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How Bolt Survived An 85% Revenue Crash And Became Europe's Ride-Hailing Champion (Markus Villig, Founder & CEO)

2026-02-19 21:03:12

“We don’t care that we’re from a small country. We’ve always had the view that if we work harder and [make] smarter decisions, we can beat [any] company in the world, regardless of how big they are.”

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In 2013, on an Estonian island of just 10,000 residents, a teenager borrowed €5,000 from his parents and decided to take on Uber. Twelve years later, Markus Villig leads Bolt, a company operating in 50+ countries, generating nearly €3 billion in revenue, and standing as one of the only European tech companies competing at true global scale. Rather than going head-to-head with incumbents in their strongest markets, Bolt expanded through underserved cities, emerging economies, and overlooked segments of urban transport. When COVID erased 85% of its revenue in weeks, the company didn’t retreat; it staged a kind of corporate “eucatastrophe,” pivoting into food delivery across nearly 20 countries in what became a company-wide sprint. That same bias toward action now shapes Markus’s broader agenda: investing in defense tech for Estonia and Ukraine, pushing for capital markets reform, and advancing a contrarian thesis on autonomous vehicles.

In this conversation, we discuss:

  • How growing up in Soviet-occupied Estonia shaped Markus’s ambition and moral clarity

  • How Bolt’s European ethos and long-term focus on driver retention became a structural advantage

  • The marketplace models and capital discipline that allowed Bolt to outmaneuver better-funded rivals

  • Why Bolt found breakout success in African markets after failing in 12 Western countries

  • The 85% revenue collapse during COVID and the rapid food delivery pivot that reshaped the company

  • Bolt’s partnerships with Stellantis and Pony.ai and its long-term bet on autonomous vehicles

  • Why Ukrainian and Eastern European startups are often outperforming their Western peers

  • Markus’s blueprint for closing Europe’s tech deficit and building globally competitive companies

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Timestamps

(00:00) Intro

(03:32) How The Lord of the Rings shaped Markus’s worldview

(05:52) Bolt’s underdog story and its existential turning point

(10:22) Estonia’s startup DNA and its imprint on Bolt

(13:38) Europe’s ambition problem

(17:23) Europe’s defense tech gap

(23:09) The need for capital market reform in Europe

(25:13) Bolt’s origin story

(36:35) Frugality as strategy

(38:24) What running Bolt actually demands

(41:27) The hidden costs of being too lean

(42:50) Bolt’s shift to experimentation

(44:10) Bolt’s micromobility strategy

(45:50) How Bolt found the right markets

(50:44) The Serbian mob story

(54:00) Markus on venture capital and lessons from Klarna’s board

(55:40) Why Bolt never sold

(57:08) Bolt’s autonomous vehicle (AV) strategy and key partnerships

(1:05:50) The concept of culture-market fit

(1:07:48) How Bolt operates: writing, hiring, reading, and more

(1:13:15) Markus’s personal strengths

(1:14:15) What people get wrong about business

(1:16:27) Final meditations

Follow Markus Villig

X: https://x.com/villigm

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markusvillig

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Production and marketing by penname.co. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email [email protected].

Lessons of a First-Time Fund Manager

2026-02-05 23:47:00

Friends,

Four years ago, I set out to raise my first venture fund. The result was Generalist Capital, a $15 million vehicle to invest in a small collection of (hopefully) legendary companies.

The beginning of this year marks something of a turning point. After closing on a few investments, Generalist Capital officially moved from the deployment phase to management and harvesting. That makes it a fitting moment to share the lessons learned along the way. Though venture capital is awash in content, in my view, there’s too little introspective writing on the mental game of fund management. Below, you’ll find my attempt to distill the most important lessons I’ve learned so far. To that end, these are best seen as the lessons of a first-time fund manager, relating primarily to the challenges of starting a fund and establishing an initial viable strategy.

Naturally, the gravity of these lessons will depend on information I cannot give you: my long-term performance as an investor. It will likely take another six to ten years to discover how promising a portfolio I have built with Generalist Capital, and even longer to know definitively if I am any good. As of our last update to LPs, Generalist Capital was performing in the top 10-15% in its vintage, but the data suggests that it takes about six years for a fund to settle into its terminal quartile. There’s still a long way left to run and too much uncertainty to read much into this. I am afraid that this is the best I can offer you.

