From middle school basketball teammates to Y Combinator founders building the world's first "brain rot IDE," Kevin and Richard's journey is a masterclass in persistence, pivoting, and having fun while building.

We discuss:

• How they met in middle school and reconnected to start building

• Richard's seven YC applications (and why only the last one counted)

• Getting rejected with "I hate this idea" and coming back stronger

• Building to 1.5M users, then pivoting 24 hours before their YC interview

• Why iteration speed matters more than coding speed or sales velocity

• Skipping ad impressions entirely and going straight to user acquisition

• The Chad IDE: integrating Tinder, TikTok, and gambling into your coding workflow

• Hiring two interns during YC and why they took the risk

• Why having fun is their most important metric

• Real advice: sell before you build, just do it, don't overthink frameworks

If you're a startup founder, someone who's applied to YC, or just love hearing authentic stories about the messy middle of building, this episode is for you.

About Clad Labs: Clad Labs is building the Chad IDE—an AI-powered development environment that keeps you productive during code generation by integrating entertainment directly into your workflow. They're also pioneering a new advertising model that skips impressions and goes straight to user acquisition for dev tools. https://cladlabs.ai

About ImagineAI: We build your B2B content pipeline so prospects find you, trust you, and book meetings before your competitors even get a reply. https://www.imagineai.me/

Learn more about Richard: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richard-wang-39554994/

Learn more about Kevin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lekevin2/

Learn more about Neo: https://www.linkedin.com/in/neo-lky/

Listen now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube. Subscribe to Signal Line for more conversations with the builders shaping the future.

Timestamps 0:00 – Cold Open: Best YC Advice 0:41 – Welcome to Signal Line 0:53 – Who Are Kevin and Richard? 1:29 – How Two Middle School Friends Started Building Together 2:27 – The First Idea: AI Ads and RAG 3:19 – "I Hate This Idea" – Getting Rejected by YC 4:33 – Richard's Seven YC Applications 5:17 – The Pivot 24 Hours Before the Interview 6:35 – YC's Best Advice: Iteration Speed Over Everything 7:27 – YC's Worst Advice: They're Too Nice 8:05 – The Truth About Fundraising and Pivoting 9:08 – Why We Hired Two Interns During YC 10:12 – How to Convince People to Join Your Startup 11:16 – What the Chad IDE Actually Does 13:55 – The World's First Brain Rot IDE 14:33 – Our Go-to-Market Strategy: Have Fun 15:24 – No Framework, Just Vibes 16:17 – Where We Go to Think (Spoiler: Nowhere) 17:08 – Advice for Early Stage Founders

From UCLA dorm mates to Y Combinator founders solving a problem that didn't exist six months ago, Sid and Janak's journey into GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) started with a furniture store losing Google traffic to ChatGPT.

We discuss:

How Janak's dad's furniture store inspired the Bear idea

Building a search engine for GitHub, then pivoting to AI agent marketing

Getting rejected from YC summer batch, then emailing a partner 20 times Getting an interview invite on the last day of fall results

Sell before you build: landing a Series A edtech startup as their first customer

GEO vs SEO: why your brand needs to be on authoritative sources, not just your own content

How different AI models (ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity) cite different sources

Living in customer Slack channels and fixing bugs in real time

Why being likable matters more than your deck, content, or outbound strategy

Customer love as the only metric that matters (measured by vibes)

Why Sid takes one full day off per week to stay productive

If you're a startup founder navigating B2B sales, curious about AI search and GEO, or just want to hear honest stories about persistence and customer obsession, this episode is for you.

About Bear: Bear helps companies market to AI agents like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude Code, and Cursor. They enable businesses to show up in AI search results through strategic placement on authoritative sources.

About ImagineAI: We build your B2B content pipeline so prospects find you, trust you, and book meetings before your competitors even get a reply. https://www.imagineai.me/

Learn more about Sid: https://www.linkedin.com/in/siddhantpaliwal/

Learn more about Janak: https://www.linkedin.com/in/janaksunil/

Learn more about Neo: https://www.linkedin.com/in/neo-lky/

Listen now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube. Subscribe to Signal Line for more conversations with the builders shaping the future.

Timestamps

0:00 – Cold Open: What People Don't Understand About GEO

0:47 – Welcome to Signal Line

0:54 – What is Bear?

1:08 – Who Are Sid and Janak?

1:36 – How Two UCLA Dorm Mates Started Building Together

2:15 – Janak's Dad: Bear's First Inspiration (Not First Customer)

3:08 – How to Sell Before You Build

3:53 – Getting Rejected, Then Emailing 20 Times

5:02 – YC's Biggest Lesson: Customer Love

5:29 – The Secret Recipe: Live in Slack, Fix Bugs Instantly

6:03 – What People Get Wrong About GEO

7:24 – How Different AI Models Prefer Different Sources

8:13 – Keeping Up With Rapid AI Model Changes

8:58 – The Only Metric Before Demo Day: Customer Love

9:43 – Lessons We Wish We Knew Before YC

10:22 – Enterprise Sales: Being Likable Matters More Than Your Pitch

10:27 – How to Stay Sane During YC

11:05 – Life Philosophy: "Just Be Good"

11:22 – Advice for Early Stage Founders: Get a Paying Customer First

From winning national Math Olympiads and conducting quantum computing research with Caltech professors to raising funding straight out of Y Combinator, Tunga’s journey is a deep dive into innovation, focus, and execution.

We discuss:

- His early years as a math and robotics Olympian

- Research in quantum algorithms and machine learning

- Building Freya, a voice AI company revolutionizing customer service

- Landing their first banking customer during YC

- Lessons from Y Combinator, B2B sales, and founder life

- Expanding into international markets including Turkey and the Czech Republic

If you’re a startup founder, technologist, or someone who loves hearing authentic stories of perseverance and innovation, this episode is for you.

About Freya:

Freya builds human-like voice AI agents that help companies resolve customer issues faster by automating repetitive call center operations in finance, insurance, and fintech. https://freyavoice.ai/

About ImagineAI:

We build your B2B content pipeline so prospects find you, trust you, and book meetings before your competitors even get a reply. https://www.imagineai.me/

Learn more about Tunga:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/tunga-bayrak/

Learn more about Sky:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/skyyang/

Listen now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube.

Subscribe to Signal Line for more conversations with the builders shaping the future.

Timestamps

0:00 – Intro

0:40 – Welcome to Signal Line

1:00 – What is Freya

2:30 – Funding Round and YC Journey

4:30 – How the Co-Founders Met

5:45 – Math and Quantum Computing Background

8:20 – Voice AI and the Future of Customer Service

10:20 – First Customer Story (a Bank)

12:30 – YC Takeaways and Founder Lessons

14:00 – Vegas Conference Story

14:40 – Founder Life and Closing Thoughts