Inspired with Alexa von Tobel

Inspired Capital

Inspired with Alexa von Tobel dives headfirst into conversations with the most ambitious people on the planet. Host Alexa von Tobel, Founder and Managing Partner of Inspired Capital, gets under the hood of guests’ ambitions, from pivotal childhood moments to the critical advice that shaped their life paths. What does it take to be a true visionary, one who stares down monumental challenges with grit and resilience? Learn directly from those builders and problem-solvers whose determination is shaping a brighter, more inspired future.

  1. Solace Founder Jeremy Gurewitz Raises $130M to Transform Healthcare Advocacy

    FEB 11

    Solace Founder Jeremy Gurewitz Raises $130M to Transform Healthcare Advocacy

    Solace founder and CEO Jeremy Gurewitz is building a marketplace that connects patients with healthcare advocates—covered by insurance. After losing his mother to pancreatic cancer and witnessing firsthand how difficult it was to navigate the US healthcare system, Jeremy founded Solace to help every American manage the overwhelming complexity of healthcare, from finding the right doctors to dealing with insurance. Now, after raising $130 million in a Series C led by IVP, Solace is expanding into commercial insurance and scaling nationally. With a patient NPS of 90 and data showing improved outcomes and lower costs, Jeremy shares how he is building for a future where healthcare advocacy becomes as standard as having a primary care physician. What You'll Learn: Jeremy's personal journey from losing his mother to building Solace How healthcare advocacy works and why patients achieve a 90+ NPS Why the US healthcare system is so broken and how advocates fix it Where Jeremy sees healthcare heading in the next decade Chapters:02:00 Growing Up with a Doctor Mother06:45 From Quantitative Finance to Healthcare09:00 What Solace Does for Patients11:38 Why Inspired Invested in Solace12:45 Real Stories of Solace Saving Lives17:35 Why the US Healthcare System Is So Broken20:35 Building a Marketplace of Healthcare Advocates22:45 Measuring What Matters: Outcomes and Costs28:50 Announcing Solace's $130M Series C30:31 Building Culture at Scale33:00 Where Solace Is Headed36:30 When AI Helps and When Humans Are Essential40:20 Jeremy's Predictions for Healthcare in 2035 Follow Solace and Jeremy:‍ • Solace Website • Solace LinkedIn • Jeremy Gurewitz LinkedIn Follow Inspired:‍ • Website • LinkedIn • X • Instagram • Substack

    52 min
  2. Kevin Ryan, the Godfather of NYC Tech, on AI in the Decade Ahead

    JAN 28

    Kevin Ryan, the Godfather of NYC Tech, on AI in the Decade Ahead

    Kevin Ryan is known as the godfather of New York City tech. Over three decades, he's founded or backed companies worth more than $40 billion combined, including DoubleClick (acquired by Google), MongoDB (now valued at $30 billion), Business Insider (sold for $450 million), and Gilt Group. As founder of AlleyCorp, Kevin has spent his career building category-defining companies and correctly predicting major technology shifts before they happened. From betting on the internet in 1996 to understanding AI's trajectory today, Kevin shares his framework for seeing what's next and why speed executed properly changes everything. What You'll Learn: How Kevin spotted the internet would change everything in 1996 and the patterns he uses to see what's next The two categories Kevin is betting on: vertical AI applications and deep science breakthroughs Why winning the first four years matters more than anything else How to compete for top 0.1% talent in today's market Kevin's 2036 predictions for work, NYC vs SF, and where technology is headed Chapters: 00:00 Introduction02:10 Kevin's Childhood 05:00 Reflecting on His Entrepreneurship Journey08:30 Speed Matters11:15 The Feeling When You Know a Company Is the One14:58 Why You Need Top 0.1% Talent17:00 Two Categories Kevin Is Betting On20:00 Drawing the Defensibility Line in Vertical AI22:22 Thinking About the Product23:10 Acceleration of Science and When Kevin's Antenna Goes Up25:08 What the World Looks Like in 203627:00 Job Loss and AI Displacement32:00 San Francisco vs New York City38:18 What Kevin Hopes for NYC Tech40:50 Interesting Topics Kevin Is Exploring42:36 Quickfire Round Follow AlleyCorp and Kevin: AlleyCorp Website AlleyCorp LinkedIn Kevin Ryan LinkedIn Follow Inspired:‍ Website  LinkedIn X Instagram Substack

