luba yudasina
@LubaYudasina
Conversations with the humans behind the ambition ←
a16z backed founder ← SWE/PM @airbnb, @yelp ← @uwaterloo ← Belarus
928 Following 5.5K Followers
Years ago, Gagan (@gaganbiyani) tried to hire me as an intern. It was a full-circle moment to interview him about Horowitz Andreessen Academy (@theacademysf).
Some backstory: I studied Chemical Engineering at the University of Waterloo. Waterloo is famous for its co-op program - you can't get a Bachelor's until you complete 5 internships.
Two co-ops in, I knew ChemEng wasn't my path. So I taught myself to code and set my sights on working in Silicon Valley.
A surprising number of companies were willing to interview someone with no CS degree. One of them was Sprig, with Gagan as its founder.
Once I got an offer, he got on the phone with me multiple times. He was trying to convince me to join, but what he actually did was convince me I belonged in tech.
I ended up picking a more established company (might have been my loss). But I never forgot how confident and capable he made me feel.
That's what @theacademysf is about: learning by building, and betting on capable students before they have the credentials.
Gagan spent his entire career challenging the education system. I’m so excited for him to make this bet a reality!
Interview dropping soon!
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Spenser Skates (@spenserskates), CEO of Amplitude (@Amplitude_HQ), says one of the best leadership lessons he ever got came from a veteran SaaS CEO who admitted his own insecurity about being a good leader pushed him to make hard calls, like replacing his executive team, earlier than almost anyone else.
Skates calls it moving from "the rebel" to "the ruler" once you're actually the one in charge.
"You can't just rail against the system indefinitely."
Full episode:
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New pod drop!! Was so fun to walk Yerba Buena (mostly) with Spenser Skates (@spenserskates), CEO of Amplitude (@Amplitude_HQ).
We talk about:
- The 2 a.m. StarCraft habit he hid from his co-founder
- When to kill a startup vs. grind it out
- "Most engineers are extraordinarily risk-averse"
- Learning to become the exec he used to make fun of
Single until Series B
- The real cost of his 20s
- The CEO who fires early because he's insecure
- Rebel → ruler
- Why he'll never be the 5am cold-plunge CEO
The Luba Show · full ep ↓ (put Spotify / Apple / YT in the first reply)
TIMESTAMPS
(00:00) Trailer
(01:08) Spenser Skates, Co-Founder & CEO, Amplitude
(01:36) Why video games stopped feeling like real achievement
(08:50) Growing up in Cambridge and hating a life scripted by other people
(15:04) The Norman Borlaug story that convinced him to bet on tech
(20:14) Convincing Curtis to leave Google and co-found a company
(24:55) Playing StarCraft until 2am while pretending to build the startup
(29:04) The exact test for knowing when to kill a startup
(32:30) Why half a founding team's time should go to customers, not code
(35:02) The identity crisis of going from founder to CEO of 800 people
(40:35) Burning the boats on the old Amplitude to go all in on AI
(42:33) Wave: the AI engine that rewrites products using their own data
(48:49) Why insecurity, not confidence, drives the most ambitious operators
(56:01) Betting on his partner Anne and being "single until Series B"
(1:05:00) Outro
Show more
27 cohorts. Thousands of founders. Zero VC funds that saw what Julian Weisser (@julianweisser ) saw.
He ran ODF, On Deck's founder program, watching people build companies in real time instead of hearing about it after they'd already figured it out. He says the closest thing to that vantage point is YC (@ycombinator ), and even that doesn't fully compare.
"I got so many reps of seeing the things that worked and the things that didn't with co-founders."
"You literally can't pay for that experience anywhere."
Full episode:
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New pod drop! Full circle - I met Julian (@julianweisser) almost 10 years ago in ODF 1 (~100 people, in person in SF). They’re on cohort 27 now, wild!
He also recently launched Solo Founders (@solofounders) - we love to see it!
We cover:
- From Jazz to startups: let people play their own instruments
- Giving early employees high equity
- Co-founders aren’t forever — they have seasons
- “If they don’t get it, that’s your fault”
- Music school → On Deck → Solo Founders
- Biggest risk isn’t dilution. It’s co-founder conflict
- Life philosophy: keep going
so much more!
Timestamps
(00:00) Trailer
(00:51) Julian Weisser, Founder, Solo Founders
(02:06) Calling his old jazz taste "musical masturbation"
(20:17) 27 cohorts, thousands of founders, more reps than any VC
(35:50) The $400K co-founder payout demand
(39:45) The Hacker News post that led to Dropbox's first employee
(44:45) Golden Gate Park was built from sand dunes
(54:50) Why co-founders have seasons, not forever contracts
(58:53) The "oddballs" who never wanted co-founders, including Loyal's Celine Halioua
(1:00:59) Co-founders are the car phone. Solo founders are the cell phone.
