1st10 Podcast
Episodes
The AI Leaderboard Every Top Lab Watches - Inside LMArena's Real-World AI Battleground
07 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
What happens when three PhD students accidentally build the infrastructure that every major AI lab depends on? OR What if the AI benchmarks everyone t...
This Founder built at NVIDIA, Exited to Harvey - Now He's Betting AI Can Finally Fix Taxes
24 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What if the biggest failure of AI today isn't creativity - but math?On this episode of the *1st10 Podcast*, host Boris Epstein sits down with Sree...
Inside the AI Startup Tackling the U.S. Radiologist Shortage - Rustin Rassoli
12 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What kind of founder decides to build a full radiology practice, an AI research lab, and a software company - all at once?On this episode of the 1st10...
The Recruiting Industry's Hidden Crisis: Gem CEO Steve Bartel on Fraud, AI, and the Future of Hiring
09 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
56% more job openings, 3x more applications, but 8 MORE days to fill roles! CEO of Gem.ai shares data that explains why most recruiting careers are ab...
Breaking Into AI: A Former FAANG Recruiter's Inside Guide
27 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
On this episode of the 1st10 Podcast, Boris Epstein, founder of 1st10 and former FAANG-level recruiter, reveals a shocking reality behind AI startup h...
The Wild World of AI M&A: Inside Silicon Valley's Billion-Dollar Talent War with M&A Expert Sara Ali
21 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of the 1st10 Podcast, Boris Epstein sits down with Sara Ali, Senior Director of Corporate Development & Strategy at Yahoo, to diss...
AI Won’t Steal Your Job (But It Will Change Everything) Insights from Wharton Professor, Daniel Rock
29 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
On this episode of the 1st10 Podcast, Boris Epstein sits down with Daniel Rock - economist, professor at Wharton, and co-founder of Workhelix - to dec...
Inside Meta's AI Talent War: The Strategy That's Reshaping Silicon Valley
15 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Mark Zuckerberg dropping $100 million each on SIXTEEN engineers (and counting) might be a wild strategy that could hand Meta the AI crown.On this epis...
Winter Is Coming – Philip Su, early OpenAI Engineer's Warning to Engineers
10 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What if the AI revolution doesn't take all jobs but *just* enough to crash society?On this first episode of the latest season of the 1st10 Podcast, ho...
The Founder's Hiring Playbook: 7 Steps to Building Your Dream Early-Team
04 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
SummaryOn this final episode of Season 2 of the 1st10 Podcast, Boris Epstein and Alexis Munger outline a comprehensive Hiring Playbook for founders bu...
From YC and Beyond: Matrix Ventures GP Ilya Sukhar on Startups, Acquisitions, and Venture Capital
28 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
SummaryOn this episode of the 1st10 podcast, hosts Boris Epstein and Alexis Munger sit down with Ilya Sukhar, a seasoned entrepreneur, engineer, and v...
From Engineer to Leader: AngelList Lead Engineer Kevin Liu on Building, Managing, and Innovating in Startups
21 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
SummaryOn this episode of the 1st10 Podcast, hosts Boris Epstein and Alexis Munger sit down with Kevin Liu, Engineering Lead at AngelList and a season...
Pinterest First Front-End Engineer Josh Inkenbrandt on Building Teams and New Ventures
14 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
On this episode of the 1st10 Podcast, hosts Boris Epstein and Alexis Munger sit down with Joshua Inkenbrandt, Pinterest's first frontend engineer ...
From Facebook to Formation: Sophie Novati on Building Formation and Empowering Engineers
07 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
On this episode of the 1st10 Podcast, Boris Epstein and Alexis Munger sit down with Sophie Z. Novati, founder and CEO of Formation.dev. Formation is a...
Lessons from Pinterest’s First Engineer: Yash Nelapati on Building, Scaling, and Trusting the Process
28 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
SummaryOn this episode of the 1st10 Podcast, hosts Boris Epstein and Alexis Munger sit down with Yash Nelapati, Pinterest's first engineer and fir...
How Dropbox’s Recruiting Culture Shaped Gem’s Success: Steve Bartel’s Recruiting Playbook
21 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
On this episode of the 1st10 Podcast, hosts Boris Epstein and Alexis Munger sit down with Steve Bartel, founder and CEO of Gem. Steve was employee no....
