Founder's Story

Daniel Robbins sits down with Shane Ginsberg, founder and CEO of Street Poller Media, to unpack how a young founder who dropped out of school after eighth grade turned street interviews into a scalable media and advertising business. Shane shares how growing up around business conferences shaped the way he saw education, why he believes real human reactions matter more than ever in an AI saturated content world, and how one early brand video that generated $25,000 in sales helped him realize street polling could become a company. The conversation also explores authenticity, clipping, attention, rejection, going all in, proving people wrong, and what it takes to build at a high level by age 21.

Daniel Robbins sits down with Mark Pincus, founder of Zynga, to explore the emotional reality behind building one of Silicon Valley’s most iconic social gaming companies. Mark reflects on childhood, his complicated but ultimately repaired relationship with his father, the pressure of taking Zynga public, and the brutal shift from being named Founder of the Year to being publicly criticized as one of the worst CEOs in America. The conversation also dives into his new book, Life at the Speed of Play, why most founders should test demand before building, how AI changes the odds for builders, and why the best product ideas often start as instincts that need discipline, not ego.

Daniel Robbins and Kate Hancock sit down with Daymond John, founder of FUBU, investor on Shark Tank, author, and entrepreneur, for a conversation about branding, risk, reputation, personal legacy, and what it really costs to build success. Daymond shares the story behind his FUBU medallion, how his mother mortgaged her home to help save the company, why reputation matters more than capital or AI, and why CEOs today have a responsibility to control their narrative. The episode also explores Shark Tank, social media, haters, personal branding, health, biohacking, legacy, and why the people behind the scenes deserve more credit than they often receive.

Daniel Robbins travels to Detroit to meet Larry Brinker Jr., a mission driven leader, investor, and builder whose family company has helped shape the city’s comeback. What begins as a story about construction becomes a deeper story about legacy, Black entrepreneurship, community, resilience, and the power of believing in a city before the rest of the world does. Larry shares how his father moved the family and business to Detroit when others were leaving, how Brinker helped restore landmarks like Michigan Central Station, and why his mission is not just to build buildings, but to bring people together.

Daniel Robbins sits down with Suryansh Tibarewal, Co-Founder of EssentiallySports, to unpack how three college students in India turned a $100 domain into a bootstrapped American sports media company doing more than $8 million a year in revenue. Suryansh shares why the company started from pure fandom, how the team discovered the power of U.S. sports audiences, and why the open web became the foundation for their business. The conversation also dives into COVID-era hypergrowth, building a 400-person media organization, the threat and opportunity of AI, audience ownership through newsletters, and why Suryansh now believes building something bigger than yourself is more fulfilling than becoming a solo founder.

In this Founder’s Story episode, Daniel Robbins sits down with Vera Quinn, President and CEO of Cydcor, to discuss why she believes human-to-human sales still matters in an AI-driven world. Vera shares how a summer door-to-door sales job became the foundation for a decades-long career, why rejection became one of her greatest teachers, and how she rose through Cydcor to become its first female President and CEO. The conversation also explores immigrant work ethic, personal sacrifice, motherhood, ambition, leadership, learning the skills required to become CEO, and Vera’s work with Liberty Children’s Home in Belize.

Daniel Robbins sits down with Jamarri J., founder of Klyno AI, to explore why he believes the future of artificial intelligence should be private, personal, and controlled by users—not locked inside one company, one model, or one ecosystem. Jamarri shares how frustration with endless AI wrappers pushed him to build a unified workspace that brings together models, agents, workflows, tools, and memory. The conversation dives into KlynoBrain, data ownership, AI humanism, being an outsider in the AI world, working all night while holding a day job, and why Jamarri believes the best version of AI is not one giant system controlling everything, but many models working together for people.

Daniel Robbins sits down with Tom Sosnoff, founder of thinkorswim, tastytrade, and LossDog, to unpack the mindset behind multiple massive exits, building companies that buyers still value years later, and why Tom has no interest in slowing down. Tom explains why he hates the idea of work-life balance, why he and his longtime partner Scott never celebrate exits with “high fives,” and why the best companies are built because the founder is obsessed with building—not because they are trying to sell. The conversation also dives into employee pay, wage gaps, tokenized private markets, prediction markets, financial media, daily shows, and why giving employees life-changing checks may be more meaningful than buying any luxury toy.

