Fund/Build/Scale

Ayelet Noff has spent more than two decades helping startups land meaningful press — but she’s also seen how the game has changed. In this episode of Fund/Build/Scale, the founder of SlicedBrand and new PR tech startup Dazzle shares what still works, what doesn’t, and how founders can earn meaningful attention in today’s fractured media landscape. We get into: – What makes a pitch actually land with reporters – How to build credibility before you have traction – The biggest mistakes founders make when trying to “get press” – How AI tools are shaping the future of PR Whether you’re early-stage or scaling, this episode is packed with practical advice for telling your story with clarity and credibility. RUNTIME 49:49 LINKS Ayelet Noff @AyeletNoff (X) SlicedBrand Dazzle SUBSCRIBE 📥 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/7249143254363856897/ 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fundbuildscale/ Thanks for listening! – Walter.

Sahitya Senapathy, founder and CEO of Endeavor AI, joins Fund/Build/Scale to talk about launching a solo-founded startup at the intersection of AI and heavy industry. From building FEMA apps at age 11 to raising $7M before finishing college, Sahitya shares the hard lessons behind the headline. We dig into: – Selling AI solutions to manufacturers with no network and no co-founder – What enterprise customers actually care about in early-stage tech – Navigating credibility as a first-time founder in hard tech – Building while still learning — on the floor, in the pitch, as a leader This is a candid look at what it means to hustle in deep tech without shortcuts or safety nets. RUNTIME 46:18 EPISODE BREAKDOWN (2:25) How Sahitya’s parents gave him early exposure to manufacturing logistics and culture (5:42) How working on resilience tech during natural disasters sparked his focus on real-world impact (8:16) Lessons from Palantir and how the forward-deployed model shaped his customer-first mindset (9:46) His two-month immersion on the shop floor of a steel factory (12:05) Why forward deployment contradicts traditional product development models (15:44) Building a network in legacy industries through conferences, mentorship, and cold outreach (18:03) How strong references and early pilots drove initial traction (21:34) “ Starting a company is an extremely hard leap for many people to make. And it just so happened that I almost accumulated all these skills over my life.” (22:48) Hiring philosophy: high-agency, under-the-radar talent and long-term team-building (24:39) How he de-risks himself for both investors and potential hires (28:55) Learning to hire and manage people with more experience than you (30:20) Why a rejected engineering candidate became Endeavor’s first full-time sales hire (32:06) The toughest sales objection he’s had to overcome (34:02) “ You cannot do the forward deploy model without personas.” (36:11) “ I believe truly at the core that I have unlimited potential, and to that end, there's no point in ever believing that I could be limited by something.” (38:23) “ The biggest risk you can take is not taking a risk, especially in this day and age.” (40:43) How to validate your idea before leaving your job or taking a major leap (44:42) One question he’d ask a CEO before joining an early-stage AI startup LINKS Sahitya Senapathy Endeavor AI Forward deployment model SUBSCRIBE 📥 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/7249143254363856897/ 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fundbuildscale/ Thanks for listening! – Walter.

Sophie Bakalar, partner at Collaborative Fund, joins Fund/Build/Scale for a candid conversation about early-stage investing in climate tech, consumer AI, and deep tech hardware. She shares how she evaluates “green” founders with limited experience, what kind of traction she looks for in pre-revenue companies, and why a passion for solving a real-world problem outweighs having a stacked resume. We also cover: Tactical funding strategies for capital-intensive startups The value of adaptable teams and fractional CFOs How to avoid overspending before product-market fit The mindset shifts needed before approaching VCs This episode is packed with advice for founders navigating long development timelines, technical risk, and early go-to-market strategy — especially if you’re looking to raise money while keeping burn low and momentum high. RUNTIME 48:59 EPISODE BREAKDOWN (2:24) “Like a lot of people in venture, I have sort of a windy path.” (6:47) Inside Collaborative Fund: “We all roll up our sleeves on everything here.” (7:55) Which industries and founder profiles Sophie is watching in 2025. (10:37) Where consumer AI hardware may be headed. (12:03) What her typical work week looks like. (15:05) In a people-driven industry, inexperienced founders need to de-risk themselves before doing investor outreach. (17:37) “We don't necessarily create a hard line or a clear box around what makes a climate tech investment.” (22:43) “There are a few things that investors in climate and energy tech are looking for.” (26:23) When it comes to solo founders, “expectations from funders [are] a little bit higher.” (28:28) What excites Sophie about working with first-time founders. (30:17) The most common reason why a team with a strong idea fails to execute. (33:31) Why a founder’s “adaptability quotient” is so critical to their success. (36:53) Personalities (and business models) that should avoid venture capital. (40:16) “I hope I've managed to retain a good amount of empathy.” (42:11) One piece of advice for VCs she returns to frequently. (44:37) “The only real seismic changes are going to happen when you start to see more female entrepreneurs build really successful companies.” (46:52) The blogger you need to read “before you kick off your fundraise.” (47:39) The one question Sophie would have to ask a CEO before accepting an offer from an early-stage startup. LINKS Sophie Bakalar Craig Shapiro Collaborative Fund Fred Wilson, AVC archive SUBSCRIBE 📥 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/7249143254363856897/ 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fundbuildscale/ Thanks for listening! – Walter.

Recorded in July 2024, Aimi founder Edward Balassanian joins Fund/Build/Scale to share how his AI-powered platform creates generative, copyright-safe music for enterprise clients. He explains how customer discovery with DJs shaped Aimi’s tech, why compliance is core to their strategy, and why the company downsized after hitting product-market fit — all while inventing a market where AI music solves problems humans can’t. RUNTIME 30:47 EPISODE BREAKDOWN (4:17) “ I consider myself a platform person. I build operating systems.” (7:39) “ It's incumbent on a founder in a space like this to be well-versed in not only the art of the music, but the science of the music as well.” (9:14) “ We see a song as a medium between fans and artists. We're not in the song business.” (11:03) How Aimi is building a library of licensed content: “We’ve been pretty methodical.” (14:59) “ We see ourselves as kind of uniquely in the business of music AI for creation, not for imitation.” (16:46) “ We de-risk the use of music. That's one of the biggest selling points for enterprise customers.” (18:44) “ Like most tech people, I would say we're always going to be in beta.” (21:58) Why Aimi raised its $20M Series B in 2021. (24:01) Downsizing after reaching PMF “ was the best decision that we that we could have made.” (28:05) “ I think what's really interesting is building platforms, and any platform today is going to have to incorporate AI into it.” LINKS Edward Balassanian (Crunchbase) Aimi AI-Powered Music Platform Aimi has raised $20 million in a Series B round of funding SUBSCRIBE 📥 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/7249143254363856897/ 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fundbuildscale/ Thanks for listening! – Walter.

