Who Invited Abe

Abraham Gomez

Who Invited Abe is a podcast where startup founders talk candidly about what it actually takes to build and scale in the AI era. Each week, Abe sits down with founders building real products to unpack the decisions behind go-to-market, infrastructure, hiring, and growth — the things that matter, and the things that didn’t. No hype. No playbooks. Just honest conversations about what’s working, what’s breaking, and what founders would do differently if they were starting again.

Episodes

  1. JAN 29

    The Nvidia Intern Who Won 9 Hackathons in a Row

    Dylan Vidal won 9 hackathons in a row and landed a dream internship at Nvidia while growing Knight Hacks at University of Central Florida. Here is the exact learning framework Dylan used to bridge the gap between a CS degree and Big Tech reality. In this episode, we sit down with Dylan, a Junior at UCF and President of KnightHacks. We discuss his journey from "anti-social" student to community leader, the reality of interning at Nvidia (including meeting Jensen Huang), and why most students are using AI completely wrong (in the classroom and in hackathons). Dylan breaks down his unique "Tutorial Project" learning method and explains why you need "less trust and more oversight" when coding with LLMs. What You'll Learn: The "Tutorial Project" Method: How to use AI to build original software, not just copy-paste code.The Nvidia Experience: Inside the culture, the "green team food," and meeting the CEO.Hackathon Strategy: How to go 9-for-9 in competitions by focusing on "Vibes" over perfect code.Overcoming Imposter Syndrome: Why feeling like a fraud is actually a sign you're in the right room.CS degree, still worth it?: Learn how Dylan maximizes his learning and time at UCFCommunity building is critical: Education is better, faster, and simply more fun when learning with a communityTimestamps:00:00 Introduction and Background01:48 Only 3 Months of a "real" high school experience04:46 The Rise of AI in Education05:31 AI skepticism07:13 Navigating AI Policies in Academia10:10 Realizing the Utility of AI Tools13:10 Learning Through Building Projects14:41 Make your own tutorial vs follow the tutorial15:48 The Importance of Passion in Learning19:45 Experiences at NVIDIA and Meeting Jensen Huang19:55 Overcoming Imposter Syndrome23:19 Diving into Kubernetes26:04 The Role of Knight Hacks31:30 Journey into Tech36:02 Navigating Imposter Syndrome in Tech40:11 The Vibrant Tech Community in Florida46:06 Dangers of ChatGPT being your educational crutch48:11 Future Aspirations and Career Paths53:59 Is a CS Degree worth it?56:58 The importance of community buildingLinks:MLH: https://mlh.io/Knight Hacks Club: https://club.knighthacks.org/Shellhacks: https://shellhacks.net/Josh Tried Coding:    / @joshtriedcoding   ‪@joshtriedcoding‬ Google Cloud AI Agent Bake Off eps1:    • The AI Agent Challenge: Who Built the Best...  Connect w/ us: Dylan Vidal Linkedin:   / dylanvidal1205  Dylan Website: https://www.dvidal.dev/Podcast: WhoInvitedAbe.comAbe Twitter: x.com/whoinvitedabeAbe LinkedIn:   / goabego  Keywords: #nvidia #jensen #hackathon #knighthacks #impostersyndrome #earlycareer #whoinvitedabe #techpodcast #tech #startups #AI #GenAI

    1h 3m
  2. JAN 21

    From Gold Mining to launching Element Agents (No CS Degree Required) | Vlad de Ziegler

    From gold mining to AI mining—Vlad de Ziegler (@aiwithvlad) proves you don’t need a traditional software engineering background to build enterprise-grade AI agents. In this episode, we break down how Vlad went from a master's in finance to getting invited by Google Cloud to compete in their AI Agent Bake Off. We discuss why Lisbon is becoming a hidden gem for tech founders, how to choose the right AI framework (CrewAI vs. Google ADK vs. LangChain), and why you should focus on business problems first and technology second. If you are a non-technical founder or a dev looking to break into the Agentic AI space, this conversation is for you. 🚀 Key Takeaways Location is Irrelevant: You don’t need to be in the SF "Tech Mecca" to win. Building a local community (like Vlad did in Lisbon) can lead to global opportunities. The Framework Strategy: Don't chase every shiny new tool. Master one framework, then analyze the "deltas" (differences) of new ones to see if they actually solve a specific problem. Demo Science: A demo isn't just code; it's multimodal storytelling. If you aren't impressed by the 10th run, your audience won't be either. Scale over Hype: Don’t force AI into a problem. Work backward from the business need with scale in mind. A true solution handles errors and provides long-term value. ⏳ Timestamps00:00 - Introduction: From Gold Mining to AI02:12 - Why Vlad pivoted to AI Agents04:26 - The Lisbon Tech Scene: Building Community outside SF09:03 - How to learn AI (The YouTube Strategy)17:36 - The Art of the AI Demo28:12 - Framework Wars: CrewAI vs. Google ADK vs. LangChain30:22 - How to evaluate new tech stacks33:17 - The biggest mistake companies make with Automation38:29 - Behind the scenes: Google Cloud AI Agent Bake Off45:50 - Final thoughts & AGI 🔗 Links & Resources Vlad’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@aiwithvlad Vlad’s Company: https://www.elementsagents.com/ Andrej Karpathy’s Channel (Mentioned): https://www.youtube.com/@AndrejKarpathy Google Cloud’s AI Agent Bake Off (Ep 2): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CQxF56MKWo 🛠️ AI Frameworks Discussed Google ADK: https://google.github.io/adk-docs/ LangChain: https://www.langchain.com/ CrewAI: https://www.crewai.com/ LlamaIndex: https://www.llamaindex.ai/ Agno: https://www.agno.com/ 👋 Connect with us Vlad: https://x.com/ziegler_de Abraham: https://x.com/WhoInvitedAbe #AI #VibeCoding #SaaS #CrewAI #LangChain #ArtificialIntelligence #TechCareers #GoogleCloud

    52 min

About

Who Invited Abe is a podcast where startup founders talk candidly about what it actually takes to build and scale in the AI era. Each week, Abe sits down with founders building real products to unpack the decisions behind go-to-market, infrastructure, hiring, and growth — the things that matter, and the things that didn’t. No hype. No playbooks. Just honest conversations about what’s working, what’s breaking, and what founders would do differently if they were starting again.