The Luba Show

Luba Yudasina
  • 5.0 (2)
  • Technology
  • Updated Weekly

Honest, human conversations with interesting minds in tech and beyond.

  1. 1d ago

    She Backed Twitter. Now She's Betting on Founders Who Are "AI-Pilled.” - Ann Miura-Ko

    Automate Compliance (and get $1,000 off!!) - https://vanta.com/luba Today I walk with Ann Miura-Ko, co-founding partner of Floodgate. Ann has spent almost 18 years building Floodgate around a deliberately small, non-consensus fund model, made early bets on companies like Lyft and TaskRabbit, and teaches entrepreneurship at Stanford, and now she's watching AI rewrite the lean startup playbook in real time. She gets into the AI agent inside one portfolio company that quietly caught millions of dollars in missed credit, and why she believes not losing is not the same as winning. We get into: • Why she waited nearly 18 years to grow Floodgate's fund size, and how staying small means a $1 billion exit still moves the needle for her investors• Making debate opponents cry for a slice of pizza, and the permission that gave her to be disagreeable for the rest of her career• SmarterDx, the company she couldn't get other investors to take seriously at Series A, that went on to exit for over $1 billion• The math behind "founder friendly" investing, and why a $100M exit barely registers against a $1 billion fund So much more! TIMESTAMPS (00:00) Ann Miura-Ko, Co-Founding Partner, Floodgate (01:35) Making debate opponents cry for a slice of pizza (05:41) Truth-seeking VS defending your ego (11:12) How Mike Maples treated her as an intellectual equal from day one (18:04) Being told she was "average" before finding her calling (26:07) How AI is rewriting the lean startup playbook (36:35) Floodgate's bet to stay small while other firms scale up (39:53) The AI agent that caught millions in missed credits (46:43) SmarterDx: the $1B exit no other investor wanted (48:49) The real math behind a "founder friendly" investor (53:55) Category design and why Lyft had to break the law to launch (1:08:39) The Toyota Corolla he drove for 25 years to buy her a piano (1:11:53) Being the only woman in her electrical engineering class (1:16:37) Turning 50 and her year of saying yes Follow Ann LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amiura/ X: https://x.com/annimaniac Follow Luba Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lifeoflubaa/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yudasinal/ X: https://x.com/LubaYudasina

    She Backed Twitter. Now She's Betting on Founders Who Are "AI-Pilled.” - Ann Miura-Ko

  2. Aug 5

    He Scaled Plaid to $300M ARR. Now a16z Just Bet $55M on Him — Jean-Denis Greze (Town)

    Automate Compliance (and get $1,000 off!!) - https://vanta.com/luba Today I walk with Jean-Denis Greze, co-founder and CEO of Town, an AI on-ramp platform for individuals and businesses. Jean-Denis is the former CTO of Plaid, led engineering through a blocked $5.3B Visa acquisition, and walked away from the C-suite at 45 to start over from zero, and now he's turned a scrapped AI tax-prep startup into a $55M Series A company backed by Andreessen Horowitz. He gets into the week he decided to kill a business that was actually working, and why he refuses to call Town an "AI assistant." We get into: Why he waited until 45, after seven years as Plaid's CTO, to become a founder for the first timeThe week he and his co-founder killed a working, revenue-generating tax-prep startup because it wasn't going to be a rocket shipTown's real bet: not a smarter AI assistant, but an onboarding layer that gets normal people leverage from AI without writing a single promptHis "accelerators, table stakes, foundations" framework for staying ahead of OpenAI, Gemini, and GoogleWhy turning "uncool" work into cult culture, from Dropbox's Team Cash to Plaid's colorful tights, built teams that stuck aroundso much more! Timestamps [00:00:00] Trailer [00:00:43] Intro [00:01:41] Leaving Plaid at 45 to become a founder [00:06:01] Redefining success beyond IPOs and revenue [00:11:56] The YC prodigy myth VS two decades of hard-earned instinct [00:19:47] The stress gap between being an exec and being the founder [00:25:35] Time-boxing family, health, and friends at Series A [00:32:11] Betting on AI tax prep and grinding for a year [00:38:13] The week they decided to shut down a profitable business [00:41:53] The worst three weeks: telling the team and winding down right [00:57:47] The accidental prototype that became Town [01:04:15] Why Town calls itself an on-ramp, not an AI assistant [01:12:29] Beating OpenAI, Gemini, and Google's home-field advantage [01:20:31] Team Cash: making "uncool" work fun at Dropbox and Plaid [01:32:02] Landing Andreessen Horowitz and Forerunner for the Series A [01:37:41] Outro Follow Jean-Denis LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jeandenisgreze X: https://x.com/jgreze Website: https://town.com Follow Luba Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lifeoflubaa/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yudasinal/ X: https://x.com/LubaYudasina

