BIG IDEAS BY NEW ECONOMIES

Ollie Forsyth

Welcome to BIG IDEAS by NEW ECONOMIES - a show where we learn how the most iconic founders have turned crucible moments into global companies. www.neweconomies.co

  1. 1D AGO

    EXCLUSIVE: The Hidden Truth About Builder AI | Sachin Dev Duggal

    In this episode, we sit down with Sachin Dev Duggal, founder of Builder AI and Second Brain, for his first public interview since his departure from Builder. In a candid conversation, Sachin reflects on the meteoric rise of one of AI’s most talked-about companies and the hard-won lessons from a turbulent 2025. For some context: You might remember Builder AI — it quickly became one of the most talked-about AI startups in the ecosystem, raising hundreds of millions of dollars and promising to make software as simple as snapping together Lego blocks. But in 2025, the company faced intense scrutiny, critical media coverage, and leadership changes that reshaped its trajectory. In this episode, we unpack what really happened. Throughout the episode, we explore: * The "Lego" Thesis of Software: Why Sachin believed that 80% of software could be built using reusable "atomic units" long before generative AI became a household name. * Growing Too Fast: The challenges of scaling to 900 employees and the reality of what happens when organizational governance can't keep pace with revenue velocity. * Navigating "The Cloud": Sachin’s direct response to media narratives surrounding "fake AI" and the complexities of revenue recognition in a new category of software. * The Psychology of Trust: How childhood experiences shaped Sachin's leadership style and the difficult realization that "wanting to be liked" can be a founder's greatest liability. * The Captain and the Engine Room: A look at "Founder Mode" and the importance of removing layers between a CEO and their investors to maintain a single version of the truth. * Winning the Inner Game: How the principles of professional tennis — controlling inputs over outcomes — helped Sachin survive a year of public scrutiny and personal betrayal. * The Next Chapter — Second Brain: Why the next wave of AI isn't about reasoning, but about "meaning," and how Sachin is building a cognitive operating system to give people back three hours of their day. If you’re interested in the raw reality of high-stakes entrepreneurship, the future of personal intelligence, or how to engineer a comeback with humility and accountability — this conversation is for you! Chapters: (0:00) Intro(2:40) 2025 Was... (8:15) Trust Is A Very Big Word (10:50) Sachin Shares His Early Days (14:13) The DNA Of Solving A Problem (19:17) Launching Builder AI(25:25) Builder’s First Year (29:55) Builder’s First Few Customers (34:55) Sachin’s Trillion-Dollar Outlook (39:45) The Dreaded Wall Street Journal Article (47:00) 2025: The Rocky Year (59:50) Employees In India (1:02:45) Forecasting & Revenues (1:09:40) Raising $450M (1:13:50) Stepping Down As CEO(1:15:45) Reflecting On The Past 12 Months Also available onApple Podcasts // Spotify Thanks for listening — see you in the next episode 👋 P.S. When you become an annual paid subscriber, you automatically access these best-in-class AI tools for free — for 12 months. Save thousands of dollars now!! Get full access to NEW ECONOMIES at www.neweconomies.co/subscribe