Let this serve as a reminder, then, if any were needed, that you should take my lessons with a grain of salt. I have achieved little, and every investor must learn to play their own game. Though I hope they spark new ideas for you, these are just the observations of one manager at the beginning of what I hope proves to be a long career.

  1. If this is your first time managing a fund, be extremely skeptical of your early investment urges. You’re probably overly keen to validate your existence to your LPs.

  2. The best companies can go under the radar for a long time. When other VCs asked which of my investments I was most bullish about, I told them freely. It still took several years for a Tier 1 firm to lead a round into the company.

  3. You do not have to wait for a round. If you have enough to offer a company, they’ll find a way to bring you aboard ahead of a formal raise. When you see a startup you love, try to make something happen.

  4. Don’t assume you know your level. New managers often think they can’t get access to rounds led by Tier 1 VCs. With the right pitch, you may be closer than you think.

  5. It’s very rare you see everything you want in a startup: founder, market, traction, and so on. When you do, write a much bigger check than you ordinarily would.

  6. The first investor has a unique relationship with a founder. You can build good relationships no matter when you invest, but the first check in earns a special level of trust.

  7. Contrary to what you might expect, the best companies are not easier to access as round sizes grow. Competition escalates as they succeed, often through late growth.

  8. The best investors often need little more than a sentence to explain why they’ve invested in a company. The longer and more convoluted your investment rationale is, the more skeptical you should be of it.

  9. Find your pace. A generation of managers has been conditioned to deploy vintages in 18-24 months. There is nothing wrong with taking twice as long, or more.

  10. Just because a deal is hot does not mean it is good. Don’t let other people’s urgency influence your desire.

  11. Remind yourself: the best venture firms in the world make a majority of bad investments. Don’t index on a buzzy name.

  12. Conversely, if some of the best investors in the world are backing a startup you don’t consider promising, look again, extremely closely. There’s a good chance you’re missing something important.

  13. Remember, the best investors in the world ≠ the best known investors. Calibrate accordingly.

  14. Don’t assume the best opportunities will land in your lap. Outbound sourcing is a necessity.

  15. Progress is never linear. A company that you had more or less written off can suddenly catch light, and one that was on a breakout trajectory can easily stall or stumble.

  16. Don’t push your anxiety onto your founders. It’s not your job to let them know of every new company that pops up in their space.

  17. If you’re asked for advice, give it honestly, but recognize that you have 0.01% of the context a founder has.

  18. Fight for every dollar. Getting an extra $10K into a breakout company can make a huge difference for a small fund.

  19. Founders respond to conviction. Earnestly explaining to an entrepreneur why you’re excited about their business and showing a desire to move quickly can overcome any number of natural disadvantages.

  20. Be skeptical of a pitch that looks too rational. Great companies often have something paradoxical about them. If something doesn’t quite make sense, that’s a good indication you should lean in, not out.

  21. Be careful you don’t get stuck correcting your last mistake. If you invested too little in a startup that has just started to break out, don’t triple the size of your next check to compensate. Consider each opportunity anew.

  22. If you’re not positioned to catch a wave, don’t chase it. You could burn an entire vintage on second-and third-rate AI companies.

Read more

The Private Company Bringing Nuclear Enrichment Back to America (Scott Nolan, CEO of General Matter)

2026-02-03 21:03:34

“We [the U.S.] went from controlling something like 86% of global enrichment capacity to effectively last place.”

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Roughly 20% of the U.S. power grid runs on nuclear energy. A quarter of the fuel behind it is headed toward a hard stop. In this episode, I sit down with Scott Nolan, founder and CEO of General Matter, to unpack why uranium enrichment has quietly become one of the most consequential industrial bottlenecks of the 21st century.

While at Founders Fund, Scott spent over a year searching for an American enrichment company to back. When he couldn’t find one, he decided to build it himself. Less than a year after emerging from stealth, General Matter secured a historic enrichment site in Paducah, Kentucky, and was awarded a $900 million Department of Energy contract—marking one of the first serious efforts to rebuild domestic enrichment capacity ahead of the 2028 ban on Russian supply.

