What happens when a podcast stops being something you listen to and becomes something you physically show up for?
In this episode of Tech Talks Daily, I wanted to explore a different kind of technology story, one rooted in community, endurance, and real human connection. I was accompanied by Sam Huntingtona Business Development Officer Wells Fargowho has quietly built something special at the intersection of technology, entrepreneurship and cycling through his podcast and community project, Mountain climbers.
Sam’s story starts far from a studio. It starts on a bike and goes through Philadelphia, Los Angeles and finally Austin, where casual conversations on group rides turn into friendships, business relationships and eventually a podcast. We talk about why endurance sports and startups share the same mental terrain, the moments when you want to quit and how those moments often determine the outcome. Sam explains how Hill Climbers evolved from recorded conversations to weekly rides, live podcast recordings and in-person events that brought together founders, investors and operators without name badges or pitch decks.
We also explore what makes Austin such a magnetic place for founders right now, and why community building outside Silicon Valley feels different when it’s built around shared efforts rather than curated networks. Sam shares the lessons he learned from taking a podcast offline, including the first few weeks when hardly anyone showed up, the temptation to quit, and the persistence it takes to build momentum. There is a refreshing honesty in the way he describes something growing slowly, resisting shortcuts and allowing trust to build over time.
This conversation also reminds us that meaningful networks are rarely built through algorithms. They are built through shared experiences, discomfort, friendly competition, and consistently showing up when no one is looking. Whether you’re a founder, an investor, or someone trying to build your own community, there’s something grounding in hearing how relationships form when work isn’t the opening line.
As more of our professional lives move online, we lose the spaces where real connection happens, and what would it look like for you to build a community around a shared passion rather than a job title?
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