    1h 30m

  2. FEB 8

    The Mistake That Cost a Founder $1.7B

    iRobot was the miracle that almost wasn’t. For 33 years, Colin Angle steered the company from a living room startup at MIT to a global household name. But in early 2024, the story took a dark turn: a $1.7 billion acquisition by Amazon was blocked by regulators, leading to bankruptcy filings and Colin’s departure. This week, we sit down with the legendary co-founder to unpack one of the most controversial moments in recent tech history. This isn’t just a post-mortem on a deal — it’s a masterclass in resilience, the “behavior control” philosophy of robotics, and a warning shot to the American innovation economy. In this episode, we explore: * The Amazon Blockade — Why Colin calls the FTC’s decision a “miscarriage of justice” and how a year-and-a-half in regulatory limbo effectively froze iRobot’s ability to compete. * Artificial Insects (AI) — The MIT origins of iRobot where “AI” stood for artificial insects, not intelligence, and how cockroach-inspired robots led to the Mars Rover. * The 12-Year “Overnight” Success — How the Roomba was actually a “mishmash” of a mine-hunting algorithm, a Hasbro toy manufacturing process, and an industrial supermarket cleaner. * The “Pepsi” Turning Point — The bizarre story of how a Dave Chappelle commercial saved the company from a warehouse full of unsold robots. * 17 Years of Moats — Why it took nearly two decades for competitors to catch up, and the moment the “robot ecosystem” finally commoditized the industry. * Familiar Machines and Magic — A first look at Colin’s new venture and why he believes the “dark ages” of robotics are over, thanks to generative AI. * The Founder’s Resiliency — Colin’s advice for the next generation: why naivety is a superpower and how to get back up when the world — and the government — disagrees with you. Chapters (0:00): iRobot Going Bankrupt (6:20) The Aha Moment (13:20) 12 Years Getting Roomba Launched (17:58) Growth Going Bananas(24:22) The Mighty Cage Fight With Copycats(29:46) Amazon Comes Knocking With $1.7B (50:38) Lessons Going Through Potential Acquisitions (56:26) Colin's New Company Also available on Apple Podcasts // Spotify Thanks for listening and see you in the next episode 👋 P.S. When you become an annual paid subscriber, you automatically access these best-in-class AI tools for free — for 12 months. Save thousands of dollars now!! Get full access to NEW ECONOMIES at www.neweconomies.co/subscribe

    1h 3m

  3. JAN 25

    A16Z General Partner: Why Capital Is Not Enough (The Venture Firm of 2030) | David Haber

    Venture is changing fast — but not in the way most people think. This week, we’re joined by David Haber, General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz, where he invests in AI applications and helped build the firm’s presence in New York. David recently wrote a piece that went viral around a single provocative idea: Most investors run funds. Very few build firms. We unpack what that actually means — why “fund vs firm” is more than semantics, how a16z thinks about compounding advantage, and why the next era of venture may be defined by power (distribution, networks, operating leverage) more than capital alone. We also go deep on David’s founder journey — from starting a fintech company, raising $900M, selling to Goldman Sachs, and then switching sides to join a16z. Along the way, he explains what it really takes to scale in financial services — and why AI is turning fintech into one of the most exciting markets again. What emerges is a clear worldview: the best venture firms aren’t just investors — they’re products. And the winners will be the ones that build moats that get stronger with scale. In this episode, we explore: * A16Z — how the firm is structured across multiple strategies (AI apps, infrastructure, growth, bio, American Dynamism), and what that means for founders. * Fund vs Firm — why David believes most VCs optimize for carry, not compounding advantage, and how “firm-building” changes everything. * The platform debate — why a16z invests heavily in its operating platform, and why the “platform replaces GP time” argument misses the point. * Solo GPs and the new VC landscape — why early-stage winners are still widely distributed, and where specialists can still win big. * Inside Goldman after an acquisition — what it’s like to go from a startup team to a 40,000-person machine, and how to take “risk” inside a massive org. * AI’s real wedge in enterprises — why software is moving from “tools” to “doing the work,” and how this changes TAM from IT spend to labor. * Fintech’s AI moment — why financial services is one of the most human-capital intensive industries on earth, and why that makes it ripe for automation. * Where AI is going next — from copilots → managers of agents, deeper system integration, and why more enterprise work will be driven by unstructured data (including voice). If you’re trying to understand where venture is heading — and what founders should expect from “value add” in a world where AI compresses timelines — this one’s for you. Also available onApple Podcasts // Spotify Chapters: (0:00) Intro(2:14) About Andreessen Horowitz (4:31) The Past 1,000 Days For AI (6:02) Where David Is Spending His Time (8:25) Bond Street's Founding Story (11:54) Bond Street's Early Challenges (14:17) Goldman Sachs’ Acquisition of Bond Street (20:14) Tips For Recovering Founders Post-Sale (23:13) Joining A16Z (26:32) The Future of Venture: Fund vs Firm (37:11) The Rise Of Solo GPs (42:52) The Greatest Lesson From Marc & Ben (47:18) Trends: Reimagining Financial Services (52:45) David's Startup Ideas (53:47) The Next 1,000 Days For AI Thanks for listening and see you in the next episode 👋 P.S. When you become an annual paid subscriber, you automatically access these best-in-class AI tools for free — for 12 months. Save thousands of dollars now!! Get full access to NEW ECONOMIES at www.neweconomies.co/subscribe

