After building my company to a $150M valuation in 4 years, I had one question left: How do you build a billion-dollar company? I’m Guillaume Moubeche, and on the BILLIONS Podcast, I’m taking you inside the room with the world’s most iconic builders, founders, and investors to find the answer. This is more than just another startup podcast; it’s a masterclass in high-growth SaaS, AI implementation, and wealth creation.
From SaaS growth strategies and AI Agent pivots to the raw truth behind venture capital and exit strategies, we go where others don't.
What you’ll learn on BILLIONS:
SaaS Scal
7 startups, 4 sales, 2 IPOs: the $8B founder playbook - David Steinberg [Zeta]
Today on BILLIONS, I’m sitting down with David Steinberg, a seven-time founder who has spent more than 30 years building companies.
He has sold four, taken two public, and today leads Zeta Global, an intelligent AI infrastructure company worth around $8 billion.
But one of the most important decisions of his career came in 2017.
Zeta was on track to generate around $50 million in EBITDA.
David went to his board and told them he wanted to effectively give up profitability for the next two to three years, put 400 engineers on a new platform, and rebuild the company around data and artificial intelligence.
The board meeting became one of the most contentious of his career.
Then, after one investor pushed back hard against two acquisitions David wanted to make, he decided to buy both.
That decision helped create the Zeta that exists today.
In this conversation, we break down:
→ What David learned building companies through the internet, mobile and AI revolutions
→ Why proprietary data and distribution become MORE valuable during technology shifts
→ Why he believes giving company data to frontier models can destroy your competitive advantage
→ The decision to sacrifice ~$50M of EBITDA and rebuild Zeta from the ground up
→ The board meeting that ended with David deciding to buy two companies instead of one
→ How Zeta turned data and AI into the foundation of its platform
→ Why its customers generate roughly 600–700% return on marketing spend
→ How 89.6% of Zeta’s new code is now generated automatically
→ Why a platform that required 400 engineers in 2017 could potentially be built with 40 today
→ Why enterprises pay for fighter jets but often only know how to fly prop planes
→ How Athena is changing the way customers interact with enterprise software
→ Why Zeta’s net retention rate is above 120%
→ Why David believes small inference models can outperform frontier models on business tasks
→ What the agentic internet could look like
→ The 5 rules Zeta uses before acquiring a company
→ How Zeta completed 19 major acquisitions with 18 considered successful
→ Why so many of Zeta’s senior executives came through M&A
→ David’s pitch for turning entrepreneurs into “intrapreneurs”
We also discuss OpenAI, Anthropic, Palantir, data sovereignty, AI agents, the future of enterprise software and what 30+ years of building companies has taught David about surviving technology revolutions.
If you want to understand how a serial founder thinks about rebuilding companies before technology forces them to, this is the episode.
00:00 – David Steinberg: 7 startups, 4 exits and 2 IPOs
00:32 – Meet the founder behind Zeta Global
01:01 – What the internet, mobile and AI revolutions have in common
03:24 – Why proprietary data is your biggest competitive advantage
04:53 – Why David sacrificed $50M in EBITDA to rebuild Zeta
08:03 – The two acquisitions that transformed Zeta
09:58 – Inside Zeta's most contentious board meeting
12:23 – From the 2017 pivot to AthenaOS
13:20 – How Zeta delivers 600–700% return on marketing spend
15:33 – Why Zeta is expanding beyond marketing
17:45 – How AI automates 89.6% of Zeta's new code
18:54 – Why enterprises buy fighter jets but fly prop planes
21:13 – Athena's adoption: 40% of major clients and 83% voice usage
21:45 – How proprietary context drives 120%+ net retention
24:35 – Why inference models could outperform frontier models
27:39 – The future of AI agents and agentic commerce
29:27 – What David learned from 19 acquisitions
30:53 – Zeta's 5 non-negotiable rules for M&A
32:35 – How to turn acquired founders into intrapreneurs
33:12 – David's most important job as a founder
34:11 – Final thoughts and where to follow David Steinberg
27 Oct 2026
How Ramp still grows like a startup at a $44B valuation? George Bonaci [Ramp]
Host interviews George Bonaci, VP of Growth & Demand Gen at Ramp, about maintaining startup growth at a $44B valuation and embracing AI.
20 Oct 2026
He co-founded a $25B company. Then built a $7.2B one - Arvind Jain [Glean]
Host [Host Name] interviews Arvind Jain, founder and CEO of Glean, about building a $7.2B company and the future of enterprise AI where context trumps commoditized models.
Who has been a guest on BILLIONS
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George Bonaci
Arvind Jain
Daniel Chait
Kieran Flanagan
Dan Rogers
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47 ratings
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