No Co-Founder, No Degree, $41.5M to Fix AI Data Centers | Zach Laberge, Omen

Zach Laberge dropped out of high school to build his first company. His second, Omen AI, puts real-time sensors inside the fluids that keep AI data centers and industrial machines running. He's 20, has no co-founder, and has raised $41.5M. He explains why having no technical co-founder forced him to learn spectroscopy himself, and why that made him better. Topics covered: - The shutdown test: how to know when to stop, and how to wind down well - Restarting from your strengths: $3M raised in three days from the buyers who'd said no - Customer-led pivots: engines to hydraulics to AI data-center coolant - Being six months early, and the bitcoin miner who laughed - Founding teams without co-founders; resetting the team at the seed - Fundraising in a concentrated market: "the best round is when you're not raising" - Advisors: weekly 1:1s and templated equity - The bear case and the bull case for solo founding Guest: Zach Laberge — founder & CEO of Omen AI (omen.ai), real-time fluid intelligence for AI data centers and industrial machines. The advisor equity template Zach mentions: Founder Institute's FAST agreement, https://fi.co/fast