Very First Win

Goanna Capital

Success doesn't start with a headline. It starts with a first win. Very First Win takes you inside the exact moment top founders, investors, and operators realized they could actually make it. Each episode unpacks the deal, decision, or breakthrough that changed everything, and what that moment taught them. Hosted by Rob Hilmer of Goanna Capital, with guests spanning founders, investors, and industry leaders shaping what comes next. New episodes weekly.

Episodes

  1. 3d ago

    How One Researcher at a Conference Landed a $100M Microsoft Deal | Mitesh Agrawal, CEO of Positron

    Mitesh Agrawal, CEO of Positron, joins Robert Hilmer on Very First Win to talk about building AI silicon for frontier inference workloads, coexisting with Nvidia, and the two challenges that define the chip game: talent and supply chain. Then he gets into his very first win, the $100M+ deal that taught him how to sell into a multi-trillion dollar company as a startup worth a fraction of that. The secret? It wasn't a CEO or a CTO. It was one Microsoft researcher at NeurIPS 2018 whose team bulldozed through every red tape Positron's predecessor company would have otherwise hit. If you're not in front of people, you don't exist. Listen to Very First Win: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0cTzEJW3juIZEBnyswNl9c?si=674c885122c64a70 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/very-first-win/id1896315027 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@GoannaCapital Connect: Robert Hilmer: https://www.linkedin.com/in/roberthilmer/

    15 min

  2. May 28

    Jason Fried on Getting Told He Sucked, His First $20, and Landing a $100K Gig Solo | Very First Win

    Jason Fried, founder of 37signals (Basecamp, HEY), joins Robert Hilmer on Very First Win.Jason has built one of the most well-known bootstrapped software companies of the last 25+ years. 27 years of profitability, ~60 people, zero VC money on purpose. In this episode he shares three early moments that shaped how he thinks about building: the rejection that lit a fire under him, his first $20 ever made from software (mailed from a stranger in Germany), and landing a $100K Getty Images project as a solo freelancer.Follow Very First WinSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0cTzEJW3juIZEBnyswNl9c?si=674c885122c64a70Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/very-first-win/id1896315027YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@GoannaCapitalRobert Hilmer: https://www.linkedin.com/in/roberthilmer/

    14 min

  3. May 21

    The Youngest Tech Unicorn Founder in History | Samir Vasavada, Founder of Vise AI

    In this episode of Very First Win, Robert Hilmer sits down with Samir Vasavada, founder of Vise AI and the youngest tech unicorn founder in history. Samir started Vise at 15 years old in Cleveland, Ohio, dropped out of high school, and moved to San Francisco with no money, eventually living in the Crypto Castle while bootstrapping the company. Vise is now an AI-powered investment platform that helps financial advisors build personalized portfolios for their clients, with over $50 billion in assets on the platform. Samir walks through the very first win that changed everything: raising his seed round from Founders Fund after three years of grinding, cold emailing investors, sleeping on his co-founder's dorm room mattress topper at UPenn, and refusing to leave until he could convince him to drop out. Listen to Very First Win: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0cTzEJW3juIZEBnyswNl9c?si=674c885122c64a70 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/very-first-win/id1896315027 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@GoannaCapital Follow:Robert Hilmer: https://www.linkedin.com/in/roberthilmer/ #VeryFirstWin #ViseAI #StartupFounder #VentureCapital #ai

    19 min

  4. May 14

    Find the Customer Choosing Between You and Death | Jonathan Bush (Athena Health, Zus Health)

    Jonathan Bush is the co-founder of Athena Health and the co-founder and CEO of Zus Health, a national common patient record and medical record API. He ran Athena for 21 years before the company was taken private, and he's now also running for governor of Maine. In this episode, Jonathan tells the story of how Athena Health almost didn't exist. The company started as a women's health center trying to reinvent maternity care around midwives and birth centers. The model didn't work, but the scrappy little browser-based billing tool they built for themselves caught the attention of neighboring medical groups. The real unlock came when they found 35 pediatricians and primary care docs at Harvard Pilgrim who were about to be cut loose from a staff model HMO. None of them had ever sent a claim in their life. Athena's pitch was simple: let us be your back office, because you literally cannot do this yourselves. Jonathan and Robert get into why your first customer should be someone choosing between you and going out of business, why going to the hinterlands beats taking down the castle, and how he's applying the same playbook at Zus today. Follow Very First Win for more conversations with founders on the moments that changed everything. Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube(@GoannaCapital) Connect with Robert Hilmer: linkedin.com/in/roberthilmer/

