Dwight Churchill & Gaurav Misra, the co-founders of Captions, have built a company that has succeeded by defining its own path instead of following the "traditional" startup playbook. In a world where "consumer is dead" to VCs, the video editing app just announced their $25M Series B lead by Kleiner Perkins (with participation from Sequoia, A16Z, and SV Angel) at a $250M valuation. And despite building in an incredibly competitive space with lots of free alternatives, Captions has no freemium version, yet has 100,000 daily active users paying up to $10/month to use its product. On this episode of Something New, the duo discusses how they've been planning to become co-founders over drinks at a now-defunct bar in New York City, how they waited for each other’s schedules to align in order to become founders, and what it was like to watch their creation hit the top of the App Store the night it was launched. Leeor and Steph also dive deep on their thoughts about Y Combinator, the “best startup accelerator in the world.” Don’t forget to follow Leeor on Twitter at https://twitter.com/lmushin and Steph at https://twitter.com/stephmui. Learn more about the Something New podcast at https://somethingnewpod.com.

Sam Poirier is co-founder/CEO of Mercantile, a credit card startup that offers rewards to small businesses, and recently raised $22M in funding led by Index Ventures and including First Round and Box Group. However, Sam is no stranger to being a founder - he's been a serial entrepreneur since he was 17 and has worked on startups in crypto to VR to cruises.   On this episode of Something New, Poirier discusses the framework he's developed for evaluating company ideas and whether they're worth pursuing. He also talks about the experience of dropping out of high school to become a Thiel Fellow (much to the chagrin of his parents back home in Montreal) and what makes that community special.   Steph and Leeor also discuss controversial opinions from their peers in tech, including why you shouldn’t bother marinating your steak, the future of fertility, and when it will be socially acceptable for men to wear makeup. Don’t forget to follow Leeor on Twitter at https://twitter.com/lmushin and Steph at https://twitter.com/stephmui. Learn more about the Something New podcast at https://somethingnewpod.com.

Zach Lloyd considered a number of different paths before he decided on a career in tech, including philosophy, law, and aspiring late-night Stanford barbecue pit master. But once he settled on tech he made his name as a Principal Engineer at Google, co-founder and CTO at SelfMade, Interim CTO at TIME, and in 2020, he became the founder and CEO of Warp, a developer productivity company that just announced a $50 Million Series B from Sequoia.   On this episode of Something New, Lloyd discusses creating a premium product for developers, the lessons learned from the early days building Google Sheets, and why he wrote and publicly released Warp’s “How We Work” doc, focused on the company’s frameworks for decision-making and work/life balance.   Don’t forget to follow Leeor on Twitter at https://twitter.com/lmushin and Steph at https://twitter.com/stephmui. Learn more about the Something New podcast at https://somethingnewpod.com.

Chris Jane was always a fan of the hit ABC series Shark Tank, but what was it like to actually wade into the waters? During Season 13 of the show, Chris and his sister and co-founder Jennifer pitched their 90-second meal company, Proper Good, to Mark Cuban and the rest of the sharks, donned in full British regalia and with adrenaline coursing through their veins. On this episode of Something New, Chris Jane recounts what it was like to appear on the show and reap from its rewards, get an offer from Cuban, and chats about the science around building in CPG. He looks ahead to what’s next for Proper Good, which recently raised $3.5 million in seed funding led by YETI Capital and expanded into more than 2,000 Walmart Supercenter stores nationwide.   Leeor and Steph also discuss their thoughts on how to create valuable investor updates.   Don’t forget to follow Leeor on Twitter at https://twitter.com/lmushin and Steph at https://twitter.com/stephmui. Learn more about the Something New podcast at https://somethingnewpod.com.

Maddie Hall grew up in Seattle surrounded by nature and tech and with one fundamental idea about how to make the most of her talents: follow her heart. After interesting stints at well-known places (before they were cool) like YC, First Round, and OpenAI, she’s now the co-founder/CEO at Living Carbon, a company she co-founded in 2019 with the mission of rebalancing the planet's carbon cycle using the power of plants. They are, simply put, "Building Better Trees." Living Carbon has raised $36M+ to date from top investors including YC, Floodgate, Felicis, Lowercarbon, Temasek, and more.   On this episode of Something New, Hall discusses the origins of Living Carbon and the future of the biotech industry, working at Open AI before the world knew about LLMs, and becoming a non-PhD founder in a technical space.   Leeor and Steph also discuss the addictive video game Overcooked and why it might be a telling experiment for co-founders to play together, as well as how VC firms rate companies for a pre-seed or seed round of funding.   Don’t forget to follow Leeor on Twitter at https://twitter.com/lmushin and Steph at https://twitter.com/stephmui. Learn more about the Something New podcast at https://somethingnewpod.com.