(1:06:47) Why owning less equity can mean more freedom
(1:16:18) His two-word life philosophy: keep going
(1:16:34) Outro
Link -
Show more
"Co-founders aren't forever things. Co-founders have seasons."
Julian Weisser (@julianweisser) co-founded On Deck and ran it for 8 years before starting Solo Founders (@solofounders) alone. He says the biggest failure in startups isn't a co-founder relationship ending; it's believing it always has to last forever, and that he and his own co-founders got good at knowing when it was time for one person to move on.
"If it works really well for a year or two and then it runs its course, you can actually really cleanly end that in a positive way."
Full episode:
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New pod drop! Full circle - I met Julian (@julianweisser) almost 10 years ago in ODF 1 (~100 people, in person in SF). They’re on cohort 27 now, wild!
He also recently launched Solo Founders (@solofounders) - we love to see it!
We cover:
- From Jazz to startups: let people play their own instruments
- Giving early employees high equity
- Co-founders aren’t forever — they have seasons
- “If they don’t get it, that’s your fault”
- Music school → On Deck → Solo Founders
- Biggest risk isn’t dilution. It’s co-founder conflict
- Life philosophy: keep going
so much more!
Timestamps
(00:00) Trailer
(00:51) Julian Weisser, Founder, Solo Founders
(02:06) Calling his old jazz taste "musical masturbation"
(20:17) 27 cohorts, thousands of founders, more reps than any VC
(35:50) The $400K co-founder payout demand
(39:45) The Hacker News post that led to Dropbox's first employee
(44:45) Golden Gate Park was built from sand dunes
(54:50) Why co-founders have seasons, not forever contracts
(58:53) The "oddballs" who never wanted co-founders, including Loyal's Celine Halioua
(1:00:59) Co-founders are the car phone. Solo founders are the cell phone.
(1:06:47) Why owning less equity can mean more freedom
(1:16:18) His two-word life philosophy: keep going
(1:16:34) Outro
Link -
Show more
There's no clean way to fire a co-founder who won't leave.
Julian Weisser (@julianweisser), who spent 8 years running On Deck's founder cohorts and now runs Solo Founders (@solofounders), says founders bring him this exact problem constantly.
One had done two months of real work and demanded a $400,000 payout, and there was no mechanism in the company's paperwork to force them out.
"How much have you raised? They're like, $2 million. Oh wow, it's like a robbery."
"It's just a messy situation, and it happens so frequently."
Full episode:
Show more
New pod drop! Full circle - I met Julian (@julianweisser) almost 10 years ago in ODF 1 (~100 people, in person in SF). They’re on cohort 27 now, wild!
He also recently launched Solo Founders (@solofounders) - we love to see it!
We cover:
- From Jazz to startups: let people play their own instruments
- Giving early employees high equity
- Co-founders aren’t forever — they have seasons
- “If they don’t get it, that’s your fault”
- Music school → On Deck → Solo Founders
- Biggest risk isn’t dilution. It’s co-founder conflict
- Life philosophy: keep going
so much more!
Timestamps
(00:00) Trailer
(00:51) Julian Weisser, Founder, Solo Founders
(02:06) Calling his old jazz taste "musical masturbation"
(20:17) 27 cohorts, thousands of founders, more reps than any VC
(35:50) The $400K co-founder payout demand
(39:45) The Hacker News post that led to Dropbox's first employee
(44:45) Golden Gate Park was built from sand dunes
(54:50) Why co-founders have seasons, not forever contracts
(58:53) The "oddballs" who never wanted co-founders, including Loyal's Celine Halioua
(1:00:59) Co-founders are the car phone. Solo founders are the cell phone.
(1:06:47) Why owning less equity can mean more freedom
(1:16:18) His two-word life philosophy: keep going
(1:16:34) Outro
Link -
Show more
Communication is like throwing a baseball.
Often when someone doesn’t catch the baseball it’s because you threw it poorly.
Don’t blame them. Improve your communication skills.
If you're the one communicating and the person on the other end doesn't understand you, that's your fault.
Julian Weisser (@julianweisser), who ran 27 founder cohorts at ODF (@joinodf) and now hosts his own founder interviews, says he never reviews conversations after the fact, even though transcription and video make that possible now.
He credits Richard Feynman's idea that if you truly understand something, you can explain it to anyone from a four-year-old to an eighty-four-year-old.
"You can tell by somebody's facial expression: do they get it, do they not get it."
Full episode:
Show more
New pod drop! Full circle - I met Julian (@julianweisser) almost 10 years ago in ODF 1 (~100 people, in person in SF). They’re on cohort 27 now, wild!
He also recently launched Solo Founders (@solofounders) - we love to see it!