In this episode of Fund/Build/Scale, Nectir co-founder and CEO Kavitta Ghai shares how she turned her frustration as a college student into a fast-growing, VC-backed edtech startup. Kavitta discusses the leap from student to founder, how she built an AI-powered tool for classrooms without a technical background, and the tactics that helped her and her co-founder land paying customers early. She also opens up about navigating the venture world as a first-generation founder and reframing risk as a competitive advantage. RUNTIME 59:59 EPISODE BREAKDOWN (1:57) “ One day we said, ‘what if we stopped complaining and we actually did something about it?’” (5:57) “ The idea for Nectir initially just sort of fell into my lap.” (10:29) “ I was a communication major. He was an environmental studies major. We had no technical background at all.” (12:50) “ To go from a broke college student to being a broke founder really doesn't feel like that big of a difference.” (14:12) How they landed Nectir’s first customer — UC Santa Barbara. (20:50) “ We have this philosophy that I call our ‘zones of genius.’” (23:46) Why customer discovery should “ every single person on the team for as long as you possibly can.” (27:03) “ When I go back and think about what we did best in that beginning period of time, it was starting with a very basic MVP.” (30:47) “ It was a huge surprise and it was terrifying when I realized, ‘oh shit, I'm the salesperson.’” (34:47) Kavitta shares her top recommendation for free founder advice — and one she had to pay for. (38:43) “ I actually came into building Nectir with zero understanding of what VC funding even was.” (43:38) “ You have to be willing to ask for what you want and it's the only way to get it.” (47:24) “ Right this second is the best possible time to start your company.” (51:50) “ It's not the thought of me sitting on a yacht one day that motivates me.” (53:09) Nectir’s pilot program with the California Community College system. (56:49) The one question Kavitta would have to ask a CEO before she’d take a job at their startup. LINKS Nectir Kavitta Ghai kavitta.com How to Crash the Silicon Valley Party California Community Colleges Launches Groundbreaking Pilot with Nectir AI Paul Graham essays What is FERPA?, U.S. Dept. of Education Entrada Ventures SUBSCRIBE 📥 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/7249143254363856897/ 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fundbuildscale/ Thanks for listening! – Walter.

Would you leave a stable, high-paying job at Google to build something that competes with NVIDIA, Intel, and AMD? That’s exactly what Tim Davis, co-founder and president of Modular, did. Since then, his company has raised $130M to reimagine AI compute infrastructure — but are AI startups really desperate for a new compute layer? And what’s it like to build a startup when your biggest competitors are trillion-dollar giants? In this episode of Fund/Build/Scale, Tim shares his vision for the future of AI compute, why talent is the real key to success, and some of the tough lessons he’s learned from three startups. RUNTIME 46:27 EPISODE BREAKDOWN (1:26) “We are building a new accelerated execution platform for compute.” (6:41) “ It will exist all over the place and it already does, but AI will be everywhere that compute is.” (11:18) “ You only you only have so much time in a week. What is the thing that you're best at?” (15:13) “ We have decided to start from the hardest part of the software stack.” (22:44) “For the most talented people in the world, the risk is actually not as great as what you think.” (30:24) “ Growing up in Australia, my view of the of the United States was very much driven from the media and from Hollywood.” (33:26) “ I sat in a room for six weeks and just met everyone that I could. And that really was the beginning of a journey to the United States.” (37:48) “ I still think there's a special place in the Bay Area, and in the United States, there is a different risk appetite.” (40:41) The one question Tim would have to ask the CEO before he’d take a job at someone else’s early-stage startup. LINKS Tim Davis, co-founder, president timdavis.com Chris Lattner, co-founder, CEO Modular AI startup Modular raises $100 mln in General Catalyst-led funding, 8/24/2023, Reuters SUBSCRIBE 🎧 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fund-build-scale/id1719488387 🎧 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0EbC8PTUSfpZ4USPC9ErnN 📥 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/7249143254363856897/ 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fundbuildscale/ Thanks for listening! – Walter.

Building a startup in Europe presents a unique set of challenges, like fragmented markets, cultural differences in risk-taking, and a VC ecosystem that’s still maturing compared to Silicon Valley. But things are changing fast. For this episode of Fund/Build/Scale, I sat down with Lucile Cornet, partner at Eight Roads, a global VC firm that invests across Europe. We dive into: 🚀 How European founders are breaking away from Silicon Valley’s playbook 📈 The real signals VCs look for when deciding to fund a startup 🌍 Why Europe’s fragmented markets create both challenges and opportunities 💡 The alternative paths to scaling beyond the seed → Series A → Series B treadmill 🤖 How AI is reshaping vertical SaaS, fintech, and legacy industries in Europe Lucile also shares the biggest mistakes founders make when fundraising and scaling, plus the one question she’d ask a CEO before joining an early-stage startup. If you’re building — or thinking about building — a startup in Europe, this episode is for you. RUNTIME 53:08 EPISODE BREAKDOWN (3:22) Building long-term relationships with founders – “We really track to get to know people, entrepreneurs early and track their success.” (4:53) The reality of venture capital – “People glamorize the VC job, but sometimes I just think we're enterprise AEs.” (6:54) What happens after the first meeting with a founder team – How Eight Roads evaluates potential investments. (11:04) “There are definitely huge differences between investing in Europe, and in the US, and especially Silicon Valley.” (16:31) Cultural perceptions of job security in Europe – “If you get fired in France, you've, you've done something wrong, right?” (18:26) How the European mindset around risk-taking is shifting – More founders are embracing entrepreneurship. (22:14) How Eight Roads fosters founder communities across Europe – The playbook for strengthening a fragmented ecosystem. (27:34) The gap between startup reality and media narratives – “Journalism and social media paint a very romanticized, idealized version of a temporary shape.” (31:34) Beyond the VC treadmill: Alternative growth paths for European startups – What’s working outside the standard fundraising model. (34:45) Is grind culture universal? – “Frankly, if you want to be a successful entrepreneur, the grind is everywhere.” (39:03) The reverse talent flow: Europeans returning from Silicon Valley are reshaping the ecosystem. (43:21) The tech trends Lucile is watching for 2025 – Where the next opportunities are emerging. (46:34) Why consumer tech could make a comeback – “The comeback of consumer, I think at some point is going to be one to watch.” (48:05) A key lesson she wishes more entrepreneurs understood earlier – Insights from 13 years in VC. (52:07) The question she’d ask before joining a European startup – The ultimate founder test. LINKS Lucile Cornet Eight Roads Raft Juro poolside SUBSCRIBE 🎧 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fund-build-scale/id1719488387 🎧 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0EbC8PTUSfpZ4USPC9ErnN 📥 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/7249143254363856897/ 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fundbuildscale/ Thanks for listening! – Walter.

