The Peel with Turner Novak

Ali Partovi is the Co-founder and CEO of Neo.

Neo started in 2017 as a network for the top college students. Neo is a “people-first” investor, a thesis it developed missing out on early investments in PayPal and Google at three employees.

Neo has since invested in the Seed rounds of Cursor and Kalshi, and Ali shares everything he’s learned about spotting outlier talent, how to hire the best people, how computer science is the best business education, and why the best entrepreneurs start young.

Special thanks to Hadi Partovi, Fuzzy Khosrowshahi, Alan Shusterman, and Claire Shorall for their help brainstorming topics for Ali.

Thank you to Numeral, Flex, and Amplitude for supporting this episode

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Timestamps:
(0:09) Neo’s two 10x funds
(2:19) Missing PayPal led to Neo
(9:32) Not investing in Google at 3 employees
(11:31) Backing Facebook despite the idea
(13:01) Starting Neo to help top college students
(17:21) How to identify outlier talent
(24:38) Neo’s coding test
(27:41) Bootstrapping the first cohort of Neo Scholars
(34:58) How Cognition President Russel Kaplan changed Neo forever
(39:21) Starting Neo after talking to Steph Curry
(46:42) Launching [Code.org](http://Code.org) to teach 20M kids to code
(59:38) Is coding still relevant in 2026?
(1:03:43) How to hire outlier talent
(1:07:25) Why you should aggressively apply for one job
(1:11:09) Neo Residency: $750k uncapped
(1:19:51) Growing up in Iran during the revolution
(1:26:03) Impact of the immigrant mentality
(1:29:15) Most entrepreneurial roots start very young
(1:39:18) Lessons investing in Cursor + Kalshi seed rounds
(1:50:27) Confession: a podcast about failure
(1:52:36) Fucking up a $50m deal by lying to Steve Jobs

Referenced
Neo: https://neo.com/
Neo Scholars Application: https://neo.com/scholars
Neo Residency: https://neo.com/residency
Code.org: https://code.org/
Lying to Steve Jobs: https://x.com/apartovi/status/1447251334814523392
Losing a deal with Yahoo: https://x.com/apartovi/status/1449856639331340289

Follow Ali
Twitter: https://x.com/apartovi
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/apartovi/

Follow Turner
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TurnerNovak
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/turnernovak

Subscribe to my newsletter to get every episode + the transcript in your inbox every week: https://www.thespl.it/

Jim Belosic is the Co-founder and CEO of SendCutSend, a sheet metal manufacturing business he bootstrapped to a $140 million revenue run rate in eight years.

We talk building a manufacturing business in the US, creative ways he financed the company early on, using speed and trust to compete with overseas competitors, lessons from restaurants, and why you can’t run a factory from a spreadsheet.

Thank you to Numeral, Flex, and Amplitude for supporting this episode

Numeral: The end-to-end platform for sales tax and compliance https://www.numeral.com

Flex: Sign-up for Flex Elite with code TURNER, get $1,000 https://form.typeform.com/to/Rx9rTjFz

Amplitude: AI analytics, all you have to do is ask https://www.amplitude.com

Timestamps:
(0:16) Automating sheet metal manufacturing
(5:59) Zero to $140 million ARR in 8 years
(7:58) Acquiring a $750k laser with $0
(13:38) Automating factories is like baking cookies
(15:17) Being legible to capital
(17:31) Unlocking custom, low order manufacturing with software
(20:00) Building more factories instead of selling the software
(24:50) Run your company like a lemonade stand
(28:30) Raising an angel round in 2021 as a safety net
(33:21) SendCutSend’s unique bottoms-up GTM
(38:24) Fun coupons
(40:12) Building a moat with speed and trust
45:55) How US factories can beat China
(47:40) Gaslight product launches
(52:05) Lessons from non-manufacturing businesses
(55:19) You can’t run a factory from a spreadsheet
(58:10) Using data in manufacturing
(59:50) Lessons from Factorio
(1:03:17) Unlocking a negative cash conversion cycle
(1:06:14) You need to resist automating everything
(1:13:51) Surviving COVID with six weeks of cash
(1:15:47) Solving the US skilled labor shortage
(1:26:17) Teaching kids about manufacturing

