Explore how Jisong Liu transformed from a Google and Pinterest ML engineer to founding BeFreed, an AI startup that visualizes complex concepts and reached $100K ARR just weeks after launch.

From Columbia University alumni built in San Francisco
"Instead of endless scrolling, I just hit play on BeFreed. It saves me so much time."
"I never knew where to start with nonfiction—BeFreed’s book lists turned into podcasts gave me a clear path."
"Perfect balance between learning and entertainment. Finished ‘Thinking, Fast and Slow’ on my commute this week."
"Crazy how much I learned while walking the dog. BeFreed = small habits → big gains."
"Reading used to feel like a chore. Now it’s just part of my lifestyle."
"Feels effortless compared to reading. I’ve finished 6 books this month already."
"BeFreed turned my guilty doomscrolling into something that feels productive and inspiring."
"BeFreed turned my commute into learning time. 20-min podcasts are perfect for finishing books I never had time for."
"BeFreed replaced my podcast queue. Imagine Spotify for books — that’s it. 🙌"
"It is great for me to learn something from the book without reading it."
"The themed book list podcasts help me connect ideas across authors—like a guided audio journey."
"Makes me feel smarter every time before going to work"
From Columbia University alumni built in San Francisco

Nia: Hey there, curious minds! Ever wonder what happens when a Google engineer decides to leave the safety net of big tech to build something completely new? Today we're diving into the fascinating journey of Jisong Liu, who went from writing code at Google and Pinterest to founding BeFreed, an AI company reimagining how we learn.
Jackson: Exactly, and what's really interesting about Jisong's story is how he completely transformed his career. After spending years as a senior ML engineer at Pinterest and before that at Google, he took the ultimate leap of faith—moving from New York to San Francisco to build a startup focused on making learning joyful through AI.
Nia: I love that mission! And it seems to be working. His company reached $100,000 in annual recurring revenue just six weeks after enabling their paywall. That's pretty impressive for such a young company founded just this year, right?
Jackson: Absolutely impressive. And what stands out to me is how Jisong describes his transition in his own words—he talks about how attention is everything. When he was juggling his corporate job with side projects, his focus was fractured. But now that he's all-in on BeFreed, he doesn't even care what he eats as long as it's "healthy and fast."
Nia: That's such a founder mentality! I'm curious though—what exactly is BeFreed building that got them to the finals of OpenAI's GPT-5 Hackathon out of nearly 100 teams?
Jackson: They've created what they call a "Knowledge Visualizer" that transforms complex concepts into explanation videos generated from scratch. Their whole philosophy is that many ideas feel complicated not because they're inherently difficult, but because text isn't always the best way to explain them. Let's explore how Jisong's background in machine learning at Pinterest and Google shaped his approach to building this AI-powered learning platform.
Nia: That sounds fascinating! Let's dive into his tech journey and see how it led to this innovative approach to learning.