Unicorn Builders
by The Front Lines
Latest episode
Behind Goodfire’s bet that you can’t trust a model you can’t…
Behind Goodfire’s bet that you can’t trust a model you can’t…
About this podcast
Learn from GTM journeys of B2B tech founders who’ve built companies worth more than $1 billion. This show is brought to you by FrontLines.io
Episodes
The newest 20 of 93 episodes
- Behind Goodfire’s bet that you can’t trust a model you can’t understand | Eric Ho · 32 minGoodfire is an AI research lab working to understand how neural networks actually work, so models can be intentionally designed instead of trained through trial and error. In a…
- Why Omni called itself a BI company in a market trying to forget BI | Colin Zima · 38 minOmni builds business intelligence software that puts exploratory analysis and governed dashboards in a single platform. In a recent episode of UNICORN BUILDERS, we sat down with…
- The Magic That Made General Magic w/ Marc Porat · 1 h 4 minGeneral Magic pursued a vision Marc Porat developed in 1988: a personal handheld computer combining computing, wireless communication, and content. Backed by founding partners…
- You have more influence with large partners than you think | Russ d'Sa · 44 minBuilding the real-time infrastructure layer for voice AI is a narrow technical bet that turned into a platform play. LiveKit started as an open source project during the pandemic…
- From $150 Trackers to $100M ARR: The Tive Story · 34 minTive makes IoT trackers that tell companies exactly where their shipments are and what condition they are in as they move through the global supply chain. The company tracks…
- Behind Zeta Global’s big (and early) AI bet | David Steinberg · 32 minZeta Global is an AI-native marketing platform processing trillions of consumer signals for Fortune 2000 companies. The company went public on the NYSE in June 2021 and is…
- How HighLevel built the second largest CRM on Earth | Shaun Clark · 28 minHighLevel is the second largest CRM by users on the planet — behind only Salesforce — with 2,000 employees and millions of customers worldwide. They got there without venture…
- How Backstory AI sequenced a three-step company transformation using the strategy diamond framework | Jason Ambrose · 32 minBackstory AI — formerly People AI — is building what CEO & Board Member Jason Ambrose calls the "revenue reasoning layer." Even with full CRM visibility, leaders still go ask a…
- How Peregrine embedded inside police departments to build their first product | Ben Rudolph · 25 minPeregrine Technologies unifies fragmented government data systems into a single, current, complete data asset — then gives agencies the tools to build operational workflows on…
- Why Oyster's founder initiated his own CEO replacement | Tony Jamous & Hadi Moussa · 25 minOyster is a global employment platform built on one core premise: make hiring across borders as easy as hiring locally. Rather than racing competitors toward all-in-one HR…
- How Illumio sold enterprise cybersecurity for 8+ years without a Gartner Magic Quadrant | Andrew Rubin, Illumio · 40 minIllumio is the cybersecurity company that bet on a thesis the market wasn't ready for: stopping bad actors from getting in is necessary, but no longer sufficient. The real…
- The use-case-first sales motion ZoomInfo runs to sell into any new vertical | Henry Schuck · 37 minHenry Schuck built DiscoverOrg on a $25,000 credit card in Columbus, Ohio, bootstrapped to $30M ARR before taking venture capital, acquired ZoomInfo in 2019, and took the…
- Why Kin spent $100M on direct response last year | Sean Harper · 37 minKin is reimagining how homeowners insurance is bought, priced, and delivered — stripping out the 400,000-agent distribution layer that legacy carriers depend on and replacing it…
- How Chapter achieved 10x revenue growth while keeping corporate headcount flat for 2 years | Cobi Gantz · 26 minChapter is building what CEO Cobi Gantz calls "the trust layer between seniors and AI" in Medicare navigation. After testifying before the Senate and helping pass regulations…
- How Eve transitioned from founder-led sales to repeatable motion with 600+ customers | Jayanth Madheswaran · 37 minEve reached unicorn valuation by identifying a structural market asymmetry: plaintiff attorneys operate on contingency fees with severe resource constraints while defending…
- Building StackAdapt: how three founders turned failure into a 1,600-person company | Vitaly Pecherskiy · 28 minStackAdapt scaled from three co-founders in a studio apartment kitchen to a 1,600-person organization operating across 20 markets. In this episode of BUILDERS, Vitaly Pecherskiy…
- How Zocdoc survived near death, increased prices up to 100x, and turned around the company | Oliver Kharraz · 31 minZocdoc has transformed healthcare access in America, powering one in three new doctor-patient relationships in New York City alone. Founded 18 years ago by physician Oliver…
- How Augment Code achieved 80%+ win rates | Matt McClernan · 21 minAugment Code is pioneering AI tooling for professional software developers in enterprise environments. The company has built infrastructure that understands complex codebases…
- How Fireflies to Scaled to 700K organizations without touching any Series A Money | Krish Ramineni · 32 minFireflies.ai reached unicorn status through a tender offer in 2024 — without raising primary capital since their Series A five years earlier. The company serves 700,000…
- How Octane scaled to $400M revenue using small marketing teams that support partner brands instead of building their own · 32 minOctane Lending operates in what most VCs would consider an "unfundable" market - powersports financing for motorcycles, ATVs, and UTVs. Yet Jason Guss and his team have built a…
