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Founder Mode

by Kevin Henrikson

Founder Mode is a weekly newsletter for builders—whether it’s startups, systems, or personal growth. It’s about finding your flow, balancing health, wealth, and productivity, and tackling challenges with focus and curiosity. Each week, you’ll gain actionable insights and fresh perspectives to help you think like a founder and build what matters most.

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Learn how to turn research and deep tech into scalable products. Simplify complexity, reduce friction, focus your niche, and design for real-world use.
Featured Post

How to Turn Complex Science Into Scalable Startup Growth

The Hidden Lessons from Building a Neurotech Startup Welcome back to Founder Mode! I recently talked about the gap between great science and great business. It made me think. It’s tempting to think that advanced research or deep tech will lead to business success. I've found that innovation only scales when it's easy to use, affordable, and relatable. It was clear that neurotechnology companies are turning hardware once seen as “impossible” into products that people can buy and use. What I...

about 20 hours ago • 3 min read
Private equity meets AI: how Jason Friedrichs uses technology to drive smarter growth and real value creation in 2025 and beyond.

Private Equity + AI: Turning Capital into Value with Jason Friedrichs Welcome back to Founder Mode! In this episode, we chatted with Jason Friedrichs. We explored how private equity connects with AI and why this is so important right now. Jason has worked in consulting, operations, and investing. Today, he helps companies grow smarter with tech, not just faster with capital. We talked about how private equity is changing in a post-ZIRP world. We also discussed what AI means for value creation...

1 day ago • 1 min read
Learn how to master go-to-market in 2025—target better buyers, simplify outbound, sell credibility, and focus on big wins that scale.

How to Build a Smarter GTM Strategy for 2025 Welcome back to Founder Mode! This week's podcast is already our most popular ever. More than 10K views on YouTube. Give it a listen, and I would love your feedback. Should we do more like this? No Guests!Go-to-market strategies are shifting fast. What worked in 2020 doesn’t work today, and by 2025, the playbook will look even more different. The noise is louder, the inboxes are tighter, and attention is harder to win. I've been rethinking our GTM...

3 days ago • 3 min read
Learn how to move from AI prototype to production. Build scalable, trustworthy AI systems that go beyond demos and deliver real-world business impact.

How to Avoid the Startup Death Traps Starting a company shows you quickly that progress isn’t the same as success. Initially, I believed that hiring more people and refining details would lead to growth. Big numbers seemed like proof of success. Over time, I realized that most founders don’t fail due to bad ideas. They fail because of the traps they create for themselves. Before diving into today’s topic, I just want to say thank you to everyone who joined us last Wednesday for Founder Mode...

7 days ago • 4 min read
AI is changing how private equity grows companies. In this episode, Jason and Kevin break down what works in health care, tech, and beyond.

Founder Mode Episode 28 - Health Is a Team Sport Welcome back to Founder Mode! In this episode of Founder Mode, Jason and I dove into a big question: What does AI mean for private equity and health care today? We broke down how investors are using AI to grow real businesses—not just chasing hype. We talked about what actually works, where AI is helping the most, and how smaller companies can move faster and smarter. This episode isn't just about investing—it’s about building systems that...

9 days ago • 1 min read
Learn how to make AI voice systems more human, build trust, manage complex projects, and deliver scalable, compliant solutions that truly connect with

The Subtle Art of Managing AI Voice and Customer Projects Welcome back to Founder Mode! One of the things I’ve learned while building AI voice systems is that success doesn’t always come from big breakthroughs. It often comes from the small, human-like details, the ones that make people trust your technology. Last week on the pod, we chatted with Ankur Goyal. We talked about how to make an AI prototype ready for production. We faced the hard challenges: moving past demos, linking to real...

10 days ago • 3 min read
Avoid the free work trap, validate offers yourself, handle DIY prospects wisely, and always keep momentum alive—founder wisdom to save time and sanity.

Founder Wisdom: Hard-Earned Lessons From the Trenches Welcome back to Founder Mode! Founding a company teaches you more in one year than most jobs teach you in ten. Lessons often come from losses, not just wins. They arise from messy moments, tough talks, and mistakes you’d rather not repeat. This week, I’m sharing a few lessons I’ve learned recently. They might not be in textbooks, but they offer real-world wisdom. This wisdom saves time, money, and sanity. The "Free Work" Trap One of the...

15 days ago • 3 min read
From demo to production, Ankur Goyal explains how feedback loops and evals help AI teams ship products that work—reliably and at scale.

Founder Mode Episode 27 - From AI Prototype to Production with Ankur Goyal Welcome back to Founder Mode! In this episode, we talked to Ankur Goyal, the founder of BrainTrust. He’s built AI systems across multiple generations—from structured data and search to modern AI agents. We all love a slick AI demo. But many teams find that turning that demo into a real product is much harder than it seems. Ankur showed us how to solve that. He talked about the missing systems, such as evals,...

16 days ago • 1 min read

AI Pivots: How to Test Fast and Scale Smarter Welcome back to Founder Mode! One of the hardest choices for any founder is knowing when to pivot. Sometimes, the data leaves no room for choice. You must let go of your “favorite” ideas and head in a new direction. Recently, we ran a campaign that looked great at first glance. We were pulling in leads for $25 per conversion. On paper, that’s a win. After weeks of chasing leads, I realized that getting a $200/month client wasn't worth it. The real...

17 days ago • 3 min read
Learn how to manage vendors and repairs as a founder. Clear blockers, demand timelines, spot weak promises, and save hours of downtime each week.

Managing Vendors and Repairs as a Busy Founder Welcome back to Founder Mode! As founders, we love to think about the big picture—strategy, growth, product, customers. But sometimes the thing that slows us down isn’t strategy at all. It’s something smaller, like a vendor or repair process dragging on longer than it should. Few slots left! Founder Mode LIVE hits San Francisco on October 9 and Los Angeles on October 16. Jason Shafton and I will host candid conversations with founders—sharing...

22 days ago • 3 min read