Episode #34 - From the Bottom of a Bottle - Early Uber Employee & UNICORN Founder Phil Mikhaylov | The Early Podcast
Tue Jan 13 2026
From the Bottom of a Bottle 🍷 with Phil. Rare whiskey. Uber war stories. Immigrant hustle.
In this episode of The Early Podcast, I sit down with Phil Mikhaylov, early Uber operator and founder of Unicorn, the fastest-growing marketplace for rare spirits and wine.
We talk about growing up as a Soviet-era immigrant, grinding through Uber’s wild early days (from slogging Lyft drivers to launching Uber in India), and how a lifelong obsession with bottles, time, and craft turned into a $150M+ business.
This is a conversation about hustle, execution, ownership, and building something that lasts — one story at a time.
🎧 Birth-year bottles
🚗 Uber chaos
🦄 Building Unicorn, the biggest wine and spirits biz anywhere: https://www.unicornauctions.com/
🔥 Turning “no” into “YES”
#TheEarlyPodcast
#StartupStories
#FounderJourney
#Entrepreneurship
#EarlyStage
#EarlyPod
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🎙️ ABOUT THE SHOW:
The Early Podcast is where host Max Crowley, Uber’s #25 employee, sits down with the earliest builders behind today’s most iconic companies. No fluff, just raw stories from the trench years when your startup could still fail tomorrow.
✅ Subscribe for more untold startup stories every week
✅ Like, comment & share if you know someone who’d love this
✅ Listen on Spotify, Apple, or anywhere you get your podcasts
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Let’s go. 💥
🎧 Listen to the full episode:
🔹 Spotify: https://earlypod.com/spotify
🔹 Apple Podcasts: https://earlypod.com/apple
🚀 New episodes drop every Tuesday. Let’s build this together.
👉 Like, subscribe, and drop a comment — I want to hear from you!!
📩 Thoughts or guest ideas? Email me: max@earlypod.com
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From the Bottom of a Bottle 🍷 with Phil. Rare whiskey. Uber war stories. Immigrant hustle. In this episode of The Early Podcast, I sit down with Phil Mikhaylov, early Uber operator and founder of Unicorn, the fastest-growing marketplace for rare spirits and wine. We talk about growing up as a Soviet-era immigrant, grinding through Uber’s wild early days (from slogging Lyft drivers to launching Uber in India), and how a lifelong obsession with bottles, time, and craft turned into a $150M+ business. This is a conversation about hustle, execution, ownership, and building something that lasts — one story at a time. 🎧 Birth-year bottles 🚗 Uber chaos 🦄 Building Unicorn, the biggest wine and spirits biz anywhere: https://www.unicornauctions.com/ 🔥 Turning “no” into “YES” #TheEarlyPodcast #StartupStories #FounderJourney #Entrepreneurship #EarlyStage #EarlyPod -- 🎙️ ABOUT THE SHOW: The Early Podcast is where host Max Crowley, Uber’s #25 employee, sits down with the earliest builders behind today’s most iconic companies. No fluff, just raw stories from the trench years when your startup could still fail tomorrow. ✅ Subscribe for more untold startup stories every week ✅ Like, comment & share if you know someone who’d love this ✅ Listen on Spotify, Apple, or anywhere you get your podcasts ⸻ Let’s go. 💥 🎧 Listen to the full episode: 🔹 Spotify: https://earlypod.com/spotify 🔹 Apple Podcasts: https://earlypod.com/apple 🚀 New episodes drop every Tuesday. Let’s build this together. 👉 Like, subscribe, and drop a comment — I want to hear from you!! 📩 Thoughts or guest ideas? Email me: max@earlypod.com 📱 Follow for daily updates: • 🐦 X (Twitter): https://earlypod.com/x • ✨ TikTok: https://earlypod.com/tt • 📸 Instagram: https://earlypod.com/ig • 💼 LinkedIn: https://earlypod.com/li • 📩 Newsletter: https://earlypod.com/subscribe