Referenced
SendCutSend: https://sendcutsend.com/
Careers at SendCutSend: https://sendcutsend.com/careers
Sandy Kory: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandykory
Horizon VC: https://www.horizon.vc/
Concrete Canoe Competitions: https://www.asce.org/communities/student-members/conferences/asce-concrete-canoe-competition

Follow Jim
Twitter: https://x.com/jimbelosic
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/belosic

Follow Turner
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TurnerNovak
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/turnernovak

Subscribe to my newsletter to get every episode + the transcript in your inbox every week: https://www.thespl.it/

Alex Israel is the Co-founder and CEO of Metropolis.He unpacks the unique strategy they used as a tech startup to rollup parking lots and become the largest parking operator in the world.Thank you to Will Quist, Yoni Rechtman, Adam Bain, and Jamie Siminoff for their help brainstorming topics for the conversation.Thank you to Numeral, Flex, and Amplitude for supporting this episodeNumeral: The end-to-end platform for sales tax and compliance https://www.numeral.comFlex: Sign-up for Flex Elite with code TURNER, get $1,000 https://form.typeform.com/to/Rx9rTjFzAmplitude: AI analytics, all you have to do is ask https://www.amplitude.comTimestamps:(1:10) Helping 50m Americans park(4:00) Building “Buy Now” for the physical world(9:02) Real-world checkout technology that works(16:07) Why parking never institutionalized as an asset class(18:34) Using tech to make parking assets more valuable(21:53) Parking lots as autonomous robotics hubs(29:07) Going to film school, working at MTV(30:55) Starting his first parking data company(33:47) Culture of pranking each other(36:27) A Fortune 500 CEO convinced him to start a 2nd parking company(42:55) Realizing they couldn’t sell to real estate operators(46:09) Acquiring a company 10x their size to jumpstart GTM(50:20) How to do a successful AI growth buyout(54:48) Revenue growth must be driven by technology(1:00:33) Why companies should do growth buyouts(1:03:55) Being legible to capital(1:09:16) You need creativity to take risks(1:13:30) AI is the first ever disruption to skilled labor(1:19:14) CEO challenges growing zero to 23,000 employees(1:24:31) Alex’ personal AI stackReferencedMetropolis: https://www.metropolis.io/Careers at Metropolis: https://www.metropolis.io/careersRoy Amara: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_AmaraFollow AlexTwitter: https://x.com/Alex__IsraelLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-israelFollow TurnerTwitter: https://twitter.com/TurnerNovakLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/turnernovakSubscribe to my newsletter to get every episode + the transcript in your inbox every week: https://www.thespl.it/

Karthik Duraisamy is a professor at the University of Michigan.

He is co-leading U of M's newly created Institute of Agentic Computing, the first of its kind. The institute will serve researchers and developers building agentic AI infrastructure to advance scientific discovery, engineering, and the knowledge economy. It will also be a central node for managing developers and maintainers of the OpenClaw platform.

Karthik's research spans a broad spectrum of computational science and engineering, including new modeling approaches for complex physical systems, numerical methods, algorithms and uncertainty quantification.

This is the first conversation Karthik’s had going deep on the institute. We talk about using AI to advance scientific research, two new discoveries announced yesterday, how universities work, how AI is impacting students and education, and his advice for young people.