    57 min

  4. 12/14/2025

    He Built A $1.8B AI Company With No Experience | Max Junestrand

    In this week’s episode, we’re joined by Max Junestrand, Co-Founder and CEO of Legora. The company only went through Y Combinator last year, has raised $260M to date, and is already one of the fastest-growing companies across legal AI. Legora is betting that the next decade of law won’t be won by “better PDFs,” but by software that fundamentally changes how legal work gets done. Max takes us from Legora’s pre-LLM origins (back when “AI wasn’t cool” and building anything useful was brutally hard) to the post-GPT inflection point that turned legal into one of the most ripe, underrated verticals in all of AI. We talk about why their growth has felt like a new company every quarter, why law firms are unusually primed for a platform shift, and how the real unlock isn’t just smarter models — it’s embedding the product directly into workflows like due diligence at scale and Word-native drafting. What emerges is a clear worldview: if AI can do a task, it will — and the winners will be the teams that ship relentlessly, wire AI into the operating system of legal work, and help lawyers climb the ladder faster rather than just pushing paper. In this episode, we explore: * Choosing the “unsexy” category on purpose — why Max thinks legal AI is the most exciting vertical, and why more founders should be building here. * “Before AI was cool” — Legora’s early work started in 2020, when pre-LLM ML simply couldn’t deliver real value… and how GPT flipped the entire feasibility curve overnight. * Building inside a law firm, not outside it — embedding with top Nordic firm Mannheimer Swartling, going practice area by practice area, and solving real problems before scaling distribution. * How they move so fast — the internal rule: take what a normal company does in a year and compress it into a quarter — and why demand in legal AI makes that pace possible. * The evolution of legal AI UX — from “ChatGPT wrapper” era to tabular review at massive scale (tens of thousands of documents), to Word-native drafting and redlining, to precedent-driven contract generation with hundreds of edits. * Why it’s becoming “unethical” not to use AI — the idea that AI is the newest rung in the review ladder: junior → senior → partner → AI… because it’s another set of eyes you can’t afford to ignore. * The junior lawyer shake-up — how AI pushes people earlier in their career into reviewer-level work, shifting the value toward judgment, client communication, and problem-solving over pure document grinding. * Adoption friction is cultural, not technical — why younger lawyers adopt fastest, but change gets blocked if partners don’t encourage it — and what that does to incentives inside firms. * From services to productized workflows — why AI forces law firms to rethink leverage, scale, and monetization — and how “outcome-based pricing” becomes more natural as the billable hour looks increasingly mismatched. * Fundraising without the theater — Max’s take: the best way to raise is to build a great business, then let investors come to you — including rounds that closed in days, not months (and without a traditional pitch deck). * What the next 1,000 days looks like — why Max is most excited about agents with tool-calling + memory that can run longer workflows… and why reliability compounds (or collapses) across multi-step tasks. * The ethos behind the hustle — not “996” as a badge, but a mission-driven intensity — and the customer stories that make the grind feel worth it (like giving someone their Friday night back). If you want a real window into how legal AI is evolving — and what it looks like when a company tries to build the operating system for an entire profession — this one’s for you. Also available onApple Podcasts // Spotify Chapters: (0:00) Intro(3:30) Doubling ARR Every Quarter (5:35) The Paradigm Starter & Latest Insights Across Legal AI (8:48) What Does AI Mean For Junior Lawyers?(11:44) How Lawyers Adopt Legora (20:06) Going Through YC W25 & Launching Fast (24:33) Max Takes Us Inside The Day-To-Day Legora (30:12) Building Insanely Quickly (33:51) The YC Experience (36:08) Hiring Former YC Founders(38:46) Legora’s Fundraising Journey (41:26) Max’s Day-To-Day (44:10) The Nordic’s Ecosystem (45:20) The Game Plan (46:22) The Next 1,000 Days (48:07) Max’s Other Startup Ideas Thanks for listening and see you in the next episode 👋 P.S. When you become an annual paid subscriber, you automatically access these best-in-class AI tools for free — for 12 months. Save thousands of dollars now!! Get full access to NEW ECONOMIES at www.neweconomies.co/subscribe