    10 min

  5. May 7

    a16z Partner Flew to London on 90 Minutes Notice to Win This $11B Deal

    ElevenLabs is now an $11B company. Three years ago, a16z's Bryan Kim flew from San Francisco to London on 90 minutes notice to win the Series A. He packed in a minute, got his assistant to book the flight, landed, met the founder for lunch, and signed the term sheet on a piece of paper. Four hours on the ground. Then he flew home. In this episode of Very First Win, BK walks host Robert Hilmer through how it actually went down, and the principle he credits for making the call: "If it's worth doing, always ask yourself, what is a strong form of it?" Bryan "BK" Kim is a Partner at Andreessen Horowitz, where he leads early-stage consumer and AI application investments. His portfolio includes ElevenLabs, Captions (now Mirage AI), Cluely, BeReal, Partiful, and Function Health. In this episode: 00:00 The flight to London 00:36 Intro: Welcome to Very First Win 01:22 What BK invests in at a16z 02:12 Jensen's "five-layer cake" and where AI value is created 04:43 Chatbots vs agents and what's actually changing 05:55 The very first win: leading ElevenLabs' Series A 07:30 The decision to fly to London 08:50 Signing on a piece of paper 09:34 Why "what is a strong form of this?" is BK's mental model 10:35 Closing thoughts Very First Win is a podcast hosted by Robert Hilmer, founder of Goanna Capital. Each episode features top investors and operators sharing the story of a defining win and the lessons behind it. Goanna Capital is a global multi-strategy private markets investment firm and shareholder of companies including Anthropic, SpaceX, Canva, Neuralink, Databricks, Ramp, Rippling, and OpenAI. Subscribe for more conversations with the people behind venture's most important deals. Listen to Very First Win: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@GoannaCapital Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0cTzEJW3juIZEBnyswNl9c?si=bfb732637e434b12 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/very-first-win/id1896315027 Follow Robert Hilmer: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/roberthilmer/ Follow Bryan Kim: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kirbyman/ #ElevenLabs #a16z #VentureCapital #AI #BryanKim #ConsumerAI #Startups #Podcast

    11 min

  6. Apr 30

    He Was 7 Years Too Early. Then AI Exploded | Andrew Antos, Klarity AI

    In 2017, Andrew Antos founded Klarity AI, an artificial intelligence company built years before ChatGPT, before the AI boom, and before most people believed AI could actually work in production. Then he waited. For 7 years, Andrew kept building while the rest of the world ignored AI. Customers were skeptical. The market didn't exist yet. Most founders in his position would have pivoted, quit, or burned out, and many did. Then AI exploded. And everything Andrew had quietly built for 7 years suddenly made sense. This is the story of what it actually takes to be too early, and survive long enough to be right. In this conversation, Andrew shares:- What it looked like building an AI company in 2017, when no one cared- The hardest stretch of the 7-year climb, and what kept him going when momentum disappeared- Why "too early" is often a bigger advantage than founders realize- The daily habits that compound into breakthroughs- His honest advice for founders building in markets that don't exist yet If you've ever wondered whether you're ahead of the curve or just lost in the woods, watch this one to the end. 💬 Have you ever been "too early" to something? Setback, or hidden advantage? Drop a comment. 🔔 Subscribe for more founder stories, investor conversations, and lessons from people building at the edge. About Andrew Antos:Andrew Antos is the founder of Klarity AI, an AI company he started in 2017, years before the AI boom transformed the industry. #AndrewAntos #KlarityAI #AIStartup #FounderStory #StartupJourney #EntrepreneurMindset #DailyProgress #GrowthMindset #BuildingInPublic #StartupLessons

    16 min

  7. Apr 23

    From MIT Dropout to Space Industry Founder: Delian Asparouhov's Very First Win

    Most entrepreneurs’ first wins are overlooked - but for Delian Asparouhov, it was a life-changing internship at Square that set his entire trajectory. Imagine going from a rejection just minutes before — only to have your biggest break come through because a CTO saw something in you during a late-stage Zoom call. That moment at Square in 2012 sparked Delian’s journey from Silicon Valley intern to co-founder of Varda Space, and now a visionary shaping space manufacturing’s future.