Journey founder and CEO Stephen Sokoler appeared on Fund/Build/Scale in June 2024 to talk about how his startup pivoted from B2C meditation services to a B2B mental health platform, along with what that shift revealed about selling to enterprise clients. He breaks down the challenges of high customer acquisition costs, the trade-offs of venture capital, and the key lessons founders should know before making a major business model shift. RUNTIME 38:28 EPISODE BREAKDOWN (2:20) Why Stephen decided to found Journey — identifying the need for accessible mental health solutions. (5:07) “We probably had five or six different products that worked and didn't work until we got to where we are today.” Lessons from early iterations and failures. (7:32) Pivoting to B2B “was definitely a safer bet than to continue doing consumer, which just seemed like a dead end.” (9:26) Landing early customers like Warby Parker — how this helped de-risk Journey for enterprise clients. (11:37) Why he sought out venture capital in the company’s early days — and what he learned from the process. (13:56) Knowing what he knows now, would he still have pursued VC? (17:11) Reaching product-market fit “changes the fundamentals of the business significantly.” (19:00) “One of our core pillars is that it's a global offering rooted in diversity and inclusion.” (23:17) We think it's really important to make mental health part of the fabric of working at a company, versus a random benefit.” (25:17) The three key data points Journey tracks to measure impact and effectiveness. (28:25) “You can decide: Do you want it to be a lifestyle business? Do you want it to be a unicorn?” (31:49) Work-life balance vs. work-life integration — “I don't like the term ‘work-life balance,’ because then it feels like something's always kind of out of whack.” (34:29) How Stephen has learned to manage the mental toll of entrepreneurship. (37:25) “Not every business should be a venture-backed business.” Key insights on whether VC is the right path. LINKS Stephen Sokoler Journey SUBSCRIBE 🎧 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fund-build-scale/id1719488387 🎧 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0EbC8PTUSfpZ4USPC9ErnN 📥 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/7249143254363856897/ 📓Substack: https://fundbuildscale.substack.com 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fundbuildscale/ Thanks for listening! – Walter.

When you accepted the offer, maybe you imagined being in the group photo when your boss rang the bell at NASDAQ. But five years later, your company just raised its Series C, and an IPO isn’t on the horizon. Meanwhile, you need liquidity — whether it’s for a down payment on a house, starting a family, or another major life event. The stock options you’ve earned are fully vested, but they’re just sitting there. So how do you turn them into cash? If your company allows it, you can sell your shares to an accredited investor, assuming you can find a buyer who’ll meet your price. That’s where the secondary market comes in. I spoke with Phil Haslett, founder and Chief Strategy Officer at EquityZen, a platform that helps startup employees sell a portion of their equity to investors looking to get in on high-growth companies before they go public. We took a deep dive into how the secondary market works, its risks and rewards, and how aspiring founders can even use it to bootstrap their own startups. Disclaimer: This interview is for informational purposes only. Nothing Phil says should be interpreted as financial advice. RUNTIME 41:54 EPISODE BREAKDOWN (0:00) I used Descript to create an elaborate cold open for this episode, please listen. (3:19) The specific pain point that led Phil and Atish to start EquityZen. (5:11) “ I've kind of gone through maybe two or three evolutions of the IPO markets since EquityZen started.” (7:57) All things being equal, early-stage tech workers take on more risk than founders or investors. (9:12) Few workers are well-informed about the secondary market, “but it’s not their fault.” (11:38) “ At some point, employees start to decide that maybe where they want to work — or maybe where they want to keep working — might be informed a bit by what they can or can't do with their equity.” (13:06) Should we keep the traditional four-year vesting schedule, or scrap it for something new? (14:14) Typical reasons why sellers turn to the secondary market. (16:25) EquityZen’s typical selling size and average investment size, as of November 2024. (18:52) ” You're probably not gonna get a billion-dollar valuation for your shares purely based on structure alone.” (20:45) Keep close track of your equity, especially if you think you’re going to be laid off. (22:20) Consult a financial services professional before you start the process. (24:16) “ The first steps are kind of just also learning if you can sell your shares.” (27:04) “ The company that you held shares in, if it went to zero: would you regret that you didn't sell?” (30:10) A framework for figuring out whether the secondary market is worth the time and trouble. (33:25) Offer your employees liquidity without jeopardizing morale or financial stability. (36:27) Phil’s founder pitch: “ We're gonna support you all along the way. We can help you with liquidity in the future.” (39:16) Tips for approaching your CEO to ask about liquidity options. LINKS Phil Haslett, co-founder/Chief Strategy Officer Atish Davda, co-founder/CEO EquityZen Descript stock library: Music: She Was In Hawaii (Lap Steel) SFX: Bar Background Ambience 01 SFX: Ocean Waves Crashing Ambience SUBSCRIBE 🎧 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fund-build-scale/id1719488387 🎧 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0EbC8PTUSfpZ4USPC9ErnN 📥 LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/7249143254363856897/ 📓Substack: https://fundbuildscale.substack.com 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fundbuildscale/ Thanks for listening! – Walter.

Do you want to know the difference between marketing and PR? Marketing is when you say something nice about yourself; PR is when other people say nice things about you. Jenna Guarneri is the founder of JMG Public Relations and author of the bestseller "You Need PR." In this episode, she shares DIY PR tactics that help founders establish themselves as experts, attract customers, and raise their profile with investors — without spending a fortune on an agency. If you’ve ever wondered why reporters never get back to you, we cover that, too. Key takeaways from this episode: ✅ Why PR comes before PMF in the startup playbook ✅ The biggest PR misconceptions founders have (and how to avoid them) ✅ How to craft a media pitch that actually gets responses ✅ DIY PR strategies for building credibility before you hire a firm ✅ The right way to engage with journalists without being ignored ✅ How PR can help secure funding and drive startup growth If you’re trying to take control of your PR strategy and attract positive attention, listen in. RUNTIME 31:28 EPISODE BREAKDOWN (1:52) How Jenna sets client expectations on what PR can and cannot accomplish. (5:14) Key signals that indicate an early-stage startup is ready to hire outside PR. (6:41) “The founders usually are amenable to PR and doing media interviews. It kind of comes with the territory of being a founder.” (7:59) How to get started with DIY PR by sharing thought leadership that creates value. (11:35) “PR should be done at the very beginning, right from the very start.” (12:20) The right way for stealth startups to approach PR. (13:02) The top reasons why reporters ignore pitches — and how to avoid them. (15:21) Crafting a news hook that genuinely engages journalists. (17:33) How your world changes when PR starts working. (18:50) “Effective public relations will drive the business in a number of ways.” (20:50) How to interview and vet a PR firm before making a commitment. (22:46) PR is a long game: “We can't work miracles in three months.” (25:22) Why using ChatGPT to pitch reporters is a terrible idea. (27:42) “Content creation does take a lot of time, a lot of energy, but it goes a long way really quickly for brand awareness.” (30:14) The one question Jenna would have to ask before hiring a PR firm. LINKS Jenna Guarneri JMG Public Relations You Need PR SUBSCRIBE 📥 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/7249143254363856897/ 📓Substack: https://fundbuildscale.substack.com 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fundbuildscale/ Thanks for listening! – Walter.

