Waymo looks like the winner in self-driving.It’s fully autonomous. Ultra-precise. Barely crashes.

But Waymo’s success is an illusion.And Tesla is set to leapfrog them.Not by building the best tech, but by deploying it the smartest.

Waymo is expanding city by city.Its cars are packed with sensors. Each road is pre-mapped.It’s safe, but slow and expensive.

Tesla is moving much faster.

They’ve already shipped over 500,000 semi-autonomous cars globally.Those vehicles are collecting billions of real-world miles, training a system that learns on the fly.No lidar. No pre-mapping. Just cameras, neural nets, and fast iteration.Tesla sends out new software every few weeks.

The goal?One update that turns millions of Teslas into robotaxis overnight.Elon says they’re 2–3 years from making that happen.

But the deeper story isn’t just about Tesla’s strategy.It’s the pattern — the same playbook Elon’s used for rockets, electric vehicles, AI, and now robotaxis.

Four founder lessons from Elon’s approach:

* Solve problems in the right order: Elon always seems to ask: What’s the one constraint that, if solved, makes everything else easier? With self-driving, Elon didn’t start with full autonomy. He started by solving the real blocker: distribution. Deploy semi-autonomous cars first, then farm real-world training data at scale to improve the product.

* Find the non-obvious solution to the obvious problem: If everyone agrees on an approach, Elon will almost always do the opposite. At SpaceX, the big barrier was cost. Most people assumed the solution was better spacecraft. But Elon bet on reusable rockets instead — and changed the economics of space entirely.

* Build for tomorrow’s constraints: Elon doesn’t care about being right today. He cares about being right in the end. With EVs, he didn’t listen to early skeptics and wait for battery breakthroughs or charging networks. He built an electric sports car people wanted — then let infrastructure follow demand.

* Turn users into advocates: This is a similar play to Airbnb and Uber: Build something people love and profit from, and they’ll fight to protect it. Elon’s version? He wants your Tesla to become your side hustle, earning money as a robotaxi while you sleep. Owners won't just want autonomy — they'll lobby for it.

Tesla’s robotaxi plan might be Elon’s biggest bet yet, and the one that proves the pattern works at global scale.

I break down the full strategy here:

Chapters

(00:35) Why Waymo seems unstoppable

(01:46) Tesla’s dropout advantage

(02:38) How Tesla hacked the liability problem

(03:20) The four-move checkmate to autonomy

(04:28) Your Tesla’s secret side hustle

(05:38) Elon’s genius failure formula

Transcript

Tesla has got a massive problem with its self-driving tech, but no one is talking about what happens when they fix this issue because Waymo success is an illusion. And Tesla is on track to leapfrog them with a strategy to deploy a fleet of Robotaxis in every city around the world, all within the next three years made possible by Elon's playbook. That's continuously defied the odds and skeptics.

First, let me introduce you to who everyone thinks is the market leader. Imagine you're in downtown San Francisco, you open an app, tap a button, and a car glides up. No driver, just empty seats waiting for you. That's Waymo. It started inside Google back in 2009. Today it's also live in cities like Austin and Phoenix.

Each car is a rolling super sensor, 29 cameras plus lidar and radar. It fires millions of laser pulses every second to build a 3D model of the street. It can see shapes, judge distances, and track movement faster than any human.

But the real magic isn't the hardware, it's the prem mapping. Before a single passenger steps in Waymo vans have already driven those same roads hundreds of times, recording every traffic light, curb, and road marking. When a Waymo robot taxi hits the road, it's not just reacting, it's cross-checking live data against a blueprint. It's like deja vu for robots. The results are hard to argue with. Waymo has only been at fault in one crash since launch. It's now handling 250,000 rides per week on paper. Waymo looks like it's already won the race, but the question isn't does it work? It's how fast can they take this global? That's where things get interesting.

In the opposite corner, there's Tesla, no lidar, no radar. Just nine cameras worth a thousand dollars. Instead of custom mapping cities,

Tesla's cars, figure it out on the fly. It's like dropping someone in Rome and telling them to drive. Tesla calls it vision-based ai.

It's a system relying only on cameras and neural nets to interpret the world. Unlike Waymo's cautious rollout, Tesla ships over there updates to users every few weeks. All while collecting billions of miles of real world footage.

