The {Closed} Session
by Tom Chavez -- super{set}
Latest episode
Why sleep data may redefine healthcare AI
Why sleep data may redefine healthcare AI
About this podcast
Building a company from scratch is soul-sucking and mind-numbingly hard - but it’s the best thing ever.
We know this because we’ve built a couple ourselves - and we’re building a lot more right now.
We’ve made a lot of money for our employees, our shareholders, ourselves - we’re proud of that - and that’s why we want to talk about how it’s done.
Join us - Tom Chavez and Vivek Vaidya - in The Closed Session, where we reveal all the joys and sorrows of company building. From the guttermost to the uttermost, we’re not going to hold back.
Episodes
The newest 20 of 71 episodes
- Why sleep data may redefine healthcare AI · 32 min · Episode 71Reveal why sleep data beats every other health metric with Colin Lawlor (Sleep.ai).
- How Culture Evolves as Companies Scale and Exit · 31 min · Episode 70Most founders treat culture like an afterthought until it breaks. George Schlossnagle, founder of Message Systems (sold to MessageBird for $600M), explains why culture debt…
- How agentic personalization creates enterprise advantage · 16 min · Episode 69Most enterprise AI delivers generic responses when you need role-specific intelligence. Peter Day, General Partner at super{set} with a PhD in machine learning and 8 years…
- Why augmented intelligence (not automation) will define enterprise AI · 32 min · Episode 68Dissect why enterprise AI fails at the system layer, not the model with super{set}'s Vivek Vaidya.
- How auction theory is reshaping finance and compute trading · 29 min · Episode 67Most financial markets still run on one-to-one matching when optimization engines could unlock trillions. Kelly Littlepage co-founded OneChronos after exits to major financial…
- How to systematically remove yourself as your business's biggest bottleneck · 45 min · Episode 66Most founders think scaling means hiring more people, but 66% of Inc. 5000 companies fail within eight years because growth without systems is just expensive chaos. Charles…
- The Path to Funding Your Next Great AI Startup Idea · 29 min · Episode 65Decode why AI founders chase hype valuations instead of building real businesses with Format One's Arjun Dev Arora.
- 4 Part Framework to Secure Startup Funding · 36 min · Episode 64Dissect why most AI founders pitch vanity metrics instead of retention with venture builder at gAI Ventures, Vijay Rajendran.
- Institutional CRM AI deployment strategies · 52 min · Episode 63Dissect why 95% of enterprise AI pilots fail with Salesforce CRO Miguel Milano.
- How to craft messages people remember · 36 min · Episode 62Dissect the real reason why founders should stop outsourcing their voice to ChatGPT with Obama speechwriter Terry Szuplat.
- Building startups and wealth with purpose · 35 min · Episode 61Most VCs chase momentum while missing systematic market dislocations worth billions. Sean Mendy, co-founding partner at Westbound Equity Partners, built a $125M fund targeting…
- Building a Billion-Dollar AI Startup · 22 min · Episode 60Most AI 'innovation' is just workflow automation disguised as intelligence. Benjamin Shapiro, founder of I Hear Everything and creator of AI-powered podcast production systems…
- How to build a global AI infrastructure company · 34 min · Episode 59Most enterprises burn millions on idle GPUs while developers wait weeks for access. Haseeb Budhani, CEO of Rafay Systems, built a global GPU orchestration platform after exits at…
- How operator scars build defensible AI startups · 39 min · Episode 58Dissect why operator scars beat VC theory with Salesforce veteran Leyla Seka.
- Behind Finix’s self‑serve payment platform · 42 min · Episode 57Dissect why payment APIs crack under real volume with Finix CEO Richie Serna
- How AI accelerates enterprise software development · 36 min · Episode 56Most enterprise AI pilots fail because companies treat agent development like legacy software projects. Woodson Martin, CEO of OutSystems and former Salesforce executive who led…
- How AI is rewriting startup growth playbooks · 41 min · Episode 55Most AI pilots fail because founders are retrofitting old playbooks instead of rebuilding revenue architecture. Mark Roberge, founding CRO at HubSpot who scaled from $0 to $100M…
- Growth lessons from consumer tech operator‑investor · 39 min · Episode 54Most vertical AI companies fail because they're building features, not businesses. Rachel ten Brink, GP at Red Bike Capital and former Scentbird co-founder (scaled to 500K+…
- Is AI in Investment Banking a Replacement or Revolution? · 6 min · Episode 53Most AI adoption in finance is just automation theater—real transformation requires rethinking entire workflows. George Lee, former CTO and M&A head at Goldman Sachs, explains…
- How AI Transforms Different Corners of Earth · 28 min · Episode 52Understand why AI's power consumption is more salient than frontier model wars with Goldman Sachs' George Lee.
