Neo Accelerator
10/21/2026 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 10/21/2026 07:15
Episode 3. Luana Lopes Lara on “Confession”
Future episodes of "Confession" will be every other week.
Dear Neo family,
Please enjoy this conversation with Luana Lopes Lara, Kalshi co-founder and COO. I've admired her leadership ever since 2019 when she and Tarek Mansour had just started Kalshi. We led their seed financing round and doubled down on them every chance we had since then.
Luana opens up about the years when Kalshi's survival was in question. She shares why she pressed to sue the U.S. government, despite her co-founder's doubts and the board's objections, and what it felt like to bet everything on it.
We also talk about the loneliness of having to project optimism while privately worrying the company won't survive. I share a regret from my second startup: finding ways to survive another day when I wish I'd had the courage to go all in.
Listen to the full episode here on Substack or watch our live interview on YouTube:
Neo Accelerator published this content on October 21, 2026, and is solely responsible for the information contained herein. Distributed via Public Technologies (PUBT), unedited and unaltered, on October 21, 2026 at 13:15 UTC. If you believe the information included in the content is inaccurate or outdated and requires editing or removal, please contact us at [email protected]