At first glance, Waymo's Tech looks superior. Cameras have less rain than lidar. They struggle in rain fog or at night. To be fair, this isn't apples to apples. Waymo's are fully driverless. Teslas are still semi-autonomous, but that's the point. Waymo's a valedictorian who studied too hard. Tesla's a dropout who's already making money.

So how is Tesla getting away with it? The answer is liability hacking. Since Tesla's system is still semi-autonomous, it's classified as driver assistance.

That means the human behind the wheel is still legally responsible. If something goes wrong, it's your fault. Most of the time it's not Tesla. If Tesla had gone the Waymo route, they'd be on the hook for every crash. But by offloading liability to the driver with partial autonomy, Tesla gets to avoid approvals, delays, and lawsuits that's not just clever legal work. It's what unlocks Tesla's biggest advantage in ai, real world data at scale.

Waymo's launching like NASA, slow, precise, and expensive. Tesla's doing it like SpaceX, ship fast, then learn from failure.. Here's Tesla's four step strategy.

One, deploy semi-autonomous vehicles. There are already 500,000 on the road. Two, collect billions of miles of real world data. Three, train the AI on edge cases.

Lab testing. Can't replicate four. Flip the switch instantly upgrading the entire fleet overnight via software update. That's 6 million Teslas turned into fully autonomous vehicles.

Right now Tesla is deep into steps two and three, but step four won't happen until they hit an AI safety threshold. This is where governments agree. Tesla's AI is statistically safer than a human driver. Tesla estimates it'll take about 6 billion miles of data to clear that bar.

This year, a model Y delivered itself to a customer. The robotaxis went live in Austin, already covering more ground than Waymo's service. And their semi-autonomous fleet has logged 3.6 billion miles at this pace. They're two to three years away from flipping the switch and leaving everyone else behind.

But will the public trust Tesla's technology?

Elon's end game isn't owning a fleet. He wants you and your car to become the fleet. Tap a button and your Tesla joins. A pool of robo taxis making money while you sleep. Think Uber, but you don't have to drive the car.

It could turn every Tesla into an appreciating asset, justifying higher margins, pricing power, and long-term valuation..

This is Elon's master stroke. When autonomy arrives, millions of Tesla owners will have money riding on it. They'll advocate for regulatory approval, maybe not out of belief, but out of profit.. It's the same playbook. Uber and Airbnb used. Build something people love and earn from, then regulators will have little choice, but to legalize it, wall Street gets it. Tesla's $800 billion. Valuation assumes autonomy works. If it fails, that value disappears. But investors aren't just betting on autonomy, they're betting on a story they've already seen.

Tesla's Robotaxis strategy follows a pattern Elon has used before. Look at SpaceX critic said he couldn't build better rockets than nasa, but that was never the point. He made space exploration cheaper by creating reusable rockets.

After years of blowing them up and learning. SpaceX now handles 80% of the world's payload. It's the same with electric cars. Elon didn't care that batteries were weak or charging took too long. He bet that if he built a car, people want it, the infrastructure would follow demand. That's why Tesla started with a hundred thousand dollars sports car, not a budget sedan.

Elon's pattern is that his companies look like expensive failures until they suddenly work. His Robo Taxii strategy is the same play. Waymo might beat Tesla in precision, but Tesla's betting it can beat everyone in distribution. There are four things founders can learn from Elon's approach. One, solve problems in the right order. What's the constraint that if solved, makes everything else easier? Two, find a non-obvious solution to the obvious problem.

When everyone agrees on an approach, Elon does the opposite. Three, build for tomorrow's constraints. Elon doesn't care about being right today. He cares about being right in the end. Four, turn customers into advocates. When they love what you build, they'll fight for it. But most importantly, sometimes you just have to lock in, block out the noise and build.

Consensus creates comfort while conviction builds empires.

Hiten=)

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But in 2025, a leaked memo exposed the company’s true AI strategy: automate education. The backlash was instant. Reddit turned. TikToks went viral. Loyal users walked away from thousand-day streaks.

This is the inside story of Duolingo's unraveling: how a brand built on personality and playfulness lost user trust overnight, alienated its community, and put years of brand equity at risk all while selling a different story to investors.

Chapters

(0:00) Why Duolingo users started quitting

(0:42) AI as a teaching tool or a threat to quality?

(1:12) When Duolingo went all-in on AI

(2:07) The memo that kickstarted Duolingo’s downfall

(2:57) From viral love to viral hate

(3:17) Duolingo’s off-brand response

(3:52) The scramble to win users back

(4:12) What every founder (and brand) can learn

Transcript

In May, 2025, Duolingo users started quitting. I quit Duolingo. We are watching the live downfall of Duolingo.