    49 min
  3. How Flock Safety Became a $7.5B Crime-Fighting Company with Founder Garrett Langley

    JAN 14

    How Flock Safety Became a $7.5B Crime-Fighting Company with Founder Garrett Langley

    Flock Safety founder and CEO Garrett Langley is building the technology infrastructure to eliminate crime in America. A repeat entrepreneur who previously built and sold two companies for over $200 million each, Garrett now leads a $7.5 billion company serving more than 6,000 communities, 5,000 law enforcement agencies, and 1,000 businesses while helping achieve nearly a million arrests annually. He shares his conviction that safety drives economic prosperity, the surprising fact that drones arrive on scene 94% of the time before officers, and how AI will free police officers from paperwork to focus on community relationships. What You'll Learn: Why it's getting easier to commit serious crimes in America and what's driving that trend How technology creates precision in law enforcement that's never existed before Why drones are transforming emergency response and saving cities money How AI will reshape policing by eliminating paperwork and doubling community presence Why safety is the foundation for economic prosperity and job growth Chapters: 00:00 Introduction 02:08 Why Team Is the Only Thing That Matters 04:40 Growing Up in Atlanta: Learning Sales from His Father 06:45 What Is Flock Safety and How Does It Work? 11:20 The Crime Crisis No One Talks About 14:33 Serving Neighborhoods, Businesses, and Law Enforcement 17:00 Real Cases: From U-Hauls to Black SUVs 19:55 The Future of Policing in 10 Years 23:30 Building Technology While People's Lives Are at Stake 25:38 How Drones Are Changing Emergency Response 28:09 Scaling to $300M ARR at 70% Growth 29:38 Why Safety Drives Economic Prosperity 32:30 The "Do the Work" Culture at Flock 33:48 Quickfire Round Follow Flock Safety and Garrett: ⁠Flock Safety Website Flock Safety LinkedIn ⁠⁠Flock Safety Instagram ⁠⁠Flock Safety X Garrett’s LinkedIn⁠⁠ Garrett’s X Follow Inspired: Website⁠ ⁠Instagram⁠ LinkedIn⁠ X⁠ Substack

    38 min
  4. Mikey Shulman on Building Suno into a $2.5B AI Music Platform

    12/17/2025

    Mikey Shulman on Building Suno into a $2.5B AI Music Platform

    Suno founder and CEO Mikey Shulman is building the future of music creation. A Harvard PhD physicist who led machine learning at Kensho before it was acquired by S&P Global, Mikey had a realization in 2022 that audio was a backwater in machine learning—despite being everywhere in human life. He turned that realization into $2.5B company Suno, which grew from zero to over 100 million users. Mikey shares how Suno scales to users generating seven million tracks a day, why music's format will change as dramatically in this era as it did in the shift from vinyl to streaming, and how AI is democratizing creativity for billions of people who never thought they could make music. What You'll Learn: How growing up in a loving, stable environment with parents who encouraged following your passions shaped Mikey's leadership style Why audio was overlooked in machine learning and how Suno made it a first-class citizen How Suno went from zero users to 100 million and zero revenue to $200 million in under three years Why a quarter of songs on Suno are remixes of other songs on the platform The difference between creation and consumption in music and why that boundary is disappearing How Suno is growing the entire pie of music rather than just splitting existing revenue Why the business model for music will change when the format becomes interactive What Mikey learned about speed versus craft when building for billions of users Chapters:01:52 Growing Up: Following What You Love03:45 From Physics to a PhD at Harvard05:30 Kensho and the Path to Machine Learning09:30 Teaching Machine Learning at MIT Sloan12:10 The Birth of Suno15:30 Why Audio When Everyone Chose Text16:25 Zero to 100 Million Users in Three Years18:55 Xania Monet: The First AI Billboard Artist21:55 Stories That Keep the Team Going24:15 Music Was Invented to Be Social27:27 The Business Model for Interactive Music29:44 Reshaping the Music Industry32:45 New Boundaries of Music Creation35:00 The Future: Interactive Albums and Fan Fiction37:35 Growing the Pie for All Creators40:00 Will There Be Agentic AI Stars?41:15 Building Teams That Move Fast43:30 Speed and Craft: The Cultural Balance45:30 What's Coming Next at Suno46:30 Guardrails in a Lower Stakes Domain47:47 Managing Chaos as a First-Time CEO at Scale49:55 Quickfire Round Follow Suno and Mikey: Suno Website Suno Instagram Mikey's LinkedIn Mikey's Twittter Follow Inspired: ⁠⁠Website⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠ ⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠ ⁠⁠X⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Substack⁠