Daniel Robbins sits down with Raj Toleti, Chairman and CEO of Andor Health, to explore how AI is reshaping healthcare—not by replacing doctors, but by eliminating administrative burden, expanding access to care, and helping clinicians focus on patients. Raj shares why healthcare faces an immediate staffing crisis, how AI reasoning and automation are already reducing thousands of nursing hours, and why profitable businesses with measurable customer outcomes are far more valuable than companies built solely for growth. The conversation also covers entrepreneurship, multiple exits, mentoring young leaders, creating employee wealth, and why Raj believes legacy is measured by the number of lives you change.

Daniel Robbins sits down with Lee Rossey, CTO and Co-Founder of SimSpace, to unpack the new cybersecurity risks emerging from AI agents, cloud coding tools, autonomous systems, and multi-agent environments. Lee explains why people should assume anything they put into an AI system could eventually leak, how AI is changing both offense and defense in cyber, and why the next major challenge is testing whether AI agents can safely act on behalf of companies. The conversation also traces Lee’s journey from 15 years at MIT Lincoln Laboratory to bootstrapping SimSpace, building military-grade cyber ranges, and helping governments and enterprises prepare for a future where automated attackers face automated defenses.

Daniel Robbins sits down with Rana Gujral, CEO of Behavioral Signals, to explore the real frontier of AI: not just what machines can do, but what using them does to human judgment, instinct, trust, and meaning. Rana explains why companies are struggling to get value from AI, why voice deepfakes are making “hearing is believing” obsolete, and why the next leap may not be artificial general intelligence, but artificial general experience. The conversation moves from enterprise adoption and AI consciousness to failure, intuition, turnarounds, employee ownership, and one of the most important questions of our lifetime: what does it mean to be human?

Daniel Robbins sits down with Lukas Kerrebijn, co-founder of RD Dubai, RD Vastgoed, and RD Advisory, to unpack how he went from a 19-year-old intern in Dutch real estate to helping drive more than $750 million in sales before turning 30. Lukas shares the story of his first deal, why he told a seller he was 25 when he was really 19, and how one property viewing with seven investors became the proof point for an entirely new business model. He also explains why Dutch regulatory changes pushed him toward Dubai, how sponsorships in kickboxing, football, and Formula One helped build RD Dubai’s brand, and why his long-term mission is bigger than real estate: building sports complexes and wellness projects that create opportunity for children in Africa.

Daniel Robbins sits down with Brandon Tseng, President and Co-founder of Shield AI, to unpack how a former Navy SEAL turned firsthand combat experience into one of the most important defense technology companies in the world. Brandon shares why ignorance can be an entrepreneur’s superpower, how every investor said no in Shield AI’s early days, and why raising money feels less like celebration and more like signing up for another championship season. The conversation dives into Hell Week, leadership, autonomous warfare, the VBAT’s real-world missions, and why Brandon’s definition of success has nothing to do with becoming a billionaire and everything to do with building something that protects service members and civilians.

Daniel Robbins sits down with John Lunsford, founder of Tethral, to explore one of the most overlooked questions in AI: what happens when agents start communicating with the machines around us? John breaks down why IoT has disappointed for decades, why AI agents could finally make connected devices useful, and why that also introduces serious safety and security risks inside the home. From Uber Teens to anthropology, monarch butterflies, AI instability, and the future of adaptive environments, John explains why the next generation of technology must fit human behavior instead of forcing humans to fit the technology.

Daniel Robbins sits down with private investigator Tyler Maroney and filmmaker Tucker Tooley to unpack their four-year global investigation into one of the greatest financial mysteries of our time: who created Bitcoin? The team behind Finding Satoshi says its investigation points to two people—Hal Finney and Len Sassaman—and explains the evidence, false leads, interviews, and breakthrough that led them there. They also explore why Satoshi’s untouched Bitcoin fortune matters, why anonymity may have helped Bitcoin succeed, and what its creators might think about the trillion-dollar movement their work became.

Daniel Robbins sits down with Oren Barzilai, Co-founder and CEO of Equitybee, to unpack the hidden world of startup equity and why employees may be losing tens of billions of dollars in unexercised stock options every year. Oren shares how watching early employees at his previous startup miss out on life-changing acquisition payouts inspired Equitybee, why startup employees must understand equity as seriously as salary, and how one employee used the platform to turn an equity opportunity into $5.2 million. The conversation also explores private markets, pre-IPO investing, financial freedom, and why the employees building billion-dollar companies deserve to participate in the value they helped create.