Tiktoks went viral. The Reddit community turned on them all because of a memo posted by the CEO AI is really positive for our business.

In this video, I'll break down what happens when a consumer brand tells one story to users and another to investor.

How that tension backfired for Duolingo and what not to do during a PR crisis. Guys, Duolingo’s downfall is here.

You already know this, but Duolingo was one of the most loved brands in tech since 2012. They've worked to create a cult following the green owl, the memes, the passive aggressive streak reminders.

It felt chaotic. Funny, personal, but internally, the company was moving in a different direction. By 2020. Duolingo was integrating AI first with Bird Brain, then GPT-3, but they kept it quiet in public.

They still leaned on the owl, their human experts, and a tone that made the app feel alive. This was a contradiction on the outside playfulness, community, personality on the inside, automation scale, efficiency.

It raised a tricky question for Duolingo. How do they scale using AI without breaking the brand? While selling a story investors wanted to hear by 2023, the shift was harder to Miss.

Duolingo launched Max Duolingo Max powered by GPT-4. It offered AI role play instant explanations and personalized feedback inside the company.

Some called it Duolingo ChatGPT moment. The stock tripled within a year and the messaging change. Its tagline became AI and Education make a great duo. Duolingo worked with OpenAI for years. The same year, the New Yorker profiled, CEO Luis von Ahn. He said replacing teachers is a worthwhile trade off.

Then came the rollout in April, 2025. Duolingo released 148 new courses built with generative AI. von Ahn said our first a hundred courses took about 12 years. The next 150 took just one. The internal roadmap shifted towards full stack automation from lesson content to gamified features with AI led characters, but users started to suspect a drop in quality.

Recently, things have gotten so bad. Then came the memo. In May, 2025, von Ahn on wrote a post that made the company's direction clear, automate everything. It was the first time Duolingo had said it out loud. One line stood out, humans won't get us there. The memo detailed what AI first meant In practice, headcount would only grow if AI couldn't do the job.

New hires and existing teams would be evaluated on how well they used AI. More jobs would be cut, support would be handled by chatbots. None of this was a pivot. It was a strategy, months in motion. It was just never shared. Publicly, the goal was to scale personalized education, but to many users, it felt like the soul had been stripped out.

Alan, are you spending on infrastructure, content? Where's the money going? I'm demanding Answers from the CEO. Duolingo set out to optimize the backend, but what they were really changing was the front end, their brand, and it didn't go unnoticed. The response was instant. Reddit threads called the new content AI slop full of mistakes on TikTok.

Users said the app felt like a robot pretending to care. Videos tagged Duolingo AI racked up over 10 million views in days, most of them negative. Even LinkedIn piled on. Some users walked away from streets they'd kept for over a thousand days. After users turned, Duolingo pulled back. The company known for chaos and humor went quiet.

First, they deleted comments. Next, they temporarily wiped their TikTok and Instagram feeds yours of brand voice gone. Then von Ahn went on a podcast and added fuel to the fire. He said, I'm not sure that there's anything that computers can't really teach you. I think speculating schools would mostly exist for childcare.

While AI handled the teaching to users, it sounded like the company had stopped listening. So Duolingo resumed posting only this time with carefully worded lines. Community feedback is valued and humans are still in the loop. Then at the end of May von Ahn walks some of it back. Our employees are what make Duolingo so amazing.

So we're gonna continue having employees, and not only that, we're actually gonna be hiring more employees, but he also didn't reverse course. I see AI as a tool to accelerate what we do at the same or better level of quality. If anything, his comments suggested he still believed the trade-offs were worth it.

This is a case study in nailing the right messaging to the right audience. I know you're upset. I know people are upset. I wanna make this right. That matters even more when different audiences care about different things. In duo's case, that was public market investors versus everyday people trying to learn a new language.

For your company, it might be investors versus users or employees versus customers. The same principles apply. Know exactly who you're talking to and what matters most to them.

