Rephonic
Artwork for Founders in Arms
Artificial Intelligence
Entrepreneurship
Robotics
Y Combinator
Fintech
Startups
Silicon Valley
Openai
Product-Market Fit
Amazon
Olo
Mercury Personal
Remote Work
Venture Capital
Mercury
Automation
Immigration
Consumer Startups
Waymo
Self-Driving Cars

In this weekly series, fellow startup founders Immad Akhund (Mercury) and Rajat Suri (Presto, Lima, and Lyft) explore current events in the world of tech, startup, and policy, offering insights from their distinguished careers and an array of expert guests. YouTube: youtube.com/@FoundersInArms Substack: foundersinarms.substack.com Instagram: instagram.com/foundersinarms TikTok: tiktok.com/@founder... more

PublishesWeeklyEpisodes107Founded3 years ago
Number of ListenersCategories
ScienceTechnology

Listen to this Podcast

Artwork for Founders in Arms

Latest Episodes

Colin Angle spent 33 years building iRobot — bootstrapping for eight years without venture capital, surviving 15 failed business models, and ultimately launching Roomba in year 12. What followed was a decade of overcoming consumer skepticism, 70%+ gl... more

YouTube

Guillermo Rauch, CEO of Vercel, joins Immad Akhund and Raj Suri at a live Founders in Arms event to break down the full arc of building one of the most widely used developer platforms in the world—from a contrarian bet that VCs said was already solve... more

YouTube

Karri Saarinen is the co-founder and CEO of Linear, the product and issue tracking platform built for high-performing software teams. A designer by training — with stints at Airbnb and Coinbase — Karri took a different path to founding than most Sili... more

YouTube

Michael Grinich is the co-founder and CEO of WorkOS, the enterprise authentication and identity infrastructure used by Anthropic, OpenAI, Cursor, xAI, and hundreds of fast-growing companies. Before WorkOS, Michael dropped out of MIT, worked at Dropbo... more

YouTube

Key Facts

Accepts Guests
Contact Information
Podcast Host
Number of Listeners
Find out how many people listen to this podcast per episode and each month.

Recent Guests

Colin Angle
Co-founder of iRobot and Familiar Machines
iRobot, Familiar Machines
Episode: Before Robots Were Cool: The 33-Year Journey of iRobot's Founder, Colin Angle
Guillermo Rauch
Founder and CEO of Vercel
Vercel
Episode: Guillermo Rauch at Founders in Arms Live: Simplicity, Focus, and the Bet That Built Vercel
Karri Saarinen
Co-founder and CEO of Linear
Linear
Episode: Building for Quality in a World of AI Slop with Linear's Karri Saarinen
Michael Grinich
Founder/CEO at WorkOS
WorkOS
Episode: WorkOS's Michael Grinich on Becoming the Enterprise Layer for AI's Biggest Companies
George Kailas
CEO of Prospero.ai
Prospero.ai
Episode: The Future of Investing: Data, Signals, and Retail Power
Andy Chen
Co-founder of Outcast Ventures
Outcast Ventures
Episode: Founding Teams: What Works, What Doesn’t — with Andy Chen
David Rusenko
Founder of Leap Forward Ventures, former founder and CEO of Weebly
Leap Forward Ventures
Episode: The Long Game: David Rusenko on Building Weebly, Surviving Acquisitions, and Investing in Climate
Ryan Gariépy
Former CTO and co-founder of Clearpath Robotics and Otto Motors; VP of Robotics at Rockwell Automation
Rockwell Automation (VP of Robotics); former Clearpath/ Otto Motors
Episode: The State of Robotics in 2026: Ryan Gariépy on Hype, Reality, and Long-Term Thinking
Marco Zapacosta
Founder and CEO of Thumbtack
Episode: Thumbtack’s Marco Zappacosta on AI, Trust, and the Future of Marketplaces

Hosts

Immad Akhund
Host and founder/CEO with Mercury; frequent moderator focusing on platform strategies, product-led growth, and startup scaling. Often discusses entrepreneurship psychology and customer-centric innovation.
Rajat Suri
Co-host with deep experience in consumer hardware, marketplaces, and investment; co-founder roles and leadership across multiple ventures. Brings a practical, operator-focused perspective.

