Passion Play Profit

Peter Yuan Lu

Nothing feels better in life than discovering your passion, playing the game of business, and creating an lasting impact. Join Peter Lu as he interviews the world's leading entrepreneurs to extract hyper-practical insights to excel in business and life. Whether you’re looking to start your own company, need help motivating your team, or want to catch up on events in Silicon Valley, Wall Street, and beyond, your journey should begin here.

  1. 2d ago

    #52 - Building A Brain ASIC With A Team Of Three, Robot Fleets, and Breaking Into Deep Tech with Jeff Ciesielski of LeafLabs

    In this conversation, Jeff Ciesielski, Director of Research at LeafLabs and stealth founder, shares how a team of three built a 2,000 channel brain recording ASIC that most people called impossible, how to learn anything hard, and how to break into deep tech from a white collar job. Jeff grew up on a farm in rural Indiana, got his first engineering job at 17 porting Fortran to C# at a steel mill, and moved to Seattle with nothing left in the bank. He worked as a mechanic and in a sandwich shop, automated his own job at a Bering Sea fishing company, subcontracted on the McLaren MP4-12C supercar, scaled robotics and controls at KeyMe from 125 to 5,000 machines, and now leads unusual research projects in neuroscience, medical devices and compute at LeafLabs. We discuss: - How to learn anything hard: chip off a piece, eat what you can, sleep on it - Knowing when it is okay to wing it, and when you need hard answers - Why you should never be the smartest person in the room - Building a 2,000 channel electrophysiology ASIC with a team of three - Working with TSMC through middlemen, shuttle runs and 180 nm process nodes - Etching silicon probes the width of a human hair - Real time process monitoring for robot fleets and AI agents - Breaking into deep tech: learn a trade that needs things built for it - Doing work that matters long after anyone remembers your name Watch the full video episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@PassionPlayProfit

  2. 5d ago

    #51 - Why Stitching AI Tools Together Breaks Your Workflow, Getting Into YC, and the One-Person Company with Richard Song of Epsilla

    In this conversation, Renchu (Richard) Song, Co-Founder and CEO of Epsilla (YC S23), explains why stitching AI tools together breaks your workflow, how to get into YC, and why teams of three to five people will soon run businesses doing tens of millions in revenue. Richard dreamed of building a software business since he was ten, studied computer science, and co-founded an indoor navigation startup at Cornell. He joined TigerGraph before its Series A, spent a year at Meta on WhatsApp privacy infrastructure, and returned to lead a 30-person team at TigerGraph before starting Epsilla, which went from vector database to AI agents to a business operating system for the one-person company. We discuss: - Startup or big company out of school? Maximize for learning, not money - Why judgment and taste are the skills that matter in the AI age - Product manager, engineer and designer merging into one builder - Customer discovery with The Mom Test - How to get into YC: founder market fit and a story with clear logic - Harness Router: building on Claude Code and Codex instead of your own harness - Open source harnesses, model choice, and why you need your own evals - The business operating system for 3 to 5 person companies Watch the full video episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@PassionPlayProfit

  3. Sep 30

    #50 - How the Memory Market Shapes AI, the US-China Chip Race, and the Memory Cycle with Vis Valluri of SK hynix

    In this conversation, Vis Valluri, Senior Director of Industry Intelligence at SK hynix, explains how the memory market shapes AI, how close China really is in the chip race, and what three decades in semiconductors taught him about one of the most cyclical industries in tech. Vis grew up in India, studied mechanical engineering at IIT, and earned his master's at SUNY Binghamton on an IBM-funded research assistantship in electronic packaging. He spent seven years as a packaging engineer at AMD, covered semiconductors and memory in equity research on Wall Street, sized the NAND market at SanDisk, and now covers every end market for DRAM and NAND at SK hynix. We discuss: - Why "there is no silicon in Silicon Valley" anymore - The US-China AI arms race and why whoever wins controls the ecosystem - Embargoes, EUV, and how close China really is on chips - From 50% margins to negative in two quarters: the memory cycle - HBM, chain of thought, agentic AI and the new memory demand drivers - Why memory looks tight through 2027 - Forecasting demand: bits per box, attach rates and hyperscaler CapEx - Advice for students: try 10 things, go deep on one or two, and talk to people Watch the full video episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@PassionPlayProfit

  4. Sep 28

    #49 - The PM Trap Every Engineer Falls Into, and Why AI Agents Are Replacing Dashboards with Anita Vithayathil of Arch Systems

    In this conversation, Anita Vithayathil, Director of Product Management at Arch Systems, shares the trap every engineer falls into when they move into product, how she learns what customers really need by spending weeks on factory floors, and why AI agents are replacing dashboards in manufacturing. Anita grew up in India, moved to the US in high school and went to four different high schools, studied electrical engineering, and started as a software engineer at Capital One before moving into product management. Today she leads product at Arch Systems, an analytics and AI platform for manufacturers. We discuss: - How to make the most of college: projects, co-ops and internships - Standing out as an engineer in the age of AI - The PM trap: engineers want to solve, product people ask why - You are not the user, even when you build for engineers - Living the customer's workflow and asking about specific moments - Data, ontology and why partners beat competitors on the factory floor - AI that sees, investigates and acts, and why a 1% scrap cut is a board-level conversation - What drives her: numbers going up and great people Watch the full video episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@PassionPlayProfit

