Divot

Robert and Richard Rizk co-founded Blackbox AI with their brother Roger, taking a coding search engine into enterprise AI infrastructure. The engineers are tackling a problem bigger than model intelligence: how to make AI affordable without giving up control of sensitive data. Their approach combines open-weight models, encrypted inference, and more efficient use of NVIDIA GPUs at scale.
In this episode with Derek Andersen, the brothers explain why the cheapest AI endpoint can carry risks beyond its price, how hosting changes the privacy equation for DeepSeek, and why open-weight models can coexist with OpenAI. They also break down the difference between zero data retention and encryption, and how generating more tokens from the same GPU could unlock wider AI adoption throughout the enterprise.
The conversation goes deeper than technology. Robert and Richard reveal how three brothers turn trust and disagreement into an advantage, why Navy SEAL discipline inspires their culture, and how they approach problems others avoid. Their lesson for founders: choose work worth doing, then tackle the hardest parts one step at a time.
Follow BlackBox.ai - X (Twitter): https://x.com/blackboxai
Follow Derek - X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/derekjandersen
Episode Partners:
Google for Startups
If you’re building a company, join Google Cloud and the DeepMind team on November 4 and 5 for a briefing on Gemini 4 Argon, exploring what it could make possible for your business and how to start building with it. Includes live Q&A. Register your interest at https://goo.gle/gemini4_briefing
Timestamps:
01:05 — AI Inference: Why More Tokens per GPU Matter
04:08 — Open vs. Closed AI: Why Businesses Want Both
09:54 — DeepSeek and Data Privacy: Where Your AI Runs Matters
18:43 — Encrypted AI vs. Zero Data Retention: What’s the Difference?
25:40 — NVIDIA GPUs: Lowering AI Costs Without Adding Hardware
31:06 — Why Smarter Models Still Need Better Infrastructure
38:01 — Three Brothers, One Company: The Blackbox Origin Story
43:14 — How Trust and Disagreement Help Founders Move Faster
47:00 — The Navy SEAL Mindset Behind Blackbox’s Culture
01:01:28 — Overcoming Hard Problems: One Decision at a Time
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Hashtags:
#BlackboxAI #AIInference #AIPrivacy #NVIDIA #DeepSeek #OpenAI #AISecurity #OpenWeightModels #AIInfrastructure #StartupFounders #DivotPodcast

Ivan Burazin is the co-founder and CEO of Daytona, the AI infrastructure company building computers for AI agents. His 16-person engineering team rebuilt its product with a radical rule: no manually written code. With engineers directing up to 15 agents at once, he offers a firsthand look at the future of software development, where human judgment matters more than typing every line.
In this episode with Derek Andersen, Ivan makes a bold case: the next software revolution will be built for agents, not humans. He explains why SaaS could become infrastructure, how AI agents explore multiple paths in parallel, and why GPU access can become a financing problem. His challenge to startup founders: look beyond adding a chatbot and rethink who your software is built to serve.
The conversation goes deeper than technology. Ivan explores why AI could widen inequality, why founders delay hard decisions, and why human relationships still matter. From his repeated failures to his gratitude for family, he shares a different measure of success. It is not about feeling happy every day, but about ending it content that you did something difficult, meaningful, and worth the effort.
Follow Ivan - X (Twitter): https://x.com/ivanburazin
Follow Derek - X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/derekjandersen
Episode Partners:
Google for Startups
If you’re building a company, join Google Cloud and the DeepMind team on November 4 and 5 for a briefing on Gemini 4 Argon, exploring what it could make possible for your business and how to start building with it. Includes live Q&A. Register your interest at https://goo.gle/gemini4_briefing
Timestamps:
01:49 — AI Agents vs. Chatbots: What’s the Difference?
06:09 — Why Daytona’s Engineers Stopped Writing Code
11:49 — How Many AI Agents Can One Person Manage?
18:22 — Inside Daytona: Giving AI Agents a Computer
21:07 — The AI “Multiverse”: Testing Multiple Paths at Once
23:45 — Why AI Infrastructure Needs Split-Second Speed
26:25 — Build for AI Agents, Not Just Humans
28:43 — Salesforce and the Future of SaaS
34:59 — Inside the GPU Wars: The Cost of Scaling AI
45:04 — AI’s Biggest Risk? The Widening Divide
49:10 — Why Ivan Moved to San Francisco for AI
56:49 — Hard Decisions, Resilience, and Defining Success
Follow Divot:
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Hashtags:
#AI #Superintelligence #IvanBurazin #Daytona #ArtificialIntelligence #SoftwareEngineering #SoftwareDevelopment #AIAgents #AIInfrastructure #Entrepreneurship #FutureOfSoftware #FutureOfWork #DerekAndersen #DivotPodcast