    57 min
  5. Dylan Taylor on Building Voyager Technologies and the Future of Space Innovation

    12/03/2025

    Dylan Taylor on Building Voyager Technologies and the Future of Space Innovation

    Dylan Taylor, founder and CEO of Voyager Technologies, is building the infrastructure that will define humanity's future in space. Through defense, space solutions, and Starlab, Voyager is working on some of the most ambitious aerospace projects of our generation. In this conversation, Dylan takes us from watching Star Trek as a kid in Idaho to becoming a publicly traded space company CEO. He shares what it's actually like to reach space aboard Blue Origin, why we're living through the biggest space boom in human history, and how space will transform our global economy. What You'll Learn: Why space isn't an industry but humanity's eighth continent His experience going to outer space How perfect real-time information about Earth will create trillions in economic value Projects that Voyager is working on How ambition shifted from personal glory to reflected glory through leadership Predictions for the space industry The frontier innovations that will enable humans to live and work in space Chapters:01:52 From Star Trek Dreams to Space Reality04:37 What is Voyager Technologies?07:02 Winning the Contract to Build Starlab09:40 Going to Space on Blue Origin16:36 The Overview Effect and What Astronauts Feel20:10 How Space Shifted Dylan's Perspective on Risk and Ambition22:40 The Henry Crown Fellowship and Leadership Transformation23:40 Inside Voyager Technologies' Projects26:50 The Purpose of Starlab as a Microgravity Laboratory31:00 Space Predictions35:23 Space as the Eighth Continent36:55 Perfect Real-Time Information About Earth38:50 What Keeps Dylan Up at Night About Space's Future41:07 Frontier Innovations in Quantum Computing and Beyond45:15 Quick Fire Round47:52 Outro Follow Voyager Technologies and Dylan: Voyager Website Voyager LinkedIn Voyager X Voyager Insta Dylan's LinkedIn Follow Inspired: ⁠Website⁠ ⁠Instagram⁠ ⁠LinkedIn⁠ ⁠X⁠ ⁠Substack

    50 min
  6. Axion Founder Daniel First on Solving the $4 Trillion Manufacturing Problem with AI

    11/24/2025

    Axion Founder Daniel First on Solving the $4 Trillion Manufacturing Problem with AI