From Hedge Funds to Hard Tech: Ashley Pelzel, COO of Astro Mechanica Shares Lessons in Adaptation and Leadership
14 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
On this episode of the 1st10 Podcast, hosts Boris Epstein and Alexis Munger sit down with Ashley Pelzel, COO of Astro Mechanica, to explore her unconv...
The Quiet AI Revolution: Eddie Siegel, Fractional AI CTO talks about Solving Real Problems Behind the AI Hype
07 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
On this episode of the 1st10 Podcast, Boris and Alexis sit down with Eddie Siegel, the brilliant mind behind Fractional AI, to explore the realities o...
From Mars to Startups: Sailesh Ramakrishnan's Journey in Engineering and Investment
31 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
On this episode of the 1st10 Podcast, Boris Epstein and Alexis Munger engage in a captivating conversation about the intricacies of building early eng...
Predictions for 2025: What Founders and Engineers Need to Know Before It's Too Late!
24 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
On this episode of the 1st10 podcast, hosts Boris Epstein and Alexis Munger share 5 predictions for the future of startups and technology as we begin ...
Tough Truths of Early-Stage Hiring: 6 Lessons From 2024
17 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
On the first episode of the second season of the 1st10 podcast, hosts Boris Epstein and Alexis Munger share valuable insights on the critical lessons ...
#10, Tigran Sloyan, CodeSignal Founder: Looking Beyond The Resume To Decode The Startup Talent Dilemma
02 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
On this milestone tenth episode of the 1st10 Podcast, hosts Boris Epstein and Alexis Munger interview the founder and CEO of CodeSignal, Tigran Sloyan...
#9, Andrew Munn, Lindy.ai Software Leader: Insight Into the Risk and Reward of Early Stage Startups
27 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
On the ninth episode of the 1st10 Podcast, hosts Boris Epstein and Alexis Munger interview Andrew Munn, who's currently a senior engineering manag...
#8, Stripe Hiring Secrets, How Stripe Built its Early Team
20 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
On the eighth episode of 1st10 Podcast, hosts Boris Epstein and Alexis Munger explore how Stripe built its early engineering team. Using their combine...
#7, Kurtis Nusbaum, Sr Staff Engineer: Journey from Uber to Early Stage
13 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
On the seventh episode of the 1st10 Podcast, hosts Boris Epstein and Alexis Munger talk to Kurtis Nusbaum of Chronosphere. Kurtis is an experienced so...
#6, Hiring Trends in Building Early Engineering Teams
06 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this podcast episode, Boris Epstein and Alexis Munger discuss some recent trends in hiring for early-stage startups. The episode goes into details ...
#5, Join The Perfect Early Startup, 7 Tips for Engineers Considering Early Startups
30 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
On today's episode of the 1st10 Podcast, Boris Epstein and Alexis Munger discuss 7 important tips for engineers considering a move to early-stage ...
#4, Jono Spiro, Fractal Software Principal Engineer: Secrets to Hiring the Best Founding Engineers
23 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
On the fourth episode of the 1st10 Podcast, we are joined by Jono Spiro, the Principal Software Engineer for Fractal Software. Fractal is a unique ven...
#3, The Art of Startup Recruiting: 7 Tips to Hire The Best Early-Engineers
16 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
On the third episode of 1st10 Podcast, hosts Boris Epstein and Alexis Munger draw from their experiences working with startups to come up with SEVEN s...
#2 Bobby DeSimone, Pomerium.io Founder: Building an Open and High Performing Startup Culture
09 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
On this episode of The 1st10 Podcast, Boris Epstein and Alexis Munger interview Bobby DeSimone, founder and CEO of Pomerium, an early startup building...
#1 Prakash Janakiraman, Nextdoor Co-Founder, How to Design an Early Engineering Team
02 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
On the first-ever episode of The 1st10 Podcast, Boris Epstein and Alexis Munger interview Prakash Janakiraman, co-founder and former CTO of NextDoor. ...
Coming soon to your favorite podcast player - 1st10 Podcast!
29 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Yeah, we know this is 30 seconds of silence but, believe me, we have a LOT to say! Follow this podcast and keep an eye out for our first episode featu...