The Upstarts Podcast

Winston Weinberg, co-founder and CEO of Harvey and former law associate, built a legal AI startup that serves thousands of lawyers. He recounts testing GPT-3, cold-emailing Sam Altman, tailoring risky demos to win skeptical law firms, nearly doing a one-shot merger, and navigating competition from major AI labs like Anthropic.

Andrew Rush, co-founder and CEO of Starcatcher Industries and former Made In Space executive, aims to build an orbital power grid. He discusses space’s chronic power shortages, how beaming concentrated sunlight can boost satellite arrays, and the technical and financing milestones that turned stadium and NASA tests into momentum for a bold space infrastructure vision.

Victor Riparbelli, co-founder and CEO of Synthesia, built an AI video company that scaled into the Fortune 100. He talks about pivoting from Hollywood to enterprise, winning skeptical investors, navigating deepfake fears and safety, and the bold move toward interactive, agent-driven video for training and internal comms.

Ryan Petersen, founder and CEO of Flexport, a logistics leader now pivoting to AI. He recounts engineering a company comeback and explains how AI agents tackle tariff chaos, automate auditing, and speed product development. Conversations cover restoring operational quality, inventive port reporting, and a bold plan to recover billions for U.S. importers.

Isaiah Taylor, founder and CEO of Valar Atomics building small modular reactors and multi-reactor 'gigasites'. He explains why small, manufacturable reactors and rapid hardware iteration matter. He ties massive AI and reindustrialization power needs to the urgency for cheap, scalable nuclear. He recounts fundraising, testing, and the race with China and Russia.

Celine Halioua, founder and CEO of Loyal who raised major funding to pursue canine longevity, shares her journey from neuroscience to building drugs that could extend dogs' healthspan. She talks about running a massive 1,300-dog FDA trial. She explains why dogs are a faster path than humans, the portfolio strategy of multiple drug programs, and the challenge of changing investor pattern-matching.

Melanie Perkins, Co-founder and CEO of Canva — built a global design platform used by hundreds of millions. She recounts her early hustle from school yearbooks to flying to San Francisco to fundraise. She discusses scaling vision, setting concrete team goals and values, balancing big-picture impact with day-to-day execution, and Canva’s 1% pledge and giving strategies.

On The Upstarts Podcast, you’ll hear from some of the most exciting Upstarts today: emerging technology leaders punching above their weight to achieve real impact. Veteran tech reporter Alex Konrad profiled leaders from Marc Benioff to Melanie Perkins in a decade-plus at Forbes. Now as the founder and editor of Upstarts Media, he’s sitting down with breakout entrepreneurs taking on the status quo to shake up their fields in AI, design, nuclear energy, space, and more. You’ll leave each interview with a new understanding of a world-changing technology that’s transforming how we live and work – as well as strategies and tactics any builder can put to use. Learn more at UpstartsMedia.com Produced & edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm