Shows / Founder Mode
Founder Mode
Founder Mode is a podcast for builders—whether it’s startups, systems, or personal growth. It’s about finding your flow, balancing health, wealth, and productivity, and tackling challenges with focus and curiosity. Each week, you’ll gain actionable insights and fresh perspectives to help you think like a founder and build what matters most.
Episodes
Founder ModeGet Rich Slow with Keith Wasserman
EPISODE 80 Keith Wasserman started with a single $140,000 fourplex and has since completed billions of dollars in real estate transactions as co-founder of…
Founder ModeThe Zoo Animals Are Out
EPISODE 79 In this solo episode, Kevin Henrikson and Jason Shafton dig into a turning point for AI. In 2025, agent misbehavior lived in staged lab experiments…
Founder ModeGoogle's Storyteller Walked Out with Claire Stapleton
EPISODE 78 Claire Stapleton spent twelve years at Google and YouTube writing the company's story, from ghostwriting for Larry Page to running YouTube's social…
Founder ModeCage or Release Your Agents? with Viktor Petersson & Alex Finn
EPISODE 77 Viktor Petersson and Alex Finn were two of Founder Mode's earliest guests, and they're back with opposite answers to the biggest question in AI…
Founder ModeWas Yoda Right About AI? with JJ Zhuang
EPISODE 76 JJ Zhuang, co-founder and CEO of Pretty Good AI, returns to Founder Mode to answer for the predictions he made on the show over a year ago. Kevin…
Founder ModeThe $1 CRM Killer
EPISODE 75 Kevin and Jason go solo on the week AI stopped asking permission. Jason opens with a Claude Code session that sent a Slack message to a client's CEO…
Founder ModeThe Fursuit of Happiness with Kiko Zang
EPISODE 74 Kiko Zang spent more than half her life pretending to be someone else — born in China, sent alone to boarding school in New Zealand at 12, then to…
Founder ModeThe Accountant vs. QuickBooks Test with Mohammad Moahid
EPISODE 73 Mohammad Moahid has operated multiple companies across e-commerce, consumer electronics distribution, and real estate, and competed for Team Canada…
Founder Mode13 Agents Watching 76 Agents
EPISODE 72 No guest and no notes on Jason's side, so Kevin runs the board for once. The two dig into the question underneath every pricing decision: what unit…
Founder ModeSaaS Made Her Love Services with Jess Chan
EPISODE 71 Jess Chan built Longplay from an email and SMS agency into a strategic growth partner that has helped more than a hundred e-commerce brands generate…
Founder ModeThe Internet Isn't Dead
EPISODE 70 Kevin and Jason go guest-free for a wide-ranging conversation about what happens when AI starts sounding like you, posting for you, and filling up…
Founder ModeThink Week is Now Build Week
EPISODE 69 Kevin and Jason go solo for an episode that started as a walk-and-talk and turned into a working session on leverage. Kevin opens with the "subject…
Founder ModeThe Profit Whale with Jason Cohen
EPISODE 68 Jason Cohen has spent decades building companies including WP Engine, and nearly 20 years writing practical advice for founders at A Smart Bear. In…
Founder ModeStop Chasing Plan A with Anthony Ng Monica
EPISODE 67 Anthony Ng Monica built and exited a global retail-tech company operating in forty countries, and in this episode he tells Kevin and Jason what that…
Founder ModeYou Are The Bottleneck
EPISODE 66 No guest this week, just Kevin and Jason locking the door to run a live diagnostic on their own companies. The prompt: name the single bottleneck…
Founder ModeDefault Alive Without VC Money
EPISODE 65 On this episode, hosts Kevin Henrikson and Jason Shafton flip to the other side of the ledger: the unsexy operational and financial decisions that…
Founder ModeBetter Or Just Busier?
EPISODE 64 In this guest-free Founder Mode episode, Kevin and Jason run through five stories from the last thirty days to answer one question: is AI actually…
Founder ModeFake AI vs Real AI
EPISODE 63 Kevin and Jason go solo for a no-guest, no-filter breakdown of everything that happened to them in the past week. Kevin recaps the call center…
Founder ModeBe A Cockroach, Not A Unicorn with Sahib Anandsongvit
EPISODE 62 Sahib has built from zero, survived chaos, and lived to tell the unvarnished version. In this episode he traces a path from hosting Airbnb guests at…
Founder ModeDon't Build On Rented Land with Joe Speiser
EPISODE 61 In this episode, Hampton co-founder and co-CEO Joe Speiser joins Kevin and Jason to unpack the lessons behind a career of 10-plus startups —…
Founder ModeBest of Founder Mode III
EPISODE 60 In this Best Of compilation, Kevin and Jason revisit the standout moments from the last 20 or so episodes of Founder Mode and surface a clear…
Founder ModeAI Can't Explain What It Did with Scott Francis
EPISODE 59 Scott Francis spent nearly two decades building BP3 across mobile, cloud, automation, and now AI before stepping back to help other founders…
Founder ModeHow To Be Incorruptible with Eric Ries
EPISODE 58 Eric Ries, creator of the Lean Startup methodology and author of the new book Incorruptible, joins Kevin and Jason for a conversation about what…
Founder ModeWhy AI Loves Reddit Most with Brent Csutoras
EPISODE 57 Brent Csutoras has spent nearly two decades inside Reddit, Digg, and the message-board underbelly of the internet - and he joins Kevin and Jason to…
Founder ModeHire Attitude, Not Experience with Jose Li
EPISODE 56 Jose Li, founder and CEO of 71lbs, joins Kevin and Jason to break down how he turned a frustration most companies tolerate, opaque and overcharged…
Founder ModeSleep, Listen, Say No
EPISODE 55 Kevin and Jason tackle the three things every founder pretends they have under control: sleep, the first 90 days of taking over a company, and the…
Founder ModeFire Your Worst Customers
EPISODE 54 Kevin and Jason break down why Anthropic is out of compute, why that's actually a strategy, and what it means for everyone using Claude right now…
Founder ModeAI as a Financial Co-Pilot with Shain Noor
EPISODE 53 In this episode, Kevin and Jason sit down with Shain Noor, co-founder of Silvia, an AI-powered personal CFO built to help people reason through…
Founder ModeGrab A Shovel
EPISODE 52 Jason Shafton and Kevin Henrikson unpack where AI is genuinely useful and where it starts to create more noise than leverage, using examples from AI…
Founder ModeTurning Audiences Into Businesses with Courtney Spritzer
EPISODE 51 Courtney Spritzer breaks down how she built, scaled, and monetized a community-first business by starting with conversations instead of a business…
Founder ModeWhen AI Agents Go Rogue
EPISODE 50 Kevin Henrikson and Jason Shafton unpack the reality of working with AI agents, why they feel more “broken” than chatbots when they fail, and what…
Founder ModeThe Future of AI-Built Software with Nima Keivan
EPISODE 49 Nima Keivan joins Kevin Henrikson and Jason Shafton to break down what it takes to move AI-built software from demos into production. Drawing on his…
Founder ModeThe End of Prompt Engineering with Dennis Pilarinos
EPISODE 48 Dennis Pilarinos joins Kevin Henrikson and Jason Shafton to unpack what AI in software development actually looks like beyond the demos, arguing…
Founder ModeAI Agents Are the New Employees
EPISODE 47 In Episode 47 of Founder Mode, Kevin Henrikson and Jason Shafton unpack why AI agents should no longer be thought of as simple tools, but as a new…
Founder ModeBring Back BlackBerry with Kevin Michaluk
EPISODE 46 CrackBerry Kevin, founder of Clicks, explains why building hardware in a software-obsessed world is suddenly the opportunity again and how…
Founder ModeModernizing Prenups with Ronke Oyekunle
EPISODE 45 Ronke Oyekunle, co-founder of Neptune, explains how modern prenups have evolved from taboo paperwork into a structured process that helps couples…
Founder ModeWhen Enough is Enough with Jason Fried
EPISODE 44 Kevin Henrikson and Jason Shafton sit down with Jason Fried, co-founder of 37signals, to unpack what it means to build software that feels less like…
Founder ModeScaling Multi-Location Businesses with Stephanie Joyce
EPISODE 43 Kevin Henrikson and Jason Shafton sit down with Stephanie Joyce, founder and operator of Attune, to unpack what it really takes to scale…
Founder ModeFrom Doctor to Founder with Jay Motley
