In this episode, we sit down with Bruce Yang, co-founder and CEO of Agnes AI, a homegrown AI company from Singapore that has already amassed over 6 million registered users and reached $10 million in annual recurring revenue all within less than a year of launching. Bruce shares how his team built a cluster of cost-efficient AI models that deliver near state-of-the-art performance at one-tenth the cost, making advanced AI accessible to the 99% who are currently locked out by paywalls and infrastructure gaps.

Bruce takes us through his journey from a scholarship student arriving in Singapore at age 15, to studying math and computer science at UC Berkeley, building LinkedIn's first subscription product, launching a "Snapchat before Snapchat" social media startup in Silicon Valley, and eventually returning to Singapore to pursue a PhD at NUS right as the generative AI revolution exploded. That unique combination of startup grit, big tech experience, and academic depth fuels his bold vision for Agnes AI.

The conversation goes deep into Bruce's thesis on the AI geopolitical landscape: why the world cannot afford a US-China duopoly in AI, and why Southeast Asia and the rest of the emerging world need their own sovereign AI capabilities a "third nation" in the AI race. We also explore how Agnes AI leverages post-training on open-source models, their agentic routing architecture, the future of SaaS in an AI-agent world, and Bruce's advice for aspiring entrepreneurs: keep your ego low, fail fast, and become an adaptive learner.

⌛ Timestamps:

00:00:00 Episode intro & guest introduction

00:01:06 Bruce Yang's introduction and Agnes AI overview

00:02:26 From China to Singapore to UC Berkeley

00:03:19 Working at Microsoft and LinkedIn

00:04:06 Startups experience in Sillicon Valley

00:05:03 The PhD program that eventually led to founding Agnes AI

00:07:21 The time when he built a social media startup challenging Facebook

00:09:56 Fundraising lessons and speed as essence for consumer apps

00:12:01 Hobbies of Bruce

00:15:24 Agnes AI founding story

00:17:58 Building cost-efficient models with post-training

00:21:50 Live product demo: research, slides, and character AI

00:35:54 AI inclusion and the "third nation" vision

00:42:06 Challenges facing Agnes AI: educating investors in emerging markets

00:47:17 Enterprise solutions and Model as a Service (MaaS)

00:50:42 Future of Gen AI, SaaS disruption and AGI predictions

00:56:38 Diminishing returns, GPU costs, and the road ahead

01:01:50 AI models training themselves — the evolution cycle

01:04:14 Advice for aspiring entrepreneurs

01:07:04 Where to follow Agnes AI

01:08:02 Episode outro and next episode preview

Follow Agnes AI:

Web app: https://agnes-ai.com/

Download on App Store: https://apps.apple.com/sg/app/agnes-ai-your-daily-copilot/id6746299015

Download on Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sobrr.agnes

Agnes AI LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/agnesaisapiens

Agnes AI Twitter/X: https://x.com/agnesai_sapiens

Our social media:

Crypto card guide: cryptocardguide.com

Twitter/X: x.com/ColorsofWeb3pod

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/colors-of-web3-entrepreneurship

If you enjoy this episode, please subscribe to stay updated on our upcoming episodes with industry experts and innovators in the Web3 and Entrepreneurship spaces. Thank you for listening!

In this episode of Colors of Web3 and Entrepreneurship, Lam Trinh sits down with Ariel Eiberman, the Latin American director at GnosisPay, also known in the industry as "the Stablecoin guy". Ariel share his fascinating journey into the crypto space, which began in 2013 when he used Bitcoin as his primary banking infrastructure to facilitate international payments for polyglot meetups.

The conversation dives deep into the frustrations of traditional banking, particularly in Argentina, where users face multiple exchange rates, physical bank limitations, and inefficient systems. Ariel explains why he has personally tested over 30 different crypto cards and neobanks, offering a unique perspective on which platforms offer the best fees, trust, and usability for those looking for a banking alternative.