    52 min

  5. 12/07/2025

    Forget AI: Inside the Meltdown That Made Airalo #1 eSIM Unicorn | Ahmet Bahadir Ozdemir

    In this week’s episode, we’re joined by Ahmet Bahadir Ozdemir, the self-described “accidental telecom guy” and co-founder of Airalo, the eSIM marketplace that’s quietly rewiring how travelers get online around the world. Bahadir shares the wild, very human journey that led from hustling ship supplies out of his parents’ home in Turkey — pretending to be “60 different people” across ports worldwide — to building SIM4Crew for the 1.7M+ seafarers out there, killing his own profitable business the day Apple announced eSIMs, and then riding out a total revenue collapse during COVID with nothing but a fresh Series A and a “war on waste” mentality. What emerges is not just a startup story, but a philosophy: on luck and timing, on building with kindness in a hyper-capitalist system, and on why individual stories matter more than any KPI. In this episode, we explore: * The accidental telecom founder — how a ship-supply side hustle turned into SIM4Crew, a global SIM card for sailors, after every captain started asking for “potatoes, tomatoes… and SIM cards.” * Seeing the pain in maritime connectivity — why 1.7M seafarers living 9 months at sea were the perfect “edge case” to reveal just how broken roaming really is. * Paying $1,000 for a crash course in roaming — the scrappy way Ahmet taught himself telecom from scratch and launched his first global SIM business using a warehouse network he’d already built. * Killing your own golden goose — the moment Apple announced eSIM iPhones on September 28, 2018, and why Ahmet immediately decided to disrupt SIM4Crew by building the “Amazon of eSIMs” instead. * Breaking into telco as an outsider — from being told his tiny booth looked “cute” at a Netherlands industry event to convincing one visionary operator to give Airalo pay-as-you-go access with no deposit… a relationship that later turned into hundreds of millions in revenue. * Doing the things that don’t scale — wearing Airalo t-shirts everywhere, staged elevator phone calls pitching “this eSIM thing,” and anonymous social media accounts replying to every roaming complaint with, “Sorry to hear this — have you tried Airalo?” * When performance marketing fails — how burning cash on Facebook and Google exposed a deeper problem: nobody knew what an eSIM was — and why influencer-led education finally unlocked explosive word-of-mouth growth. * Dancing on the edge of default alive — the candid story of burning ~$200k/month, getting a tough P&L review from Sequoia, pulling Series A forward to late 2019, and landing $5.4M from Rakuten and other investors literally weeks before COVID froze global travel. * Surviving zero revenue and constant panic attacks — what it felt like when revenue on Stripe dropped to zero, why Ahmet started “visiting the emergency room just to feel safe,” and how a ruthless “war on waste” kept the company alive through two lost years. * A people-first philosophy in a KPI-first world — Ahmet’s critique of “greater good” capitalism, why statistics mean nothing to an individual trying to pay rent or bury a loved one, and how Airalo is built around psychological safety, rare firings, and the mantra: “a bunch of common people putting out uncommon results.” * Travel, empathy, and connection — why he believes every connection starts with a conversation, what talking to taxi drivers teaches you about the world, and how Airalo’s real product is peace of mind when you land in a new country. * The long-term vision for Airalo — turning the company from a visible app into an invisible global layer where every gigabyte — whether bought through an airline, a fintech, or a mom-and-pop travel shop — quietly runs on Airalo’s infrastructure. Plus much more — from panic days in fundraising, to the emotional cost of leadership during crisis, to what it really means to build a humane company in a brutal, winner-take-all market. If you care about timing, resilience, and building for humans — not just for charts and decks — you’ll get a lot from this one. Enjoy the episode! Also available on Apple Podcasts // Spotify Chapters (0:00) Intro(3:40) Building A Global Telecoms Company (11:28) The Timing Was Just Perfect (14:10) Partnering With Network Providers Globally (19:23) Having Great Partners Early (21:47) Finding Those First Super Users (27:00) The Signs Of Building A Unicorn (28:58) The COVID Panic Day (34:30) How We Got Through COVID (39:18) Being A Caring Person (53:29) The Big Impact & Road Ahead Thanks for listening and see you in the next episode 👋 P.S. When you become an annual paid subscriber, you automatically access these best-in-class AI tools for free — for 12 months. Save thousands of dollars now!! Get full access to NEW ECONOMIES at www.neweconomies.co/subscribe