Building a startup in Africa isn’t the same as doing it in Silicon Valley. Some challenges overlap, but many don’t, like currency volatility, limited early-stage funding, and investors who expect you to scale faster than the market allows. So how do you grow beyond your home market? How do you raise funds when VC is scarce? And what do African founders need to do to make their startups more venture-backable? To find out, I spoke with Mobola da-Silva, a partner at Capria Ventures who’s based in Nairobi, Kenya. She’s been investing in Africa and other emerging markets for nearly two decades and knows exactly what separates startups that thrive from those that stall. She shares practical insights on navigating currency risk, securing funding, and preparing for Series A — even if you don’t have a deep-pocketed network to lean on. If you’re an African founder trying to build a company that investors take seriously, this episode is for you. RUNTIME 46:19 EPISODE BREAKDOWN (2:03) How Mobola got her start in VC and the path that led her to Capria Ventures. (4:09) Capria Ventures' investment thesis. (5:32) The regions and sectors where generative AI is creating real value. (10:41) The best way to pitch Capria Ventures — and what investors want to see. (12:26) “A venture-backable business has to be able to achieve significant scale.” (15:13) “We're getting a bit more creative in Africa around funding for startups.” (16:20) How currency volatility impacts valuations — and strategies for mitigating risk. (22:18) “To pitch successfully, you have to be able to tell a story, right?” (23:51) Why Capria Ventures avoids solo founders and what investors look for in teams. (28:33) “Many investors don't think of product-market fit as a binary thing.” (31:29) The key metrics that signal true product-market fit. (33:49) “Make sure that you have a strong business before you try to start to move it to another market.” (37:49) “Silicon Valley looms larger than life in Africa.” How founders should interpret this influence. (42:46) Mobola’s top advice for early-stage founders in Africa looking to scale and raise capital. LINKS Mobola da-Silva Capria Ventures Investment inquiries SUBSCRIBE LinkedIn Substack Instagram Thanks for listening! – Walter.

Eric Ly is the CEO of KarmaCheck, where he’s tackling a problem he first noticed years ago as a co-founder of LinkedIn: People don’t always tell the truth about themselves. To address this, KarmaCheck — launched in 2019 — automates key aspects of the background check process. By reducing complexity, employers can speed up hiring, while job applicants experience less friction along the way. “This is one of the first touch points with the employer: experiencing pain and frustration having to go through this process,” said Eric. “For us to show up with something new and different and better was frankly a breath of fresh air for the employers, the customers that we work with.” In this episode, we discuss: Jumping into a highly regulated industry with no prior domain expertise Why customer discovery should focus on patterns, not one-off insights The benefits of selling new features before they exist How to balance customer requests without losing focus We also talk about stepping out of LinkedIn’s shadow, resisting the temptation to build for a single customer, and knowing when to say “no” to feature requests. RUNTIME 40:20 EPISODE BREAKDOWN (1:37) “Several years ago, I became really interested in this whole concept around trust and trust online.” — How Eric first recognized the problem that led to KarmaCheck. (3:22) Entering a highly regulated industry without prior experience — where Eric found the confidence to take the leap. (5:30) A look back at KarmaCheck’s first hires — who they brought in early and why. (6:47) How KarmaCheck convinced early customers to take a chance on an unproven solution. (10:36) “Where employers don't even meet the people that they interview in person, there's an opportunity for the wrong things to happen.” (12:21) “We identified a pain point in corporate America that people often experience frustration with.” (14:34) How Eric used early customer feedback to shape KarmaCheck’s product strategy. (16:11) The role of proof-of-concept programs in building customer trust. (21:16) “Make sure that whatever you commit to in your product is going to be applicable for more than one customer.” (24:47) When customer feedback leads you down the wrong path — how to recognize it and recover. (27:46) Why it’s important to keep track of rejected product ideas. (29:49) The lessons from LinkedIn that Eric chose not to apply at KarmaCheck. (32:54) Advice for founders who want to step out of a shadow and build something completely new. (35:54) How to find a mentor when you don’t have a built-in network — Eric’s tips for making meaningful connections. (38:24) The one question Eric would ask a CEO if he were interviewing for a job at an early-stage startup. LINKS KarmaCheck Eric Ly KarmaCheck Raises $45 Million Series B to Modernize Background Checks and Credentialing (Press release. 6/27/2024) SUBSCRIBE LinkedIn Substack Instagram Thanks for listening! – Walter.

Most early-stage founders I talk to are focused on getting their first customers, hiring their first employees, or maybe, if they’re lucky, closing their first round of funding. But what happens after that? For Rohit Choudhary, the answer was building a whole new category. Rohit is the CEO and co-founder of Acceldata, a data observability platform that helps companies manage the complexity of modern data infrastructure. Before starting the company, he spent years inside the problem — working on data engineering challenges at Hortonworks and other enterprise tech firms. Like a lot of technical founders, Rohit didn’t start out dreaming of being a CEO — but the problem was too big to ignore. In this episode, we talk about: Why data engineering lacked the right tooling and how that led to Acceldata How his team validated the concept with real-world customer pain points The trade-offs of building in stealth mode vs. in public What he’s learned about hiring, scaling, and making the leap from engineer to CEO If you’re trying to figure out how to go from technical insight to scalable business, this one’s for you. RUNTIME 37:37 EPISODE BREAKDOWN (2:16) “ There are four of us co-founders, and we were all part of the same engineering team at Hortonworks.” (4:33) “ We felt that here was a unique opportunity for us to be able to build something really, really large and big.” (6:16) How Acceldata approached proof-of-concept programs in its early days. (8:23) “ How did you decide which one of you would become the CEO?” (11:31) Rohit’s seed-stage recruiting strategy: “ we had to excite them with the long-term vision.” (14:35) “ People like me, we learned how to sell despite coming from an engineering background.” (16:46) Why the co-founders “took a leap of faith” by formalizing their sales process early. (18:46) “ We were familiar with how business is conducted in the U.S.,” which made expansion easier. (21:08) Early challenges they faced after closing a Series A. (23:08) How “a big mistake” from a previous startup still influences Rohit’s choices today. (25:30) Wondering if it’s time to throw in the towel? Do a self-assessment. (28:31) Three core skills engineers need to acquire if they want to become effective CEOs. (31:39) “ I used to interview almost everyone until we were at about, you know, 170-180.” (33:82) How creating a 10-year strategy informed their day-to-day decision making. (36:27) The one question he’d have to ask the CEO in an interview before he could accept an offer. LINKS Acceldata Rohit Choudhary, co-founder/CEO Ashwin Rajeeva, co-founder/CTO Gaurav Nagar, co-founder/Senior Architect Raghu Mitra Kandikonda, co-founder/Director of Engineering Lightspeed Venture Partners Acceldata Announces $50 Million in Series C Funding to Expand Market Leadership and Product Innovation in Data Observability (press release) SUBSCRIBE LinkedIn Substack Instagram Thanks for listening! – Walter.