Finally, Ariel shares his vision for the future of on-chain banking. He discusses the importance of self-custody, the rise of niche neobanks, and how blockchain technology can eventually provide better financial tools for families and businesses without necessarily replacing traditional banks entirely.

⌛ Timestamps:

00:00:00 Episode trailer

00:00:34 Show & guest introduction

00:02:01 How tools and neobanks have exploded in crypto

00:02:54 The rabbit hole story, Bitcoin as a first bank

00:04:30 From ICOs to smart contract wallets and decentralized RPCs

00:06:48 Working in crypto accounting and the pain of blockchain bookkeeping

00:08:23 Why banking in Argentina is a nightmare

00:11:30 Argentina's five different dollar exchange rates

00:14:23 QR payments vs. card payments in Latin America

00:17:38 Ariel's hobbies

00:18:56 How Ariel became "The Stablecoin Guy" with 30+ crypto cards

00:21:00 How he positioned himself in a noisy Web3 payment space

00:23:58 Trust vs. fees what users actually care about

00:25:00 Why most crypto neobanks will fail in the next bear market

00:27:33 Neobanks need to go niche - The barbershop analogy

00:31:06 Best cards for zero FX fees: EtherFi, Gnosis Pay, and more

00:32:58 QR code payments with stablecoins in Bolivia

00:34:53 Vietnam's incredible banking system and crypto card opportunities

00:37:45 The future of on-chain banking

00:39:29 Some opportunities that Ariel sees for neobanks

00:42:15 Advice for people who want to break into Web3

00:43:52 Where to follow Ariel & Gnosis Pay

00:45:55 Episode outro and next episode preview

Follow Ariel & Gnosis Pay:

Ariel's Twitter/X: https://x.com/AriEiberman

Ariel's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/arieleiberman/

Gnosis Pay Website: https://gnosispay.com/

Gnosis Pay Twitter/X: https://x.com/gnosispay

Our social media:

Crypto card guide: cryptocardguide.com

Twitter/X: x.com/ColorsofWeb3pod

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/colors-of-web3-entrepreneurship

If you enjoy this episode, please subscribe to stay updated on our upcoming episodes with industry experts and innovators in the Web3 and Entrepreneurship spaces. Thank you for listening!

What happens when a head of growth decides to automate himself out of a job before AI does it for him? You get TheHog, a YC-backed AI go-to-market platform built by Hudson Liao that listens to real buyer conversations across LinkedIn, X, and Reddit to find genuine purchase intent.

Hudson joins Lam to break down his path from California firefighter to YC W25 founder, why spray-and-pray outreach is destroying brands, and what "scaling authenticity" actually means when AI is doing the work.

⌛ Timestamps:

00:00:00 Episode trailer

00:00:35 Show & guest introduction

00:04:50 Transitioning from finance to the startup world

00:07:22 The universal framework behind growth

00:08:25 Hudson's hobby

00:09:50 The origin story of TheHog.ai

00:12:07 Getting into Y Combinator and the YC experience

00:15:17 Ideal customer profile: who is The Hog built for?

00:16:50 Example of how the platform works

00:20:05 Scaling authenticity with AI

00:22:53 Traction: 160+ customers in 3 months

00:26:50 Will AI replace growth teams?

00:30:30 The future of go-to-market: agents, AEO, and omni-channel

00:31:50 Business model of The Hog

00:37:24 Advice for aspiring entrepreneurs

00:39:45 Where to follow Hudson and The Hog

00:41:11 Episode outro and next episode preview

Follow Hudson & The Hog:The Hog's Website: https://thehog.ai/Hudson's

Twitter/X: https://x.com/hudsonliao

Our social media:

Crypto card guide: cryptocardguide.com

Twitter/X: x.com/ColorsofWeb3pod

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/colors-of-web3-entrepreneurship

If you enjoy this episode, please subscribe to stay updated on our upcoming episodes with industry experts and innovators in the Web3 and Entrepreneurship spaces. Thank you for listening!