Facebook

Bebo Co-Founder: How to Build an $850 Million Social Network

Sep 3, 2026 · 1:08:08

Bebo co-founder Michael Birch explains how he built Bebo into the UK's biggest website—briefly overtaking Google in traffic—and sold it to AOL for $850 million in 2008. He traces the path from Ringo.com, sold to Tickle, to Bebo's viral mechanics: an address-book importer that added a million users in nine days and quizzes that drove hundreds of thousands of signups a day. He explains selling while growth flattened against Facebook, and never meeting anyone from AOL Time Warner before the deal closed. After open-heart surgery, he and his wife opened The Battery, a San Francisco members club, and built Sonato hospitality software. Now he argues social drifted from friends to broadcast feeds, and that AI let him build Bluebell, his new messaging app, without writing code.

We Ignored Silicon Valley Advice for 3 Years | Nicolas Sharp (Attio)

Apr 30, 2026 · 57:49

Nicolas Sharp, co-founder of Attio, explains why the CRM startup spent 1,000 days building in stealth—a deliberate counter to the 'ship fast' philosophy he learned from a previous venture—and how that architectural investment now powers Attio's AI-native platform. He argues that the half-life of product-market fit has collapsed, forcing companies to simultaneously iterate and scale, and that Attio's high-resolution data pipelines are critical for deploying AI agents. Sharp also details how Attio used manual waitlist onboarding to validate demand, how fundraising expectations have risen dramatically (Attio raised $52M at Series B with accelerating growth), and why Europe is having a breakout moment as an AI hub, citing talent from DeepMind and Palantir as catalysts.

This Is HOW Newsletters Can Make MILLIONS

Sep 14, 2025 · 1:02:25

Tyler Denk, co-founder of newsletter platform Beehiiv and writer of Big Desk Energy, reveals how Morning Brew's conversational tone and email-first strategy built a $75 million acquisition, then how he applied that experience to create Beehiiv as a 'Morning Brew in a box' for creators and businesses. He explains that email distribution wins because platforms like Facebook and Google cut traffic 40-50% via algorithm changes and AI summaries, while newsletters let creators own their audience and monetize through ads, subscriptions, and affiliates. Denk shares Beehiiv’s early days: 150 of 400 signups from a single tweet, a $99 all-inclusive plan that was a no-brainer, and a 'holy shit' moment when GoDaddy shut down all user websites during his bachelor party. He argues that newsletter M&A will return as companies like HubSpot acquire distribution to their ICP, and predicts waves in hard tech (robotics, energy) and preventative health—citing 50% less alcohol use among teens and the rise of wellness clubs—driven by founders needing peak mental performance to build billion-dollar companies.