Daniel Robbins sits down with Leo Pareja, CEO of eXp Realty, for a raw conversation about ambition, identity, failure, and the real meaning of success. Leo reveals why becoming the number one agent at Keller Williams left him feeling empty, how the 2008 financial crisis took him from a reported $5 million net worth to negative $1 million in months, and why those experiences completely changed how he leads, raises his kids, and builds companies. The conversation also dives into AI, the possible death of enterprise SaaS, founder identity, content, representation, and why courage is not the absence of fear—it is moving forward while terrified.

Daniel Robbins sits down with Moe Seye to unpack the rise of the 1099 economy, the future of work, and why millions of people may never return to traditional employment. Moe shares how his time at Coca-Cola gave him stability and status, but eventually exposed the founder itch that pushed him to bet on himself. He explains why Silicon Valley still matters, how AI is accelerating the “company of one,” and why independent workers need the same infrastructure that corporate employees have always had: healthcare, retirement, tax support, business structure, and benefits.

Daniel Robbins sits down with Daniel Schlaepfer, President and CEO of Select Vantage Inc., to unpack the hidden mechanics of modern trading, from “free” trading apps and off-exchange market making to funded trader programs, AI, and why human judgment still matters. Daniel shares how a random subway newspaper ad changed his life, how he rebuilt a trading business from the wreckage of a failed firm, and why his company’s regulation-first culture helped create one of the strongest risk and compliance platforms in the industry.

Daniel Robbins sits down with Jack Doohan to explore the pressure, speed, and sacrifice behind Formula 1, and how that world shaped his move into entrepreneurship. Jack explains what it feels like to drive at extreme speed, how he prepares mentally and physically for race day, and what happened after being sidelined just six races into his Formula 1 career. He also opens up about building Meuze with childhood friends, using F1 relationships as an unfair advantage, and why solving a real-world problem in food and beverage technology gives him a different kind of satisfaction than racing.

Daniel Robbins sits down with Steve Salis to unpack the real grind behind building restaurant brands, scaling &pizza to a nine-figure valuation, and surviving the chaos of COVID when his business went from hundreds of millions in revenue to zero. Steve shares how he dropped out of college, moved to New York with no money, opened his first bar during the financial crisis, and later saw an opportunity to reinvent pizza through brand, product, environment, and community. He also breaks down why risk must be quantified, why execution beats ideas, and why endurance may be the most important trait in entrepreneurship.

Daniel Robbins sits down with Mauricio Umansky to unpack the full price of success: from delivering pizzas at 16 to closing more than $5 billion in sales, selling the Playboy Mansion, and building The Agency into a global luxury real estate brand. Mauricio opens up about reality TV, losing privacy, the burden it placed on his children, and why he still believes the exposure helped him build. He also breaks down the chaos in real estate, his criticism of the National Association of Realtors, the launch of the American Real Estate Association, and why AI could reshape the future of agents, transactions, and the entire industry.

Daniel Robbins sits down with Adam Hagaman, Kingdom entrepreneur, minister, and content creator, to unpack his transformation from drugs, alcohol, jail, and dropping out of high school to building businesses, reaching millions online, and using content as ministry. Adam shares how meeting his future wife at a party changed the direction of his life, why becoming the father he never had became a breaking point, and how faith reshaped his view of business, sales, success, and family. He also breaks down how he grew from zero to over one million followers across platforms and why attention has become the new currency.

Daniel Robbins sits down with Kat Schneider, Founder and CEO of Ritual, to unpack how she built one of the most trusted brands in women’s health after struggling to find a prenatal vitamin she trusted while pregnant. Kat shares why she ignored investors who dismissed pregnancy, postpartum, and menopause as “niche,” and why building a long-lasting iconic brand matters more to her than chasing an exit. She also opens up about motherhood, sacrifice, clinical studies, transparency, and why women’s health deserves better science, better regulation, and better products.

Daniel Robbins sits down with Clyton Collymore, founder of Sirsi, to unpack the AI hype cycle, the risks of handing over your digital life to agents, and why the current cloud-based AI model may become too expensive for everyday businesses. Clyton draws from his experience across the State Department, Federal Reserve, Meta, and cybersecurity to explain why AI should support human intelligence, not replace it. He also shares why getting pushed out of Meta became the catalyst for building Sirsi, and why founders need to be careful about equity, investors, and who they allow to claim their time and future.