Billions

Today on BILLIONS, I’m sitting down with Noah Kagan — the guy who got fired from Facebook before it was worth a trillion… and turned that loss into the biggest comeback story in online business.
He went from losing a fortune on paper to building AppSumo, a $100 million-a-year bootstrapped empire - all without raising a single dollar of VC money.
Noah, thanks a lot for being here!

TIMELINE
00:00:00 - 00:02:10 : The trillion-dollar miss at Facebook
00:02:10 - 00:06:43 : Leadership lessons from Mark Zuckerberg's billion-dollar rejection
00:06:43 - 00:12:13 : The lifetime deal dilemma destroying software value
00:12:13 - 00:19:40 : Why most entrepreneurs never take action
00:19:40 - 00:26:49 : Building discipline through small daily choices
00:26:49 - 00:33:10 : The scary reality of AppSumo's uncertain future
00:33:10 - 00:42:09 : Community quality crisis in the AI era
00:42:09 - 00:48:58 : Testing new models before it's too late
00:48:58 - 00:57:07 : Hiring secrets for bootstrap businesses
00:57:07 - 01:04:29 : Finding contentment beyond the billion-dollar dream

REFERENCES
- Mark Zuckerberg 
- Peter Thiel 
- Marc Andreessen
- Sean Parker
- Dustin Moskovitz
- Soleio 
- Bill Gates 
- Steve Jobs 
- Moody
- Christine Rogers
- Jesse Mecham – 
- Ayman Al-Abdullah
- Reid Hoffman
- Million Dollar Weekend by Noah Kagan
- AppSumo  
- TidyCal  
- Airbnb   
- Asana  
- Lemlist   
- Reclaim
- Bolt
- Hostinger
- Emergent
- Pika  
- YNAB
- Vercel
- Tabby  
- YC

Today on BILLIONS, I'm sitting down with Stan Massueras - the guy who's scaled companies to billion-dollar valuations not once, but multiple times.
He was one of Facebook's first European sales hires in 2008, then helped Twitter expand across the continent and after that, he spent six years scaling Intercom to unicorn status.
Now he's doing it all over again at ElevenLabs, the voice AI company that went from zero to $6B+ in under three years.
In this episode, we'll dig into what it actually looks like to scale sales, how selling AI is fundamentally different from selling SaaS, and what Stan had to unlearn from the typocal Saas playbook to succeed at ElevenLabs.
If you want to understand what it takes to repeatedly win at the billion-dollar level - and what breaks inside companies growing this fast - this episode is for you.
Stan thanks for being here today!
TIMELINE :
00:00:00 - 00:01:17 : From Facebook to ElevenLabs: Meet the billion-dollar scaler  
00:01:17 - 00:05:21 : Why selling software in Europe breaks the US playbook  
00:05:21 - 00:10:10 : The AI sales revolution: Killing the SaaS sales hierarchy  
00:10:10 - 00:13:56 : No middle management, no titles: How ElevenLabs runs flat and fast  
00:13:56 - 00:18:34 : Inside ElevenLabs’ $300M ARR sprint: Remote, lean, relentless  
00:18:34 - 00:22:47 : Mastering two motions: creative tools vs enterprise AI  
00:22:47 - 00:26:39 : Expanding from voiceovers to luxury AI agents  
00:26:39 - 00:30:54 : Taking updates seriously: enterprise upsell strategy and product marketing  
00:30:54 - 00:34:22 : Deepfake fears & Hollywood deals: AI voice ethics in action  
00:34:22 - 00:40:45 : Billion-dollar impact: AI accessibility, ALS, and global translation  
00:40:45 - 00:54:44 : Career regrets, recruiting lessons, and the real rocket-ship mindset 

REFERENCES :- Sheryl Sandberg 
- Jason Fried - (Basecamp) 
- Carlos Reina 
- Guillaume Kabane
- Dave Gerhardt
- Arthur Waller (PennyLane)
- Harry Stebbings (20VC)
- Matthew McConaughey
- Bruce Springsteen
- Mark Zuckerberg 
- Skyblog (Note: Mostly inactive now; legacy site)
- Lemlist
- Deel
- Salesforce
- Oracle
- Canva
- Figma
- Zendesk
- Lovabl
- Synthesia
- HeyGen
- Coinbase
- Sales Navigator (LinkedIn)
- Y Combinator
- Station F
- SaasStock

Today on BILLIONS, I’m sitting down with Arthur Waller, one of the sharpest French founders of his generation.
He sold his first company to Booking.com in his twenties — and instead of retiring, he came back to build Pennylane, a fintech that turned accountants from enemies into growth partners and became one of europe fastest-growing unicorn.
In this episode, we will discuss how six co-founders actually share power, what founders get wrong about fundraising terms and dilution, and what Arthur thinks about secondaries, freedom, and building a company that lasts twenty years.
If you want to understand what it really takes to scale, cash-out without selling out, and keep your ambition alive after success - then this episode is for you!