Reviews

4.7 out of 5 stars from 33 ratings
  • Real Founder Stories & Advice

    Really enjoy the real founder stories and practical advice. Especially enjoyed the recent one with Joris Poort from Rescale!

    Apple Podcasts
    5
    .-:-:-.
    United States10 months ago
  • Unique and amazing

    This podcast is incredible. Getting insights from founders like Raj and Immad is so valuable. They both have unique perspectives: Raj knows consumers (Lyft), hardware (Presto), community/messaging (Tribe), immigration (Lima); and Immad knows banking/b2b/PLG (Mercury), angel investing (prolific angel investor), and even space (sci-fi nerd). They also push back on each others perspectives constantly in a great way. I look forward to Fridays because of this podcast, these guys are great!

    Apple Podcasts
    5
    Wolf of Ball Street
    United Statesa year ago
  • Best podcast about founders and startups

    Really enjoy listening to this one - tonnes of valuable insights and great stories from several experienced entrepreneurs

    Apple Podcasts
    5
    Everand88
    United Statesa year ago
  • A Disappointing Echo Chamber for the Overhyped Elite

    Founders in Arms bills itself as a tech-savvy deep dive into startups and policy, but what it delivers is a self-congratulatory slog through recycled Silicon Valley talking points. Hosts Immad Akhund and Rajat Suri, despite their pedigrees, seem more interested in reinforcing their own status than providing real insight. The discussions rarely rise above surface-level commentary, often devolving into vague anecdotes that serve little purpose beyond name-dropping.

    Worse, the show lacks structure... more

    Apple Podcasts
    1
    RedRedRaleigh
    United Statesa year ago
  • Founders like me, but further along

    This show is like being coached by a massively more successful colleague. It’s super deep and super conversational and delivered by gents who have seen it all scaling and come out on the other side. I wish I had found this show a long time ago.

    Apple Podcasts
    4
    Suebeaux
    United Statesa year ago

Listeners Say

Key themes from listener reviews, highlighting what works and what could be improved about the show.

Strong balance of actionable startup lessons and big-picture AI/tech policy context.
Some listeners crave deeper structure and more nuanced policy discussion.
Hosts push back with sharp, complementary viewpoints and diverse guest mix.
Inspiring founder-focused conversations with practical takeaways.

Top Technology Podcasts

Tomorrow, Today
Tomorrow, TodayShekhar Natarajan
Acquired
AcquiredBen Gilbert and David Rosenthal
The Room Podcast
The Room PodcastClaudia Laurie and Madison McIlwain
Building AI Boston
Building AI BostonBuilding AI Boston
Eye On A.I.
Eye On A.I.Craig S. Smith

Talking Points

Recent interactions between the hosts and their guests.

The Long Game: David Rusenko on Building Weebly, Surviving Acquisitions, and Investing in Climate
Q: What enduring lessons from building Weebly do you think new founders should heed today?
Key lessons include focusing on cashflow and monetization early, maintaining a deliberate growth plan, building a culture with explicit trade-offs, and using group discussions to reduce politics while preserving speed and accountability.
The Long Game: David Rusenko on Building Weebly, Surviving Acquisitions, and Investing in Climate
Q: David, what made you decide to go into investing rather than starting another company?
David describes wanting to 'pay it forward' after 14 years building Weebly, preferring to guide the next generation of founders from the field rather than pursuing another startup himself, and valuing the coaching and mentorship aspect of investing.
The Future of Investing: Data, Signals, and Retail Power
Q: Who is the primary audience for Prospero's research, and how is it delivered?
The primary audience is retail investors, though the product is also used by some institutional users; the newsletter and basic app access are free, with premium add-ons in development.
The Future of Investing: Data, Signals, and Retail Power
Q: George, how long have you been doing this and what's the core mission of Prospero?
Prospero was started about six years ago with a mission to level the playing field for retail investors by providing 10 signals through an app and newsletter, designed to educate users to think and decide for themselves.
The State of Robotics in 2026: Ryan Gariépy on Hype, Reality, and Long-Term Thinking
Q: What three areas would you invest in today in robotics as an investor?
Invest in areas with clear engineering risk but practical go-to-market execution, ensure the team has real domain experience, and target deployments where the design domain fits the customer needs (construction, airports, farms, etc.), while avoiding overreliance on a single, unproven business model.

