Adrian Aoun is the Founder and CEO of Forward Health, which is rebuilding healthcare as a product, not a service. Forward is supported by investors like Founders Fund, Khosla Ventures, Softbank, Expa, Marc Beinoff, Ashton Kutcher, The Weeknd, Lee Linden, Josh Kushner, First Round Capital, Eric Schmidt, DCVC, and more, Before starting Forward, Adrian worked with Larry Page at Google to setup and launch new companies inside of Alphabet. He joined Google through the acquisition of his AI startup Wavii, and spent his first year at Google helping create and build its AI division. Adrian was on the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, and is an angel investor in companies including Stripe, Uber, Anduril, and more. Brought to you by Secureframe, the automated compliance platform built by compliance experts: https://secureframe.com/request-demo-4?utm_source=partner&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=062023-thesplit In this episode, we discuss: Rad the transcript: https://www.thespl.it/p/making-healthcare-a-product-not-a - How the healthcare industry actually works - Why poor incentives make technology in the industry ROI-negative - The founding story of Forward - Why healthcare should be a product, not a service - Building doctor's offices like Tesla builds cars - Being Larry Page’s right hand man at Google - Building a “healthcare operating system” like Apple builds the app store - Adrian’s contrarian views on the food industry - Why animal farming is a bigger climate issue than you might think - Zuck: the man in the arena Where to find Turner: Newsletter: https://www.thespl.it Twitter: https://twitter.com/TurnerNovak Where to find Adrian: Twitter: https://twitter.com/adrianaoun LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adrianaoun Read the transcript: https://www.thespl.it/p/making-healthcare-a-product-not-a Production and distribution by: https://www.supermix.io For sponsorship inquiries: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSebvhBlDDfHJyQdQWs8RwpFxWg-UbG0H-VFey05QSHvLxkZPQ/viewform

Immad Akhund is the Co-founder and CEO of Mercury, a digitally native bank for startups. Mercury is supported by investors like a16z, Coatue, CRV, Chapter One, Ryan Peterson, Scott Belsky, Serena Williams, Terrence Rohan, Zach Coelius, Todd Goldberg, and more. Before Mercury, Immad was a part-time partner at YC, co-founded Heyzap which sold for $45 million, and co-founded and scaled Clickpass to millions of users. Brought to you by Secureframe, the automated compliance platform built by compliance experts: https://secureframe.com/request-demo-4?utm_source=partner&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=062023-thesplit Read the transcript: https://www.thespl.it/p/the-future-of-banking-remote-work In this episode, we discuss: - The future of banking - Why Mercury’s beautiful onboarding was an accident - Cultural mistakes most startups make - Two lessons from selling his first company for $45 million - How to get free legal advice - Why it’s better to build a network of entrepreneurs than investors - How to fundraise - Why its contrarian to start a non-AI company right now - How Mercury is thinking about AI - Why each operational team has its own engineering team - The embarrassing pitch meeting that raised his Series A from a16z - How crypto used up all its goodwill - The hiring advice he gives every founder Where to find Immad: Twitter: https://twitter.com/immad LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/iakhund Podcast: https://curiositypodcast.substack.com/ Where to find Turner: Newsletter: https://www.thespl.it Twitter: https://twitter.com/TurnerNovak Mentioned in this episode: Mercury https://www.mercury.com The Logan Bartlett Show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcL_cjZDeFU Timestamps: (0:00) Intro (5:58) Mercury's "accidentally great" onboarding experience (8:13) The fundamental banking business model (9:34) The basics of banking regulation (11:07) How Mercury works with banks (13:27) The future of banking (19:34) Immad's previous startups (22:30) What culture actually means (27:06) Importance of ideas vs execution (32:03) Learning banking from scratch (35:54) Why the first banking partnership failed (37:56) Why the second banking partnership worked (39:24) The difference between compliance and risk teams (42:08) Why compliance is so relevant for better banking (50:13) The biggest mistake for doing remote work (51:21) Mercury Raise (53:33) The game theory of fundraising (54:54) Playbook for generating fundraising momentum (60:45) Common fundraising mistakes (63:12) Hilarious fundraising mishap in front of a16z (68:16) Companies that aren't like this shouldn't touch AI (70:57) Who will win big from AI? (72:10) Immad's take on crypto (86:14) Outro Read the transcript: https://www.thespl.it/p/the-future-of-banking-remote-work Production and distribution by: https://www.supermix.io For sponsorship inquiries: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSebvhBlDDfHJyQdQWs8RwpFxWg-UbG0H-VFey05QSHvLxkZPQ/viewform

