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The Room Podcast

The Room Podcast

Claudia Laurie and Madison McIlwain 140 episodes Latest May 5, 2026

The Room Podcast is a series that interviews prominent tech founders and funders. Hosted by Claudia Laurie and Madison McIlwain, the show features guests who were in the room where key decisions were made, sharing their personal stories and insights. Each episode provides an inside look at the tech industry from those who shaped it.

Episodes

S14E8: From a Shark Tank No to Billion-Dollar Exit with Ring Inventor, Jamie Siminoff May 5, 2026 00:45:53 In our season finale episode of The Room Podcast, we speak with Jamie Siminoff, inventor of Ring, the smart home security company best known for turning the front door into a connected safety platform. Ring builds video doorbells, cameras, alarms, and neighborhood safety tools that help people monitor and protect what matters most. Before Ring became one of the most recognizable home security bran
S14E7: Building the AI Layer for Legal Work with Scott Stevenson, Co-Founder and CEO of Spellbook Apr 28, 2026 00:39:54 In this episode of The Room Podcast, we speak with Scott Stevenson, CEO and Co-Founder of Spellbook. Spellbook is an AI-powered platform helping lawyers draft and review contracts faster using generative AI directly within their existing workflows. Spellbook enables legal teams to accelerate contract creation and negotiation by embedding AI into workflow tools allowing for real-time drafting, edit
S14E6: The End of Waiting for Payday with EarnIn Founder, Ram Palaniappan Apr 21, 2026 00:29:47 In this episode of The Room Podcast, we speak with Ram Palaniappan, founder and CEO of Earnin, a fintech company reimagining how people get paid by giving employees access to their earnings in real time rather than waiting for traditional payroll cycles. Earnin is building a new kind of payroll system—one that shifts power from employers to employees by enabling on-demand and continuous pay. Inste
S14E5: Building the Red Bull for Relaxation with Ben Witte, Founder and CEO of Recess Apr 14, 2026 00:40:54 In this episode of The Room Podcast, we sit down with Ben Witte, Founder and CEO of Recess, a consumer wellness brand pioneering a new category of functional beverages designed to help people relax, unwind, and feel better in an increasingly high-stress world. Recess blends ingredients like magnesium, adaptogens, and other functional compounds into beautifully branded drinks that position themselv
S14E4: Why Usage-Based Billing Is Inevitable with Metronome Co-Founder Scott Woody Apr 7, 2026 00:49:41 In this episode of The Room Podcast, we speak with Scott Woody, Co-Founder of Metronome, a platform helping companies implement usage-based billing and modernize how they monetize software. Metronome enables businesses to move beyond rigid subscription pricing and instead charge customers based on actual product usage. The platform sits at the core of a new shift in SaaS: pricing that aligns direc
S14E3: Ryan Daniels, Founder & CEO of Crosby, on Legal Services in the Age of AI Mar 31, 2026 00:44:59 In this episode of The Room Podcast, we speak with Ryan Daniels, Founder and CEO of Crosby, an AI-first law firm rethinking how legal work gets delivered. Crosby combines AI systems with human legal expertise to provide faster, more transparent, and more scalable legal services, moving away from traditional billable hours toward outcome-driven work. Crosby is part of a broader shift in professiona
S14E2: Alex Halliday, Founder of AirOps, on Content Engineering and the AI Marketing Stack Mar 24, 2026 00:50:31 In this episode of The Room Podcast, we speak with Alex Halliday, founder and CEO of AirOps, a platform helping companies build AI-powered content workflows and automate complex marketing operations. AirOps enables marketing and growth teams to orchestrate large-scale content generation using structured workflows, AI models, data integrations, and human-in-the-loop systems. The platform is part of
S14E1: Nirav Tolia, Nextdoor CEO, on Building Community Platforms, Product-Market Fit, and the Future of AI in Local Networks Mar 17, 2026 01:09:55 In this season opener of The Room Podcast, we speak with Nirav Tolia, the co-founder and CEO of Nextdoor, the neighborhood network designed to connect verified neighbors and strengthen local communities. Nirav shares and refelcts the story behind building Nextdoor, one of the world’s largest hyperlocal social platforms, and reflects on the lessons he has learned scaling a product designed around r
From Stitch Fix to AI Search with Daydream Founder Julie Bornstein | Inside Summit 2025 [LIVE] Dec 23, 2025 00:36:03 Welcome back to another episode of The Room Podcast! This week, Claudia and Madison sit down with Julie Bornstein, founder and CEO of Daydream, a new AI-powered shopping platform reimagining how people discover fashion online. Julie is a two-time founder with deep roots in digital commerce, having previously helped build Stitch Fix and later founded The Yes, which was acquired by Pinterest. With d
Ethical AI, Iteration Velocity, and the Future of Software with Grant Lee (Gamma), Noah MacCallum (Open AI), Malte Ubl (Vercel), Chris Messina (Product Leader), Ash Kumrah (The AI Collective) | Inside Summit 2025 [LIVE] Dec 16, 2025 00:36:15 In this special live panel episode of The Room Podcast from Inside Summit 2025, host Ash Kumra sits down with an all-star group of AI and product leaders: Noah MacCallum of OpenAI, Grant Lee of Gamma, Malte Ubl of Vercel, and Chris Messina, inventor of the hashtag and longtime product strategist. Together, they represent the cutting edge of applied AI, developer platforms, design tooling, and the
Navigating the New M&A Landscape with Indy Guha (VMG), Jared Roesch (OctoAI), Dan Kang (Mercury), Michelle Edwards (Perkins Coi) | Inside Summit 2025 [LIVE] Dec 9, 2025 00:35:24 In this special Inside Summit episode of The Room Podcast, Claudia moderates a powerhouse panel featuring Michelle Edwards, Partner at Perkins Coie, Indy Guha, GP of VMG, Dan Kang, CFO of Mercury, and Jared Roesch, a founder who recently exited to NVIDIA. When startups challenge incumbents, winning deals requires more than just a great product. This episode shares how to master founder sales by bu
Solving Data Fragmentation at Scale with Michel Tricot, Co-Founder & CEO of Airbyte | Inside Summit 2025 [LIVE] Dec 2, 2025 00:26:05 Welcome back to another LIVE rendition of The Room Podcast! This week, we are back at our live conference, Inside Summit. Listen in as we sit down with Michel Tricot, Co-Founder and CEO of Airbyte — the open-source platform that’s transforming how companies move data across their modern stacks. Airbyte gives teams the ability to extract and load data from virtually any source, empowering both AI-n

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