David Meerman Scott is a marketing strategist, bestselling author of The New Rules of Marketing and PR, and the originator of the term “newsjacking.” With a career that spans decades and a front-row seat to the evolution of real-time, fan-first marketing, David offers insights into how founders and brands can break through the noise without losing their authenticity. In this episode, he shares how to humanize your marketing, leverage AI with purpose, and turn passion into influence.

In Today’s Episode We Discuss:

00:01 – Intro and guest background

01:29 – Common marketing mistake: product obsession

03:10 – What’s stayed true vs. what’s changed

04:49 – Evolution of The New Rules of Marketing and PR

06:28 – The new rules for modern marketing

08:49 – HubSpot’s early playbook and inbound marketing

12:03 – Benefits of problem-first storytelling

13:59 – Feedback loop between content and product

17:43 – Importance of owning your content real estate

21:00 – Building a proprietary AI engine with your data

23:06 – Humanizing your brand in the age of AI

25:23 – Fandom, neuroscience, and proximity

27:34 – Mirror neurons and personal connection via video

31:10 – Using imagery and human faces in marketing

34:29 – Newsjacking: real-time marketing strategy

39:54 – Case study: Family lawyer grows business through newsjacking

43:06 – How to use AI without losing your voice

44:20 – The Savannah Bananas and fan-first marketing

48:22 – Organic storytelling vs. performance marketing

50:57 – Tools and AI resources for early-stage founders

52:00 – Crafting your first founder narrative

53:41 – The power of sharing personal passion as a founder

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Mala Ramakrishnan is the founder and managing partner of Progressive Ventures. A Stanford-trained computer scientist, she brings over two decades of experience as a technologist, entrepreneur, and venture capitalist. With multiple startup exits and a background as head of privacy at WhatsApp, Mala offers rare insight into B2B AI SaaS, privacy, and inclusive investing.

In this episode, she shares her journey from founding startups in grad school to launching a mission-driven VC fund focused on empowering women and underrepresented founders. Her approach combines deep technical fluency with a bold vision for building a more equitable AI-powered future.

In Today’s Episode We Discuss:

00:01 Launching a startup with $50K and a vision

01:45 Imposter syndrome and the path to technical confidence

03:00 From engineering to product marketing and back

04:15 Exiting two startups and learning through failure

06:00 Leading privacy at WhatsApp and scaling trust

07:10 The founder's obsession: problem over product

08:00 Becoming a VC with purpose and legacy in mind

10:30 Venture capital's power—and its double standards

12:00 Role models, risk aversion, and the wealth gap

14:00 The “three-mile circle” strategy for impact

15:40 Why B2B AI is her investment sweet spot

17:40 What she looks for in early-stage startups

19:00 Product-first investing and founder conversations

20:00 Founders Creative and community-driven deal flow

21:30 Pre-seed is post-launch: the new founder reality

23:00 Access over algorithms in the AI gold rush

24:40 Building privacy into AI from day one

27:30 Automating developer workflows with AI

28:20 Persistence: the underrated founder superpower

29:15 Red flags and non-negotiables in early-stage deals

30:00 Gross margins, credit burn, and financial clarity

31:30 AI-first as the new cloud-first

32:45 A0Dev: democratizing mobile app development

34:00 The AGI era and solo GPs of the future

35:45 Why co-founders matter—and how she chooses them

38:17 End

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Our sponsor Byldd⁠ helps non-technical domain-expert founders build and launch tech businesses by providing a complete product team - that's everyone you need from designers to engineers to testers, all the way up to a CTO.

We'll ship products while you focus on the other essentials: validation, sales, and distribution. Our portfolio companies have been backed by YC, Google, ERA, and other top-tier investors.

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What if the secret to building enduring billion-dollar businesses isn't chasing growth at all costs—but betting on slower, more sustainable scale, even if it means skipping the traditional exit? Jim Curry thinks most of Silicon Valley has it backwards—and he’s proving it, one founder-led company at a time.

Jim Curry is the co-founder of Build Group, a $330M permanent capital firm that invests in long-term, operator-led businesses. Before that, he co-founded OpenStack while at Rackspace and played a pivotal role in scaling one of the earliest cloud pioneers. Now at Build Group, he’s rethinking the VC model itself—with a focus on staying power, not spray-and-pray.

In Today's Episode We Discuss

00:01 Jim Curry’s path from finance to co-founding Build Group

01:00 Lessons from Rackspace and the founding of OpenStack

04:00 Why traditional VCs fail founders in the “middle” of company building

06:45 The problem with forced exits and timing IPOs

08:56 How Build Group’s permanent capital model works

12:02 Why institutional LPs struggle with long-term investing

14:12 Evergreen vs. closed-end fund structures

17:14 Fund mechanics, recycling capital, and tax efficiency

21:00 Ownership strategy, board roles, and check size philosophy

24:36 Avoiding overhyped valuations and focusing on product strength

26:57 Building OpenStack and Rackspace’s cloud missteps

30:53 What Rackspace got wrong—and why they didn’t become AWS

34:03 The value of support over software in cloud hosting

36:41 Traits Jim looks for in long-term, founder-led companies

39:07 Why team-building and product vision matter most

41:03 Operator vs. investor mindset—and the danger of “fixer” thinking

46:18 Go-to-market missteps and sales team scaling advice

49:43 Why LTV:CAC is broken—and better SaaS metrics to use

51:20 How AI is reshaping SaaS—and what Jim’s betting on

53:55 The trouble with agentic AI startups and the value of proprietary data

56:18 Scaling to $10M+ with minimal headcount

57:26 Using AI to transform investment workflows and ICs

01:01:16 Personal AI use cases and GPTs in everyday investing

01:04:03 Closing reflections on staying curious, tinkering, and future fund models

Subscribe on Spotify:

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//

Our sponsor Byldd⁠ helps non-technical domain-expert founders build and launch tech businesses by providing a complete product team - that's everyone you need from designers to engineers to testers, all the way up to a CTO.

We'll ship products while you focus on the other essentials: validation, sales, and distribution. Our portfolio companies have been backed by YC, Google, ERA, and other top-tier investors.

Get Started Here: https://tr.ee/bylld