Brad Mills is a Bitcoin OG (in since 2011), entrepreneur, and angel investor. In this episode, we talk about what it actually looks like to think long-term in Bitcoin, how he invests without selling, and why “AI agents + Bitcoin” might be the first truly mainstream crypto use case.

We get into real founder stuff too: leadership failures, scaling mistakes, decision fatigue, and how Brad rebuilt his habits using a “proof of work” mindset.

What we cover:

• Brad’s first “business” at 8 years old, and the Facebook app that hit massive scale
• The moment he realized “buy and hold Bitcoin” outperformed his highest-effort businesses
• Borrowing against Bitcoin: why LTV discipline matters and how people get wiped out
• Why gold confiscation (6102) is not the same risk model as Bitcoin custody today
• Quantum risk: what’s real, what’s noise, and how upgrades likely happen
• Why AI agents choosing Bitcoin is a bigger deal than retail adoption
• “Citadel mind and body”: applying Bitcoin-style consistency to health and relationships
• Books that actually changed his execution

Chapters / Timestamps

00:00 Intro, “Bitcoin is up 3x since 2022”
01:40 Brad’s first business at 8 years old
04:00 Growing up in poverty, learning to hustle
04:30 Hacky sack business and early entrepreneurship
05:40 “How do I make money online?” and getting scammed
06:15 The Facebook “Roll Up The Rim” app and the cease & desist
07:10 Monetization at scale, then getting crowded out
08:40 Hiring 17 people, leadership reality check
11:55 When Bitcoin outperformed the entire company
12:10 Brad’s first Bitcoin in 2011 and the early volatility lessons
15:00 Failed mining partnership and why he stopped “doing too much”
19:00 Trading strategy vs just holding Bitcoin
21:05 Becoming an angel investor (Bitcoin-only)
21:45 Borrowing against Bitcoin, loans, and LTV discipline
28:15 Interest rates and banks eventually offering BTC loans
30:00 Canada, optionality, and the sovereign individual thesis
33:00 Gold confiscation (6102) and why it’s often misunderstood
36:05 Self-custody vs “in the bank vault” risk
38:45 Capital controls and how Bitcoin changes the game
41:30 Epstein/Bitcoin origin claims and why decentralization makes it irrelevant
45:20 This downturn: what feels different this cycle
50:55 Is quantum Bitcoin’s biggest risk?
52:00 Quantum soft fork talk + Saylor’s quantum task force
56:10 “Quantum treasure hunt” and lost coins as a volatility catalyst
01:00:25 Portfolio updates, Maple private AI compute, AnchorWatch insurance
01:02:15 Square/Cash App Bitcoin payments and orange-pilling merchants
01:03:45 AI agents using Bitcoin as default money
01:10:15 OpenClaw as “translator” for non-technical builders
01:12:30 CLAWI.AI, Mac mini vs VPS setups
01:12:40 Token burn reality ($150–$200/day)
01:13:45 “Citadel mind and body” and proof-of-work habits
01:23:00 Book recs: Buy Back Your Time, The Big Leap, If the Buddha Married
01:24:35 Wrap

The Arena
The Arena is a private Skool community for SaaS founders who are actively building and selling. I share real-time decisions, experiments, and assets as I use them while growing a bootstrapped SaaS.

No theory. No polish. Just execution.
Learn more at: https://www.skool.com/the-arena/

Kyle Hosick spent 25 years building a successful agency business. Referral-only. No ads. No hype.

Then he did something most operators never do.
He stopped hiding his side projects and went all in on building a brand in public.

In this episode, Kyle breaks down the real path from agency stability to New York Fashion Week, and what actually changed when he removed fear and stopped playing defense.

