The Upstarts Podcast

Just nine months ago, Morgan Prize-winning prodigy Carina Hong was still on an academic track, pursuing a joint law degree and math PhD at Stanford. Now, as the founder of startup Axiom Math, she runs one of the most promising challengers in a new, fast-paced category: AI for math. Recently valued at $1.6 billion, Axiom has already solved some of math’s most challenging problems, and Hong hopes it can help researchers advance the field. Her bigger ambition? To power real-time math-based verification of AI-generated code, to do away with vibe-coded slop. On this episode of The Upstarts Podcast, Hong shares her founder journey from immigrant at MIT to Oxford, and ultimately dropping out of Stanford; how she’s learning as a first-time founder to help Axiom compete in a red-hot new category; and her Upstart Moment when Axiom took the world’s hardest college-level math test. Chapters 00:48 Intro to Carina Hong 2:02 What Axiom Math does 5:51 ‘Math is AGI’ 8:48 Not replacing mathematicians 13:28 Winning the Morgan Prize 17:17 Origins of Axiom 22:22 The new math AI race 25:51 Carina’s Upstart Moment 31:47 Axiom’s business prospects 36:39 Why the future is verified coding For more, visit https://www.upstartsmedia.com/ Season 1 of the Upstarts Podcast is presented by Mercury Produced & edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod

Harvey CEO Winston Weinberg operates between two worlds. On one side are highly-trained lawyers who are skeptical about AI’s ability to improve their work. On the other are Silicon Valley technologists who see law as one of the fields that the biggest AI labs, Anthropic and OpenAI, can easily absorb. Co-founded in 2022, Harvey now works with more than 100,000 lawyers across 1,000 businesses, generating $200 million in revenue and recently reaching an $11 billion valuation. On The Upstarts Podcast, Weinberg talks about how a cold email to Sam Altman helped launch Harvey’s journey; why he believes lawyers are a surprise power user of AI tools; and why Anthropic is his biggest threat. Plus, he talks about his Upstart Moment: a never-before-disclosed attempt to “one-shot” company growth that saw Harvey almost merge with another company of equal size in 2024 – only to luckily pull back. Chapters: 00:00 Introduction 00:48 Winston's path to law 2:05 Testing GPT-3 and Sam Altman 7:45 A 'risky' demo 10:42 Investor skepticism 14:23 Near-miss 'one-shot' merger 18:50 Winston's approach to hiring 22:31 Responding to skeptics 29:23 Why you should build in public 31:02 Winning over lawyers 32:46 Anthropic and the competition 35:36 Happy customers beat Twitter love For more, visit https://www.upstartsmedia.com/ Season 1 of the Upstarts Podcast is presented by Mercury Produced & edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod

Star Catcher CEO Andrew Rush grew up loving science fiction. Now he’s helping to bring a whole new generation of tech into reality in space by tackling its biggest bottleneck: access to power. “Everybody basically goes on camping trips. You bring your solar rays with you,” says Star Catcher CEO Andrew Rush. “Our daily lives are based on and enriched by space, regardless of who we are. So providing more power ultimately enriches humanity.” Rush isn’t new to the problem. He was previously CEO of Made In Space, which built the first 3D printer used in space more than a decade ago. In 2024, he co-founded Star Catcher, raising $12 million to harness the Sun’s power by beaming more concentrated energy to solar panels and satellite arrays. On The Upstarts Podcast, Rush talks about his orbital career journey from patent lawyer to space CEO. He explains why energy and power are such an important unlock for space innovation, and why space startups are slowly getting better at raising venture dollars. And he shares his Upstart Moment, as Star Catcher passed key checkpoints by completing optical tests at Jacksonville's EverBank Stadium and NASA’s Kennedy Space Center last year. Chapters: 1:38 Intro to Star Catcher 3:16 Space’s power problem 9:16 Football field-sized satellites 15:13 Star Catcher’s solution 21:48 Moonshot financing 26:15 Patience with a big vision 27:26 Andrew’s Upstart Moment 30:45 Lawyer to space CEO 33:54 Science fiction to real life 35:36 A founder’s daily whiplash For more, visit https://www.upstartsmedia.com/ Season 1 of the Upstarts Podcast is presented by Mercury: https://mercury.com/ Produced & edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod: https://lightningpod.fm/