    57 min

  6. 11/30/2025

    The Hidden Skill Behind Every Successful Founder | Lindsay Kaplan

    In this week’s episode, we’re joined by Lindsay Kaplan, co-founder of Chief, the women’s executive network that became one of the fastest-growing membership communities in the world — scaling from a cold-email experiment to a venture-backed unicorn in just a few years. Lindsay shares the inside story of building a brand that reshaped executive leadership for women, from hacking together the first 200 members to navigating the existential shock of COVID, to stepping aside when she realized the company needed a fresh operator for its next chapter. Now an investor at Next Wave NYC, she breaks down what she’s learned from the operator’s seat — and why she’s betting big on founders building at the intersection of AI and real-world connection. In this episode, we explore: The origin story of Chief — how Lindsay and her co-founder turned a “s****y networking event” into the insight behind a new category: a confidential, high-intent community for women at the top of their fields. Finding product-market fit from cold emails — why guessing email addresses, offering a clear promise, and creating “lukewarm outreach” led to explosive early traction. Scaling a community across cities — the surprising discipline behind maintaining brand consistency while expanding from New York to markets across the U.S. Surviving COVID in real time — how Chief rebuilt its entire in-person experience into a digital-first platform in days, not weeks — and why the crisis 10x’d demand for meaningful connection. The co-founder relationship — Lindsay’s candid take on disagreement, shared values, and why the best partnerships feel like having someone “clean up your bloody nose” on the field. Knowing when to step aside — the emotional and operational signals that told her she wasn’t the right person to run Chief for the next decade — and how founders can prevent burnout by being honest about their energy and passion. What she’s investing in now — why Lindsay is bullish on AI as a productivity engine and on the rise of IRL experiences as a counterforce to digital fatigue. Plus much more — from cap table strategy, to the future of membership-based businesses, to why the next great consumer brand will blend software, storytelling, and community. This is one of the most insightful founder-to-investor journeys you’ll hear all year. Enjoy the episode! Also available on Apple Podcasts // Spotify Episode Chapters (0:00) Intro (2:00) The Mission To Build Chief (3:18) Finding The First Members (7:00) How To Launch In Multiple Cities (8:52) The Hardest Early Day Challenges (11:40) Adapting Within Days During COVID (12:33) The Art Of A Great Co-Founder Relationship (18:00) Raising $100M & Becoming A Unicorn (19:25) Launching Physical Spaces (20:59) Community Businesses vs AI (23:32) 60,000 Members On The Waitlist (24:30) The Members Experience (25:43) Stepping Down (30:00) Turning From Operator To Founder To VC (35:53) Lindsay’s Big Ideas Thanks for listening and see you in the next episode 👋 P.S. When you become an annual paid subscriber, you automatically access these best-in-class AI tools for free — for 12 months. Save thousands of dollars now!! Get full access to NEW ECONOMIES at www.neweconomies.co/subscribe