We cover:
- From Jazz to startups: let people play their own instruments
- Giving early employees high equity
- Co-founders aren’t forever — they have seasons
- “If they don’t get it, that’s your fault”
- Music school → On Deck → Solo Founders
- Biggest risk isn’t dilution. It’s co-founder conflict
- Life philosophy: keep going
so much more!
Timestamps
(00:00) Trailer
(00:51) Julian Weisser, Founder, Solo Founders
(02:06) Calling his old jazz taste "musical masturbation"
(20:17) 27 cohorts, thousands of founders, more reps than any VC
(35:50) The $400K co-founder payout demand
(39:45) The Hacker News post that led to Dropbox's first employee
(44:45) Golden Gate Park was built from sand dunes
(54:50) Why co-founders have seasons, not forever contracts
(58:53) The "oddballs" who never wanted co-founders, including Loyal's Celine Halioua
(1:00:59) Co-founders are the car phone. Solo founders are the cell phone.
(1:06:47) Why owning less equity can mean more freedom
(1:16:18) His two-word life philosophy: keep going
(1:16:34) Outro
Link -
Show more
“Most tech leaders are only paying lip service to AI transformation”
Spenser Skates (@spenserskates) says most CEOs are not on track. The ones he actually respects:
Jack Dorsey (@JackDorsey0x) at Block(@blocks), Tony Xu (@t_xu) at DoorDash(@DoorDash), Brian Armstrong (@brian_armstrong) at Coinbase(@coinbase), and Tobi Lutke (@tobi ) at Shopify(@Shopify).
He singles out Box(@Box) CEO Aaron Levie (@levie) for staying on message about enterprise AI since before it was popular.
"Are there any public companies... successfully doing this quickly enough?"
Full episode:
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New pod drop!! Was so fun to walk Yerba Buena (mostly) with Spenser Skates (@spenserskates), CEO of Amplitude (@Amplitude_HQ).
We talk about:
- The 2 a.m. StarCraft habit he hid from his co-founder
- When to kill a startup vs. grind it out
- "Most engineers are extraordinarily risk-averse"
- Learning to become the exec he used to make fun of
Single until Series B
- The real cost of his 20s
- The CEO who fires early because he's insecure
- Rebel → ruler
- Why he'll never be the 5am cold-plunge CEO
The Luba Show · full ep ↓ (put Spotify / Apple / YT in the first reply)
TIMESTAMPS
(00:00) Trailer
(01:08) Spenser Skates, Co-Founder & CEO, Amplitude
(01:36) Why video games stopped feeling like real achievement
(08:50) Growing up in Cambridge and hating a life scripted by other people
(15:04) The Norman Borlaug story that convinced him to bet on tech
(20:14) Convincing Curtis to leave Google and co-found a company
(24:55) Playing StarCraft until 2am while pretending to build the startup
(29:04) The exact test for knowing when to kill a startup
(32:30) Why half a founding team's time should go to customers, not code
(35:02) The identity crisis of going from founder to CEO of 800 people
(40:35) Burning the boats on the old Amplitude to go all in on AI
(42:33) Wave: the AI engine that rewrites products using their own data
(48:49) Why insecurity, not confidence, drives the most ambitious operators
(56:01) Betting on his partner Anne and being "single until Series B"
(1:05:00) Outro
Show more
I'd love to see a @clairevo day in a life vlog!
"You are learning to become the person you hate."
Spenser Skates (@spenserskates), CEO of Amplitude (@Amplitude_HQ), on the hardest part of moving from founder to public-company CEO.
He says founders spend years defining themselves against slow, bureaucratic executives, then eventually have to become that kind of leader themselves.
Most founders never make that trade. They leave and start something smaller instead.
Full episode:
Show more
New pod drop!! Was so fun to walk Yerba Buena (mostly) with Spenser Skates (@spenserskates), CEO of Amplitude (@Amplitude_HQ).
We talk about:
- The 2 a.m. StarCraft habit he hid from his co-founder
- When to kill a startup vs. grind it out
- "Most engineers are extraordinarily risk-averse"
- Learning to become the exec he used to make fun of
Single until Series B
- The real cost of his 20s
- The CEO who fires early because he's insecure
- Rebel → ruler
- Why he'll never be the 5am cold-plunge CEO
The Luba Show · full ep ↓ (put Spotify / Apple / YT in the first reply)
TIMESTAMPS
(00:00) Trailer
(01:08) Spenser Skates, Co-Founder & CEO, Amplitude
(01:36) Why video games stopped feeling like real achievement
(08:50) Growing up in Cambridge and hating a life scripted by other people
(15:04) The Norman Borlaug story that convinced him to bet on tech
(20:14) Convincing Curtis to leave Google and co-found a company
(24:55) Playing StarCraft until 2am while pretending to build the startup
(29:04) The exact test for knowing when to kill a startup
(32:30) Why half a founding team's time should go to customers, not code
(35:02) The identity crisis of going from founder to CEO of 800 people
(40:35) Burning the boats on the old Amplitude to go all in on AI
(42:33) Wave: the AI engine that rewrites products using their own data
(48:49) Why insecurity, not confidence, drives the most ambitious operators
(56:01) Betting on his partner Anne and being "single until Series B"
(1:05:00) Outro
Show more
Everyone can have an EA. We're finally entering this era!! I love it.