    He Scaled Plaid to $300M ARR. Now a16z Just Bet $55M on Him — Jean-Denis Greze (Town)

  3. Jul 30

    She Raised $100M+ to Reversibly Cryopreserve Humans — Laura Deming (Until)

    Today I walk with Laura Deming, co-founder of Until, a reverse cryopreservation company in San Francisco. Laura got interested in longevity at eight, started working in Cynthia Kenyon's lab at UCSF at 12, and spent years backing the field as an investor through the Longevity Fund. She now builds technology to pause biological time, starting with donor organs and building toward whole-body medical hibernation.  We get into: -The conference talk she was not supposed to give, and how it ended her VC chapter -What "transcend death" actually means once you press on it, tested with a teleporter to Mars -Why San Francisco kills intuition, and the breakdown in her mid-20s that made her protect hers -The big magnet, and rewarming an organ in about a minute -Why transplant patients live inside a two-hour radius with a pager on them at all times so much more! Timestamps 00:00:00 Trailer 00:00:48 Intro 00:01:35 "I love science" and the things that have stayed constant 00:05:13 A childhood without rules and reconstructing what normal means 00:07:03 What is actually worth preserving when a person dies 00:13:00 The Dreaming Machine and the film that never got made 00:19:02 When you could not say the word aging out loud in the lab 00:22:55 Emailing Cynthia Kenyon at 12 and the day her life started 00:28:49 The talk that made her leave VC for cryo 00:32:39 San Francisco as an intuition killer00:35:04 Molecules in clockwork synchrony and feeling loved by the universe 00:44:39 The big magnet and rewarming an organ in about a minute00:46:19 The two-hour radius and the pager that runs a transplant patient's life 00:53:50 Her best arguments against her own work 00:58:44 The teleporter to Mars and what dies in the process 01:01:42 Outro Follow Laura X: https://x.com/LauraDeming?lang=en LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laura-deming-b255362a/ Website: https://www.untillabs.com/ Follow Luba IInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/lifeoflubaa/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yudasinal/ X: https://x.com/LubaYudasina

    She Raised $100M+ to Reversibly Cryopreserve Humans — Laura Deming (Until)

  4. Jul 23

    The Investor Who Backed 10 Unicorns Explains the AI Bubble - Avichal Garg (Electric Capital)

