Max Shaw and Brian Distelburger on Reinventing People Management with Windmill

Windmill co-founders Max Shaw and Brian Distelburger are building the AI-powered people platform for how companies develop and manage their talent. Founded alongside Mark Tanner, Windmill replaces the broken, once-a-year performance review with something faster, smarter, and that employees actually love. Since launching in November 2025, they've reached more than 100 customers including Kalshi, The Farmer's Dog, and Rho, and Inspired is so proud to have led their recent seed round. As AI makes every employee more powerful, the companies that win will be the ones that put the best talent in exactly the right role. What You'll Learn: Why the current state of performance management is broken How AI will change the relationship between managers and their teams What the future of work looks like as companies grow more complex Why skills assessment is about to become one of the most important things a company can do Why Max and Brian are optimistic that AI will benefit people at work Chapters: 00:00 Introduction  02:33 Meet Max and Brian  03:44 What Is Windmill 05:38 The State of Performance Reviews  09:20 Where Windmill Is Headed  13:20 AI Coaching for Every Employee  16:15 Why They Chose This Problem  18:33 The Biggest Change Management Moment of Our Lives  24:15 Early Traction and What's Working  27:30 Where the World of Work Is Going  34:55 The IKEA Example  36:16 Skills Assessment and Workforce Redeployment  41:18 Why New York  43:35 Quickfire Follow Max, Brian, and Windmill: • Website: https://gowindmill.com/ • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/gowindmill/ • X: https://x.com/trywindmill • Max's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/max-shaw-82287025/ • Brian's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/briandistelburger/ Follow Inspired:‍ • Website: https://www.inspiredcapital.com/ • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/inspired-capital-partners • X: https://x.com/InspiredCap • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/inspiredcapital/ • Substack: https://alexavontobel.substack.com/