In this crossover episode of The Morning P!ng, Ping co-founders Rob Whitten and Jane Lo sit down with Hiten Sonpal, CEO of RISE Robotics, to pull back the curtain on the founder-investor relationship.

Hiten breaks down his personal investment thesis: the critical "3 Ts" (Team, TAM, and Traction) that made him support p!ng. Rob and Jane reveal why they put their money into RISE (it’s all about crushing antiquated systems, from coffee drive-thrus to the $750 billion hydraulic market).

The conversation gets real on startup resilience, the power of healthy conflict, and how they navigate massive crowdfunding campaigns on Wefunder.

Tune in for master-level strategy on scaling, culture, and learning to love being wrong!

Want to join the movement!? You can explore the community investment opportunities for both P!NG and RISE Robotics on Wefunder.

Tired of the drive-thru line eating up your morning? According to the team at p!ng⁠ , it is not bad luck... it is a broken system.

This week on The Morning P!NG podcast⁠, founders Jane Lo and Rob Whitten are joined by new CTO Rory MacKean⁠, a robotics engineer and startup builder with a background spanning factory automation, autonomous mobile robots, agricultural robotics, and consumer robotics startups.

Rory breaks down why traditional drive-thrus create what he calls a “queuing nightmare,” and how p!ng is approaching the problem from a completely different angle by designing an autonomous coffee experience from the ground up.

The conversation dives into the real-world chaos of automation, including multi-order vehicles, connectivity issues, operational logistics, and why building directly in front of real customers has become one of p!ng’s biggest advantages.

They also discuss an unexpected lesson learned along the way: even in an autonomous future, the friendly site host still matters.

If you want a behind-the-scenes look at what it actually takes to build autonomous retail technology in the real world, this is an episode you do not want to miss.

The 120-Square-Foot Land Grab: How Robotics is Cracking the Real Estate Code

Forget everything you know about drive-thrus. This week, we're dissecting the game-changer that is p!ng's coffee pod.

Commercial real estate legends Jim Sylvia (JSylvia Advisory Services) and Louis Cirignano The Synergy Group join the p!ng founders to talk about how a 120 sq. ft. autonomous coffee pod, with no water or sewer hookups, is unlocking massive, untapped revenue in "dead space" parking lots.

You'll learn why this "Lego Block" of retail is solving traditional drive-thru zoning nightmares, beating Starbucks' 18-month build times, and setting the precedent for a new, profitable class of micro-franchising.

If you own commercial property or think the future of retail is broken, you need to hear this conversation about the coming shift in the last 50 feet of development!

Learn more about p!ng!