    Axion founder Daniel First is building the command center for American manufacturing that detects product failures before they reach customers. His AI-powered observability platform links IoT data, technician reports, and customer feedback across aerospace, medical devices, and consumer products to identify emerging issues manufacturers don't even know exist. Born from watching enterprise AI pilots fail at McKinsey, Axion is architecting customer-centric manufacturing where products iterate in real time based on what's breaking in the field. What You'll Learn: The trillion-dollar quality crisis plaguing American manufacturing and how AI is solving it Why most enterprise AI fails and what makes the rare successes different The future of American manufacturing competing on speed of customer learning How real-time field data is transforming product development cycles Unconventional founder habits that enable exceptional speed and deep thinking  Chapters: 2:00 From Orthodox Debates to Independent Thinking3:00 Neuroscience, Philosophy, and Human Flourishing6:00 The Pivot from Academia to Industry7:20 Predicting AI as the Next Cultural Mania8:10 What Axion Actually Does for Manufacturers10:35 The Invisible Quality Crisis Costing Trillions13:30 Surprising Multi-Department Platform Adoption16:02 Surgery Equipment Failure With Two Root Causes16:47 Why Axion's Organization Looks Different18:00 Building an Ecosystem Across Product Lifecycle20:28 How Quality Data Drives Product Innovation21:58 American Manufacturing Winning on Empathy26:00 How Axion Succeeded Where 95% Fail28:50 Why Robotics Will Create More Quality Issues31:10 What Enterprise Leaders Think About AI32:50 Data Centers and Manufacturing Tailwind34:09 The Experimental Mindset Driving Speed36:30 Why 2010s Advice No Longer Applies38:40 The Vertical AI Revolution39:55 Quick-fire Questions Follow Axion and Daniel: • ⁠Axion Website⁠⁠• ⁠Axion LI ⁠⁠• ⁠Daniel LI Follow Inspired:• ⁠Website⁠• ⁠Instagram⁠• ⁠LinkedIn⁠• ⁠X⁠• ⁠Substack

    46 min
  7. Nate Berkus on What It Takes to Become the Best at Your Craft

    11/12/2025

    Nate Berkus on What It Takes to Become the Best at Your Craft

    Interior designer Nate Berkus is one of the most recognizable names in design. He started his firm at 24 with nothing but authenticity and hustle, building an empire spanning TV, books, product lines, and high-end interiors that's landed him on the AD100 list for a decade. His journey includes 12 years as Oprah's design expert, surviving the 2004 tsunami, and building a life with Jeremiah Brent as one of TV's first openly gay families. With his new book Foundations releasing November 18th, Nate reflects on what it takes to stay creatively obsessed for 30 years and build a household name in design. What You'll Learn: • How he started his firm at 24 and convinced clients to take a chance on him • Working with Oprah and his strategic approach to media • How surviving the 2004 tsunami fundamentally changed him and his reflections on that experience • Why he believes design is part magic, part alchemy, and part sociology • How he and Jeremiah Brent collaborate as both partners and business collaborators • The future of design and how AI will reshape the industry Chapters: 02:30 Intro 03:15 The Origin of His Design Obsession 06:10 Why Design Is Sociology 08:27 Starting a Firm at 24 With Nothing But Authenticity 14:28 How Surviving the 2004 Tsunami Changed Everything 19:50 The Strategy Behind Using TV as a Platform 23:00 A Funny Oprah Story 24:46 Why TV Was Always a Means to an End 28:40 How He Stays Creatively Obsessed After 30 Years 32:38 Never Stop Learning and Do What Feels Effortless 34:07 Partnership With Jeremiah as Parents and Business Partners 39:30 Why He Wrote Foundations and What It Means 42:15 How AI Will Impact the Future of Design 46:44 His Approach to Curation in the Creator Economy 50:05 Reflecting on His Biggest Life Moments 52:02 Quick-fire Round Follow Nate Berkus: • Nate's Website • Nate's Instagram Follow Inspired and Alexa: • Website • Instagram • LinkedIn • X • Substack

    1 hr
5
out of 5
57 Ratings

About

Inspired with Alexa von Tobel dives headfirst into conversations with the most ambitious people on the planet. Host Alexa von Tobel, Founder and Managing Partner of Inspired Capital, gets under the hood of guests’ ambitions, from pivotal childhood moments to the critical advice that shaped their life paths. What does it take to be a true visionary, one who stares down monumental challenges with grit and resilience? Learn directly from those builders and problem-solvers whose determination is shaping a brighter, more inspired future.

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