TIMELINE :
00:00:00 - 00:03:37 : First exit to Booking.com at 25 - the $80M deal structure
00:03:37 - 00:08:08 : Why the earn-out worked and 3.5 years at Booking
00:08:08 - 00:13:58 : Coming back stronger - choosing accounting as the next battlefield
00:13:58 - 00:18:12 : Seven co-founders sharing power and equity splits
00:18:12 - 00:24:01 : Fundraising strategy - diluting less than 10% early rounds
00:24:01 - 00:30:34 : Making accountants allies instead of enemies
00:30:34 - 00:36:08 : European expansion vs US market strategy
00:36:08 - 00:41:56 : Secondary transactions - $30M for employees, $70M for founders
00:41:56 - 00:46:38 : Staying private vs going public - the Stripe model
00:46:38 - 00:48:43 : The one advice for young founders

REFERENCES :
- Booking.com 
- Felix Blossier
- Tancrède Besnard 
- Alexandre Roquoplo
- Charles-Philippe Letellier
- Brian Halligan
- Partech
- PayFit
- Alan
- Qonto
- Indy
- QuickBooks
- NetSuite
- Salesloft
- Outreach
- Sequoia Capital
- Carta
- Cegid
- Shine
- Stripe
- Revolut
- Andreessen Horowitz (a16z)

Today on BILLIONS, I’m sitting down with one of Europe’s youngest General Partners — Jonathan Userovici from Headline, a global venture firm that spots the next billion-dollar companies before anyone else.

Jonathan’s already backed some of Europe’s fastest-growing unicorns and he’s quietly redefining what it means to invest with both data and instinct.

In this episode, I want to talk about the behind-the-scenes of fundraising, how he spots future billion-dollar founders, and where the biggest opportunities in AI are.

And of course, we’ll talk cash — secondaries, cap tables, and the real economics behind staying hungry once you’re rich on paper.

If you’ve ever wondered how the next generation of billion-dollar investors think — this episode is your blueprint.

Jonathan, thanks a lot for joining!

TIMELINE :
00:00:00 - 00:01:09 : The rise and fall of unicorns 
00:01:09 - 00:03:42 : Backing founders who build long-term compounders  
00:03:42 - 00:08:48 : Speed of iteration: The ultimate founder advantage  
00:08:48 - 00:12:46 : Unicorn playbook:  
00:12:46 - 00:20:35 : Deal flow secrets: Scoring, signals, and global sourcing with AI  
00:20:35 - 00:26:34 : Headline’s global roadmap strategy and industry watchlist  
00:26:34 - 00:34:08 : The true trillion-dollar AI opportunity  
00:34:08 - 00:42:20 : Secondaries, incentives, and cash: De-risking without losing hunger  
00:42:20 - 00:49:12 : VC exits, liquidation prefs, and cap table traps to avoid  
00:49:12 - 00:55:40 : Valuation games in the AI world

REFERENCES :

- Arthur Mensch
- Loïc Soubeyrand
- Daniel Nathan
- Christian Miele
- Arthur Waller
- Mistral AI
- Black Forest Labs
- Bioptimus
- Harvey
- Legora
- Lovable
- Grok
- Swile
- Pennylane
- Homa Games

Today on BILLIONS, I’m sitting down with Harry Stebbings — the guy who turned a microphone in his bedroom into a $400 million venture fund.

He started The Twenty Minute VC as a teenager, and it became the place where the smartest founders of unicorns, and the world’s best investors all lined up to talk.

In this episode, Harry opens up about the deals he missed, the unicorns he caught early like Linktree and Tripledot, and how he turned content into capital.

If you’ve ever wondered how storytelling can build an empire, this is the playbook.

TIMELINE :

00:00:00 - 00:03:36 : Turning content into deal flow: The 20VC playbook
00:03:36 - 00:06:26 : From obsession to insight: How Harry predicted the future of VC
00:06:26 - 00:09:03 : Why most VCs suck at content—and how to stand out
00:09:03 - 00:12:48 : $400M facepalms: Inside Harry’s biggest investment regrets
00:12:48 - 00:17:35 : What separates great founders from everyone else
00:17:35 - 00:27:50 : Building the fund: Raising $8M from a podcast mic to $400M
00:27:50 - 00:36:22 : The underrated VC weapon: High-impact content as revenue driver
00:36:22 - 00:44:52 : Going public vs staying private: Who really wins?
00:44:52 - 00:58:52 : Charisma, crisis, and credibility: The raw truth about founder DNA
00:58:52 - 01:04:23 : Bullish on Europe: Beating Silicon Valley at its own game

REFERENCES :

- Peter Thiel
- Michael Moritz
- Alex Bouaziz (Deel)
- Christina Cacioppo (Vanta)
- Peter Fenton
- Daniel Ek
- Nick Storonsky 
- Marc Benioff
- Guy Kawasaki
- Steve Ballmer
- Thibault Elziere 
- Torsten Reil
- Mati Staniszewski
- 20VC
- Project Europe
- a16z