    13 min

  8. Apr 23

    How NasDaily Turned One Video a Day Into a Global Empire

    Most social media icons will fade out—and often fade fast. But what if your biggest asset isn’t your followers, but your ability to build a real business?Nuseir Yassin, founder of NAS Company and  NasDaily , reveals how he went from making a thousand one-minute videos to a venture-backed powerhouse with 70 million followers and a mission to democratize entrepreneurship through AI.In this episode, discover how the power of niche, authentic content makes you truly unique—and how going deep on what you find interesting can create billions of interest. Nuseir shares his bold strategy of documenting every country he visits and how it built a global brand that’s still just the beginning. You’ll learn why competition just levels the playing field, and why the biggest growth opportunity now is helping anyone turn followers into real revenue.We explore how the social media game is shifting—especially for creators with 500,000 followers or more—and why AI is about to democratize business creation itself. Nuseir breaks down the next decade of online entrepreneurship, revealing how to leverage your social capital before algorithms change again. Plus, get practical advice for young founders: skip the traditional route, build skills, and craft a story only you can tell.

    13 min

  9. Apr 23

    The Secret to Follow-Up Success That Led Ryan Serhant to Sell a Multi-Million Dollar Apartment

    Most real estate stories end with a closing; ‪@RyanSerhant‬'s Very First Win begins with a prank call, a last-minute Paris trip, and a deal that seemed impossible - yet changed his entire career. His willingness to follow up relentlessly transformed a random phone call into a $8.3 million sale, all while navigating international scams, con artists, and the chaos of NYC real estate.In this episode, Ryan peels back the curtain on how that wild deal unfolded, from the moment he picked up that prank call to closing the deal in person with cash, all amidst international intrigue and late-night plane rides. You'll discover the key mindset shifts that let him turn seemingly impossible situations into wins, regardless of the risks. Ryan shares his approach to following up, knowing when to push and when to fold, and why persistence, paired with a smart approach to rejection, is the secret sauce behind his success.We break down why follow-up is your most powerful sales tool. Ryan’s insights aren’t just about closing deals, they’re about transforming your entire approach to sales, negotiations, and grit. If you’ve ever wondered how a story that sounds like a Hollywood script can be your real-life blueprint, this episode unlocks the mindset, tactics, and relentless follow-up strategies that turn even the wildest opportunities into lifelong wins.Perfect for entrepreneurs, salespeople, and anyone chasing that big break, this episode will inspire you to think bigger, follow longer, and never give up.Your next win might just start with one phone call. Are you ready?

    22 min

  10. Apr 23

    Gary Vaynerchuk's First $1: The Moment Nobody Talks About

    Join us as we dive into the pivotal first win of Gary Vaynerchuk's entrepreneurial journey. Discover how a simple baseball card trade at age 14 shaped his mindset towards unlimited potential and minimal downside. Learn about the importance of early wins and failures in building confidence, the role of passion over fame, and how maintaining perspective through triumphs and failures fuels growth. This episode is packed with insights on communication, gratitude, and continuous learning from one of the most influential entrepreneurs of our time.

    8 min
  • 10 Episodes

About

Success doesn't start with a headline. It starts with a first win. Very First Win takes you inside the exact moment top founders, investors, and operators realized they could actually make it. Each episode unpacks the deal, decision, or breakthrough that changed everything, and what that moment taught them. Hosted by Rob Hilmer of Goanna Capital, with guests spanning founders, investors, and industry leaders shaping what comes next. New episodes weekly.

Information

  • Creator
    Goanna Capital
  • Years Active
    2K
  • Episodes
    10
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Goanna Capital
  • Show Website
    Very First Win