Ryan Delk is the Co-Founder and CEO of Primer, a startup helping ambitious kids unlock their potential by empowering teachers to launch and run their own micro-schools. Primer’s supported by investors like Founders Fund, Khosla Ventures, Village Global, Susa Ventures, Sam Altman, Naval, Ryan Peterson, Amjad Masad, Julie Zhuo, Tobias Lutke, Lachy Groom, Howie Liu, Dylan Field, Packy McCormick, and many more. Before Primer, Ryan was the COO at peer-to-peer rental marketplace Omni (sold to Coinbase), and prior to that led Growth and Partnerships at Gumroad from $10,000 to $50 million in GMV. Brought to you by Secureframe, the automated compliance platform built by compliance experts: https://secureframe.com/request-demo-4?utm_source=partner&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=062023-thesplit Read the transcript: https://www.thespl.it/p/turning-techers-into-superheroes In this episode, we discuss: - How the $1 trillion US K-12 education system works - The broken incentive structures in education - Why teachers are superheroes - How to double a teacher’s income - Primer’s origin story - How to open a school - If online school works - Why founders make the best employees - How the US government wastes billions of dollars - Why everyone should care more about local politics Where to find Ryan: Twitter https://twitter.com/delk LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/delk/ Where to find Turner: Newsletter: https://www.thespl.it Twitter: https://twitter.com/TurnerNovak Timestamps: (3:42) The state of K-12 education in the US (6:35) The structural problem causing a radical misallocation of resources (8:00) The importance of teachers (9:34) The “totally flipped” incentive structure for teachers  (12:22) The problem of bureaucracy in education  (13:38) Primer’s thesis (14:52) How to start a school (16:00) How Primer helps teachers start their own schools (18:20) Using underutilized real estate to host micro-schools (20:05) Ryan’s take on digital vs in-person learning (21:59) How Primer supports teachers (23:21) Inspirational stories from Primer users (28:00) The underestimated entrepreneurship of teachers  (29:12) How Primer stays affordable for all users  (30:26) How Primer gets teachers on board  (32:04) The role of after-school activities  (33:07) How Primer sets its Curriculum (35:14) Ryan’s unique education and how it inspired Primer  (38:39) Why someone hadn’t solved this problem yet (40:24) Primer’s initial strategy (41:30) The breakfast that changed everything (42:09) The concept of “Barrels” from Keith Rabois (42:36) Finding and recruiting Ian Bravo (43:31) How Primer recruits ex-founders (44:52) The 3 things Primer screens for in teachers (46:27) What Primer messed up when launching (48:19) Re-thinking school admissions from first principles (51:03) How they convinced the very first teachers to try Primer (51:59) The ineffective usage of education spending (53:28) Policymakers prioritizing “signal over outcomes” (57:21) The worst public schools are worse than you think  (59:08) How the Government wastes billions of dollars and Ryan’s idea for solving this (61:31) The importance of increasing engagement with local politics (63:37) The vision for Primer Read the transcript: https://www.thespl.it/p/turning-techers-into-superheroes Production and distribution by: https://www.supermix.io/ For sponsorship inquiries: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSebvhBlDDfHJyQdQWs8RwpFxWg-UbG0H-VFey05QSHvLxkZPQ/viewform

Ken Ehrman is the co-founder and Managing Partner of Halo Collar, a smart dog collar that tracks your dog with GPS. Halo Collar uses patented technology that allows customers to instantly create up to 20 unique virtual dog fences from their phone using GPS. Brought to you by Secureframe, the automated compliance platform built by compliance experts: https://secureframe.com/request-demo-4?utm_source=partner&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=062023-thesplit Read the transcript: https://www.thespl.it/p/the-iphone-for-your-dog-ken-ehrman In this episode, we discuss: - Working for Mike Markkula, the first investor in Apple - Building hardware and the importance of patents - Listening to customers, solving their problems, and sizing a market - Qualifying enterprise