While other fintechs raised huge rounds, hired armies, and announced half-baked features, Brandon Arvanaghi built Meow into a billion-dollar business with ~12 people, no hype cycles, no vanity metrics, and a culture so high-ownership that one wrong hire can collapse the whole org.

This is not another “sort of intense” founder interview. This is a blueprint for anyone who actually wants to build a durable company and stop LARPing as a founder.

In this conversation, Brandon breaks down:

• Why one B-player can mathematically tank your entire org
• How Meow out-executed much better-funded competitors by staying microscopic and savage
• Why founders who rely on hype destroy their own ability to ship
• How the 24-Hour No Hype Rule keeps Meow honest, fast, and impossible to ignore
• Why most startup incentives mimic bureaucracy
• How to build a team that works weekends voluntarily because they care, not because you demand it
• Why “distribution-first” founders plateau (and “product-first” founders build empires)
• How founders should think about intensity, discipline, and personal sustainability when the business takes off

If you’re tired of founder cosplay and want to hear from someone who actually executes, this episode will snap your head straight.

⏱️ TIMESTAMPS

02:18 — “We didn’t try to build a bank… but customers forced us into one.”

03:40 — The pain of building in a regulated industry

05:25 — What founders get wrong about pivots

09:03 — Why Brandon always knew Meow would be his only company

13:12 — Hiring A-players vs B-players: how one wrong hire breaks the company

17:32 — Work ethic, ownership, and why 9–5 mindsets don’t survive early-stage startups

18:58 — Why B-players multiply—and how to eliminate them early

21:00 — The reality of 7-day founder workweeks (and why Meow isn’t performative about it)

23:45 — Why founders must feel customer pain themselves

31:52 — The insane expectations VCs used to have around headcount

36:17 — How founders stay sharp: routines, workouts, discipline, leverage

47:07 — The “No Hype Rule” that built Meow

50:00 — Why Meow plays a 10-year game, not a 10-week game

55:03 — Why product, not distribution, builds generational companies

58:12 — Where to find Brandon

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