From tech lawyer to Warner, Meta, and CEO of Merlin — now Chief Commercial Officer at Suno. Jeremy Sirota on never being the smartest person in the room, the book he'd never talked about, and why AI can't help you if you've got nothing to say.

FULL DESCRIPTION

"I've never been the smartest person in the room. So I've always had to pull at something else."

Jeremy Sirota has a career that refuses to sit on a straight line. Tech lawyer at Morrison & Foerster. Record exec at Warner Music. Global licensing deals at Meta. CEO of Merlin, where he took annual revenue from $900M to $1.8B. Now Chief Commercial Officer at Suno, one of the most-watched generative AI music companies on the planet.

But he didn't talk his way in — he worked his way in. The through-line was never the title. It was a way of operating: build the room where genius happens instead of trying to be the genius in it. It took his ten-year-old daughter cutting him off mid-lecture — "Dad, no more TED Talks today" — to make that click.

In this conversation, Jeremy gets into the class that nearly ended his law career, the book he'd never talked about publicly until now, why he keeps a "captain's log" of half-formed ideas, the "make this worse" game he uses to break a room open, and the one thing AI can't do for you: have something to say.

For founders, operators, and builders working the move from operator to authority to icon — this one's worth your time.

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Guest: Jeremy Sirota, Chief Commercial Officer at Suno Host: Matt Stone

Millions of people drive, deliver, and hustle to power the American economy — and most of them are invisible to the financial system that's supposed to serve them.

Ricky Michel Presbot, co-founder and CEO of Ualett, decided to do something about it.

In this episode, Ricky shares how a failed early venture, a cab ride from JFK, and a chance encounter at a funeral led to the creation of a bilingual fintech platform now serving gig workers across the United States — with a $150 million credit facility to grow nationwide.

We go deep on the idea of the "multi-hustler economy," why niche is the X factor for any business, what Ricky learned driving Uber for three months before building his product, and why the company's central value isn't "believe in us" — it's "we believe in you."

This is a story about trust, dignity, and building something for people who've been left behind.

Topics covered:

• The cab ride from JFK that revealed a $150M opportunity
• Why the gig economy is everyone's economy
• The "multi-hustler" — a new category beyond the gig worker
• How Ualett works (and why it's not a predatory cash advance)
• The funeral pitch that started everything
• Building company values from a mentor relationship
• Why going to the field is non-negotiable before building a product
• What "we believe in you" actually means as a business model

Connect with Ricky: Ualett — https://ualett.com LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/ricky-michel-presbot-14964472

What do you do when the most important problem you can solve is also the least glamorous one?

Duncan Barrigan spent 8 years helping build GoCardless into a global payments unicorn — then walked away to tackle something most founders walk right past: getting businesses paid. Not sexy. Not shiny. Just a $100 trillion problem that's been solved the same way, by humans, for 6,000 years.

In this conversation, Duncan breaks down why accounts receivable is actually a communication and negotiation problem (not a payments problem), how he brought a real cowboy and horse to lasso the Wall Street Bull for Lunos' launch, and what it really means to build a company around three values: curious, courageous, and relentless.

We also get into the identity shift that hit when he left a CXO role at a billion-dollar company, moved to New York in January, and had to rediscover who he was before Lunos existed.

If you're a founder choosing between the bold idea and the safe one — this one's for you.

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TIMESTAMPS

0:00 — Cold open: the horse that got stopped at the Manhattan border
0:23 — Introducing Duncan Barrigan & Lunos
1:48 — Lunos or Lunos? The definitive answer
3:05 — The $100 trillion problem hiding in plain sight
5:03 — The epiphany: it's not a payments problem
6:20 — Moving continent, quitting his job, and starting in January
8:29 — London vs New York startup culture
12:33 — The stifled entrepreneur: Pokémon cards & astronaut dreams
14:17 — Space cowboys & bright pink: building the Lunos brand
17:35 — The Wall Street Bull stunt (and the Guardian article)
21:57 — Curious, courageous, relentless: the three values
29:33 — Good mistakes vs bad mistakes (poker & Napoleon)
32:15 — The identity crisis before Lunos existed
33:49 — What kind of company does he want to build?
38:03 — Building self-awareness as a founder
40:53 — What's coming next: the agent-to-agent network
43:36 — Flying planes, barrel rolls & personal challenges
46:29 — Who should work with Lunos?

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CONNECT WITH DUNCAN
Lunos: lunos.ai

CONNECT WITH MATT STONE & THE BIGGER STAGE
Website: thebiggerstage.com
YouTube: youtube.com/@thebiggerstage

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The Bigger Stage is for founders whose reputation is stronger than their messaging. New episodes drop every other Saturday.