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Stop waiting for the “right time.” Raj Singh—longtime builder, repeat founder, and now VP of Product at Mozilla—joins us to unpack how real momentum starts when you ship something imperfect and let the market reshape it. We dig into his path from early consumer apps to an acquisition by Mozilla and the creation of Solo, an AI-powered website builder designed specifically for service providers like tutors, therapists, coaches, and contractors.
Raj explains his “jello in motion” approach to product discovery, why you learn small things from small audiences and big things from big ones, and how AI turns non-technical founders into effective prototypers. Instead of chasing precision use cases on day one, he targets 95% problems where AI can draft, humans can edit, and outcomes improve fast. That’s the backbone of Solo: generate a credible first version of a site in seconds, then refine the copy, layout, and local signals to start winning leads.
We also explore the strategy behind making websites free, the legacy pricing that no longer fits modern cost structures, and how business model innovation can drive adoption when ad spend doesn’t. Raj shares practical growth tactics—programmatic SEO, AEO on trusted UGC platforms, product-led collaboration loops—and previews adjacent tools on the roadmap: automated bookkeeping, simple newsletters, and AI reception for missed calls. Finally, we zoom out to the browser’s comeback as AI-native search, agentic workflows, and synthetic content reshape how people use the web—and why Mozilla’s mission matters more than ever in that future.
If you’re a solopreneur or small business owner looking for leverage, or a builder stuck in “AI tourism,” this conversation will help you choose a current, prototype your vision, and start shipping. Subscribe, share with a friend who’s been sitting on an idea, and leave a review to tell us what you’re building next.

This podcast is proudly sponsored by USC Annenberg’s Master of Science in Digital Media Management (MSDMM) program. An online master’s designed to prepare practitioners to understand the evolving media landscape, make data-driven and ethical decisions, and build a more equitable future by leading diverse teams with the technical, artistic, analytical, and production skills needed to create engaging content and technologies for the global marketplace. Learn more or apply today at https://dmm.usc.edu.

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Chapters

1. Starting Beats Waiting (00:00:00)

2. Meet Raj Singh and Media Escape (00:00:31)

3. Builder Journey: Wins, Misses, Acquisitions (00:01:24)

4. Bootstrapping vs Venture: Myths and Traps (00:03:46)

5. Finding Users, Jello in Motion (00:06:24)

6. Gen AI as Prototype Power (00:08:45)

7. From Pulse to Mozilla: Role Design (00:10:33)

8. Inventing an AI Website Builder (00:12:45)

9. Targeting Service Providers, Not Stores (00:15:10)

10. Business Model Disruption: Make It Free (00:17:10)

11. Organic Growth and SEO Hacking (00:19:08)

12. Beyond Sites: Finances, Comms, Reception (00:21:05)

13. Tool Overload and AI Tourism (00:23:06)

14. Monetization Plans and Mail lists (00:25:05)

15. Browsers, Agents, and the Future Web (00:26:45)

16. Final Advice: Swim Downstream and Start (00:28:25)

17. Program Close and USC DMM Info (00:33:34)

81 episodes