We get into:

• Why “being more yourself” can be the ultimate growth strategy
• How Kyle uses a “25 right decisions in the right order” framework to build momentum
• When patience is a competitive advantage (and when speed still matters)
• How he views AI as leverage without turning everything into generic slop
• What it takes to get into retail, manufacture overseas, and prepare for celebrity seeding
• How a strong operator plus a strong distribution partner can sell out a cohort fast

This is not a pivot story.
It’s an expansion story about conviction, restraint, and stacking the right decisions in the right order.

The Arena
The Arena is a private Skool community for SaaS founders who are actively building and selling. I share real-time decisions, experiments, and assets as I use them while growing a bootstrapped SaaS.

No theory. No polish. Just execution.
Learn more at: https://www.skool.com/the-arena/

Chapters / Timestamps

00:00 Why Kyle feels “on a run”
02:00 The hidden cost of playing it safe as an agency owner
05:00 25 years of agency lessons that still matter
08:45 The fear of public failure and what changed
12:30 The Revenue Brand spark and acting fast
17:00 Patience as a competitive advantage
22:00 AI, leverage, and staying human
27:00 Building a premium brand without rushing sales
32:00 Manufacturing decisions and quality control
37:00 Retail traction and brand credibility
42:00 Getting invited to New York Fashion Week
47:00 Why most runs end early
52:00 Kyle’s billboard message to founders

Six years after his first appearance on Founder Views, Luca is back with the real story of how AI forced a full business model and go-to-market shift.

Customerly went from a seat-based, product-led support platform for small SaaS teams to an AI-first customer service engine selling into mid-market and enterprise, where volume and ROI are obvious.

In this episode we get into:

• The AI pivot: why they refused to build “old-school chatbots,” and how ChatGPT changed what was possible
• Quality metrics that matter: error rate, confidence thresholds, escalation triggers, and why AI CSAT can be higher than humans
• What actually trains a good AI agent: knowledge base structure, what not to upload, and how hallucinations happen in the real world
• Automation outcomes: average ticket closure rates, what drives 80%+ vs 40–50%, and how teams improve over time
• Enterprise GTM shift: moving from product-led to sales-led, filtering signups, longer cycles, bigger ACV
• Outbound reality: why the agency failed, what changed when they built outbound internally, and the tooling stack (Clay, Apollo, Lemlist, Pipedrive)
• Founder sales lessons: Challenger Sale thinking and why founders still need to own sales early

The Arena
The Arena is a private Skool community for SaaS founders who are actively building and selling. I share real-time decisions, experiments, and assets as I use them while growing a bootstrapped SaaS.

No theory. No polish. Just execution.
Learn more at: https://www.skool.com/the-arena/

Chapters / Timestamps

00:00 – Reunion after 6 years and what changed (COVID + AI era)
01:27 – Luca intro: what Customersly does today
02:30 – From $100K ARR to near $1M and why pricing changed
05:08 – “Chatbots are shit”: how they built AI without the bad UX
07:10 – Under 1% error rate and reducing hallucinations
09:52 – Grounded AI, intents, and automating beyond FAQs
11:09 – Closure rate benchmarks and what “good” looks like
16:41 – How to pick an AI support tool that actually works
18:20 – Training mistakes: transcripts, clutter, and marketing banners causing hallucinations
20:46 – Confidence thresholds and escalation as a feedback loop
22:48 – How long it takes to move from 45% to 70–80% automation
24:34 – Should AI learn from your inbox? Pros, risks, and why they avoid it
29:41 – Implementation timelines: small teams vs enterprise rollouts
31:38 – Why AI CSAT can beat humans (speed wins)
35:46 – Escalation rules: human request, sentiment, low confidence, missing info
37:21 – Going enterprise: ARPU jump and sales-led reality
41:02 – Outbound experiment: agency failure and building it internally
43:32 – LinkedIn ads + Clay targeting + the masterclass lead magnet
49:25 – Challenger Sale and shifting the conversation
53:20 – Founder lesson: why you can’t outsource what you haven’t done
58:54 – Outbound stack: Clay, Apollo, Lemlist, Sales Nav, Pipedrive
01:05:12 – 2026 vision and wrap