Startups face unexpected risks every day — cyberattacks, lawsuits, market shifts —but many entrepreneurs don’t think about risk management until it’s too late. In this episode of Fund/Build/Scale, Vouch co-founder/CEO Sam Hodges explains why risk management should be top of mind for early-stage founders. We discuss: Why risk management matters for early-stage startups How Vouch validated, built, and launched Corix as a new business unit The biggest mistakes founders make when managing risk Why work-life balance is a myth for startup leaders Key insurtech trends that early-stage founders should watch in 2025 Sam also shares insights on team structuring, branding, and time management—plus the one question he’d ask an insurtech CEO before taking a job. RUNTIME: 44:36 EPISODE BREAKDOWN (2:27) “ Risk management is something that a lot of founders don't think about a lot, but when it matters, it really matters.” (3:26) How Sam connected with co-founder Travis Hedge. (5:53) Why Vouch’s first team member was a design lead. (6:35) What sets Corix apart from Vouch’s core offerings. (9:05) The process behind starting up a new business unit. (12:42) “ At some point in scale, almost every company is going to organize around products, geographies, or market segments.” (15:05) “ There are three very specific stakeholder groups that we talk to all the time.” (16:26) How the team balanced quantitative metrics against qualitative insights while planning. (18:50) Inside their messaging, branding and rollout strategy for Corix. (21:59) “ The roots of Corix are ‘core’ and ‘risk,’ and we really do think that's what this is all about.” (25:47) How Sam’s day-to-day work is different since launching a new BU. (28:25) A few thoughts about time management and self-care. (30:32) “ I am not a big fan of the term ‘work-life balance.’” (33:22) “ When you make a decision like this, it is going to always feel like it is too early or too late.” (35:48) Insurtech trends early-stage founders should look out for in 2025. (40:14) The biggest risk-management mistakes Sam sees founders making. (43:14) The one question he’d have to ask an insurtech CEO if he were interviewing for a job. LINKS Vouch Sam Hodges, co-founder/CEO Travis Hedge, co-founder/CRO Introducing Corix: An MGA from Vouch, Empowering Brokers with Tailored Insurance Products (PR Newswire) SUBSCRIBE LinkedIn Substack Instagram Thanks for listening! – Walter.

Amr Awadallah is the CEO and co-founder of Vectara. Previously, he co-founded Cloudera, which went public in 2017 and was acquired for $5.3 billion, and also served as VP of Developer Relations at Google Cloud. His first startup, Aptivia, was acquired by Yahoo, where he later became VP of Product Intelligence Engineering. I talked to him about his experience as an immigrant in Silicon Valley, the frameworks he’s built to articulate vision and credibility, and what he’s learned about pitching investors and recruiting top talent over the years. Runtime: 52:43 EPISODE BREAKDOWN (3:39) “ The more technical definition of what we do is ‘RAG as a service.’” (5:38) ”You ask your car, ‘why is this icon showing, what's wrong with you?’ And the car will tell you, hey, you need to go change my oil.’” (8:07) What makes Vectara a blue-ocean company. (10:05) How to win an investor’s confidence when your current TAM is zero. (12:04) ”There's three things anybody looks for when they're going to join any job, and you need to at least win two of the three.” (15:06) How Amr connected with the other Vectara co-founders. (17:24) Why he’s “a very big opponent to building in stealth.” (21:50) Attending Stanford helped Amr visualize himself as an entrepreneur. (24:34) “ Many entrepreneurs think that the idea is what's going to make a company succeed or not.” (28:54) How he cultivated an appetite for risk again after spending eight years at Yahoo. (32:44) “ Only get the PhD in one case, and one case only: if you want to be a professor.” (37:35) “ By definition, more immigrants will be more willing to take risks.” (41:33) “ There's so many VCs out there pretending they're amazing.” (43:54) There are two types of salespeople: “coin operators” and “innovators.” (48:20) You can start up outside Silicon Valley, but “ if you can move here, move here.” (50:27) Two questions he’d ask the CEO if he were interviewing for a job with a new startup. LINKS Amr Awadallah Vectara Cloudera Google Cloud SUBSCRIBE LinkedIn Substack Instagram Thanks for listening! – Walter.

In this episode of Fund/Build/Scale, I talked with YL Ventures Partner Andy Ellis (a former CISO) about his approach to storytelling, tactics for founder-led sales and marketing, and why he thinks the cybersecurity hiring challenge isn’t a talent shortage, but a market misunderstanding. We also discussed refining product-market fit, customer discovery methods and pitfalls like believing in one's own narrative too strongly. The conversation also touched on hiring strategies, managing design partnerships, and maintaining humility as a founder. “The basic entry level skill of reading the room is knowing when somebody already agrees with you,” said Andy. RUNTIME 44:15 EPISODE BREAKDOWN (1:44) Andy describes his day-to-day work at YL Ventures with founders. (4:08) "It's like you now have an infant, and your only job as a parent is to create a competent adult.” (6:33) How he prefers to be pitched. (7:52) ”The art of storytelling is taking a message and putting it in a narrative vehicle.” (14:38) The biggest storytelling mistakes early-stage founders make. (17:08) “ The basic entry level skill of reading the room is knowing when somebody already agrees with you.” (18:50) “ Fear is a hard, hard sale… It's so transparent and CISOs do this every day.” (19:36) Common cybersecurity GTM missteps. (21:40) ”The moment that you can sell the same product to two different companies, you should have a sales rep.” (23:45) How Andy helps founders read the room when they’re trying to make a sale. (27:20) “ You're hiring really out of a very different pool when you're in the cybersecurity space.” (29:08) “ Stealth is sort of a misnomer, but we're still sort of stuck in it.” (30:54) What to say if you want someone to quit their cushy job and join your risky startup. (32:46) Rock-star hires are “fantastic if they stumble into your lap, but you can't go look for them.” (35:08) “ That first marketer you hire needs to be able to do a lot of things.” (39:05) “People with massive egos have a lot of humility.” (41:20) Trends in cybersecurity and AI he’s excited about in 2025. LINKS Andy Ellis 1% Leadership: Master the Small, Daily Improvements that Set Great Leaders Apart csoandy.com YL Ventures YL Ventures’ The State of the Cyber Nation 2024 (PDF) SUBSCRIBE TO FUND/BUILD/SCALE LinkedIn Substack Instagram Thanks for listening! – Walter.