    37 min

  7. 11/23/2025

    The Harsh Truth About Building a Startup in the AI Era | Anish Acharya

    In this week’s episode, we’re joined by Anish Acharya, General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz, who has spent many years at the frontier of consumer products — from early days at Google to building startups to now backing the founders shaping the next decade of software. We’re living through the fastest product cycle in tech history, and Anish breaks down why right now is the best moment in history to build a consumer company — and why the next 1,000 days could mint multiple 100M-user startups. In this episode, we explore: * The return of consumer tech — why consumer was “boring” for a decade, and why AI has reopened one of the biggest windows of opportunity since the iPhone. * Voice as an industry, not a feature — the surprising reason voice is becoming the primary insertion point for AI in enterprises, and how we’ll soon see agents handling a company’s most important calls. * AI-native social networks — why the next Instagram won’t look like Instagram at all, and what a social network built around software, models, and creativity might unlock. * The rise of consumer-built software — Anish explains why millions of non-technical users will soon build mini-apps, agents, and tools — and why everyday consumers are increasingly willing to spend $200 per month on AI tools. * The fundraising playbook for 2026 — how founders should think about raising, why “raising as much as you can” is usually a trap, and the signals investors actually pay attention to. Plus much more! This is one of the clearest breakdowns of the AI consumer landscape you’ll hear all year. Grab a notebook and enjoy the episode! Also available on Apple Podcasts // Spotify Episode Chapters (0:00) Intro (2:00) What is a16z? (6:40) What Is Happening Across AI (8:42) The Traps Founders Are Falling Into (12:21) The Next 1000 Days For AI (16:25) The State of Consumer Tech Right Now (24:09) The New Distribution Model For Consumer Startups (25:52) The Future of Voice (31:15) The Creator Economy and What Comes Next (37:42) AI Wrappers & AI Models Copying Startups (41:40) Why New Social Platforms Have Been Non-Existent (45:57) Fundraising For Startups In This AI Market (49:49) Anish’s Startup Ideas Thanks for listening and see you in the next episode 👋 P.S. When you become an annual paid subscriber, you automatically access these best-in-class AI tools for free — for 12 months. Save thousands of dollars now!! Get full access to NEW ECONOMIES at www.neweconomies.co/subscribe

    51 min

  8. 11/16/2025

    The AI Version of You Will Outperform You — Emad Mostaque

    Welcome to BIG IDEAS by NEW ECONOMIES — a show where we learn how the most iconic founders have turned crucible moments into global companies. Throughout these episodes, we also discover the trends our guests are most excited about, and the types of businesses those trends could go on to create. P.S. When you become an annual paid subscriber, you automatically access these best-in-class AI tools for free — for 12 months. Save thousands of dollars now!! In this week’s episode, we are joined by Emad Mostaque – the founder of Stability AI, the company behind Stable Diffusion, and now the architect of an even more ambitious project: Intelligent Internet. In just a few short years, Emad has gone from running hedge funds to helping ignite the generative AI boom, with hundreds of millions of downloads and billions of images created from models his team helped bring into the world. Now he’s thinking far beyond viral products: sovereign AI for governments, open healthcare models that can outperform doctors on benchmarks and run on a laptop, and agentic systems that could sit beside every citizen, not just inside Big Tech’s closed platforms. In this episode, we explore: * The next 1,000 days of AI — Emad explains why we’re approaching a tipping point where agentic systems begin replacing large parts of the cognitive workforce. * The collapse in the cost of intelligence — how AI is rapidly becoming as cheap and abundant as electricity, and what that means for economies, companies, and individuals. * Cognitive colonialism — why Emad believes the biggest risk isn’t just superintelligence, but a world where a handful of corporations control the AI layer closest to our children. * A universal basic AI — his argument that UBI alone won’t be enough; society will also need open, sovereign AI systems that work for people, not platforms. * What careers look like by 2028 — from disappearing graduate jobs to one-person unicorns, we break down what’s coming for work, education, and opportunity. Plus much more, so grab a notebook and enjoy the episode! Also available on Apple Podcasts // Spotify Episode Chapters (0:00) Intro (3:00) Stability AI (8:25) Intelligent Internet (15:45) Who Should Own AI Models? (18:10) What Do AI Models Get Wrong? (23:15) Which Human Roles Will Disappear Next? (25:28) Who Wins The AI Race? (31:50) Buddies: The AI World Leaders (35:10) What Is Coming Next? (39:33) Emad’s Typical Day (42:43) Trends: Robotics & Self Driving Cars (46:45) AI’s Biggest Challenges Thanks for listening and see you in the next episode 👋 Get full access to NEW ECONOMIES at www.neweconomies.co/subscribe

    51 min
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About

Welcome to BIG IDEAS by NEW ECONOMIES - a show where we learn how the most iconic founders have turned crucible moments into global companies. www.neweconomies.co

Information

  • Creator
    Ollie Forsyth
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    21
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Ollie Forsyth
  • Show Website
    BIG IDEAS BY NEW ECONOMIES