Polymaths Pod
Polymaths Pod features founders and operators explaining exactly how they built their companies, focusing on the numbers and tactical strategies most interviews omit. Each week, guests from software, AI, and startups discuss first customers, acquisition costs, margins, and what nearly killed the business. The show digs into the specific changes between $0, $1M, and $10M in revenue. Episodes run 30 to 45 minutes and are aimed at people building and investing in what's next.
Episodes
Eric Zhu on Sperm Racing, his first company at 13, and going viral
Eric Zhu started his first company at 13, raised $2.3 million for Aviato, and co-founded Sperm Racing, which raced USC against UCLA in front of about 5,000 people.In this episode:(0:32) Welcome, and who Eric is(2:01) Thrown out of the Palladium(4:18) Why he started Sperm Racing(5:32) The Sperm Racing World Cup(8:47) The marketing playbook behind going viral(11:26) Buying out meme pages, and the iS
Faiz Imran: why AI content fails and what works instead
Faiz Imran is 24, has built and sold six companies, and is now building Dripseed, which turns founders' Slack threads, emails and sales calls into LinkedIn posts that bring in pipeline. His last company, IntentPost, reached $840,000 in pipeline in six weeks from posting alone.In this episode:(0:30) Welcome, and who Faiz is(1:24) What Dripseed is, and why AI slop fails(4:42) LinkedIn vs. TikTok and
Kawser Khan sold two supercars to keep Beige alive
Kawser Khan is the founder and CEO of Beige, which he calls the Uber for content. It started when he was 18: he rented a Lambo to shoot a music video for his first song, and his friends started asking him to shoot theirs.In this episode: his first paying client, dropping out on his professor's advice, building Beige with his wife, the $30,000 deal that changed things, pitching Logan Paul, how Cedr
Tobie Azeez: His app did $6M a month in orders. He kept a dollar from each one.
Tobie Azeez is the COO of Clair, a nasal hygiene device his father, a doctor, invented and patented. It's his third company in about ten years.He started out selling gum and candy from his high school locker. At 20 he walked up to Nick Cannon at a Waffle House, pitched his restaurant app, and raised about $650K that summer. Swiftdine grew to about 150 restaurants before COVID shut dining rooms dow
Kash Zubair: From Section 8 to a $4M/Year E-Commerce Brand
Kash Zubair grew up on Section 8. Last year, one of his e-commerce brands did just under $4 million.Kash, co-founder of Bet On Yourself Ecom, breaks down the real numbers behind the brand (a $400K Black Friday month and a 20 to 25 percent margin), how he tests Meta ads after Andromeda, how AI makes his ad creative without running the business, the hunting product that became his first winner, and