Two of the three co-founders of Operant AI — CTO Dr. Priyanka Tembey and CMO Ashley Roof — joined me to talk about building the first runtime application protection platform and navigating the challenges of cloud-native security. The company announced a $10M Series A in September 2024 — In October, we discussed taking the leap into entrepreneurship, the lessons they learned through customer discovery and education, making early hires count, and the importance of early-stage team dynamics. RUNTIME: 48:14 EPISODE BREAKDOWN (2:28) “ I think it was within six months that we were able to have our first customer conversation.” (3:46) What can customers do with a runtime application protection platform? (9:38) “ What is interesting about our team is we don't come from prior security vendor companies.” (12:59) Ashley explains how her first “real job” at Google eventually led her to Operant AI. (15:51) “ I had many years of imposter syndrome to get over.” (17:57) Why working with design partner teams is key, particularly for stealth startups. (20:43) Priyanka discusses the company’s early customer education efforts. (24:23) Ashley on why previous runtime application protection products hit “the trough of despair pretty fast.” (28:26) Turning design partners into paying customers was part of their seed-to-Series A transition. (31:04) Priyanka explains how Operant AI runs proof-of-concept programs for customers. (34:28) Why they decided to start up in stealth. (36:29) “ I honestly don't know how any consumer company could possibly start in stealth.” (38:35) “ We have the technical leadership in place now… to scale the product further.” (41:02) Inside their recruiting strategy and process. (44:35) What’s changed since closing the Series A? LINKS Operant AI Dr. Priyanka Tembey co-founder, CTO Ashley Roof, co-founder, CMO Operant AI Secures $10M Series A to Protect the Modern Cloud Across APIs, Applications and AI SOC 2 compliance SUBSCRIBE LinkedIn Substack Instagram Thanks for listening! – Walter.

Startups are built on grit, vision, and — surprisingly — a lot of peer advice. In this episode, I sat down with Mallory Contois, Head of Community at Mercury and leader of Mercury Raise, their founder success platform. Drawing from their latest survey, Mallory shares eye-opening insights about how early-stage entrepreneurs navigate challenges like fundraising, hiring, and customer acquisition. Why do founders rely more on peer networks and podcasts like this one than their VCs for operational advice? Mallory explains the unique psychology that makes it hard for founders to admit uncertainty to their investors and why angel investors often provide more operational value than institutional funds. We also discuss key survey findings, including the evolving AI landscape, the benefits of accelerators, and how lean teams are reshaping what’s possible in a startup. Whether you’re building your first company or gearing up for the next funding round, this episode offers actionable insights and a fresh take on founder dynamics in today’s startup ecosystem. Subscribe now to Fund/Build/Scale and learn how to turn your idea into a sustainable business. RUNTIME: 44:44 EPISODE BREAKDOWN (2:19) A brief overview of Mercury and Mercury Raise. (3:42) Mallory describes a day in the life of Mercury’s Community team. (6:18) Do mature startups worry about the same things as seed-stage teams? (8:41) “ We have a pretty good pulse on what people are talking about and what people are struggling with.” (9:26) Nearly a quarter of all survey respondents applied to accelerators but were rejected. (11:05) Why founders are more likely to get advice from this podcast than their VCs. (13:39) “ The peer connection that founders have is almost trauma bonding.” (15:02) “ We're seeing founders and investors giving the advice to be much more constrained in spend management.” (17:43) Mallory describes different founder archetypes who are attracted to Mercury Raise. (21:07) “ AI investments now are a lot more calculated than they were in the last couple of years.” (24:45) For AI founders, building in a hype cycle “ can be simultaneously demoralizing and exciting.” (27:17) How Mercury Raise creates value through community. (29:54) Mercury’s Investor Connect program helps founders sharpen pitches. (32:54) “Fundraising in general is just a black box.” (36:13) Vibe check: “solo founders are actually becoming a little bit more common and a little bit more accepted.” (37:19) ”Co-founder breakups — it's worse than the real thing.” (38:02) Mallory’s advice for founders who are planning to fundraise in 2025. LINKS Mallory Contois Mercury Mercury Raise Mercury Investor Connect SUBSCRIBE 📓Substack: https://fundbuildscale.substack.com 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fundbuildscale/ 📥 LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/7249143254363856897/ Thanks for listening! – Walter.

In October 2024, New York-based Swell VC announced its second fund with $11.5 million in commitments. Co-founded by general partners Jay Patil and Rusty Ralston in 2011, the firm now manages two seed-stage funds and a special purpose vehicle with $19 million in assets. Compared to larger firms, they’re small potatoes — but that’s intentional. Swell VC is all about being hands-on: helping founders with critical early hires and go-to-market strategies. I invited them on Fund/Build/Scale to discuss their investment thesis, why diversity matters for building innovative teams, and how to know when it’s finally time to stop thinking about your startup idea and start building. RUNTIME 42:09 EPISODE BREAKDOWN (1:36) Rusty explains how he and Jay met. (4:08) “ People determine the outcome of a company.” (5:36) “ You start the search when you're ready to hire. And then you build momentum.” (8:27) When Swell VC gets involved with founders, where they’re looking to invest. (11:24) Jay talks about the firm’s portfolio strategy and its second fund. (14:38) When it comes to early hiring, “ over the last 15 years, we've codified like all of our learnings.” (17:16) Where do founders make the most mistakes in the hiring/interview process? (21:43) “A big blind spot is thinking diversity is just about hitting certain metrics.” (23:15) “ We're all about finding founders to live on what we call ‘the edge of the inside.’” (26:39) “ No solo founder can do everything forever.” (29:14) “ You don't need to build a full team right away. Your network is kind of your first line.” (31:55) Signals that indicate a founder’s ready to take the leap into entrepreneurship. (34:40) Why Swell VC is looking for category-creating startups to invest in. (37:34) Questions Jay and Rusty expect founders to ask during the discovery meeting. (40:25) How they prefer to be pitched. LINKS Jay Patil Rusty Ralston Swell VC [email protected] Swell VC Closes $11.5M Fund II, Proving Small Funds Can Deliver Big Wins (PR Newswire) Distributed to Paid-In Capital (DPI) definition SUBSCRIBE 📥 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/7249143254363856897/ 📓 Substack: https://fundbuildscale.substack.com 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fundbuildscale/ Thanks for listening! – Walter.

