The Peel with Turner Novak

Sid Yadav, co-founder and CEO of Circle and former Teachable founding engineer, tells his immigrant-to-CEO story. He discusses why the creator economy is booming, building community as the core product, raising capital from pre-seed to Tiger Global, and scaling Circle to multi-million ARR. Conversations cover product roadmap, onboarding early creators, remote-first culture, and AI features for communities.

Pim de Witte is the Co-founder and CEO of Medal, which enables millions of gamers to capture and share their favorite gaming moments with friends. Pim started the company in 2015 and has since raised over $72 million, supported by investors like OMERS Ventures, Makers Fund, Dune Ventures, and Horizon Ventures.Brought to you by Secureframe, the automated compliance platform built by compliance experts: https://bit.ly/3OwGdGCRead the transcript: https://www.thespl.it/p/growing-medal-to-tens-of-millionsIn this episode, we discuss: Why we play video games Why 200 million gamers play Roblox Learning to code at 13 to build a private Runescape server that did $1.5 million in revenue Why paid acquisition is so important in mobile gaming Why consumer platforms need a social inflection point How Medal blew up during COVID Why multiplayer platforms die when network effects unravel Why Medal’s Seed round was so hard to raise Pim’s biggest mistake building Medal His three favorite interview questions Medal’s unique hybrid in-person / remote work environment Why it’s a mistake to focus on competitors instead of customers Why rapid iteration is everything How to acquire another startup Why building product is the ultimate game How Elon’s changes at Twitter caused a great reset in techWhere to find Pim:Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/PimDeWitteLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pimdw/Where to find Turner:Newsletter: https://www.thespl.itTwitter: https://twitter.com/TurnerNovakRead the transcript: https://www.thespl.it/p/growing-medal-to-tens-of-millionsProduction and distribution by: https://www.supermix.ioFor sponsorship inquiries: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSebvhBlDDfHJyQdQWs8RwpFxWg-UbG0H-VFey05QSHvLxkZPQ/viewform

Itai Damti is the Co-founder and CEO of Unit, the platform that helps leading tech companies store, move, and lend money.Unit has raised over $170 million from investors like Better Tomorrow Ventures, Accel, Insight, and dozens of angels. — In this episode, we discuss: The first and second wave of fintech innovation How the second wave brings financial services inside other software How Unit beat the competition and raised $170 million by focusing on product and expanding the market size Itai’s framework for leveraging his investors His strategy for prioritizing as a founder How Unit operates with precision And why they haven’t built any crypto products — Brought to you by Artie, the real-time database replication solution that sets up in minutes and requires zero day-to-day maintenance. Sign-up for a demo and get two weeks free: https://bit.ly/3uWTzWJ — Where to find Itai: Twitter: https://twitter.com/itaidamti LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/itaidamti — Where to find Turner: Newsletter: https://www.thespl.it Twitter: https://twitter.com/TurnerNovak Banana Capital: https://bananacapital.vc — Production and distribution by: https://www.supermix.io —For sponsorship inquiries: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSebvhBlDDfHJyQdQWs8RwpFxWg-UbG0H-VFey05QSHvLxkZPQ/viewform 

Kevin Liu, Co-founder and CEO of Metronome, discusses the history and evolution of software business models, a crash course on software pricing, his framework for iterating on startup ideas, leveraging angels for fundraising, the dangers of over-building a product, sacrificing margins to scale with OpenAI, founder time prioritization, building pricing models, and the biggest pricing mistakes companies make.