Hiten

=)

Timestamps:

(00:00) What’s going to come up on my call

(01:15) 5 things to know about Tim & Saasco

(01:33) Focusing on value, not price

(03:39) Rethinking Saasco’s positioning

(07:19) The art of product sequencing

(10:21) Finding the right design partners

(13:10) Aligning business goals with customer needs

(16:04) Next steps for Tim & Saasco

(17:35) The key takeaway

Where to find Hiten

• Twitter/X: https://x.com/hnshah
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hnshah/

Where to find Tim

• Twitter/X: https://x.com/timscullin

• Website: https://saasco.com/

Quick Links

• Website: https://www.hiten.show/

• Share feedback: https://www.hiten.show/feedback

• Spotify: hiten.show/spotify

• Apple: hiten.show/apple

Disclaimer: Hiten Shah's "The Hiten Show" episodes are provided for general information purposes only and do not constitute business, financial, or other professional advice. Audience members should not act upon the content or information found here without first seeking appropriate advice from an accountant, financial planner, lawyer, or other professional.

Where to find Part 1 & 2

• Cofounder Scenes From Breaking Bad (Part 1)

• Distribution Scenes From Breaking Bad (Part 2)

The pivotal scenes

1. Early founder mistake (Season 2, Episode 1)


2. Founder ego challenges (Season 5, Episode 6)


3. Knowing when to sell (Season 5, Episode 6)


4. Consider your ultimate goal (Season 5, Episode 6)

Episode timestamps

(00:00) Coming up on today's episode

(00:35) How much is enough

(01:35) Founder ego challenges

(02:47) Know when to sell

(04:08) Walter’s real motivation

Socials

• Website

• YouTube

• LinkedIn

• Twitter/X

Quick Links

• Share feedback

• Pitch me

• Ask a question

• Newsletter

Find the show

• All episodes

• YouTube

• Spotify

• Apple

Disclaimer: Hiten Shah's "The Hiten Show" episodes are provided for general information purposes only and do not constitute business, financial, or other professional advice. Audience members should not act upon the content or information found here without first seeking appropriate advice from an accountant, financial planner, lawyer, or other professional. The show's content is based on fictional scenarios from Breaking Bad and should not be taken as endorsement of illegal activities.

Where to find Part 1

• The Business of Breaking Bad (Part 1): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpxN63hDEv0

The pivotal scenes

1. Sales & Distribution(Season 1, Episode 6)


2. Co-founder Disagreements (Season 2, Episode 11)


3. The Best Product Doesn’t Always Win (Season 2, Episode 11)


4. The Investor/Founder Relationship (Season 3, Episode 5)

Episode timestamps
(00:00) Coming up on today's episode

(00:31) Building a distribution engine

(01:50) Navigating co-founder disagreements

(03:37) One common founder trope

(04:23) Founders always forget this

(05:50) Finding partners

(06:55) What investors want from founders

Socials

• Website: https://www.hiten.show/


• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@hitenshow


• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hnshah/


• Twitter/X: https://x.com/hnshah

Quick Links

• Share feedback: https://www.hiten.show/feedback


• Pitch me: https://www.hiten.show/pitch


• Ask a question: https://www.hiten.show/ask


• Newsletter: https://www.hiten.show/

Find the show

• All episodes: hiten.show/episodes


• YouTube: hiten.show/youtube


• Spotify: hiten.show/spotify


• Apple: hiten.show/apple

Disclaimer: Hiten Shah's "The Hiten Show" episodes are provided for general information purposes only and do not constitute business, financial, or other professional advice. Audience members should not act upon the content or information found here without first seeking appropriate advice from an accountant, financial planner, lawyer, or other professional. The show's content is based on fictional scenarios from Breaking Bad and should not be taken as endorsement of illegal activities.

The pivotal scenes

1. The Cancer Diagnosis (Season 1, Episode 1)


2. Walter Wants to Cook (Season 1, Episode 1)


3. Walter Shows Jesse the Cooking Equipment (Season 1, Episode 1)


4. Walter and Jesse’s First Cook (Season 1, Episode 1)


5. Walter and Jesse Argue About Business (Season 1, Episode 6)

Episode timestamps
(00:00) Coming up on today's episode

(00:26) Walter’s cancer diagnosis

(01:29) Walter and Jesse team up

(02:59) Alignment is key

(04:20) The Batman and Robin framework

(05:53) Building a quality product

(07:05) Product market fit is a “vibe”

(08:14) Setting cofounder expectations

(10:07) The hack to finding a cofounder

Socials

• Website: https://www.hiten.show/


• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@hitenshow


• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hnshah/


• Twitter/X: https://x.com/hnshah

Quick Links

• Share feedback: https://www.hiten.show/feedback


• Pitch me: https://www.hiten.show/pitch


• Ask a question: https://www.hiten.show/ask


• Newsletter: https://www.hiten.show/

Find the show

• All episodes: hiten.show/episodes


• YouTube: hiten.show/youtube


• Spotify: hiten.show/spotify


• Apple: hiten.show/apple

Disclaimer: Hiten Shah's "The Hiten Show" episodes are provided for general information purposes only and do not constitute business, financial, or other professional advice. Audience members should not act upon the content or information found here without first seeking appropriate advice from an accountant, financial planner, lawyer, or other professional. The show's content is based on fictional scenarios from Breaking Bad and should not be taken as endorsement of illegal activities.

The pitches

1. Squatty Potty (Season 6, Episode 9)


2. Jax Sheets (Season 12, Episode 13)


3. Haven Lock (Season 10, Episode 18)


4. Scrub Daddy (Season 4, Episode 7)


5. Tree-T-Pee (Season 5, Episode 7)

Episode timestamps

(00:00) Coming up on today's episode

(00:33) Squatty Potty

(03:36) Jax Sheets

(05:34) Haven Lock

(08:56) Scrub Daddy

(11:42) Tree-T-Pee

Socials

• Website: https://www.hiten.show


• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@hitenshow


• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hnshah/


• Twitter/X: https://x.com/hnshah

Quick links

• Share feedback: https://www.hiten.show/feedback


• Pitch me: https://www.hiten.show/pitch


• Submit a question: https://www.hiten.show/ask


• Newsletter: https://www.hiten.show/

Find the show

• All episodes: https://www.hiten.show/episodes


• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@hitenshow


• Spotify: https://www.hiten.show/spotify


• Apple: https://hiten.show/apple

Disclaimer: Hiten Shah's "The Hiten Show" episodes are provided for general information purposes only and do not constitute business, financial, or other professional advice. Audience members should not act upon the content or information found here without first seeking appropriate advice from an accountant, financial planner, lawyer, or other professional.

The scenes from Succession

• Celebration (Season 1, Episode 1)


• Vaulter (Season 2, Episode 2)

Episode timestamps

(00:00) Coming up on today’s episode

(00:15) Show intro

(00:31) The founder's objection to the deal terms

(01:53) What acquirers don’t do

(02:40) Unrealistic founder dialogue

(03:35) Negotiations shouldn’t be personal

(04:36) Pitching the acquisition to stakeholders

(05:40) Unexpected challenges post-acquisition

(06:52) Gutting the company post-acquisition

(08:41) Breaking promises

(09:38) The importance of empathy in layoffs

Socials

• Website: https://www.hiten.show/


• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@hitenshow


• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hnshah/


• Twitter/X: https://x.com/hnshah

Quick Links

• Share feedback: https://www.hiten.show/feedback


• Pitch me: https://www.hiten.show/pitch


• Ask a question: https://www.hiten.show/ask


• Newsletter: https://www.hiten.show/

Find the show

• All episodes: hiten.show/episodes


• YouTube: hiten.show/youtube


• Spotify: hiten.show/spotify


• Apple: hiten.show/apple

Disclaimer Hiten Shah’s “The Hiten Show” episodes are provided for general information purposes only and do not constitute business, financial, or other professional advice. Audience members should not act upon the content or information found here without first seeking appropriate advice from an accountant, financial planner, lawyer, or other professional.

The pitches

• Hilton (Season 3, Episode 9)


• Heinz Ketchup (Season 6, Episode 4)


• Heinz Beans (Season 5, Episode 6)


• Lucky Strike (Season 1, Episode 1)


• Kodak Carousel (Season 1, Episode 13)


• Jaguar (Season 5, Episode 11)


• Belle Jolie (Season 1, Episode 8)


• Kellogg's (Unfrosted)

Episode timestamps

(00:00) Coming up on today’s episode

(00:20) Show intro

(00:36) The Hilton pitch

(01:53) The Heinz Ketchup pitch

(03:09) The Heinz Beans pitch

(04:26) The Lucky Strike pitch

(06:30) The Kodak Carousel pitch

(08:34) The Jaguar pitch

(09:53) The Belle Jolie pitch

(10:52) The Kellogg’s pitch

(12:28) That’s a wrap!

