Solo Founders

Dave Morin helped launch Facebook Platform, founded Path, co-founded Slow Ventures, and now runs Offline Ventures. He backed Ben Cera fifteen years before Polsia and chairs the OpenClaw Foundation. He calls himself a producer, not an investor, and makes the case that founding is a relational act: most startups fail on relationships, not product, and the only way solo founding fails is believing "solo" means alone.

Topics covered:
- The Alchemist, and why starting is freedom from suffering
- "YouTube can be your co-founder. ChatGPT can be your co-founder."
- The producer, not the investor: why startups die on relationships
- What Jony Ive told Dave when Steve Jobs died
- The first twelve hours with Clawdbot, and finding Peter Steinberger
- How Polsia actually started: Gift Shop, Kyoto, Company OS, and "Am I crazy?"
- Ramble, and the 10,000-dinners test for what to build
- The bear case and the bull case for solo founding

Guest: Dave Morin — co-founder of Offline Ventures (offline.vc); early Facebook, founder of Path, co-founder of Slow Ventures, Chairperson of the OpenClaw Foundation.

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.