  5. Sep 25

    #48 - How To Obsess About Customers To Find Real Problems with Ann Hsieh of AfterShip

    In this conversation, Ann Hsieh, product strategy leader at AfterShip and former UX research and strategy leader at Amazon, Google, Meta, Walmart, Yahoo and Nokia, shares how the best product teams find the problems customers actually have, why problems stay the same while the "how" keeps changing, and what building for the whole world really takes. Ann fell into human computer interaction through a Cornell hip hop dance group, became one of the first students in Cornell's information science program, and went on to lead research on Yahoo Mail in Brazil, Google Music, Android, Amazon's global seller studies, and today AfterShip's product strategy for merchants. We discuss: - Following teenagers into Brazilian internet cafes, and why US-centric tech breaks globally - Day-in-the-life research and why workarounds are gold - The two-persona framework from Google Music - Pricing lessons from a product that flopped - B2B2C thinking: serving merchants by serving their customers - China's live commerce, one-hour delivery, and the future of e-commerce - Synthetic users, AI agents as buyers, and where human judgment still wins - Finding work that makes you love waking up in the morning Watch the full video episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@PassionPlayProfit

  6. Sep 23

    #47 - Building Relationships That Outlast The Brand, AI Agents, and the Future of Software with Samir Kumar of Touring Capital

    In this conversation, Samir Kumar, Co-Founder and General Partner at Touring Capital, shares how the best investors build relationships that outlast the brand on their business card, why AI agents are about to make the software market an order of magnitude bigger, and what it took to back companies like PsiQuantum and Applied Intuition. Samir traces his path from mechanical and aerospace engineering at Cornell to nearly a decade at Microsoft building Pocket PC and Windows Mobile, bridging Silicon Valley startups with Samsung, shaping Qualcomm Ventures' early AI thesis, and leading investments at M12, Microsoft's venture fund. We discuss: - Why curiosity is the best career compass - Betting early on mobile, and later on AI - How to win competitive deals as an investor - The real test of an investor: how you show up after the check - The SaaSpocalypse, and why software isn't dead - Agents doing the work, and the labor TAM - Why enterprise adoption of RL moves slower than the Valley thinks - Prize data sets as a durable moat Watch the full video episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjy_1UEUYPo

  7. 06/29/2025

    #46 - Howard Morgan: Founder of First Round Capital, Chairman of B Capital, Co-Founder of Renaissance Technologies

    In this insightful conversation, Howard Morgan, a pioneer in early-stage investing and technology, shares his journey from a mathematics enthusiast to a leading figure in venture capital. He discusses his early influences, the founding of Renaissance Technologies, and the establishment of Idealab, emphasizing the importance of timing and execution in entrepreneurship. Morgan also reflects on his experiences with First Round Capital and B Capital Group, exploring emerging technologies like AI and brain-computer interfaces, while offering a global perspective on investment opportunities. He concludes with thoughts on legacy, partnerships, and the impact of his work on future generations. Chapters: 00:00 The Journey Begins: Early Influences and Education 03:00 Pioneering the Tech Frontier: Early Career and Innovations 06:04 Founding Renaissance Technologies: A New Era in Investing 08:50 The Birth of Idealab: Nurturing Young Entrepreneurs 11:53 Lessons from the Venture Capital Landscape 14:55 First Round Capital: Building a Network of Success 17:49 Exploring New Frontiers: B Capital Group and Future Investments 20:49 The Future of AI: Opportunities and Ethical Considerations 23:57 Global Perspectives: Investing in Emerging Markets 26:51 Legacy and Impact: The Seeds We Plant for Future Generations

  8. 06/12/2025

    #45 - Amber Shen: Global Product Strategy and Operations Lead at Trae AI, Next Generation AI Code Editing, Dominating Product Management for AI Tools

    In this episode of Passion Play Profit, host Peter Lu interviews Amber Shen, the global growth lead at Trae, an AI co-editor designed for building AI agents. Amber shares her journey from a passion for fashion and design to a career in technology and AI. She discusses her experiences at Meta, transitioning from software engineering to product management, and the challenges of building AI tools for developers. The conversation also explores the future of programming, the importance of understanding user needs, and advice for young entrepreneurs navigating their careers. Chapters 00:00 From Passion to AI: Amber Shen's Journey 05:15 Transitioning from Engineering to Product Management 10:54 Building AI Tools for Developers 15:15 Competing in the Global Coding Market 19:29 Designing Human-Like AI Agents 21:42 The Future of Programming and AI Collaboration 28:10 Trends in AI and User Interaction 32:16 Advice for Young Entrepreneurs

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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
2 Ratings

About

Nothing feels better in life than discovering your passion, playing the game of business, and creating an lasting impact. Join Peter Lu as he interviews the world's leading entrepreneurs to extract hyper-practical insights to excel in business and life. Whether you’re looking to start your own company, need help motivating your team, or want to catch up on events in Silicon Valley, Wall Street, and beyond, your journey should begin here.

Information

  • Creator
    Peter Yuan Lu
  • Years Active
    2022 - 2026
  • Episodes
    52
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Peter Yuan Lu
  • Show Website
    Passion Play Profit