Socials

• Website: https://www.hiten.show/


• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@hitenshow


• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hnshah/


• Twitter/X: https://x.com/hnshah

Quick Links

• Share feedback: https://www.hiten.show/feedback


• Pitch me: https://www.hiten.show/pitch


• Ask a question: https://www.hiten.show/ask


• Newsletter: https://www.hiten.show/

Find the show

• All episodes: hiten.show/episodes


• YouTube: hiten.show/youtube


• Spotify: hiten.show/spotify


• Apple: hiten.show/apple

Disclaimer Hiten Shah’s “The Hiten Show” episodes are provided for general information purposes only and do not constitute business, financial, or other professional advice. Audience members should not act upon the content or information found here without first seeking appropriate advice from an accountant, financial planner, lawyer, or other professional.

This video is not intended to be a hit piece or to drag the founders, employees, or anyone else involved with Humane.

Instead, I aim to uncover valuable insights we can all apply to future challenges when building our own companies.

In this episode, I cover:

• Where Humane AI went wrong


• What I would do as CEO


• Why the founders deserve empathy


• Learnings from their journey


• What each group involved in Humane is likely feeling (team, founders, board)


• What’s next for Humane

Referenced

• Bethany Bongiorno (co-founder)


• Imran Chaudhri (co-founder)


• Humane (Website)


• The potential buyout (Verge)

Episode timestamps

(00:00) Coming up on the show

(00:30) Everything you need to know about Humane AI in 30s

(01:25) Humane AI’s biggest failure

(02:48) The one thing a company can’t lose

(04:20) What I would do as CEO

(06:09) What’s going on inside Humane AI

(08:52) The only way out of this

Socials

• Website: https://www.hiten.show/


• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@hitenshow


• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hitenshow/


• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@hitenshow

Quick Links

• Share feedback: https://www.hiten.show/feedback


• Pitch me: https://www.hiten.show/pitch


• Ask a question: https://www.hiten.show/ask


• Newsletter: https://www.hiten.show/

Find the show

• All episodes: hiten.show/episodes


• YouTube: hiten.show/youtube


• Spotify: hiten.show/spotify


• Apple: hiten.show/apple

Disclaimer Hiten Shah’s “The Hiten Show” episodes are provided for general information purposes only and do not constitute business, financial, or other professional advice. Audience members should not act upon the content or information found here without first seeking appropriate advice from an accountant, financial planner, lawyer, or other professional.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Cody biggest challenges and my targeted advice


• The common mistake self-funded founders make


• Which market SwellAI should win first


• How Cody can differentiate SwellAI

Timestamps

(00:00) Episode trailer

(00:50) Cody’s Pitch for SwellAI

(03:12) More engineers and money ≠ growth

(04:19) Cody’s biggest challenge

(06:38) Advice on differentiation, opportunity, and growth

(15:15) Key takeaways

(16:15) That’s a wrap!

Socials

• Website: https://www.hiten.show/


• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkNsg4JbOBrXeCbcFN8R71A


• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hitenshow/


• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@hitenshow

Quick Links

• Share feedback: https://www.hiten.show/feedback


• Pitch me: https://www.hiten.show/pitch


• Ask a question: https://www.hiten.show/ask


• Newsletter: https://www.hiten.show/

Find the show

• All episodes: hiten.show/episodes


• YouTube: hiten.show/youtube


• Spotify: hiten.show/spotify


• Apple: hiten.show/apple

Disclaimer Hiten Shah’s “The Hiten Show” episodes are provided for general information purposes only and do not constitute business, financial, or other professional advice. Audience members should not act upon the content or information found here without first seeking appropriate advice from an accountant, financial planner, lawyer, or other professional.

The pitches

• Jian Yang’s hot dog app


• DoorDash’s YC application


• DoorDash’s YC demo day


• Doorbot’s Shark Tank pitch

Episode timestamps

(00:00) Show intro

(00:10) Silicon Valley’s hot dog app

(01:54) DoorDash’s YC application

(02:38) DoorDash’s YC demo day

(06:29) Doorbot’s Shark Tank pitch

(07:44) That’s a wrap!

Socials

• Website: https://www.hiten.show/


• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkNsg4JbOBrXeCbcFN8R71A


• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hitenshow/


• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@hitenshow

Quick Links

• Share feedback: https://www.hiten.show/feedback


• Pitch me: https://www.hiten.show/pitch


• Ask a question: https://www.hiten.show/ask


• Newsletter: https://www.hiten.show/

Find the show

• All episodes: hiten.show/episodes


• YouTube: hiten.show/youtube


• Spotify: hiten.show/spotify


• Apple: hiten.show/apple

Disclaimer Hiten Shah’s “The Hiten Show” episodes are provided for general information purposes only and do not constitute business, financial, or other professional advice. Audience members should not act upon the content or information found here without first seeking appropriate advice from an accountant, financial planner, lawyer, or other professional.