Wade Foster is the Co-founder and CEO of Zapier, an automation platform that helps you work faster. Wade and his co-founders Mike and Bryan started the company in 2011, and have always done things a bit differently. From being a startup based in Missouri, working as a remote team since 2011, and raising very little outside capital despite being one of the fastest growing startups in the world. — Brought to you by Secureframe, the automated compliance platform built by compliance experts. Get compliant with security and privacy frameworks like SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA, GDPR, and more. Sign-up here: https://bit.ly/3QOr2eo — Topics discussed include: The founding story of Zapier Wade’s contrarian take on Product Market Fit Why new products are usually built on emerging distribution channels How Wade deals with imposter syndrome Never raising more money after a $1.3 million Seed during YC How Zapier thinks about it’s product roadmap Shutting the company down for a weeklong AI hackathon Why Wade thinks LLMs will unlock new types of product interfaces How he delegates work without losing track of the details — Referenced: https://zapier.com — Where to find Wade: Twitter: https://twitter.com/wadefoster LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wadefoster — Where to find Turner: Newsletter: https://www.thespl.it Twitter: https://twitter.com/TurnerNovak Banana Capital: https://bananacapital.vc — Production and distribution by: https://www.supermix.io — Want to sponsor the show? https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSebvhBlDDfHJyQdQWs8RwpFxWg-UbG0H-VFey05QSHvLxkZPQ/viewform

Gaurab Chakrabarti and Sean Hunt, co-founders of Solugen, discuss how they are revolutionizing the $5 trillion chemicals industry with their plant-derived substitutes. They touch on topics such as the challenges in the industry, their manufacturing process, meeting over a game of poker, the first wave of Cleantech startup failures, the importance of logistics and supply chain, and their strategy for scaling the business. They also share interesting stories about their homemade metal catalyst reactor and building their first factory on the site of an exploded wax distillery.

Jonathon Barkl, Co-founder and CEO of Air Garage, discusses the business model of parking, the outdated nature of the $131 billion parking industry, and how Air Garage increases parking lot profitability. He shares the inspiration behind Air Garage and the sales lessons learned. Jonathon also talks about securing funding, dynamic pricing in parking, and the impact of parking on cities.

Dan Lorenc, Co-founder and CEO of Chainguard, talks about the software supply chain and the vulnerabilities it poses. He discusses the history of open source software, the moment they decided to start Chainguard, and why they started selling consulting services before building a product. Dan also shares insights on their marketing strategy, raising funding, and the challenges and risks in open source software.

Guest Nichole Wischoff shares her journey from growing up on food stamps to founding Wischoff Ventures, a Pre-Seed and Seed firm. Topics include studying abroad in Belgium, falling in love with running, starting a bakery in Spain, getting her first job in fintech, and raising her first $20m fund with the help of Lee Fixel and Chad Byers.

Waseem Daher is the Co-founder and CEO of Pilot, the bookkeeping, CFO, and tax provider for startups and fast growing businesses. Prior to Pilot, Waseem and his co-founders Jeff and Jessica sold companies to Oracle and Dropbox. — Waseem, Jeff, and Jessica started Pilot in 2017, and have since raised over $160 million from investors like Index Ventures, Stripe, Sequoia, Whale Rock, Jeff Bezos, and over 40+ angel investors. — Brought to you by Secureframe, the automated compliance platform built by compliance experts: https://bit.ly/3FoYm52 — In this episode, we discuss:• Why Waseem’s building a startup that does your accounting• The reason he first started doing his own bookkeeping, and why he doesn’t recommend it to other founders• When startups should build something themselves and when to outsource• All the mistakes Waseem made building and selling his first two startups to Oracle and Dropbox• How to avoid “fake work”• How to get ROI from conferences• His disastrous first ever meeting with a VC• Why the best fundraising advice is to build a business that doesn’t need to raise money• “Companies are bought, not sold” and his framework for startup M&A• Why it’s a mistake to build your startup just to be acquired• Why consensus startup ideas rarely work, and the best startups need some secret or structural change that no one else has noticed yet• Why tech-enabled service businesses are so hard to scale• How Pilot got its first customers• Pilot’s unique approach to raising its Seed round• The initial scare when raising their Series A• Why its Series B was half of what they could have raised —Where to find Waseem: • Twitter: https://twitter.com/waseem • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wdaher • Newsletter: https://waseem.substack.com/ — Where to find Turner: • Newsletter: https://www.thespl.it • Twitter: https://twitter.com/TurnerNovak — Production and distribution by: https://www.supermix.io — For sponsorship inquiries: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSebvhBlDDfHJyQdQWs8RwpFxWg-UbG0H-VFey05QSHvLxkZPQ/viewform