Thank you to Numeral, Flex, and Amplitude for supporting this episode

Numeral: The end-to-end platform for sales tax and compliance https://www.numeral.com](https://www.numeral.com/

Flex: Sign-up for Flex Elite with code TURNER, get $1,000 https://form.typeform.com/to/Rx9rTjFz

Amplitude: AI analytics, all you have to do is ask https://www.amplitude.com

Timestamps:
(0:25) The Institute for Agentic Computing
(4:27) OpenClaw Foundation and Lobster Compute Company
(8:19) How Universities actually work
(12:33) ClawCon in Ann Arbor
(15:24) Two scientific discoveries made with ScienceClaw
(20:06) How AI is speeding up scientific discovery
(25:42) Supporting AI and OpenClaw development
(29:55) Why universities function like VC funds
(34:29) How Universities get money from the government
(40:55) Why some academics believe AI is a fad
(46:17) Biggest bottlenecks in AI today
(49:26) How AI will change the world
(53:10) Karthik's Code Red advice for students
(59:19) Separating learning and doing
(1:03:10) Ways COVID and AI impacted college students
(1:14:53) How the role of universities is changing
(1:23:21) Why college classes suffered from grade inflation
(1:26:05) How AI is actually impacting the job market
(1:32:49) Karthik’s advice for students
(1:39:16) Winning two NCAA basketball national championships
(1:43:04) Almost dying in the Grand Teton National Park

Referenced
More on Karthik: https://aero.engin.umich.edu/people/duraisamy-karthik/
Institute for Agentic Computing: https://record.umich.edu/articles/u-m-launches-institute-for-agentic-computing/
ClawCon Announcement:
OpenClaw: https://openclaw.ai/
ScienceClaw: http://scienceclaw.science/
MIT OpenCourseWare: https://ocw.mit.edu/
ASU iPhone video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqfk7-3iN-U

Follow Karthik
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karthik-duraisamy-66705025

Follow Turner
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TurnerNovak
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/turnernovak

Subscribe to my newsletter to get every episode + the transcript in your inbox every week: https://www.thespl.it/

Nikhil Krishnan is the Founder of Out of Pocket, a media company that makes understanding healthcare more entertaining and accessible.

We spend 100 minutes talking about how the US healthcare system actually works, how World War II changed it forever, all the ways AI is seeing real adoption across the industry, and most common bad startup ideas in healthcare.

Thank you to Numeral, Flex, and Amplitude for supporting this episode

Numeral: The end-to-end platform for sales tax and compliance [https://www.numeral.com](https://www.numeral.com/)

Flex: Sign-up for Flex Elite with code TURNER, get $1,000 https://form.typeform.com/to/Rx9rTjFz

Amplitude: AI analytics, all you have to do is ask [https://www.amplitude.com](https://www.amplitude.com/)

Timestamps:
(1:23) How the US healthcare system works
(4:26) Why US healthcare is different from the rest of the world
(12:01) Why healthcare costs keep going up
(15:58) Core problem: is healthcare a marketplace or not?
(21:04) How money flows + Two-way price negotiation
(27:34) Why payments are seeing early AI adoption
(30:08) How AI could change healthcare delivery
(35:40) Doctor’s are trapped on a productivity hamster wheel
(39:28) How incentives shape healthcare delivery
(43:53) Healthcare is an implicit jobs program in the US
(48:45) Areas AI is overhyped, worst healthcare startups
(55:30) Consumerization of healthcare
(1:01:58) Rise of Peptides, understanding risks and downsides
(1:09:35) Why all medical software is so bad
(1:11:58) How to do enterprise sales in healthcare
(1:14:51) The battle forming between Scribes, Search, and EMRs
(1:18:33) Why we need more physician independence
(1:26:51) Starting Out of Pocket in February of 2020
(1:2912) Write to meet your audience
(1:37:54) Using AI as a content creator
(1:42:13) How to get started writing on the internet

Referenced
Out of Pocket: https://www.outofpocket.health/
Doctronic: https://www.doctronic.ai/

Follow Nikhil
Twitter: https://x.com/nikillinit
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thinkboi/

Follow Turner
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TurnerNovak
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/turnernovak

Subscribe to my newsletter to get every episode + the transcript in your inbox every week: https://www.thespl.it/