  • Show Website
    The Startup Podcast

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