The Pod

LATEST LIVE Episode 8

Live at a16z Tech Week with Christopher O'Donnell at Day AI

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Christopher O'Donnell

Founder, Day AI

BUILD617 went live for the first time — and Boston showed up. Recorded in front of a live audience during the inaugural Boston Tech Week presented by a16z, Nick and Nathan sit down with Christopher O'Donnell of Day AI to talk about what it means to build AI companies in Boston, why the city's builder culture is finally hitting its stride, and what happens when you put founders on stage with no script and no safety net.

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Episode 7

Why the Future of Fitness Is Adaptive with HYBRD's Ben Katz and Mats Terwiesch

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Ben Katz & Mats Terwiesch

Cofounders, HYBRD (YC-backed)

Ben Katz and Mats Terwiesch aren't just building a fitness app — they're building an adaptive AI coaching platform for hybrid athletes. The HYBRD cofounders break down what it took to get into Y Combinator, why they chose to build in Boston instead of moving to SF, and how the city's deep talent pool in AI and sports science gives them an edge no other ecosystem can match.

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Episode 6

From Family Business to Vertical AI Breakout with Benj Cohen

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Benj Cohen

Founder & CEO, Proton.ai

Benj Cohen didn't set out to build a venture-backed AI company — he set out to solve a problem he watched his family's distribution business struggle with for years. The Proton.ai founder and CEO explains how a Harvard applied math student turned a family business insight into one of Boston's breakout vertical AI companies, and why the city's deep bench of enterprise customers and technical talent makes it the perfect place to build B2B AI.

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Episode 5

Why the Roomba Was Built in Boston with Helen Greiner

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Helen Greiner

Co-Founder, iRobot · Founder, CyPhy Works & Tertill

The woman who co-founded iRobot and put a robot in 40 million homes explains why it could only have happened in Boston. Helen Greiner on the unique intersection of MIT robotics, DARPA funding, and a city that builds things that actually work in the physical world — and why the next wave of robotics companies will come from the same ecosystem that created the Roomba.

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Episode 4

The Future of Bits + Atoms Gets Built in MA with Eric Paley

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Eric Paley

Managing Partner, Founder Collective

Eric Paley isn't here to reminisce about Route 128's glory days — he's here to bury them. The Founder Collective managing partner delivers a sharp thesis on why Massachusetts needs to stop looking in the rearview mirror and start chasing venture-scale outcomes in AI, "bits + atoms" companies, and the industries only Boston can build. A conversation about what it actually takes to turn world-class research into world-class companies.

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Episode 3

Why Jason Kelly of Ginkgo Bioworks Is Still Betting on Boston

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Jason Kelly

Founder & CEO, Ginkgo Bioworks

The man who built a $4B biotech empire in Boston doesn't hold back. Jason Kelly drops a bombshell thesis: Boston has the real tech — biotech, robotics, atoms over bits — but is leaving generational wealth on the table by thinking too small. His fix? Ban human-driven cars downtown, turn the city into an autonomous vehicle playground, and for the love of God, stop trying to raise money in Boston. The wake-up call Boston's startup scene didn't know it needed.

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Episode 2

Still Building. A Conversation with David Chang

David Chang

Founder, Via AI · Prev. Gradifi (acq. E*Trade), Where (acq. PayPal)

Serial acqui-hirer. Two exits to PayPal and E*Trade. David Chang has seen every cycle Boston has to offer — and he's not sugarcoating what went wrong. His diagnosis: the city's VC ecosystem caught a case of "beer goggle" skepticism — investors who'd shake hands over coffee in SF suddenly go cold when the deal lands back in Boston. But here's the twist: Chang argues local founders aren't lacking ambition, they're just doing the math differently. The episode that proves Boston's founder community runs deeper than any hype cycle — because "you're never going to enjoy building anything if you don't like the people."

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PILOT Episode 1

What in the Boston Are We Doing Here?

Nick Leonard & Nathan Spielberg

Hosts, BUILD617

The one that started it all. Nick and Nathan rip the band-aid off Boston's tech scene with a single, uncomfortable question: why does this city have world-class talent, world-class capital, and a second-class startup culture? Nathan delivers the episode's defining hot take — Boston doesn't have a talent problem or a money problem, it has a hype problem. The city's allergic to its own cheerleaders. While Silicon Valley compounds success through relentless mutual celebration, Boston fragments into disconnected silos of universities, VCs, and banks that never overlap. This is the manifesto episode — the reason BUILD617 exists.

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Live at a16z Tech Week with Christopher O'Donnell at Day AI

Why the Future of Fitness Is Adaptive with HYBRD's Ben Katz and Mats Terwiesch

From Family Business to Vertical AI Breakout with Benj Cohen

Why the Roomba Was Built in Boston with Helen Greiner

The Future of Bits + Atoms Gets Built in MA with Eric Paley

Why Jason Kelly of Ginkgo Bioworks Is Still Betting on Boston

Still Building. A Conversation with David Chang

What in the Boston Are We Doing Here?

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