customers and selling with "calm confidence." - Early investors trying to buy 95% of his first company - Getting the US Post Office and Army to fund $15 million in R&D - Taking a company public in 1999 with $3 million in revenue - Using AI to train dog movements and make "the Apple Watch" for dogs - The crazy story of how he met his celebrity co-founder, Cesar Millan the Dog Whisperer - What happened when they met famous TikToker Charli D'Amelio Where to find Ken: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ken-ehrman Where to find Turner: Newsletter: https://www.thespl.it Twitter: https://twitter.com/TurnerNovak Referenced: Buy the Halo Collar: https://www.halocollar.com/ Cesar Millan, 'the Dog Whisperer': https://www.cesarsway.com/ More on RFID tags: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ukfpq71BoMo&ab_channel=ALLABOUTELECTRONICS Read the transcript: https://www.thespl.it/p/the-iphone-for-your-dog-ken-ehrman Production and distribution by: https://www.supermix.io For sponsorship inquiries: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSebvhBlDDfHJyQdQWs8RwpFxWg-UbG0H-VFey05QSHvLxkZPQ/viewform

Jonathan Neman is Co-Founder & CEO of Sweetgreen, an American fast casual restaurant chain that serves salads. Jonathan and his co-founders started the company in 2007, opening their first restaurant just three months out of college. Sweetgreen opened its second and third locations in the middle of the 2008 Global Financial Crisis, and went public in 2021 in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. Sweetgreen’s focus on locally sourced quality ingredients has built it into a national brand with more than 200 restaurants across the US. Brought to you by Secureframe, the automated compliance platform built by compliance experts: https://secureframe.com/request-demo-4?utm_source=partner&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=062023-thesplit Read the transcript: https://www.thespl.it/p/the-peel-episode-1-building-mcdonalds In this episode, we discuss: - How the restaurant industry actually works - How the US food system leads to over $2 trillion in indirect healthcare and environmental costs - Sweetgreen’s origin story - The early constraints that led to Sweetgreen’s ingenious business model - Launching a music festival headlined by Kendrick Lamar, The Weeknd, and The Strokes - Killing a major product line to double down on online ordering in 2015 - How to build an enduring brand - Sweetgreen’s new salad subscription and gamified loyalty program - The surprising benefits of Sweetgreen’s new automated Infinite Kitchen - How the best entrepreneurs never give up Where to find Jonathan: Twitter https://twitter.com/jonnynemo LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathan-neman-9a28aa8/ Where to find Turner: Newsletter: https://www.thespl.it Twitter: https://twitter.com/TurnerNovak Timestamps: (2:35) The state of the restaurant industry since 2007 (6:03) How COVID-19 changed the restaurant industry (9:05) The bad incentives holding back the US health system (10:58) How Sweetgreen built a local AND national brand (13:07) How he made $40,000 a year in high school (15:30) How a stint in Australia inspired Sweetgreen (17:45) Sweetgreen’s 50-person friends & family round (20:14) Challenges of opening the first restaurant (21:58) How a tiny 500-square-foot restaurant unlocked Sweetgreen's success (22:50) When sales suddenly dropped 70% (23:40) The moment he realized he wanted to start his own business (26:23) Opening early restaurants during the Global Financial Crisis (27:35) Using a farmer's market to start a music festival and promote Sweetgreen (29:49) Landing Kendrick Lamar, The Weeknd and The Strokes as festival headliners (32:41) Why they shut down their second-largest product line (35:16) Launching Sweetpass (a gamified loyalty program) (38:19) Launching Infinite Kitchen (a fully automated restaurant) (42:05) Online ordering trends (44:13) The challenge with customizable food (45:36) Using automation to reduce preparation error rates (46:50) Acquiring a startup built by MIT grad students (49:04) The surprising benefits of Infinite Kitchen (52:25) The key to making healthy food accessible (53:30) Unfortunate facts of the US food system (57:25) How to “do the right thing” AND maximize profits (59:58) His favorite board game is... (60:52) We need to stop glamorizing overnight success Read the full transcript: https://www.thespl.it/p/the-peel-episode-1-building-mcdonalds Production and distribution by: https://www.supermix.io For sponsorship inquiries: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSebvhBlDDfHJyQdQWs8RwpFxWg-UbG0H-VFey05QSHvLxkZPQ/viewform