In this episode, we discuss:

  • Why enrichment is the missing link in America’s nuclear supply chain

  • How the U.S. went from controlling 86% of global enrichment capacity to effectively none at commercial scale

  • The science behind uranium enrichment and why it matters for next-generation reactors

  • Why Scott applied the SpaceX playbook to nuclear after more than a decade in venture capital

  • How General Matter is revitalizing the historic Paducah, Kentucky enrichment site

  • The significance of General Matter’s $900 million Department of Energy contract

  • The bipartisan political support for expanding nuclear energy

  • Why Scott believes nuclear energy could grow 3-4x by 2050

  • The parallels between America’s space and nuclear industries

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Timestamps

(00:00) Introduction to Scott Nolan

(02:24) General Matter’s mission to rebuild U.S. enrichment

(05:08) How the U.S. lost its edge

(06:24) The nuclear fuel cycle explained—and where enrichment fits

(08:31) Scott’s background: From SpaceX and Founders Fund to General Matter

(13:56) Lessons from SpaceX

(17:50) How Scott’s focus evolved over 13 years at Founders Fund

(21:00) How Scott landed on nuclear enrichment

(25:58) Why nuclear energy was off the radar—until recently

(30:10) Finding the right partner: Scott and Lee’s collaboration

(32:04) What downblending means and why it matters

(33:30) How U.S. uranium enrichment quietly came to an end

(38:34) The Russian uranium ban and the 2028 supply cliff

(40:38) How General Matter plans to compete

(43:09) Building a world-class team

(46:03) The market for enriched uranium

(49:30) Future bottlenecks

(50:56) What the U.S. needs to actually scale nuclear energy

(51:32) Uranium supply constraints

(54:16) LEU vs. HALEU: the fuels powering old and new reactors

(57:49) Why 20% enrichment is a critical threshold

(59:30) Why General Matter chose Paducah, Kentucky

(01:04:35) Legislation and executive orders easing nuclear friction

(01:07:06) The $900 million Department of Energy award

(01:11:08) Why mission matters most

(01:14:12) Final meditations

Follow Scott Nolan

X: https://x.com/ScottNolan

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Production and marketing by penname.co. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email [email protected].

The Generalist’s Productivity Stack (2026)

2026-01-22 23:41:21

Friends,

Last January, on a whim, I shared a few of the productivity methods I’ve found effective in maximizing my output while building The Generalist. It was driven by a geekish obsession with tiny optimizations, a love for adopting niche tools, and a real belief that the environment you make for yourself impacts the work you are capable of.

To my surprise, it became one of The Generalist’s most popular pieces. With January in full swing and the year still stretching in front of us, I decided to sit down and outline the new tools and methods I’ve found effective over the past year. It turned into quite a collection. You’ll find 26 tools I recommend (both digital and analog) and 8 practices I’ve found invaluable.

I’ve avoided repeating last year’s recommendations (though I still use them), so if you’re as into these kinds of hacks and optimizations as I am, you may want to read that piece, too.

Tools

An exhaustive list of the programs, apps, extensions, and physical objects I recommend.

Read more

Programming Sunlight: How Reflect Orbital Is Building Satellites to Redirect Light From Space (Ben Nowack, Founder & CEO)

2026-01-20 21:03:59

“It’s either sunny or it’s not sunny, and there’s not much you can do about that—but we’re trying to change that for the first time ever.” —Ben Nowack

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Most energy conversations start with scarcity. This one starts with abundance. Sunlight powers nearly everything on Earth, directly or indirectly. And yet we have almost no control over when or where we get it. Ben Nowack thinks that’s a solvable problem. Ben is the founder and CEO of Reflect Orbital, a company building satellites designed to redirect sunlight from space—not as a thought experiment, but as a product. The company nearly died before it worked. Eight months in, Ben had $300 left and was living in a garage. He made a deliberate decision to go $50,000 into credit card debt to finish critical tests. At one point, he was down to $21 of available credit. A month later, Reflect raised its first round. Today, the company is preparing to launch its first revenue-generating satellites. This is a conversation about building conviction, finding the real market, and what changes when a fundamental resource becomes programmable.

In our conversation, we explore:

  • How Reflect’s satellites work

  • The surprising pivot from energy to lighting applications that made the business immediately viable

  • Ben’s remarkable journey from building RC planes and X-ray machines in high school to founding Reflect

  • Why previous attempts at space mirrors failed and what’s changed to make this possible now

  • The near-death moment when Ben went $50,000 into credit card debt to keep his vision alive

  • How Reflect plans to scale from moonlight-level brightness to potentially powering solar farms

  • The company’s first satellite launches planned for this year, and their path to a full constellation

  • The wide range of applications, from emergency response to municipal lighting to agriculture