    Today I sit down with Avichal Garg, co-founder and General Partner at Electric Capital. Avichal has built and sold companies, worked inside early Google and Facebook, served as a visiting partner at Y Combinator, and now backs founders across crypto and frontier tech. We get into: -Why founders are more like artists than operators -What actually compounds a person's trajectory -His "software eating money" thesis behind Electric Capital -Why honesty ends up being the real edge in venture so much more! Timestamps 00:00:00 Trailer 00:00:44 Intro 00:01:00 Watches, luxury markets, and the AI parallel 00:12:48 Opportunity is a luxury 00:14:43 Founders as artists, not just operators 00:18:26 Authenticity and cutting through market noise 00:24:38 Betting on outliers as a life philosophy 00:37:58 Storytelling as a founder superpower 00:55:41 How Elad Gil helped launch Electric 01:07:55 Why crypto was the wedge for Electric 01:19:28 Why he prefers market corrections 01:31:00 The firms Electric was modeled after 01:36:21 Honesty as the core operating principle 01:42:15 Over-committing resources to founders 01:51:03 Dodging SBF and reading fake authenticity 02:01:40 Outro Follow Avichal LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/avichalgarg/ X: https://x.com/avichal?lang=en Follow Luba Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lifeoflubaa/ Linkedin:https://www.linkedin.com/in/yudasinal/ X: https://x.com/LubaYudasina

    The Investor Who Backed 10 Unicorns Explains the AI Bubble - Avichal Garg (Electric Capital)

  5. Jul 16

    $6.8B GovTech Founder On Why Most Startups Fail Selling to Government - Ben Rudolph

    Today I'm talking to Ben Rudolph, co-founder and CTO of Peregrine Technologies, to trace his path from Stanford gymnastics to building one of the fastest-growing companies in government technology. They discuss his time at the UN working with refugees, the 18 months he and co-founder Nick Noone spent embedded inside a police department, surviving the early "wilderness" of company building, and how Peregrine grew into a multi-billion dollar business. The conversation also covers leadership lessons, company values, and balancing fatherhood with running a fast-scaling company. Timestamps:00:00:00 Trailer00:01:18 Intro00:01:21 Stanford gymnastics and meeting Nick00:09:06 Working with refugees at the UN00:16:20 Deciding to start the company00:19:10 Moving into a police department for 18 months00:26:44 Where the Peregrine name comes from00:31:23 Winning the California RFP00:41:47 Growth from wilderness to product-market fit00:44:58 Biggest mistake and hardest lessons as a leader00:48:39 Becoming a father while scaling the company00:48:52 How Peregrine uses AI internally and externally00:56:01 Life philosophy and closing thoughts Links: Ben RudolphWebsite: https://www.benrudolph.info/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/__benrudolph/?hl=enLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brudolph Luba YudasinaInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/lifeoflubaaX: https://x.com/LubaYudasinaLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yudasinal/

    $6.8B GovTech Founder On Why Most Startups Fail Selling to Government - Ben Rudolph

  6. Jul 9

    $47 Billion Crypto Founder Shares His Story - Anatoly Yakovenko (Solana)

    Today I’m speaking with Anatoly Yakovenko, co-founder and CEO of Solana, to trace his journey from a childhood in the Soviet Union to building one of the largest blockchain networks in the world. They discuss his years at Qualcomm, the eureka moment that led to Solana, surviving the FTX collapse, and how he uses AI to run multiple side projects. The conversation closes with reflections on stress, risk, parenting, and his definition of success. Timestamps: 00:00:00 Trailer 00:01:06 Intro 00:01:17 Growing up in the Soviet Union 00:04:02 Immigrating to the United States 00:07:34 Career dreams and studying computer science 00:09:47 First startup and early lessons 00:11:19 13 years at Qualcomm 00:22:32 Meeting Raj and founding Solana 00:26:44 Fundraising and early investors 00:28:41 Surviving the FTX collapse 00:40:19 Solana's mission and impact 00:43:54 Using AI to run side projects 00:49:39 Hardest decisions as a leader 00:52:51 Outlook on crypto and Solana's future 00:59:22 Twitter, being public, and politics 01:05:52 Beliefs on human nature and life philosophy 01:09:34 Outro Links: Anatoly Yakovenko Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/solanafounder/?hl=en X: https://x.com/toly?lang=en LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anatoly-yakovenko Luba Yudasina Instagram: Luba Yudasina (@lifeoflubaa) • Instagram photos and videos X: luba yudasina (@LubaYudasina) / X LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yudasinal

