Henrik Werdelin is one of my favorite entrepreneurs. He’s founded and incubated several unicorns, most notably BARK, the dog happiness company.
Henrik himself is a pretty happy guy — an optimistic guy who likes to ask what could go right? — and on the day we recorded (a few months ago as I was squirreling away interviews for the podcast relaunch), he helped me see through some future of tech gloom I was feeling. I honestly can’t even remember what dystopian AI fears were most in the news that week, but I do remember that Henrik put me in a better mood. I think he’ll do the same for you, no matter how you’re feeling. 🤗
Henrik believes AI could be a massive force for good. That it could bring forth a whole new — a better! — form of capitalism. He writes about this is in his latest book, Me, My Customer, and AI. He points to those (like Henry Ford) who took advantage of electricity by making drastic, not incremental, changes to how they build things in ways you probably wouldn’t have predicted ahead of time. Our conversation pairs nicely with my recent episode with Azeem Azhar, who said the AI winners will “come from odd places”, as they have in previous tech transformations.
Here’s more of what Henrik and I cover:
His concept of "relationship capital"—the moat AI can't clone—and why the companies that win next will be defined by how well they know their customers
The three components of relationship capital: intensity, community, and durability
The "it sucks that" method for finding problems worth solving (he took it to a fifth grade class; the teacher was not thrilled)
His vision for the "headless", agentic web, where your startup's MVP is a group of agents, not an app
The wildly practical AI tools he's built just for himself: a custom CRM that searches by vibes not names, a newsletter bot tuned to his quarterly goals, and an agent that handled his visa paperwork while he was in a meeting
Why entrepreneurial skills—agency, narrative, resourcefulness—are the ultimate career insurance, whether you start a company or not
The absolutely ridiculous story of how a prank on a cruise ship led to him meeting his BARK co-founder in a heart-shaped bed
Chapters:
01:43 Two Futures: AI Bad vs. AI Really, Really Good
05:44 Why Positivity Is Actually the Riskier Bet
09:05 Electricity, AI, and the Rise of Relationship Capital
11:12 The Three Components of Relationship Capital
14:20 "It Sucks That" — The Best Way to Find a Real Problem
18:26 The Headless Future and Minimum Viable Agents
21:44 N-of-One Software: Building Tools Just for Yourself
25:52 Henrik's Custom Newsletter Bot and AI-Powered CRM
30:03 Warp, Obsidian, and Letting Agents Loose on Your Computer
33:49 Entrepreneurial Skills as Career Insurance
35:57 The Heart-Shaped Bed: How Henrik Met His BARK Co-Founder
Links & Resources
Henrik Werdelin on LinkedIn
Audos, Henrik’s latest venture where he hopes AI agents trained in his methods can help thousands of entrepreneurs a year
Beyond the Prompt podcast, from co-hosts Henrik Werdelin and Jeremy Utley
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Thanks!
~ Dan
P.S. I have an upcoming interview (my second!; here’s the first) with Khan Academy’s Chief Learning Officer, Kristen Dicerbo. If you have a question for her on the future of education, AI, Khan Academy’s approach, etc… please reply to this email or email me directly at [email protected]