Explore the episode

Timestamps

(00:00) Introduction to Ben Nowack

(02:26) What Reflect Orbital is building

(05:07) How the satellite constellation works

(08:00) What Reflect is launching this year

(10:35) Finding early markets

(13:43) Ben’s childhood and early building experiences

(22:04) What Ben learned working for startups

(28:03) High school projects: X-ray machines, rocket engines, and fusion reactors

(33:14) The eureka moment that led to Reflect

(35:24) Early validation of the idea

(38:35) The Russian space mirror experiments of the 1990s and what’s changed

(42:31) Partnering with Tristan Similac as co-founder

(45:05) Baiju Bhatt’s involvement

(47:04) Why Reflect isn’t pivoting to space-based data centers

(50:54) Common misconceptions about Reflect’s technology

(55:11) Why programmable light is valuable

(1:01:28) Initial target markets

(1:03:42) The future markets for Reflect

(1:07:33) Reflect’s company culture and operational philosophy

(1:12:05) Surprises and struggles in building Reflect

(1:14:56) Putting the idea to the test

Follow Ben Nowack

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ben-nowack

X: https://x.com/bennbuilds

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I’d love it if you’d subscribe and share the show. Your support makes all the difference as we try to bring more curious minds into the conversation.

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Production and marketing by penname.co. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email [email protected].

Nothing’s Carl Pei on Building a $1B Smartphone Company, Why He Left OnePlus After 10 Days of Retirement, and Why He Thinks About Death Every Week

2026-01-13 21:03:26

“As humans, one of our superpowers is creativity. Both on an individual level, but also on a species level. And by creativity, I mean the ability to solve problems.” —Carl Pei

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Carl Pei is the founder of Nothing, the consumer electronics company known for its distinctive transparent design language across smartphones and audio products. Before launching Nothing in 2020, Carl co-founded OnePlus, where he spent seven years helping build it into a major smartphone brand. But Carl’s instincts as a builder showed up much earlier. As a teenager, he taught himself to code by building Pokémon fan sites, all while moving between China, the U.S., and Sweden. That combination of early creation and constant change shaped a founder comfortable with uncertainty—and deeply motivated by questions bigger than products. Carl thinks often about time and mortality, is skeptical of early retirement, and believes creativity is humanity’s real advantage. In an industry obsessed with optimization, he’s focused on making technology feel meaningful again.

In our conversation, we explore:

  • The origins of Nothing’s transparent design language and how it helps differentiate the brand in a mature, competitive market

  • Carl’s childhood fascination with mortality and how it continues to drive his ambition today

  • Nothing’s multiple near-death experiences, from 80% defect rates on first products to fundraising struggles

  • Why India has become a crucial market for Nothing’s smartphone business

  • How Nothing approaches community involvement, including letting users invest alongside VCs

  • The company’s approach to integrating AI features without overhyping the technology

  • Carl’s admiration for Genghis Khan’s management style and talent acquisition approach

  • The future of consumer electronics beyond smartphones

Thank you to our sponsor, Guru — The AI source of truth for work

Explore the episode

Timestamps

(00:00) Introduction to Carl Pei and Nothing

(02:44) Nothing’s long-term vision

(06:33) How existential thinking shapes Carl’s motivation

(10:12) Why Carl’s planned sabbatical ended after ten days

(12:35) Carl’s international upbringing

(16:02) Entrepreneurial experiments in China

(19:10) Carl’s competitive nature and attitude toward school

(25:30) Lessons from seven years at OnePlus

(28:07) Taking a break at age 31

(30:50) Carl’s fundraising strategy

(33:26) Why Carl chose London for Nothing’s HQ

(35:12) Lessons from Genghis Khan

(38:38) Nothing’s first near-death moment

(42:56) Nothing’s product evolution and breakout hits

(45:24) Partnering with Teenage Engineering

(49:28) Design inspirations

(51:36) How Nothing recruits talent

(53:42) Nothing’s approach to marketing

(56:51) How India became a key market

(59:48) Why Nothing created CMF

(1:02:12) Why Carl is bullish on India

(1:03:32) How Carl thinks about AI

(1:07:05) Rethinking ads based on community feedback

(1:09:05) How Nothing leverages community

(1:11:23) Why AI hardware is struggling

(1:13:37) Carl’s thoughts on the future of consumer electronics

(1:15:10) Philosophies that shape Carl’s worldview

(1:16:45) Final meditations

Follow Carl Pei

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/getpeid

X: https://x.com/getpeid

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Production and marketing by penname.co. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email [email protected].