EPISODE 42 Kevin Henrikson and Jason Shafton sit down with Dr. Jay Motley, founder of MindWell Health, to explore what it takes to leave a long career in…
Founder ModeBest of Founder Mode II
EPISODE 41 After forty episodes, Founder Mode pauses to look at the decisions founders actually struggle with once the playbooks stop working. This episode…
Founder ModeMove Fast & Brake Things with Allen Berg
EPISODE 40 Recorded at Laguna Seca Raceway, this episode takes Founder Mode out of the studio and onto the track. Jason and Kevin spend the day driving…
Founder ModeUh-Oh Everything's Broken with Jonathan Sturgeon
EPISODE 39 Jonathan Sturgeon joins Founder Mode to explain how he built multiple eight-figure businesses without chasing an audience, a personal brand, or…
Founder ModeFrom Flight Deck to Front Line with Max Trescott
EPISODE 38 Recorded mid-flight in Kevin’s Vision Jet en route to Monterey, Kevin and Jason talk with veteran pilot and aviation podcaster Max Trescott about…
Founder ModeSimple Design is Best with Austin Boer
EPISODE 37 Kevin and Jason sit down with Austin Boer, co-founder of Sleke, to unpack what it takes to build a “dumb phone” that still supports modern life…
Founder ModeFuture of Fundraising with Tim Barnes
EPISODE 36 Kevin and Jason sit down with Scout cofounder Tim Barnes to rethink how founders raise capital in an AI-first world. Tim breaks down why most…
Founder ModeAI, Health & Home with Max Drescher
EPISODE 35 Kevin and Jason sit down with Healthcare AI Guy founder Max Drescher to unpack how AI is actually changing healthcare, from front-desk voice…
Founder ModeWhen Founders Show Up
EPISODE 34 In this episode, Kevin and Jason break down how founders can turn conferences from low-ROI distractions into high-leverage growth engines. Fresh off…
Founder ModeElectrifying Aviation with Kevin Noertker
EPISODE 33 Kevin Noertker, co-founder and CEO of Ampaire, is leading the charge toward sustainable aviation by electrifying the skies. In this episode, Kevin…
Founder ModeWill AI Replace Developers with Natalie Kaminski
EPISODE 32 Founder Mode sits down with Natalie Kaminski of JetRockets to cut through AI hype in software development. Natalie shares findings from a five-month…
Founder ModeFounder Mode Live at San Francisco Tech Week with Max Mullen (Instacart) & Andrew Ofstad (Airtable)
EPISODE 31 In this live Founder Mode episode recorded at Workshop in San Francisco, Jason and Kevin sit down with two of the most influential builders in…
Founder ModeAI + Automation: What to Ship First with Sangya Singh
EPISODE 30 Microsoft product leader Sangya Singh joins Jason and Kevin to unpack how to decide what to ship first in AI and automation. She shares a “strategy…
Founder ModePrivate Equity + AI with Jason Friedrichs
EPISODE 29 Private equity meets AI in a grounded, operator-first conversation with Jason Friedrichs of AEA Elevate. We cover why “no-regrets” initiatives and…
Founder ModeHealth Is a Team Sport
EPISODE 28 Jason and Kevin dig into why health isn’t a solo sport—and how founders can extend their “work span” by prioritizing community, shared rituals, and…
Founder ModeFrom AI Prototype to Production with Ankur Goyal
EPISODE 27 Ankur Goyal joins Founder Mode to show how real teams get from AI prototype to production: build a two-click loop from user complaint to eval, treat…
Founder ModeHow Not to Run a Startup with Bobby Evans
EPISODE 26 Bobby Evans goes inversion-first on startup failure modes—from overhiring and bonus wars to vanity metrics, misaligned influencers, and shipping the…
Founder ModeRight-Price Your SaaS with Scott Woody
EPISODE 25 In this episode, Metronome CEO Scott Woody breaks down how AI is rewriting the value of software—from “seats and subscriptions” to agents that do…
Founder ModeBest of Founder Mode I
EPISODE 24 A special “best of” highlight reel from our first 20 episodes: we reframe luck as reps and compounding, warn founders about burnout’s hidden…
Founder ModeFrom Stonks to AI for Everyone with John Hancock
EPISODE 23 In this episode of Founder Mode, John Hancock joins us to break down the gap between startup hype and reality. From building Stonks—the largest…
Founder ModeBuilding Happiness with Anurag Agarwalla
EPISODE 22 In this episode of Founder Mode, Anurag Agarwalla shares his journey from leading fast-moving engineering teams at Uber to building hpy, an…
Founder ModeThe Healthcare Innovation Bottleneck with Rebecca Shufeldt
EPISODE 21 Hosts Kevin Henrikson and Jason Shafton go beyond the headlines to unpack the real bottlenecks that stall healthcare—and how to fix them—with…