23 Nov 2025etn. - LIVE from Slush
Gabriel Hubert, Dust: agents as coworkers in fast-moving companies
Dust co-founder and CEO Gabriel Hubert explains how fast-moving companies like Cursor and Clay use Dust to design, deploy and maintain agents for internal workflows, with over $6M ARR in June and $22M raised with Sequoia. He argues agents should roll out like spreadsheets — adopted bottom-up by non-technical employees rather than gated by a central team — and that augmenting people beats replacing them. He also shares the founding story: his co-founder Stan left Stripe for OpenAI's reasoning team before they started Dust, after Gabriel himself sold his previous company to Stripe.
Host chat: displacing enterprise incumbents and previewing Rillet
The hosts debrief the Dust interview, re-run the Airwallex sponsor read and preview the next guest, Rillet, likening its ERP play to Attio taking on the CRM market. One host recalls cold-calling finance teams as a BDR at Pigment, and they discuss why "no one gets fired for buying Salesforce" makes displacing enterprise incumbents so hard.
Nicolas Kopp, Rillet: rebuilding the ERP to take on NetSuite
Straight off the Slush stage, Rillet founder and CEO Nicolas Kopp explains why the company spent two and a half years in stealth building an AI-native ERP to replace NetSuite. He covers de-scoping modules like AP where Ramp plays, building brand around vocal customers, a clear villain and an authentic story, and winning first customers through network and sheer intensity of support. Now 80 people at Series B, hiring undiscovered talent is his number-one job, and a new customer closes its books the same day month-end ends thanks to AI.
Lakestar's Enrico on sponsoring ETN and early-stage Europe
Lakestar partner Enrico — whose multi-stage fund backed companies like Revolut, Spotify and Isar Aerospace — explains why Lakestar agreed to sponsor ETN before the show even launched and what he looks for at early stage. He talks about his brutally busy Slush schedule, the fund's drinks at a bar aptly named Grotesque, after-parties and 8am sauna meetings, and even delivers the sponsor ad reads before running off when his mum texts.
Ruben & Guillermo Flor, Compound: turning distribution into deal flow
The hosts tee up "the Spaniards" — Ruben and Guillermo Flor of the Compound brand and the VC Corner newsletter with 100,000+ subscribers — before they join the booth. The duo explain how viral LinkedIn and newsletter distribution became their edge, landing on-the-spot interviews and an invite to interview Mark Cuban and the Shark Tank judges in Las Vegas. As angels they deliberately take small tickets in oversubscribed companies, offering distribution and optionality, and describe their sprint-style travel between US demo days and European events.
Guillermo & Ruben: Viral WhatsApp Groups, Ship-Fast GTM & North Star Focus
Guillermo and Ruben close out their interview with advice on founder-led go-to-market: make content feel natural and genuinely useful rather than selling in the first LinkedIn post. Guillermo explains his viral WhatsApp-group tweet, which he filtered from roughly 5,000 comments down to a curated 50-person group, and his 'launch every day, don't do things perfectly' mentality. The conversation touches on a16z's new media fellowship (Eric Torgenburg's team), Harry Stebbings' North Star framing, and how everything they do funnels into maximizing distribution for their founders before they say their goodbyes.