Between Instinct, @TownAI, @claudeai, and a few others, I:
- Get checked into flights
- Ask my agent to buy things
- Get help with scheduling
- Keep tabs on some fashion items I like
- Get emails drafted
- Get reminders about follow-ups and action items
A lot of these may sound basic, but they take a lot of cognitive load off.
The proactive nature of a "your favorite medium of interaction" AI assistant is huge.
Obsessed and here for it!!
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New pod drop! Full circle - I met Julian (@julianweisser) almost 10 years ago in ODF 1 (~100 people, in person in SF). They’re on cohort 27 now, wild!
He also recently launched Solo Founders (@solofounders) - we love to see it!
We cover:
- From Jazz to startups: let people play their own instruments
- Giving early employees high equity
- Co-founders aren’t forever — they have seasons
- “If they don’t get it, that’s your fault”
- Music school → On Deck → Solo Founders
- Biggest risk isn’t dilution. It’s co-founder conflict
- Life philosophy: keep going
so much more!
Timestamps
(00:00) Trailer
(00:51) Julian Weisser, Founder, Solo Founders
(02:06) Calling his old jazz taste "musical masturbation"
(20:17) 27 cohorts, thousands of founders, more reps than any VC
(35:50) The $400K co-founder payout demand
(39:45) The Hacker News post that led to Dropbox's first employee
(44:45) Golden Gate Park was built from sand dunes
(54:50) Why co-founders have seasons, not forever contracts
(58:53) The "oddballs" who never wanted co-founders, including Loyal's Celine Halioua
(1:00:59) Co-founders are the car phone. Solo founders are the cell phone.
(1:06:47) Why owning less equity can mean more freedom
(1:16:18) His two-word life philosophy: keep going
(1:16:34) Outro
Link -
Show more
Takeaway from Primary Summit - I didn't know NYC had so many VCs. Everyone is a VC?
Curious how everyone's competing for deals 🤔
Just had Instinct buy theatre tickets for a group and send everyone a calendar invite for the first time
Magical experience!
Great job @noahrshinn and team 👏
At Primary Summit in nyc today - who will be there?
No plan survives first contact with reality.
That's how Spenser Skates (@spenserskates), CEO and co-founder of Amplitude (@Amplitude_HQ), describes the biggest mistake he sees engineers make when they become founders: spending too much time building and not enough time talking to the people who'll actually use the product.
His fix is simple. Split a founding team's time evenly between the two.
"No idea you have is going to survive first contact with reality."
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New pod drop!! Was so fun to walk Yerba Buena (mostly) with Spenser Skates (@spenserskates), CEO of Amplitude (@Amplitude_HQ).
We talk about:
- The 2 a.m. StarCraft habit he hid from his co-founder
- When to kill a startup vs. grind it out
- "Most engineers are extraordinarily risk-averse"
- Learning to become the exec he used to make fun of
Single until Series B
- The real cost of his 20s
- The CEO who fires early because he's insecure
- Rebel → ruler
- Why he'll never be the 5am cold-plunge CEO
The Luba Show · full ep ↓ (put Spotify / Apple / YT in the first reply)
TIMESTAMPS
(00:00) Trailer
(01:08) Spenser Skates, Co-Founder & CEO, Amplitude
(01:36) Why video games stopped feeling like real achievement
(08:50) Growing up in Cambridge and hating a life scripted by other people
(15:04) The Norman Borlaug story that convinced him to bet on tech
(20:14) Convincing Curtis to leave Google and co-found a company
(24:55) Playing StarCraft until 2am while pretending to build the startup
(29:04) The exact test for knowing when to kill a startup
(32:30) Why half a founding team's time should go to customers, not code
(35:02) The identity crisis of going from founder to CEO of 800 people
(40:35) Burning the boats on the old Amplitude to go all in on AI
(42:33) Wave: the AI engine that rewrites products using their own data
(48:49) Why insecurity, not confidence, drives the most ambitious operators
(56:01) Betting on his partner Anne and being "single until Series B"
(1:05:00) Outro
Show more
adulthood is realizing your dream job isn’t separable from the social world it puts you in
One weird thing about me is that I prefer listening to a 2 hr podcast than watching a bunch of clips 😬
goes for individuals too!
A team can look incredibly busy while learning almost nothing. Activity becomes dangerous when it stops producing new information.
Told my Instinct to reach out to my bf's Instict to plan a surprise.
This is what his Instict texted him 🤪