I discuss:

• Finding the right hook


• What information will make investors say yes


• When to focus on the product versus the problem


• How each founder should refine their pitch

Today’s founders

• Jacob Peters (superpower.com)


• Luke Yarnton (therave.co)


• Valentin Haarscher (easop.com)

Episode timestamps

(00:00) Show intro

(00:31) Jacob, founder of Superpower (Longevity tech)

(02:50) Luke, founder of The Rave (20% MOM growth)

(06:29) Valentin, founder of Easop (Acquired by Remote)

(09:52) That’s a wrap!

Socials

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Disclaimer Hiten Shah’s “The Hiten Show” episodes are provided for general information purposes only and do not constitute business, financial, or other professional advice. Audience members should not act upon the content or information found here without first seeking appropriate advice from an accountant, financial planner, lawyer, or other professional.

Today’s founders:
• Austin: Howie (howie.ai)
• Omar: UnInbox (uninbox.com)
• Luke: Pixels (pixels.xyz)

Episode timestamps
(00:00) Show intro
(00:33) Luke, founder of Pixels (400k DAU)
(05:35) Austin, founder of Howie (AI scheduling assistant)
(10:56) Omar, founder of UnInbox (open-source email)
(15:26) Reflecting on today’s pitches
(16:14) That’s a wrap!

Socials
• Website: ⁠⁠https://www.hiten.show⁠⁠
• YouTube: ⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@hitenshow⁠⁠
• TikTok: ⁠⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@hitenshow⁠⁠
• Instagram: ⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/hitenshow⁠⁠

Quick Links
• Share feedback: https://www.hiten.show/feedback
• Pitch me: https://www.hiten.show/pitch
• Submit a question: https://www.hiten.show/ask
• Newsletter: https://www.hiten.show/

Find the show
• All episodes: ⁠⁠https://www.hiten.show/episodes⁠⁠
• YouTube: ⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@hitenshow⁠⁠
• Spotify: ⁠⁠https://www.hiten.show/spotify⁠⁠
• Apple: ⁠⁠https://www.hiten.show/apple⁠⁠

Disclaimer Hiten Shah’s “The Hiten Show” episodes are provided for general information purposes only and do not constitute business, financial, or other professional advice. Audience members should not act upon the content or information found here without first seeking appropriate advice from an accountant, financial planner, lawyer, or other professional.

• Big mistakes and how to avoid them

• Why “hiring slow, firing fast” is wrong

• The problem with offshore talent

• Building remote versus in-person

• Ways to hire top talent

• Tips that will help you scale

Socials

• Website: ⁠⁠https://www.hiten.show⁠⁠

• YouTube: ⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@hitenshow⁠⁠

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• Instagram: ⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/hitenshow⁠⁠

Share feedback:

• https://www.hiten.show/feedback

Pitch me:

• https://www.hiten.show/pitch

Submit a question:

• https://www.hiten.show/ask

Newsletter:

• https://www.hiten.show

Find the show

• All episodes: ⁠⁠https://www.hiten.show/episodes⁠⁠

• YouTube: ⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@hitenshow⁠⁠

• Spotify: ⁠⁠https://www.hiten.show/spotify⁠⁠

• Apple: ⁠⁠https://www.hiten.show/apple⁠⁠

• Amazon: ⁠⁠https://www.hiten.show/amazon⁠⁠

Disclaimer Hiten Shah’s “The Hiten Show” episodes are provided for general information purposes only and do not constitute business, financial, or other professional advice. Audience members should not act upon the content or information found here without first seeking appropriate advice from an accountant, financial planner, lawyer, or other professional.

Episode timestamps

(00:00) Show intro

(00:20) Rapid Fire Round

(00:28) Q1: How we we keep morale high after a pivot?

(01:28) Q2: How much financial info should we share with employees?

(02:31) Q3: What’s the biggest hiring mistake you’ve ever made?

(03:00) Q4: What’s the biggest firing mistake you’ve ever made?

(03:52) Q5: Do you have a golden rule for hiring?

(04:48) Q6: How do I lower an employee’s pay?

(05:23) Q7: What’s your favorite interview question?

(06:06) Q8: Thoughts on poaching employees?