Startup founder Victor Riparbelli has always been drawn to counterculture ideas. "Life's more interesting at the fringes," he says. When Victor co-founded Synthesia in 2017 to produce AI video, most investors didn't buy it — nearly 100 said no. A pivotal refocus away from Hollywood toward unglamorous business use cases like training videos and internal communications changed everything, helping Synthesia reach $150 million in annual recurring revenue, a $4 billion valuation, and customers across more than 90% of the Fortune 100, from Amazon to IKEA and Merck. On The Upstarts Podcast, Victor traces his journey from selling World of Warcraft characters as a teenager in Denmark to building one of AI's most surprising startup success stories in London. He shares his Upstart Moment winning over billionaire Mark Cuban and going all in on enterprise; how Synthesia has navigated deep fake fears and AI skepticism; and why he believes honesty is a rare — and underrated — competitive advantage in the AI startup world. Plus: why Synthesia's next act in interactive video could be its boldest bet yet. Chapters 00:00 Introduction 01:31 Victor’s origins in gaming and music 05:24 Finding startup energy in London 09:24 Synthesia’s founding thesis 12:35 Early struggles and fringe ideas 16:42 Victor’s Upstart Moment 22:13 Video at the chocolate factory 27:31 AI fears and deep fakes 31:10 What’s next for Synthesia 35:22 The rising value of human contact 38:59 Integrity in a lying startup culture 42:21 An interactive future For more, visit https://www.upstartsmedia.com/ Season 1 of the Upstarts Podcast is presented by Mercury: https://mercury.com/ Produced & edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod: https://lightningpod.fm/

$50 billion. That’s how much in tariff refunds Ryan Petersen hopes to retrieve for U.S. citizens using AI agents recently built by his startup, Flexport. But logistics unicorn Flexport was struggling when co-founder Petersen returned as CEO in 2023. Customers were fleeing; morale had plunged. Ryan talks about his Upstart Moment in engineering a comeback – and why AI agents are increasingly the answer for solving the messiest challenges in global trade. Chapters: 00:00 Introduction 01:16 Tech’s ‘hurricane reporter’ 03:29 Scooter selling origins 06:49 ‘Schlep blindness’ 09:50 Flexport’s YC pitch 12:46 ‘Nobody cares’ about your startup 17:26 Flexport’s scale today 21:38 Ryan’s Upstart Moment 28:12 AI changes everything 32:58 Getting back to winning 36:01 The future of global trade For more, visit https://www.upstartsmedia.com/ Season 1 of the Upstarts Podcast is presented by Mercury: https://mercury.com/ Produced & edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod: https://lightningpod.fm/

Experts have called Valar Atomics CEO Isaiah Taylor “totally nuts.” He says that when you’re trying to build a trillion-dollar company that’s literally splitting the atom, it comes with the territory. Isaiah discusses his origins founding nuclear energy startup Valar, why competitors have failed, and his Upstart Moment in raising $150 million to build new-look energy campuses called “gigasites.” His life’s work: to solve AI’s energy crisis—and keep America on pace with China and Russia globally. Chapters: 00:58 Isaiah’s founder journey 4:18 Why nuclear startups fail 5:55 The case for small reactors 8:36 AI’s energy demands 12:04 Isaiah’s Upstart Moment 14:11 China and the global energy race 19:18 Speed as safety 22:47 Splitting the atom 27:50 Building energy campuses 29:16 Isaiah’s advice for his earlier self For more, visit https://www.upstartsmedia.com/ Season 1 of the Upstarts Podcast is presented by Mercury: https://mercury.com/ Produced & edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod: https://lightningpod.fm/

When Loyal founder Celine Halioua told people she was building a dog longevity startup, they laughed in her face. Now she's running what could be the largest-ever clinical trial to extend canine lifespans — pursuing FDA approval for multiple drugs to help senior and large dogs live two years longer or more. Celine shares her unusual journey to raising $250 million for a startup that defies easy labels, her Upstart Moment taking her biggest fear head-on, and the example she hopes to set for another generation of women deep tech founders. Chapters: 0:00 Intro to Celine and Loyal 1:42 Celine’s origins in human longevity 12:44 Breaking Silicon Valley patterns 14:51 The largest clinical trial for pets 18:13 Handling founder highs and lows 20:53 Celine’s Upstart Moment 24:53 Overcoming her biggest fear 30:56 Finding the right people 34:49 Loyal’s healthier future 38:24: Setting a new example For more, visit https://www.upstartsmedia.com/ Season 1 of the Upstarts Podcast is presented by Mercury: https://mercury.com/ Produced & edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod: https://lightningpod.fm/

Canva co-founder and CEO Melanie Perkins leads the most valuable woman-led startup in the world, a design and publishing tool used by more than 260 million users and valued at $42 billion. But before all that, Melanie was an Upstart: an unappreciated founder from western Australia who had to fly to San Francisco uninvited just to secure startup funding. Melanie goes into that Upstart Moment in this debut episode of The Upstarts Podcast, covering the mindset and strategies that helped her go from university pitch competition to global phenomenon. Melanie breaks down Canva’s framework for setting goals and values – and makes her case for why all startups should lean into a big vision and focus on impact from day one. Plus, Melanie turns the tables and gives Alex some founder homework of his own. Chapters: 0:00 Intro to Melanie 2:15 Canva’s scale and impact mindset 3:42 Melanie’s first startup and Canva origins 7:15 Melanie’s early motivation and facing doubts 10:19 Learning from customers and a long-term vision 16:35 Risking her life and her Upstart Moment 19:58 How to set effective team goals 22:51 Setting values, culture and priorities as you scale 28:01 Canva’s 1% pledge and giving away billions 33:02 Melanie’s homework for founders (like Alex) Season 1 of the Upstarts Podcast is presented by Mercury. Produced & edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm

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