Audience Metrics

Listeners, social reach, demographics and more for this podcast.

Listeners per Episode
Gender Skew
Location
Interests
Professions
Age Range
Household Income
Social Media Reach

Frequently Asked Questions About Founders in Arms

What is Founders in Arms about and what kind of topics does it cover?

The show features candid discussions with startup founders, operators, and technologists who share real-world journeys, product thinking, and the evolving tech-policy landscape. Episodes frequently center on building and scaling software platforms, AI-enabled workflows, enterprise readiness, robotics, and marketplace dynamics, often with pragmatic takeaways on go-to-market strategy, team composition, and funding. A notable throughline is a willingness to challenge conventional wisdom with hands-on experience, whether exploring product-led growth, hardware-software integration, or the tension between speed and quality in fast-moving markets. The format tends to couple founder/investor storytelling with concrete lessons, making it valuable fo... more

Where can I find podcast stats for Founders in Arms?

Rephonic provides a wide range of podcast stats for Founders in Arms. We scanned the web and collated all of the information that we could find in our comprehensive podcast database. See how many people listen to Founders in Arms and access YouTube viewership numbers, download stats, audience demographics, chart rankings, ratings, reviews and more.

How many listeners does Founders in Arms get?

Rephonic provides a full set of podcast information for three million podcasts, including the number of listeners. View further listenership figures for Founders in Arms, including podcast download numbers and subscriber numbers, so you can make better decisions about which podcasts to sponsor or be a guest on. You will need to upgrade your account to access this premium data.

What are the audience demographics for Founders in Arms?

Rephonic provides comprehensive predictive audience data for Founders in Arms, including gender skew, age, country, political leaning, income, professions, education level, and interests. You can access these listener demographics by upgrading your account.

How many subscribers and views does Founders in Arms have?

To see how many followers or subscribers Founders in Arms has on Spotify and other platforms such as Castbox and Podcast Addict, simply upgrade your account. You'll also find viewership figures for their YouTube channel if they have one.

How many episodes of Founders in Arms are there?

Founders in Arms launched 3 years ago and published 107 episodes to date. You can find more information about this podcast including rankings, audience demographics and engagement in our podcast database.

How do I contact Founders in Arms?

Our systems regularly scour the web to find email addresses and social media links for this podcast. We scanned the web and collated all of the contact information that we could find in our podcast database. But in the unlikely event that you can't find what you're looking for, our concierge service lets you request our research team to source better contacts for you.

Where can I see ratings and reviews for Founders in Arms?

Rephonic pulls ratings and reviews for Founders in Arms from multiple sources, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Castbox, and Podcast Addict.

View all the reviews in one place instead of visiting each platform individually and use this information to decide if a show is worth pitching or not.

How do I access podcast episode transcripts for Founders in Arms?

Rephonic provides full transcripts for episodes of Founders in Arms. Search within each transcript for your keywords, whether they be topics, brands or people, and figure out if it's worth pitching as a guest or sponsor. You can even set-up alerts to get notified when your keywords are mentioned.

What guests have appeared on Founders in Arms?

Recent guests on Founders in Arms include:

1. Colin Angle
2. Guillermo Rauch
3. Karri Saarinen
4. Michael Grinich
5. George Kailas
6. Andy Chen
7. David Rusenko
8. Ryan Gariépy

To view more recent guests and their details, simply upgrade your Rephonic account. You'll also get access to a typical guest profile to help you decide if the show is worth pitching.

Find and pitch the right podcasts

We help savvy brands, marketers and PR professionals to find the right podcasts for any topic or niche. Get the data and contacts you need to pitch podcasts at scale and turn listeners into customers.
Try it free for 7 days