MarsBased podcast - Life on Mars

In the volatile world of Silicon Valley, where the average CEO tenure is often less than five years and startups burn out as quickly as they rise, Ray Zinn stands as a monumental exception. For 37 years, Zinn served as the CEO of Micrel, the semiconductor company he founded in 1978, holding the record as the longest-serving CEO of a publicly traded company in the Valley. His tenure wasn't just about longevity; it was a masterc...

There is a recurring piece of advice in the startup world that says you should never mix friendship with business. However, after 12 years of profitability and organic growth at MarsBased, reality has taught us that working with friends is not only possible but can be a competitive advantage if expectations are managed from day zero.

In this episode of Building MarsBased, I open up the black box of our founding story to ex...

Welcome to another episode of Road to CTO, our series where we sit down with some of the most experienced and influential technology leaders in the world.

In this episode, we talk with Dorion Carroll, a veteran with 35 years of tech leadership experience, former CTO at Zynga, VP at Amazon, and one of the most insightful engineering minds in the industry.

From scaling engineering teams from 280 to 3,600 people, to ...

When is the right time to start your company?
In this second episode of Building MarsBased, we answer a listener’s question that every aspiring founder wrestles with: Should I launch while keeping my day job, or go all in?

We unpack the real factors behind that decision: macro timing, industry waves, personal runway, team alignment, and share how we made the call that led to MarsBased.

You’ll hear why the 2012...

Starting a business begins with one powerful idea, but how do you come up with your first one? In this episode of Building MarsBased, we share the real story behind our company’s early days and how a simple concept evolved into a long-lasting, profitable business.

You’ll learn how to identify opportunities, validate ideas, and turn side projects into sustainable ventures, all based on real-world experience from a fully boo...

What really makes company culture crack as you scale from 10 to 30+ people? In this candid conversation, Aaron Schmookler (co-founder of The Yes Works) sits down with Àlex Rodríguez Bacardit (CEO, MarsBased) to unpack the patterns they have seen across startups and mid-size teams, remote and on-site.

We dive into: preventing culture erosion during hypergrowth, why manager span of control matters, how to sell services witho...

We’re launching a new Life on Mars series: How to Build an Agency, a practical, transparent guide for freelancers, micro-agencies, and growing studios. We’ll cover everything from picking a name and services, getting your first client, contracts and NDAs, and building a portfolio, to harder topics like crisis management, pricing, hiring and firing, founder dynamics, and keeping long-tenured teams motivated. Episodes will mix solo d...

What does it really take to scale a SaaS from a tiny Barcelona startup to a global leader protecting brands like major clubs and top electronics companies? In this candid conversation, Laura Urquizu (CEO, Red Points) shares hard-won lessons on going from SMB to enterprise, hiring fast in NYC (and fixing the fallout), balancing long-term strategy with short-term execution, and why the best CEOs become “irrelevant” day-to-day as team...

In this new episode of Life on Mars, we take you behind the scenes at MarsBased to share how the first half of 2025 has unfolded for us as a team and company.

This year has marked the beginning of a new chapter, one shaped by growth, clarity, and transformation. We’ve strengthened our pipeline, expanded the team, and taken meaningful steps toward building a more mature and intentional company culture. But more importantly,...

After 10 years building MarsBased as a fully remote, bootstrapped, and values-driven tech company, we’re finally sharing the full story. This keynote, recorded for our 10th anniversary, is a reflection on everything we've learned about building sustainable software, nurturing company culture, and growing a business without external investors, shortcuts or growth hacks.

We talk about how we made remote work function fr...

What happens when your company outgrows the culture that once defined it?
In this episode of the MarsBased Podcast, Àlex Rodríguez Bacardit sits down with Greg from TextExpander to discuss how growing to 30+ employees forced them to revisit their values, communication style, and internal training.

Greg explains how to recognize the right moment to redefine your company culture and why they decided to introduce internal training...

10 moments. 10 guests. Total unpredictability on Life on Mars.

This isn’t your average “best of” episode. it’s a chaotic, hilarious, insightful rollercoaster through the most unforgettable english-language moments from life on mars, the startup podcast by MarsBased.

🔥 from death metal growls to burning down offices (literally), surprise cofounders, and existential founder questions... this episode has it all.

Turn your AI demo into a real business.
In this episode of Life on Mars, real founders share their experiences, strategies, lessons, and mistakes behind building scalable AI startups and growing products beyond the demo phase.

Join Àlex Rodríguez Bacardit (CEO of MarsBased) as he sits down with Ricardo Ghekiere (Founder of BetterPic) and Tanya Van Gastel (from Multiverse AI) to discuss the hard truths about scaling AI products,...

In this episode of Road to CTO, we sit down with Charles Chase, a serial entrepreneur and investor, who shares his journey from aspiring accountant to building multiple successful companies, including Velocify. Charles reveals how a pivotal moment in the late 90s sparked his passion for programming, leading him to abandon his original career path and dive into tech.

Despite mastering coding, Charles chose not to follow the tradition...

Are your ChatGPT prompts messy and inconsistent? You might be falling into the trap of spaghetti prompting, random, unstructured inputs that lead to weak responses.

In this episode, we break down the difference between spaghetti prompting and prompt engineering, showing you how to structure prompts for accurate, consistent, and high-quality results.

What you'll learn:

How to give clear context and se...

Quantum computing is no longer just a futuristic concept, it’s quickly becoming a practical reality. In this must-watch panel discussion, three quantum pioneers dive deep into the real progress being made and what’s coming in the next few years. From breakthroughs in drug discovery to tackling cybersecurity challenges, quantum's first impacts will be felt in unexpected ways. Get ready for an eye-opening conversation that cuts ...

What happens when AI stops just following commands and starts making decisions on its own? 

At the Corporate Innovation Summit, industry leaders dive into the world of agentic AI—intelligent systems capable of autonomous action. This first panel explores:

🔹 NVIDIA’s journey from gaming to AI dominance and how it became an infrastructure powerhouse.
🔹 AI in law firms—from transforming due diligence to redefin...

Are you ready to explore the dynamics of running a successful consultancy in today’s fast-evolving tech landscape? Join us as we sit down with Szymon Boniecki, co-founder of Monterail, a pioneering Ruby on Rails agency. In this engaging episode, we dive into Monterail's remarkable journey over the past 14 years, sharing lessons on growth, the impact of artificial intelligence (AI), and the delicate balance between client expec...

In this exciting episode of Life on Mars, Alex have a great conversation with Simone van Neerven, founder of reBel.la, to explore how challenging the status quo can drive creativity and change. With a career that began at KLM and evolved into building her own brand, Simone shares her personal journey—from corporate life to embracing her rebellious spirit—and how it’s helped her break barriers and inspire others.

Through honest stori...