🎙️ New Ep. Kevin Xu | From $35K to $10M+: The Alpha Behind Your Next Bet

Hey There,

The newest episode of The Startup Growth Podcast is live!

Kevin Xu is Founder & CEO of Alpha AI, your "AI money friend" that plugs into real-time markets and your portfolio to explain what just happened—and what matters next—inside a simple chat. Before Alpha, Kevin became a WallStreetBets folk hero as turning $35K in a 401(k) into $10M through high-conviction swing trades. He previously founded Fan Hero (YC S13), worked at Stripe (~#300) and Google/YouTube, and appeared in MSNBC Studios' Diamond Hands on Peacock.

Kevin's catalyst was realizing the products he loved—Google, Wikipedia—were built by real people. That sent him to YC, then Stripe for world-class reps, then into the internet's finance classroom: Reddit. He posted every win and loss, learned in public, and distilled trading into rules like "If it's good enough to screenshot, it's good enough to sell." After building After Hour to socialize trading, he's now productizing that edge with Alpha AI: a proactive, personable copilot designed to build money confidence for the next million millionaires.

Key Topics:

• What Alpha AI is: chat-first AI money friend (market context + your portfolio), proactive “what just happened” nudges, customizable character.

• From WSB to product: turning public receipts (35K→10M) into a system—floors, catalysts, concentration, disciplined exits.

• Design over dashboards: one infinite chat thread beats scattered tools; AI handles background work, humans make decisions.

• Distribution & trust: followable identities, real screenshots, timely alerts—how credibility compounds.

• & much more

I hope you find this educational content valuable and can apply it in your business. Until next week - keep experimenting, keep scaling, keep building.

David J Phillips

Founder & CEO at Fondo

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