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He quit Google & his 1st startup failed—but his 2nd grows at $1M ARR every 10 days. | Zach Llyod, Founder of Warp.dev

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Manage episode 512554884 series 3298391
Content provided by Mistral.vc. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by Mistral.vc or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://podcastplayer.com/legal.

Zach spent 8 years at Google leading engineering for Google Docs, then left to build a photo sharing app with zero go-to-market plan.

Reality hit hard: "At Google, anything you launch gets millions of users. At a startup, the challenge isn't building—it's getting anyone to care." After writing a brutal postmortem documenting everything that went wrong, he started Warp with strict principles: only hire product-obsessed people, document every process, build pure software not services.

For three years, Warp had hundreds of thousands of free users but no revenue. Then they pivoted to AI-powered development in 2024. Here's how they went from taking 300 days to hit their $1M to now adding $1M ARR every 10 days.

Why You Should Listen:

  • Why working at Google can set you up to fail as a founder
  • How to know when to quit your own startup
  • Why you should write down every operating principle before starting
  • The shift he made to grow insanely fast
  • Why competing directly with fast-growing startups is actually smart

Keywords:

startup podcast, startup podcast for founders, Warp, Zach Lloyd, Google alumni, developer tools, AI coding, product-market fit, startup pivot, Series B

00:00:00 Intro

00:01:48 From law school to Google via Craigslist

00:05:01 Why Google makes you a terrible startup founder

00:10:36 Joining SelfMade as technical co-founder

00:19:00 Writing a brutal post-mortem of the startup experience

00:27:15 Building Warp and getting 10,000 signups day one

00:38:08 Raising $50M Series B with zero revenue

00:41:50 Pivoting to Agent Mode and AI development

00:46:27 From 300 days to $1M to adding $1M every 10 days

Retry

Send me a message to let me know what you think!

  continue reading

Chapters

1. Intro (00:00:00)

2. From law school to Google via Craigslist (00:01:48)

3. Why Google makes you a terrible startup founder (00:05:01)

4. Joining SelfMade as technical co-founder (00:10:36)

5. Writing a brutal post-mortem of the startup experience (00:19:00)

6. Building Warp and getting 10,000 signups day one (00:27:15)

7. Raising $50M Series B with zero revenue (00:38:08)

8. Pivoting to Agent Mode and AI development (00:41:50)

9. From 300 days to $1M to adding $1M every 10 days (00:46:27)

239 episodes

Artwork
iconShare
 
Manage episode 512554884 series 3298391
Content provided by Mistral.vc. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by Mistral.vc or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://podcastplayer.com/legal.

Zach spent 8 years at Google leading engineering for Google Docs, then left to build a photo sharing app with zero go-to-market plan.

Reality hit hard: "At Google, anything you launch gets millions of users. At a startup, the challenge isn't building—it's getting anyone to care." After writing a brutal postmortem documenting everything that went wrong, he started Warp with strict principles: only hire product-obsessed people, document every process, build pure software not services.

For three years, Warp had hundreds of thousands of free users but no revenue. Then they pivoted to AI-powered development in 2024. Here's how they went from taking 300 days to hit their $1M to now adding $1M ARR every 10 days.

Why You Should Listen:

  • Why working at Google can set you up to fail as a founder
  • How to know when to quit your own startup
  • Why you should write down every operating principle before starting
  • The shift he made to grow insanely fast
  • Why competing directly with fast-growing startups is actually smart

Keywords:

startup podcast, startup podcast for founders, Warp, Zach Lloyd, Google alumni, developer tools, AI coding, product-market fit, startup pivot, Series B

00:00:00 Intro

00:01:48 From law school to Google via Craigslist

00:05:01 Why Google makes you a terrible startup founder

00:10:36 Joining SelfMade as technical co-founder

00:19:00 Writing a brutal post-mortem of the startup experience

00:27:15 Building Warp and getting 10,000 signups day one

00:38:08 Raising $50M Series B with zero revenue

00:41:50 Pivoting to Agent Mode and AI development

00:46:27 From 300 days to $1M to adding $1M every 10 days

Retry

Send me a message to let me know what you think!

  continue reading

Chapters

1. Intro (00:00:00)

2. From law school to Google via Craigslist (00:01:48)

3. Why Google makes you a terrible startup founder (00:05:01)

4. Joining SelfMade as technical co-founder (00:10:36)

5. Writing a brutal post-mortem of the startup experience (00:19:00)

6. Building Warp and getting 10,000 signups day one (00:27:15)

7. Raising $50M Series B with zero revenue (00:38:08)

8. Pivoting to Agent Mode and AI development (00:41:50)

9. From 300 days to $1M to adding $1M every 10 days (00:46:27)

239 episodes

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