Founder and angel investor James Beshara knows a thing or two about startups. He co-founded the social payments company Tilt back in 2012 and quickly raised tens of millions of dollars from an all-star cast of investors including a16z. Despite that, the company never found true breakout success needed for VC before it was eventually acquired by Airbnb.   Since, Beshara has spent his days as a seed investors in startups worth over $50B in market cap an as the founder of Magic Mind, a productivity drink dubbed “Silicon Valley’s new morning elixir” by Forbes. In contrast to his previous experience, Beshara has done so raising an extremely limited amount of capital, achieving $10M in sales with just three full-time employees. On this episode of Something New, Beshara looks back on his days with Tilt, discusses why he can’t quit the life of a founder starting Magic Mind, and offers his thoughts on when companies need venture backing, and when it might be a problem.    Leeor and Steph also discuss the rapid rise of business-savvy TikTok creator PinkyDoll, and if there’s money to be made in the phenomenon of AI girlfriends.   Don’t forget to follow Leeor on Twitter at https://twitter.com/lmushin and Steph at https://twitter.com/stephmui. Learn more about the Something New podcast at https://somethingnewpod.com.

Rajiv Ayyangar and his co-founders at Tandem were some of the hottest names in Silicon Valley in 2019. After pivoting from crypto in 2018 to a new startup in the “Virtual Office” category, they had just enough bravado to bail on a meetup with Marc Andreessen before eventually raising a $7.5M seed round from a16z, and off they went. But a strange thing happened on the way to success - Tandem never found a venture-scale market, and their runway ended in 2022, a process that Ayyangar detailed with remarkable detail and candor in a blog post earlier this year. On this episode of Something New, Ayyangar looks back at the lessons learned from the rise and fall of Tandem, as well as his strategies on when your company should pivot and how to navigate the idea maze with your startup.   Leeor and Steph also discuss the highs and lows of startups and how founders can handle the most difficult situations facing their companies.   Don’t forget to follow Leeor on Twitter at https://twitter.com/lmushin and Steph at https://twitter.com/stephmui. Learn more about the Something New podcast at https://somethingnewpod.com.

Allan Maman is one of the best consumer tech growth hackers we know. As just a teenager, he was credited with popularizing the fidget spinner and even made $350,000 by using underpriced meme accounts to grow. He then went on to work on Andrew Yang and Michael Bloomberg's campaign teams, where he popularized the use of memes in political campaigns for the first time. He's worked on growth for many iconic companies (Itsme, NUGGS, Robinhood), and founded and sold several of his own (PinTok, Fidget360, and more). Now, he's using his experience as the CEO & co-founder of Bloom (YC S21), one of the fastest growing Gen Z fintech companies that was also recently recognized by Apple as one of the "Best Apps for Investing." On this episode of Something New, Maman looks back on the lessons learned and offers his thoughts on growth hack strategies for founders. Leeor and Steph also discuss their own favorite growth hack strategies, including putting Fabio in company t-shirts, commandeering taxis, creating fake Instagram accounts, and why an air of mystery can help you separate from other companies. Don’t forget to follow Leeor on Twitter at https://twitter.com/lmushin and Steph at https://twitter.com/stephmui. Learn more about the Something New podcast at https://somethingnewpod.com.

Paul Sawaya has experienced in the ins and outs of Silicon Valley for nearly 15 years, rising from the ranks as an intern at Justin.tv to the Co-Founder of Human Interest, a YC-backed digital 401(k) provider used by over 10,000 businesses to offer a retirement benefit to their employees that is now worth $1Bn. Now he’s itching to start something new with Elsewhere, a gaming startup inspired by indie and venture-backed games alike.   On this episode of Something New, Sawaya discusses all the steps that led him here and the lessons he’s learned about how to address his failures while following his passions.   Leeor and Steph also discuss the potential fallout from a radioactive relationship between co-founders, and how VC firms should think about second-time founders who are back at the table with a new idea.   Don’t forget to follow Leeor on Twitter at https://twitter.com/lmushin and Steph at https://twitter.com/stephmui. Learn more about the Something New podcast at https://somethingnewpod.com.

Sumit Agarwal always wanted to be a fighter pilot in the Air Force when he was a kid. But when the recruiter informed him they don’t admit teenagers with Coke bottle glasses, his life changed course. On this episode of Something New, Agarwal recounts all the various steps he took to becoming a successful entrepreneur, including a lengthy stint at Google, a job in cyber security with the Department of Defense, co-founding Shape Security, and his current role as CEO and co-founder at Gather.   Leeor and Steph also share their thoughts on a simmering controversy involving podcast host Joe Rogan and the right forum for a potential debate with Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.   Don’t forget to follow Leeor on Twitter at https://twitter.com/lmushin and Steph at https://twitter.com/stephmui. Learn more about the Something New podcast at https://somethingnewpod.com.