In this episode, Host Steven Bunker sits down with Jay Zapata, CEO and co-founder of Satokie Mining, to discuss how Satokie operates at the intersection of energy and compute supporting institutional clients with data center operations while also developing its own facilities. Together, they explore what it takes to find product-market fit, scale a services-heavy business, and adapt as the industry shifts from Bitcoin mining toward AI infrastructure.
What You’ll Learn
- How deep domain curiosity (like Jay’s path from finance to coding to Bitcoin) can uncover new business opportunities at the edges of fast-changing industries.
- Why clarifying your ideal customer and your “ideal solution” is often the biggest unlock for sustainable growth.
- What to look for in co-founders, including complementary strengths, decision-making styles, and the value of taking time to build trust before incorporating.
- How hiring becomes a defining constraint during rapid scaling, and why formalizing recruiting and HR is essential once operations can’t carry it alone.
- Why warm outreach (conferences, industry events, executive relationships) can outperform cold tactics in specialized B2B markets like data centers.
- How the rise of AI is reshaping data center demand—and why many Bitcoin-focused sites are being re-evaluated for GPU-based workloads.
- The emerging “landlord-tenant” model in data centers, and how managed service providers can become the operational backbone for asset owners.
- Why capital strategy diverges between services and development businesses, and how fundraising becomes critical when growth requires new build capacity.
Jay’s story highlights a pragmatic, operations-forward approach to entrepreneurship: build credibility by executing well, learn quickly without repeating mistakes, and strengthen the organization so founders aren’t the bottleneck. As the market pivots toward AI compute, Satokie’s focus on disciplined execution, relationship-driven growth, and operational excellence positions the company to evolve beyond its Bitcoin roots while staying grounded in the fundamentals of energy, infrastructure, and decision-making under uncertainty.
To learn more about Jay Zapata and their work.