Aditya Agarwal helped build early Facebook and scaled Dropbox’s engineering team from 25 to 1,000. The former Dropbox CTO is now a General Partner at South Park Commons, a venture firm with $2 billion in assets under management whose portfolio includes Baseten, valued at $13 billion in June 2026. His career spans the rise of social media, cloud software, and now artificial intelligence.
In this episode with Derek Andersen, Aditya makes a bold case: the superintelligence era is already here. He explains why AI is reshaping software engineering, recalls a 15-second AI diagnosis he estimates would have taken him hours, and reveals why coding alone is no longer enough. As Big Tech builds the infrastructure, he sees an extraordinary opening for small teams with ambitious ideas.
The conversation goes deeper than technology. Aditya challenges founders to stop following predictable paths and give their biggest ideas room to grow. From early Facebook to the lessons of building startups, he explores curiosity, patience, and the courage to begin without every answer. His message is a challenge to every builder: don’t let what you’ve already achieved limit what you dare to attempt next.
Follow Aditya - X (Twitter): https://x.com/adityaag
Follow Derek - X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/derekjandersen
Episode Partners:
Google for Startups
If you’re building applications with generative media or considering it, Google just released a brand-new technical guide. You can download it at https://goo.gle/genmediaguide
Timestamps:
06:27 — From Oracle to Facebook: Betting on the Unknown
17:23 — Why Contrarian Startup Ideas Face Rejection
18:58 — South Park Commons: Finding What’s Worth Building
29:41 — AI Is Changing the Value of Coding
33:15 — The 15-Second AI Diagnosis That Surprised a CTO
37:15 — Why the AI Revolution Is Still Early
39:43 — Why He Believes Superintelligence Is Already Here
40:39 — Can Small AI Startups Compete With Big Tech?
42:08 — AI Safety: Can We Really Slow Down?
45:26 — Imposter Syndrome: Learning Beats Knowing
46:37 — Beyond Success: What Actually Matters
Follow Divot:
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Hashtags:
#AI #Superintelligence #AdityaAgarwal #Facebook #Dropbox #ArtificialIntelligence #SoftwareEngineering #AIStartups #SouthParkCommons #SiliconValley #Entrepreneurship #StartupFounders #FutureOfWork #DerekAndersen #DivotPodcast

