From Software to Nuclear: Matt Loszak's Mission to Mass-Manufacture Clean Energy
Matt Loszak is the co-founder and CEO of Aalo Atomics, building factory-manufactured small modular nuclear reactors designed to power AI data centers. In just 18 months, Aalo has grown from 2 people to 50 employees with a 40,000 square foot factory and a completed full-scale non-nuclear reactor prototype.What you'll learn:How Aalo's liquid metal cooled reactors could transform clean energy productionWhy data centers are the perfect first customer for next-generation nuclear powerMatt's transition from selling his software company Hume to pursuing nuclear innovationThe regulatory strategies that could enable faster nuclear deploymentWhy factory mass manufacturing could solve nuclear's historical cost and timeline challengesThe safety advantages of liquid metal cooling and small modular designsHow the US compares to China and Russia in nuclear innovationMatt's surprising perspective on fusion vs. fission energy investmentThe capital journey from $6M seed to $30M Series A to upcoming $100M roundA vision for how abundant nuclear energy could enable everything from desalination to vertical farmingSubscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4FHXFiOtyO3QfUi3Y1kwYF?si=1dc9acc8409f448cSubscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/founders-in-arms/id1679703534 Subscribe to Founders in Arms Substack: https://substack.com/@foundersinarms Join the conversation on Tribe: https://join.tribechat.com/sR-wYn8zUH Follow Founders in Arms on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/founders-in-arms/Follow Immad on X: https://x.com/immadFollow Raj on X: https://x.com/rajatsuriFollow Matt on X: https://x.com/MattLoszakFollow Immad on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/iakhund/Follow Raj on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rajatsuri/Follow Matt on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-loszak/
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Duolingo’s CTO on Building the World’s Most Addictive Learning App
Severin Hacker, co-founder and CTO of Duolingo, joins Immad Akhund and Raj Suri to unpack how Duolingo became the world’s most engaging education platform.They explore how Duolingo leverages AI to personalize learning, the company's obsession with retention, and why relentless experimentation is at the heart of its product strategy. Severin also shares insights on building a mission-driven culture, the immigrant founder advantage, and how to scale design thinking without losing your edge.
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Meta's Hardball Acquisitions, Apple's App Store Defeat, and Why Tariffs Will Trigger a Recession
In this founders-only episode of Founders in Arms, Immad Akhund and Raj Suri analyze Meta's aggressive acquisition playbook alongside other major tech developments reshaping the industry landscape.The conversation begins with how Zuckerberg's "buy or get crushed" approach to acquisitions leaves founders with an impossible choice: accept a lucrative buyout or face ruthless competition. They note how "every founder who comes out of Meta regrets selling their company," yet Meta's willingness to clone features makes rejecting their offers extremely difficult.The founders then dissect the Epic vs. Apple lawsuit ruling that ended Apple's 30% App Store monopoly and examine antitrust actions against tech giants, questioning whether surgical regulation targeting specific practices might be more effective than breaking up companies entirely. The discussion highlights how AI foundation models have rapidly commoditized, making monopoly concerns in that space less pressing.The episode concludes with Immad's sobering economic prediction that Trump's tariffs will trigger a recession by late 2025, creating a market where only AI companies secure funding while other promising startups struggle despite solid fundamentals - potentially creating opportunities for contrarian investors and resilient founders.
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From Rice Krispies to $36M Series B: Dan Hobbs on Building Safety AI, Enterprise Sales, and Leading Across Borders
In this episode of Founders in Arms, Immad Akhund and Raj Suri speak with Dan Hobbs, co-founder and CEO of Protex AI, a company using computer vision to identify safety risks in warehouses and factories before accidents happen. Dan shares his journey from bootstrapping his first startup (where he survived on store-brand Rice Krispies for three weeks) to building a 70-person team serving Fortune 500 clients like Amazon and DHL.The conversation explores how Protex leverages existing CCTV infrastructure to detect dangerous behavior patterns, the advantages of being "outsiders" disrupting traditional industries, and how the AI boom has transformed both fundraising and customer conversations. Dan offers insights on navigating enterprise sales, building trust-based relationships with clients, and managing an international team across Ireland, Boston, and London.From pivoting through multiple startup ideas to selling multi-million dollar contracts, this episode provides valuable perspectives on computer vision applications, scaling an AI company in today's market, and the unique challenges of leadership growth. Whether you're interested in AI applications, enterprise sales strategies, or the founder journey, Dan's candid experiences offer practical wisdom for entrepreneurs at any stage.
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Building Meaningful Tech for the Next Generation With Jay Shah
In this episode, Jay Shah joins Immad and Raj to talk about his new startup, Poppy—a screenless, AI-native phone designed for kids. He shares what led him to pivot from enterprise SaaS to building hardware in his basement, why he believes kid-first tech needs a rethink, and how intentional design can create healthier relationships with technology.Jay reflects on lessons from BufferBox, the realities of manufacturing and tariffs, and the power of network effects in consumer hardware. The conversation spans everything from AI in education to emotional resilience as a second-time founder, the state of Canadian tech, and how Y Combinator continues to shape founder journeys.
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: https://www.youtube.com/@CuriosityPodcast
Substack: https://curiositypodcast.substack.com/
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