Zach Laberge dropped out of high school to build his first company. His second, Omen AI, puts real-time sensors inside the fluids that keep AI data centers and industrial machines running. He's 20, has no co-founder, and has raised $41.5M. He explains why having no technical co-founder forced him to learn spectroscopy himself, and why that made him better.
Topics covered:
- The shutdown test: how to know when to stop, and how to wind down well
- Restarting from your strengths: $3M raised in three days from the buyers who'd said no
- Customer-led pivots: engines to hydraulics to AI data-center coolant
- Being six months early, and the bitcoin miner who laughed
- Founding teams without co-founders; resetting the team at the seed
- Fundraising in a concentrated market: "the best round is when you're not raising"
- Advisors: weekly 1:1s and templated equity
- The bear case and the bull case for solo founding
Guest: Zach Laberge — founder & CEO of Omen AI (omen.ai), real-time fluid intelligence for AI data centers and industrial machines.
The advisor equity template Zach mentions: Founder Institute's FAST agreement, https://fi.co/fast
What is Solo Founders?
The Solo Founder's Podcast features in-depth interviews with solo founders building remarkable companies. Each week, host Julian Weisser sits down with solo founders who are either operating at serious scale or doing something right now that you need to know about. From Series B and beyond to founders breaking out in real-time, these are the conversations that define what it means to build solo. New episodes every week.