Steve Young is a Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback, two-time NFL MVP, and Super Bowl MVP who threw six touchdown passes to lead the San Francisco 49ers to victory in Super Bowl XXIX. From eighth on BYU’s quarterback depth chart to the NFL’s biggest stage, he built a career under extraordinary pressure. His book, The Law of Love, explores what success means beyond the scoreboard.
In this episode with Derek Andersen, Steve reveals what Bill Walsh understood about building winning teams: talent and strategy need trust, love, and accountability. He explains why great players struggle in broken cultures, how chasing credit damages relationships, and why facing hard things helped him grow. He also shares his father’s blunt response when he wanted to quit BYU.
The conversation goes deeper than football. Steve admits he spent much of his life believing worry was the price of success, and explains why he is now questioning that belief. Through his reflections on faith, selfless love, and the fear of failure, a different measure of greatness emerges: the healing you bring to others, and the person you become when there is no credit to claim.
Follow Steve - X (Twitter): https://x.com/SteveYoungQB
Follow Derek - X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/derekjandersen
Episode Partners:
Google for Startups
If you’re building applications with generative media or considering it, Google just released a brand-new technical guide. You can download it at https://goo.gle/genmediaguide
Timestamps:
06:59 — Why Great Players Lose in Broken Cultures
10:29 — Bill Walsh’s Formula for Building Winning Teams
19:31 — Staying Grounded Through Fame, Money, and Power
24:03 — Why Steve Young Almost Quit BYU
31:07 — The Law of Love: Caring Without Keeping Score
38:41 — Practicing Selfless Love When Patience Runs Out
47:45 — The Childhood Failure That Taught Him Resilience
50:17 — Why Fear of Failure Isn’t the Price of Success
54:37 — The Legacy Steve Young Values More Than Trophies
1:00:06 — Facing Hard Things: Why Steve Young Chooses to Lean In
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Hashtags:
#SteveYoung #SanFrancisco49ers #NFL #BillWalsh #TheLawOfLove #Leadership #TeamCulture #FearOfFailure #Resilience #SelflessLove #PersonalGrowth #Legacy #DerekAndersen #DivotPodcast

Astro Teller is the entrepreneur, AI scientist, and Captain of Moonshots who has led X, Alphabet’s moonshot factory, for more than 15 years. Under his leadership, X helped incubate Google Brain, Waymo, Wing, and Verily, breakthroughs spanning artificial intelligence, autonomous driving, drone delivery, and precision health. In 2026, Waymo alone raised $16 billion at a $126 billion valuation.
In this episode with Derek Andersen, Astro explains how X makes radical innovation repeatable. Teams brainstorm deliberately terrible ideas to unlock creativity, pursue opportunities with only a 1% chance of success, and attack the hardest assumptions before wasting years on comfortable progress. The goal is not to win every bet. It is to build an intellectually honest process that consistently turns uncertainty into learning.
The conversation goes deeper into why innovators must detach identity from outcomes. Astro reveals when to kill a promising project, how Loon’s shutdown created the “moonshot compost” that became Taara, and why the ideas nobody cares about today may become technologies everyone chases in 15 years. His challenge to leaders is radical: reward intelligent failure, stop confusing progress with learning, and become a card counter of innovation.
Follow Astro Teller - X (Twitter): https://x.com/astroteller
Follow Derek - X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/derekjandersen
Episode Partners:
Google for Startups
If you’re building applications with generative media or considering it, Google just released a brand-new technical guide. You can download it at https://goo.gle/genmediaguide
Timestamps:
02:03 — Why Bad Ideas Unlock Breakthrough Creativity
08:55 — Why Great Innovators Ignore What Everyone Is Chasing
12:30 — The Card Counter Strategy for Intelligent Failure
16:21 — When to Kill a Project, and When to Keep Going
23:23 — Your Technology Works. But Does It Matter?
26:14 — How Waymo’s First 1,000-Mile Moonshot Began
29:55 — “Be Yourself on Purpose”: Astro’s Leadership Rule
35:10 — How Project Loon’s Failure Created Taara
41:05 — The $1 Million vs. $1 Billion Innovation Test
43:59 — Why Google X Intentionally Underfunds Moonshots
52:58 — Why Winning Is Not Necessarily Good
Follow Divot:
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Hashtags:
#AstroTeller #GoogleX #XTheMoonshotFactory #RadicalInnovation #MoonshotThinking #IntelligentFailure #InnovationStrategy #BreakthroughInnovation #Leadership #Creativity #Waymo #GoogleBrain #Entrepreneurship #FounderMindset #DivotPodcast