If a team hasn’t built a minimum viable product, secured paying customers, or demonstrated strong unit economics, what exactly are seed-stage investors betting on? To get some answers, I sat down with Nnamdi Iregbulem, a partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners, to discuss what drives seed valuations, the traits of successful founders, and his perspective on AI startups. “A lot of the pitches that I get are basically two people, a PowerPoint deck, and their dog,” Nnamdi told me during our conversation in October 2024. Nnamdi shared his journey from coding as a kid to investment banking at JP Morgan, growth-stage investing at Iconiq Capital, and now helping early-stage founders at Lightspeed. He explains why seed valuations often reflect the opportunity cost of the founding team more than traditional factors like interest rates or public market comps, and highlights the rising costs of GPUs and AI talent as critical considerations. We also explored the traits that set exceptional founders apart — like strong domain expertise, adaptability, and demonstrated excellence — and why inference-based AI startups may have an edge over those focused on training new models. For aspiring VCs, Nnamdi offers practical advice on developing domain expertise, building a network, and honing the skills needed to evaluate companies effectively. Whether you’re a founder, investor, or simply curious about the startup ecosystem, this episode is packed with actionable insights. RUNTIME 33:24 EPISODE BREAKDOWN (2:24) “ I was the first-born son of two Nigerian immigrants who really badly wanted me to be a doctor.” (6:17) “ I was sort of like, ‘what do I know about early-stage companies?’ I never worked in a startup.” (8:50) The day-to-day work Nnamdi does with the founders in Lightspeed’s portfolio. (11:13) He explains why seed valuations aren’t valuations. (13:31) “ The only characteristic… that had any real predictive value was the opportunity cost of the founder.” (16:43) “ Coming from a large and stable big tech company is not the positive signal that it used to be.” (17:32) The weights and measures he uses to assess seed-stage founders. (19:33) When domain expertise is (and is not) useful. (20:53) How he evaluates technical vs. non-technical founders. (24:16) “A lot of the pitches that I get are basically two people, a PowerPoint deck, and their dog.” (25:18) How to pitch Nnamdi directly. (26:21) Setting valuations is “ more driven by the founders than it is by us.” (29:33) His advice for anyone who wants to break into venture capital. LINKS Nnamdi Iregbulem Seed Valuations Aren’t Valuations, whoisnnamdi.com email Nnamdi Lightspeed Venture Partners SUBSCRIBE 📥 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/7249143254363856897/ 📓Substack: https://fundbuildscale.substack.com 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fundbuildscale/ Thanks for listening! – Walter.

In the startups I worked at, we never had spare laptops. When we hired someone, we’d order their laptop that day. That’s Startup Cashflow 101: don’t spend money until you have to. The same principle applies to your leadership team. Hiring a CMO before product-market fit? Too soon. And a CEO can handle COO duties for a while. Most seed-stage companies don’t need a full-time CFO either. A good controller can handle day-to-day finances, while a fractional CFO can plan future fundraising and create investor-friendly forecasts — all without reducing your runway. To understand why a fractional CFO might be the smarter move, I spoke to Dan DeGolier, founder of Ascent CFO Solutions. Runtime 27:21 Episode Breakdown (1:44) Dan explains Ascent CFO Solution’s origin story. (4:53) Why so many founders hire full-time CFOs before they actually need to. (6:33) A list of specific value-adds a fractional CFO can provide. (7:29) “We might be two days a week or three days a week. But we are very much a part of that team.” (8:57) Inside Dan’s client onboarding process. (12:44) “Part of it is getting a handle on cash flow and spend.” (15:24) “Understanding what the risk factors are to your runway is really critical.” (18:39) Which stats and KPIs are most important to share with the entire company? (20:51) If you want cash flow to break even, “be capital efficient to begin with.” (23:31) Clients “often supplement a VC round with a venture debt round so they can extend that runway a little bit further.” (25:09) How to interview a CFO if you don’t have an entrepreneurial background. (26:08) Resources Dan recommends for founders seeking financial discipline. Links Dan DeGolier Ascent CFO Solutions Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap...And Others Don't, Jim Collins Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make Competition Irrelevant, W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business, Gino Wickman EOS One® Subscribe 📥 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/7249143254363856897/ 📓Substack: https://fundbuildscale.substack.com Thanks for listening! – Walter.

When I learned that MaC Venture Capital just raised $150 million for its third fund since 2020, I immediately reached out for an interview with Marlon Nichols, the firm’s co-founder and managing general partner. Marlon previously co-founded Cross Culture Ventures, which merged with M Ventures in 2019 to form MaC VC. In this interview, we talked about his path from enterprise software into venture capital, the concept of cultural investing, and MaC VC’s focus on diverse founders. He also explained what types of startups the new fund is open to and discussed some of the criteria he uses to assess the strengths of founding teams (and their ideas). Runtime: 45:44 Links Marlon Nichols Contact Marlon MaC Venture Capital Exclusive: MaC VC raises $150 million for its third fund in four years (Fortune) The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers, Ben Horowitz Secrets of Sand Hill Road: Venture Capital and How to Get It, Scott Kupor Subscribe 📥 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/7249143254363856897/ 📓Substack: https://fundbuildscale.substack.com Thanks for listening! – Walter.

In this episode of Fund/Build/Scale, host Walter Thompson interviews Sahil Agarwal, CEO and co-founder of Encrypt AI. Sahil shares his journey from academia to leading an international AI company, discussing the importance of storytelling, confidence, and addressing biases within AI models. He also delves into challenges faced by immigrant entrepreneurs and the balance between leadership and employee well-being. Sahil provides insights into navigating enterprise AI security, fundraising strategies, and the intrinsic demands of running a startup. Tune in to uncover strategies for launching a company and overcoming industry hurdles. Runtime: 33:04 (1:46) Sahil describes Enkrypt AI use cases that “ensure equitable and safe use of AI for everyone.” (3:36) How his background in applied mathematics led to a career in enterprise security. (6:45) “You work until two in the morning whether that's PhD or a startup, and you wake up and you start again.” (8:34) “It took us some time talking to prospects and talking to people in the space to really hone in on the problem.” (11:42) Sahil’s path to obtaining the green card that would let him launch his own company. (15:31) “There has to be some sort of confidence that we have to project in front of investors and in front of enterprises or prospects.” (17:19) “You're accountable to everyone else in your company. That's my principle of leadership.” (20:26) How Sahil and co-founder Prashanth Harshangi approach work-life balance. (24:27) Setting expectations with investors and leading Enkrypt AI’s GTM strategy. (29:18) His advice for anyone pitching a seed-stage AI startup: “don't pitch a technology, pitch a story.” (31:17) The one question Sahil would ask an early-stage CEO if he were interviewing for a job. LINKS Enkrypt AI Sahil Agarwal, co-founder and CEO Prashanth Harshangi Enkrypt AI Raises $2.35 Million To Take On The Chatbots Going Rogue SUBSCRIBE LinkedIn Substack Thanks for listening! – Walter.