(08:04) Hot Takes

(08:18) You should hire slow and fire fast

(08:45) In-person startups > remote ones

(10:10) Work trials are a great way to evaluate job candidates

(11:33) Hiring offshore talent is a great way to build a team

(12:10) That's a wrap!

Last updated: 10:02am, 23 April, 2024

• What founders get wrong about AI

• Why AI isn’t the problem

• Building horizontal versus vertical

• Pricing AI products

• Dealing with churn

Todayʼs founders

• James Flynn - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Coso.ai⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://coso.ai/⁠⁠⁠

• Girri M Palaniyapan - DialMe: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://dialme.at⁠⁠⁠

Socials

• Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.hiten.show⁠⁠⁠⁠

• YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@hitenshow⁠⁠⁠ ⁠

• TikTok: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@hitenshow⁠⁠⁠ ⁠

• Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/hitenshow⁠⁠⁠⁠

Share feedback

• ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.hiten.show/feedback⁠⁠⁠⁠

Pitch me

• ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.hiten.show/pitch⁠⁠⁠

Submit a question

• ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.hiten.show/ask⁠⁠⁠

Call the hotline and leave a message

• ⁠+1 (866) 860 6695⁠

Newsletter

• ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.hiten.show⁠⁠⁠

Find the show

• All episodes: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.hiten.show/episodes⁠⁠⁠⁠

• YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@hitenshow⁠⁠⁠⁠

• Spotify: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.hiten.show/spotify⁠⁠⁠⁠

• Apple: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.hiten.show/apple⁠⁠⁠⁠

• Amazon: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.hiten.show/amazon⁠⁠⁠⁠

Episode Timestamps

(00:00) Show intro

(00:31) Rapid Fire Round

(00:43) Q1: Have you been tempted to start an AI company?

(01:17) Q2: What do people get wrong about AI?

(01:49) Q3: Is it too late to start an AI company?

(02:40) Q4: Will AGI make every startup redundant?

(03:15) Q5: Can AI help us compete against market leaders?

(05:20) Q6: How do I tell if my AI product is working?

(07:29) Q7: Should you offer a freemium model for your AI product?

(09:15) The Hotline

(09:22) James, co-founder of ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠coso.ai⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

(12:44) Building what customers want

(13:59) Girri, co-founder of DialMe

(16:48) Building broad versus vertical

(17:23) That's a wrap!

Last updated 9:54 pm, April 22 (ET)

We cover a range of challenges, including:

• One thing all great pitches have

• What investors actually care about

• The secret to telling a story in 60 seconds

• Common pitching mistakes and how to avoid them

Todayʼs founders

• Steve Witmer - Roster

• Michael Bishop - Spot

Socials

• Website: https://www.hiten.show

• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@hitenshow

• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@hitenshow

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hitenshow

Share feedback

⁠https://www.hiten.show/feedback⁠

Pitch me

https://www.hiten.show/pitch

Submit a question

https://www.hiten.show/ask

Call the hotline and leave a message

+1 (866) 860 6695

Newsletter

https://www.hiten.show

Find the show

• All episodes: https://www.hiten.show/episodes

• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@hitenshow

• Spotify: https://www.hiten.show/spotify

• Apple: https://www.hiten.show/apple

• Amazon: https://www.hiten.show/amazon

Episode Timestamps

(00:00) Show intro

(00:26) Pitch Perfect

(00:33) Steve, founder of Roster

(05:54) Getting investors to pick you

(07:16) Micheal, founder of Spot

(13:07) Selling the founders’ story

(14:40) Rapid Fire Round

(14:50) Q1: Tips for pitching over Zoom

(15:32) Q2: One thing all great pitches have

(16:33) Q3: Most common mistake when pitching

(17:38) Q4: How to avoid common mistakes

(19:22) That's a wrap!

Disclaimer

Hiten Shahʼs “The Hiten Showˮ episodes are provided for general information purposes only and do not constitute business, financial, or other professional advice. Audience members should not act upon the content or information found here without first seeking appropriate advice from an accountant, financial planner, lawyer, or other professional.

Crafting a narrative around cap table complications

Judging whether a pitch went well

Biggest fundraising mistakes

Managing term sheet deadlines

Common investor red flags

Disclaimer Hiten Shah’s “The Hiten Show” episodes are provided for general information purposes only and do not constitute business, financial, or other professional advice. Audience members should not act upon the content or information found here without first seeking appropriate advice from an accountant, financial planner, lawyer, or other professional.