MarsBased podcast - Life on Mars

The AI slop problem is getting worse. AI can crank out code, decks, and landing pages in minutes, but somehow everything starts to look exactly the same. That sameness is not just an aesthetic problem; it is a trust problem. I sit down with David Okuniev (Founder of Typeform and Supercut) to unpack what “taste” really means when anyone can one-shot a product, and why people still crave signals of real craft.
We also dive into the hidden cost of easy creation: from small-team dynamics to a "65 PR backlog," we discuss how AI shifts the bottleneck from writing code to building a harness for shipping safely.
Beyond the philosophy, we get practical about the future of async work. Supercut’s bet is that the winning Loom alternative is not just about recording your screen, it's about searchable transcripts, AI Q&A, and agentic workflows that turn a video into a document your team can act on immediately.
If you care about product design, reliability, and building honest software in the AI bubble, this conversation will sharpen your thinking.
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🎬 You can watch the video of this episode on the Life on Mars podcast website: https://podcast.marsbased.com/

What is the real difference between a CTO and a VP of Engineering? How do you build a technical team from scratch in a non-tech company? In this Road to CTO episode of the MarsBased podcast, we sit down with Emma Burrows (Ex-Google, Ex-Stripe) to talk about her incredible career path.

From her time at Google to leading as CTO at Stripe Payments UK and her current jump into the founder world with Resonant, Emma shares the lessons learned at every stage of the journey.
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🎬 You can watch the video of this episode on the Life on Mars podcast website: https://podcast.marsbased.com/

The tech landscape is shifting under our feet. In this episode of Life on Mars, our CEO Àlex Rodríguez Bacardit sits down with Linus Ekenstam to discuss the 100x era, a world where technology becomes 100x faster and cheaper every 6 to 12 months.

Linus breaks down why the ability to write code has moved from a competitive advantage to a basic commodity. He warns that if you are 100% dependent on a platform's reach, you are no longer in control because your boss is an algorithm.

The discussion covers the 100x rule and why you must assume tech will accelerate by 100x every year to plan effectively. We explore the death of the coding moat and why execution is now a commodity while taste is the new differentiator. Linus also discusses algorithm slavery and how to humanize your brand to build your own platform for true defensibility.

We also touch upon the future of teams and why MarsBased is moving toward multi-faceted engineers over specialized roles. Finally, Linus provides candid feedback on his experience consulting for giants like Adobe and shares the hilarious story of the 1,000 burger party mistake.
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🎬 You can watch the video of this episode on the Life on Mars podcast website: https://podcast.marsbased.com/

Signing a non-disclosure agreement just to have an initial coffee or hear a pitch is often the ultimate "tell" that you’re a rookie in this industry. 

In this episode of Building MarsBased, our CEO Àlex Rodriguez Bacardit breaks down why we stopped signing NDAs "left, right, and center" and how we transitioned into using them as a qualification tool rather than a barrier to entry.

After 12 years of running MarsBased and talking to over 1,000 potential leads, we’ve found that the most "secretive" inventors often have the least to show. Àlex dives into the red flags of the "revolutionary" solopreneur and explains why established clients with significant budgets rarely demand an NDA upfront.

We also share the behind-the-scenes story of how we simultaneously worked for rivals Real Madrid and FC Barcelona by understanding that real business secrets rarely live in the software itself. 

Finally, we discuss how we use AI to spot predatory clauses in seconds, ensuring we remain business partners rather than just another service provider.
Get in touch:Send your questions to hola@marsbased.com for future episodes of Building MarsBased.
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🎬 You can watch the video of this episode on the Life on Mars podcast website: https://podcast.marsbased.com/

We sit down with Troy Hunt, the creator of Have I Been Pwned (HIBP), to discuss the evolution of cybersecurity over the last 12 years. We explore whether AI is truly changing the nature of data breaches, why the banking industry is still stuck with insecure SMS, and the fascinating story of how HIBP remains a lean, bootstrapped team of three people despite handling billions of queries.
Troy also opens up about the 2019 acquisition process that almost changed everything and why he is ultimately glad the deal fell through.
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🎬 You can watch the video of this episode on the Life on Mars podcast website: https://podcast.marsbased.com/