Yesterday Podcast

Dwarkesh Patel, host of The Dwarkesh Podcast, shares his journey from India to the U.S., highlighting cultural challenges and the impact of family expectations on his career choices. He details how a pivotal cold email saved his podcast, connecting him with influential figures like Jeff Bezos. Patel discusses the evolution of his intellectual interests and the power of networking, along with humorous ice cream anecdotes. He also reflects on navigating podcast monetization and the importance of meaningful content over popularity.

This week, we cover the life story of Guillermo Rauch, the founder and CEO of Vercel. Rauch grew up in Lanús, a working-class neighborhood in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He taught himself to code and by 11, he was freelancing online for clients abroad. In his teens, he became well-known for creating several influential open-source projects, including Socket.IO and Mootools. Rauch then dropped out of high school to work in Switzerland, and after a stint there, he moved to San Francisco. Around 2015, he founded Vercel (originally called ZEIT) out of Dogpatch Labs with the vision of radically simplifying frontend deployment through tools like Next.js, which his team also maintains. Today, Vercel powers the websites of Netflix, MrBeast, Supreme, and many more… and valued multiple billions of dollars. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit yesterdayy.substack.com

This week, we cover the life story of John Andrew Entwistle. He was once a Formula race car driver, during which he broke his back multiple times, and he even threw a house party that shut down his entire town. Amidst similar teenage years, John Andrew was sued by Microsoft, where he subsequently cc’d his dad on the email — a famed lawyer who did the Bernie Madoff and FTX cases. Later on, John Andrew became a Thiel Fellow and then sold his first company — Coder.com. From there, he started Wander.com… a luxury home rental company that’s now worth hundreds of millions of dollars. John Andrew has some of the most unique life stories and is a sheer force to compete with. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit yesterdayy.substack.com

Jessica Mah is the founder of inDinero and Mahway, a venture studio backing companies in aerospace, legaltech, and biotech. We discussed growing up in Westchester to immigrant parents, teaching herself to code at 10, and burning out from her first startup by 14. At 15, she dropped out of high school, enrolled in college, and later founded inDinero through Y Combinator at just 19 — at the time, the youngest female founder accepted. We covered her early struggles with retention, laying off most of her team, and rebuilding inDinero from the ground up. In her early 20s, she was on the cover of Inc. magazine and deemed “female Mark Zuckerberg". Later, Jessica stepped down as CEO after realizing she was miserable despite the company’s success. That shift led her to start Mahway — her “dream job”. Today, she lives radically transparently, races cars, flies planes, and redefines what it means to play the long game. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit yesterdayy.substack.com

Joshua Browder is the founder of DoNotPay, a legal tech company that automates consumer rights protection. We discuss the Russian mafia stalking his family, interviewing Warren Buffett at 18, building DoNotPay to be worth hundreds of millions of dollars, and much more. Josh is also a Thiel Fellow, Stanford dropout, and prominent early-stage investor. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit yesterdayy.substack.com

Jack Altman is the founder of Lattice, a now multi-billion dollar company. He recently launched Alt Capital, a 150M early-stage venture fund. We discuss Jack’s suburban upbringing and going from Princeton to quitting investment banking in his first year. This led to a start in venture capital, followed by a tenure at Teespring, the fastest-growing YC company at the time, and the eventual origins of Lattice. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit yesterdayy.substack.com

Haseeb Qureshi is a former pro poker player and now the founder of Dragonly, a crypto-focused venture firm managing $3B+. We discussed growing up in Texas to immigrant parents, his foray into the internet, and how he turned $50 into many millions with poker… a feat that his Muslim parents thought was fake. From there, we discussed the controversial end of his poker career and his early beginnings in tech and Silicon Valley. Haseeb is a world-class storyteller, and it was a pleasure to dive into his life story. We hope you enjoy this episode and look out for a part 2 covering the latter half of his story. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit yesterdayy.substack.com

Spenser Skates is the founder of Amplitude, a digital analytics platform. We discussed growing up in Boston to immigrant parents, his struggle of feeling like he wasn’t amazing at anything, and his path to quant, YC, and Amplitude. Spenser was mentored by Sam Altman and the now legendary Matt Huang of Paradigm, among others. Way back, Amplitude spun out of his previously hot yet failed company, Sonalight (YC W12). Now, Amplitude generates $300M+ every year and is public on the NYSE. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit yesterdayy.substack.com

Dylan Patel, founder of SemiAnalysis and expert in AI infrastructure, shares his compelling journey from small-town Georgia to tech innovator. He opens up about feeling lost, his transformative travels, and how personal experiences shaped his career. The discussion dives into his cultural identity, the importance of community, and the impact of the pandemic on his life choices. He also reflects on navigating the tech landscape and the significance of pursuing passions over societal expectations, all peppered with engaging anecdotes.

Brian Distelburger co-founded Yext, which he helped grow from a small startup into a public company valued at over $1 billion. He is also on the board of Tech NYC. In this episode, we dive into Brian’s early years and the formative lessons that shaped his entrepreneurial mindset. We talk about his first ventures, building Yext, navigating the company’s growth, going public on the NYSE, and more. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit yesterdayy.substack.com