On this episode of The Unlock, I spoke to Braden Ream, the founder of Voiceflow, a platform that helps companies build conversational AI agents. Today, Voiceflow is a huge success by all measures, and is set up to become a big company. Looking at them now, you'd never guess that they started by building choose your own adventure bedtime stories for Alexa.

In our conversation, we unpacked the multiple 15 degree pivots that got them from that corner of conversational AI to where they are now. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

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The Unlock decodes how cool projects actually get built. On each episode, guests unpack the key inflection points in their journey from 0 to 1.

The Unlock is sponsored by Seed Club - a web3 accelerator and fund focused on consumer crypto.

Relevant Links:

• Joey on X - @joey_debruin
• Braden on X - @ReamBraden
• Voiceflow - voiceflow.com
• Backdrop - backdrop.so

The Unlock is produced by the team at Spectral.

On this episode of The Unlock, I spoke to Anton Troynikov, the founder of Chroma, an open-source embeddings database that has seen rapid growth recently—powering a wide range of AI applications.

Unsurprisingly, it took multiple iterations and pivots to get to where Chroma is today. Anton used this journey as a way to outline (and illustrate) important lessons for builders who are going from zero to one. We spoke about the importance of building with intellectual honesty, truly understanding your domain, genuinely engaging with customer communities, and more.

Hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did!

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The Unlock decodes how cool projects actually get built. On each episode, guests unpack the key inflection points in their journey from 0 to 1.

The Unlock is sponsored by Seed Club - a web3 accelerator and fund focused on consumer crypto.

Relevant Links:

• Joey on X - @joey_debruin
• Anton on X - @atroyn
• Chroma - trychroma.com
• Backdrop - backdrop.so

The Unlock is produced by the team at Spectral.

A defining question for most humans navigating the internet is this: How can I sift through the chaos of digital life and focus my time, energy, and attention on the things that matter?

Our guest for episode three of The Unlock has spent a long time thinking about this too. She is building Sublime—a simpler, more communal way to build a second brain on the internet—using networks and friends to do it better. Sari gets into her journey with Sublime, some of the challenges of being a founder, and so much more.

Hope you enjoy this conversation as much as we did!

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On The Unlock, we decode how cool projects actually get built. Each episode, join hosts Adam Delehanty, Joey DeBruin and guests as they unpack the key inflection points in their journey from 0 to 1.

The Unlock is sponsored by Seed Club - a web3 accelerator and fund focused on consumer crypto.

Relevant Links:

• Joey on X - @joey_debruin
• Adam on X - @adam__xyz
• Sari on X - @sariazout
• Sublime - sublime.app
• Backdrop - backdrop.so
• Ghost - withghost.co

The Unlock is produced by the team at Spectral.

Founding stories are often romanticized. Founders talk about how they were always destined to build their current thing. Our guest for the second episode of The Unlock shatters that trope. We spoke to Thomas Scaria, the founder and CEO of Lore. Today, Lore helps groups and communities pool resources online. But this current product is a result of countless iterations and existential crises that Thomas had as a founder. From leaving his stable job to build "something" to surviving an unforgiving VC landscape during the pandemic, Thomas's story offers a nuanced picture of what it takes to create something meaningful that is aligned with one's values.

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On The Unlock, we decode how cool projects actually get built. Each episode, join hosts Adam Delehanty, Joey DeBruin and guests as they unpack the key inflection points in their journey from 0 to 1.

The Unlock is sponsored by Seed Club - a web3 accelerator and fund focused on consumer crypto.

Relevant Links:

• Joey on X - @joey_debruin
• Adam on X - @adam__xyz
• Thomas on X - @tomscaria
• Lore - lore.xyz
• Backdrop - backdrop.so
• Ghost - withghost.co

The Unlock is produced by the team at Spectral.

For the very first episode of The Unlock, we're joined by Jess Sloss, the founder of Seed Club—a web3 accelerator and fund focused on consumer crypto. We spoke about the origin story of Seed Club, a few key inflection points in their trajectory, and the philosophy underpinning their mission to "making something people want to be a part of."

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On The Unlock, we decode how cool projects actually get built. Each episode, join hosts Adam Delehanty, Joey DeBruin and guests as they unpack the key inflection points in their journey from 0 to 1.

The Unlock is sponsored by Seed Club - a web3 accelerator and fund focused on consumer crypto.

Relevant Links:

• Joey on X - @joey_debruin
• Adam on X - @adam__xyz
• Jess on X - @thattallguy
• Seed Club - seedclub.xyz
• Backdrop - backdrop.so
• Ghost - withghost.co

The Unlock is produced by the team at Spectral.