    $47 Billion Crypto Founder Shares His Story - Anatoly Yakovenko (Solana)

  7. Jul 2

    From Being Rejected by Every VC to Starting Her Own Fund - Leah Solivan (Founder of TaskRabbit)

    I got to walk with Leah Solivan, founder of TaskRabbit and now Managing Director of Precedent VC, through her journey from IBM engineer to startup founder to venture capitalist. We got into the early days of building TaskRabbit, the decision to sell the company to IKEA, and her transition into investing. Leah also shared her philosophy on evaluating founders, the AI-powered deal scoring tool she built, and the story behind her upcoming book, Breaking Precedent Timestamps: 00:00:00 Trailer00:01:12 Intro00:01:21 Ballet background and SF Ballet board00:06:12 TaskRabbit's origin story00:10:52 Move to the Bay Area00:23:00 Selling TaskRabbit to IKEA00:33:03 Letting go of founder identity00:35:37 Launching Precedent VC00:38:26 AI-powered deal scoring system00:41:26 Investing philosophy and founder fit00:54:30 Founder green and red flags00:58:26 Why she wrote Breaking Precedent01:07:12 Parenting and work-life balance01:10:46 Defining success01:12:20 Outro Links: Leah Solivan Website: Leah Solivan Instagram: Leah Solivan (@leah_solivan) • Instagram photos and videos LinkedIn: Leah Solivan | LinkedIn Luba Yudasina Instagram: Luba Yudasina (@lifeoflubaa) • Instagram photos and videos X: luba yudasina (@LubaYudasina) / X LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yudasinal

    From Being Rejected by Every VC to Starting Her Own Fund - Leah Solivan (Founder of TaskRabbit)

  8. Jun 11

    Joe Cohen: 2 Electric Vehicles in 2 Years With Just $14M and 20 People

    Today I’m talking to Joe Cohen, founder and CEO of Infinite Machine, a company building electric vehicles. But this conversation is really about something bigger: what it means to live freely and build things that matter. Joe has built companies across education, fashion, software, and now vehicles — and what ties them together is his obsession with freedom, accessibility, and enabling people to do life on their own terms. He calls it the “infinite game” — a framework that shapes how he thinks about business, creativity, and life itself. It’s a conversation about ambition, creativity, and what it actually takes to build something meaningful — without losing sight of why you’re building it in the first place. Topics covered The “infinite game” framework and why finite thinking limits your potentialFrom Universe (empowerment through creation) to Infinite Machine (freedom through mobility)Why “autonomous humans” is the core mission behind everything he buildsBuilding a company with your brother and the importance of going separate ways firstHiring for low ego and autonomy — how to spot these qualities SO much more! Timestamps0:00 Intro0:40 The motivation to make things1:55 The infinite game 2:40 Deciding to be an entrepreneur5:55 Artist vs capitalist7:34 Why freedom matters9:29 What is an autonomous human10:26 Vehicles as tools for freedom13:14 What's next for Infinite Machine14:27 How Infinite Machine started15:08 Going your own way as brothers16:35 Different paths, same vision17:36 Design in the DNA18:42 How brothers handle design disagreements22:35 The C2 app and Friday feedback23:33 Building trust 25:38 Team culture and hiring27:21 Friday show and tell ritual30:26 Nurturing creativity32:22 Fundraising36:47 Manufacturing stories37:46 Managing stress 39:09 Meditating daily for 13 years42:56 Life philosophy44:58 Top books Links Joseph CohenInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/jmc/?hl=en X: https://x.com/josephcohen LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/josephmcohen  Luba YudasinaInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/lifeoflubaaX: https://x.com/LubaYudasinaLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yudasinal

    Joe Cohen: 2 Electric Vehicles in 2 Years With Just $14M and 20 People
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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
2 Ratings

About

Honest, human conversations with interesting minds in tech and beyond.

Information

  • Creator
    Luba Yudasina
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    22
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Luba Yudasina

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