Zach spent 8 years at Google leading engineering for Google Docs, then left to build a photo sharing app with zero go-to-market plan.

Reality hit hard: "At Google, anything you launch gets millions of users. At a startup, the challenge isn't building—it's getting anyone to care." After writing a brutal postmortem documenting everything that went wrong, he started Warp with strict principles: only hire product-obsessed people, document every process, build pure software not services.

For three years, Warp had hundreds of thousands of free users but no revenue. Then they pivoted to AI-powered development in 2024. Here's how they went from taking 300 days to hit their $1M to now adding $1M ARR every 10 days.

Why You Should Listen:

• Why working at Google can set you up to fail as a founder
• How to know when to quit your own startup
• Why you should write down every operating principle before starting
• The shift he made to grow insanely fast
• Why competing directly with fast-growing startups is actually smart

Keywords:

startup podcast, startup podcast for founders, Warp, Zach Lloyd, Google alumni, developer tools, AI coding, product-market fit, startup pivot, Series B

00:00:00 Intro

00:01:48 From law school to Google via Craigslist

00:05:01 Why Google makes you a terrible startup founder

00:10:36 Joining SelfMade as technical co-founder

00:19:00 Writing a brutal post-mortem of the startup experience

00:27:15 Building Warp and getting 10,000 signups day one

00:38:08 Raising $50M Series B with zero revenue

00:41:50 Pivoting to Agent Mode and AI development

00:46:27 From 300 days to $1M to adding $1M every 10 days

Retry

Send me a message to let me know what you think!

Alex had $2,000 in his checking account when Microsoft acquired his last company. For years, he paid himself $30K while his friends made six figures at corporate jobs. He had only 2 months of runway for 18 straight months.

Then retail media exploded and everything changed—he went from grinding against the current to riding a wave.

After selling to Microsoft, he took 6 months off, got bored, and started Bluefish AI with the same team. This time they called Fortune 500 CMOs before building anything.

His #1 advice for early-stage founders: Get on the plane. And go meet your customers. You'll be shocked by how big a difference that makes.

Why You Should Listen:

• How to survive on 2 months of runway indefinitely
• How to validate your next startup before writing any code
• Why second-time founders often have more blind spots than first-timers

Keywords:

startup podcast, startup podcast for founders, PromoteIQ, Microsoft acquisition, Alex Bluefish, retail media, product-market fit, MarTech, enterprise sales, second-time founder

00:00:00 Intro

00:01:58 From management consulting dreams to startup world

00:04:44 Trying to return $200K to investors after 30 days

00:07:19 Pivoting through iterations to find retail media

00:12:13 Finding product-market fit like a river reversing

00:21:28 Microsoft acquisition with $2,000 in the bank

00:24:30 Post-exit sabbatical and starting Bluefish

00:35:08 Building for AI marketing with Fortune 500 design partners

00:43:12 Always get on the plane

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Brett had a drug dealer's car for 13 days. By day 11, the death threats started coming. This is the reality of building ServiceUp, the "DoorDash for auto repair."

Brett literally stole DoorDash's entire playbook—city launches, three-sided marketplace, everything—but discovered even if he got 90% right, 10% of B2C customers can end you.

He raised from Tiger just as the firm exploded. The DoorDash partnership that seemed like salvation turned into their worst nightmare. But then they pivoted to B2B and saw their average order value grow 5x overnight.

"Work-life balance is BS. If you can work seven days a week, you'll fail faster, fix faster, and find product-market fit faster."

Why You Should Listen:

• Why just 10% of your customers can destroy your business
• How to close funding in the middle of a macro crisis
• Why work-life balance is BS if you want to build something big
• How stealing another startup's playbook can lead to 5000% growth
• Why your worst customers might actually show you your best pivot

Keywords:

startup podcast, startup podcast for founders, ServiceUp, Brett Carlson, marketplace startup, B2B pivot, Tiger Global, auto repair tech, fleet management, startup growth

00:00:00 Intro

00:01:40 Failed auto shop becomes ServiceUp idea

00:03:27 Pulling co-founder out of retirement

00:09:30 Raising $2M seed from angels

00:13:23 Building the MVP in Puerto Rico

00:15:01 Early Bay Area operations and getting shops

00:17:50 The drug dealer death threat incident

00:21:17 Tiger Global loses $8B during Series A

00:26:57 DoorDash partnership disaster

00:28:36 Pivoting from B2C to B2B fleets

00:30:00 Finding product-market fit

Send me a message to let me know what you think!