Branding is a condensed form of storytelling. That’s my opinion, but it’s also shared by David Placek, founder and president of Lexicon Branding. Here are a few of the companies and products they’ve named since 1982: Subaru Outback, Subaru Forester BlackBerry Pentium PowerBook Nissan Rogue Lucid Azure Sonos Swiffer NVIDIA Shield Febreze In May 2024, I interviewed him at his headquarters in Sausalito, California about brand architecture and positioning, the merits of being bold and authentic, and the methodology his company uses to transform innovative ideas into distinctive names that resonate. Our conversation focused on aligning brand with market behavior, the art (and science) behind selecting a name, tools and exercises for brand identity creation, and techniques for validating a brand name before you commit to it. He also offered suggestions for early-stage teams on tight budgets and shared some insights from a study on branding for AI startups: “Don't overpromise, don't overhype, don't participate in all this hype.” RUNTIME 44:10 EPISODE BREAKDOWN (2:56) ”We have a process that takes that new idea and, and along the way, the goal is to give it a voice, a distinctive voice.” (4:02) How Lexicon Branding develops “coined” brand names. (7:18) Over time, David realized the company needed a creative layer and an engineering layer. (8:31) “Right now, in-house, we have at least three programs that are AI-based.” (10:22) “We are first and foremost a creative consulting firm, so everything has to be customized.” (12:09) David ballparks cost, timelines, and explains how Lexicon Branding works with clients. (15:07) “We create a vessel that will carry the story into the marketplace.” (17:36) How to validate your branding idea before fully committing to it. (21:53) Using generative AI in client work “is not only saving us time, but it's getting more information.” (25:07) Situations where David recommends changing your company’s name. (27:39) Head of Research Dmitri Seredenko offers an overview of an AI startup branding survey. (29:12) The challenge of injecting genuine emotion into your brand. (33:02) “I don't think any brands have really taken a stake on what they really want to be known for.” (35:56) “Don't overpromise, don't overhype.” (38:53) Why adding “AI” to your brand is a bad idea. (41:36) After you’ve made a decision, “stop trying to be comfortable about the new name.” (42:45) David describes the emotional experience of encountering his brands in daily life. LINKS Lexicon Branding David Placek Dmitri Seredenko 6 Things You Need to Know if You’re Building an AI brand SUBSCRIBE 📥 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/7249143254363856897/ 📓Substack: https://fundbuildscale.substack.com Thanks for listening! -- Walter.

Deeptech founders are solving problems that most of us don’t think of as problems and tackling challenges that push the boundaries of what we think is possible. This interview with Justin Fiaschetti, CEO and co-founder of Inversion, is a good example. Inversion is building a platform that will enable space-based cargo delivery using autonomous re-entry vehicles with parachutes that will let them deliver goods from space to pretty much anywhere on Earth in less than 60 minutes within 20 feet of their customer. After my initial chat with Justin to prepare for this interview, I literally had to take a walk to process it all. Today, Inversion is announcing its $44 million Series A round — a clear signal that investors and potential customers believe the company is on the verge of something groundbreaking. “None of our customers care about how technically cool or what new fun technology we have on our product,” said Justin. “All they care about is can they get their cargo in under an hour, wherever they want. And so our goal is to do the minimum amount of technical innovation in order to meet our customers’ needs while having a growth path to continue to increase the capability [and] reduce the cost for our customers.” I interviewed him about early customer discovery and market validation, how Inversion is developing its go-to-market strategy, and asked how he plans to put the Series A to work in the company’s next stage of development. We also discussed the unique challenge of pitching something to investors that only exists in your imagination. “What is the addressable market for delivery from space? It doesn't exist right now,” said Justin. “Fundamentally, we're making a new market.” RUNTIME: 56:15 EPISODE BREAKDOWN (3:55) “Space really only has two viable business models. And we asked ourselves, ‘what's the third thing that's going to happen?’” (6:05) How Inversion’s on-demand space cargo delivery platform will work. (8:12) “I like to define ourselves by our customers rather than by our technology.” (12:08) “Having closed this Series A, there are a couple of big things for us.” (14:33) Differences between the Ray reentry vehicle and Arc, the larger prototype. (16:50) Inside Inversion’s go-to-market strategy. (20:39) “Nobody's built this before. There is no playbook. There is no rule set that you have to follow.” (25:21) Justin’s approach to validating customer demand for space-based cargo delivery. (27:40) “Our first investor pitch went terribly.” (31:07) Why Justin and Austin pivoted away from their initial idea. (34:40) “There is a huge market for on-demand and rapid cargo delivery.” (39:18) “We are the first new space company to develop parachutes in space.” (43:56) His framework for staying focused on product and customer needs. (46:00) “Starting with the military has been critical for us.” (50:45) “One of my personal goals is to deliver the Olympic torch.” (51:13) How Inversion is navigating the Valley of Death. (54:26) One question he’d have to ask the CEO if he were interviewing for a job at a deep tech startup. LINKS Inversion Justin Fiaschetti, CEO/co-founder Austin Briggs, CTO/co-founder Inversion Space accelerates orbital reentry vehicle tech with $71M Space Force contract (TechCrunch) Inversion secures reentry license for first mission (Space News) Jobs at Inversion SUBSCRIBE 📥 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/7249143254363856897/ 📓Substack: https://fundbuildscale.substack.com Thanks for listening! -- Walter.

If you want a healthy relationship, it’s essential to set clear expectations and boundaries from the start. The same holds true for a founder and their board. Despite the power dynamics, CEOs can still create a transparent communication framework that respects everyone’s limited time. In part two of my interview with TigerEye co-founder and CEO Tracy Young, we discuss her approach to work-life balance, the unique challenges women founders face while fundraising, how to run a board meeting in 60 minutes, and the importance of gaming out worst-case scenarios. Runtime: 24:58 EPISODE BREAKDOWN (2:20) Why traditional 80-page board decks are “just not helpful for strategic discussion.” (5:32) How Tracy structures memos for board meetings. (7:18) The importance of gaming out worst-case scenarios with your team. (9:31) “Our motto is: ‘go towards where it hurts.’ Go fix it.” (12:40) Tracy and (co-founder/husband) Ralph’s approach to work-life balance. (15:26) “It's trite to say, but I try to meditate when I can.” (17:11) “I have met a lot of women founders who have told me horrific stories.” (20:24) “You look at who's writing the checks and are actually decision makers. They lean more towards male — actually white males.” (22:59) “You shouldn't be talking to customers in one meeting and in the same day meeting investors.” (23:48) The one question she’d have to ask a CEO if she were interviewing for a startup job. LINKS Tracy YoungWhy I started TigerEye Early-stage board decks are dead: How to run a meeting in 60 minutes TigerEye Ralph Gootee SUBSCRIBE 📥 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/7249143254363856897/ 📓Substack: https://fundbuildscale.substack.com Thanks for listening! -- Walter.

In 2011, Tracy Young co-founded PlanGrid, which made software for construction teams. After scaling the company to 450 people and raising $69 million, it was acquired by Autodesk in 2018 for $875 million. That’s a win, but Tracy and her partners didn’t go for the exit because they’d reached the peak of the mountain. They cut the deal because PlanGrid was behind in the market, and they didn’t know how to catch up. Three years later, during the pandemic, Tracy and her husband, Ralph Gootee, co-founded TigerEye, a RevOps AI agent that lets analysts answer questions and allocate resources based on data that’s updated multiple times each hour. Last year, TigerEye closed a $30 million Series A. She describes it as “moneyball for business,” the tool she wished she’d had at PlanGrid when she was fighting entrenched competitors who were just better at enterprise sales. In part one of our interview, she explains why they started their new company up in stealth and how TigerEye reflects her vision of what enterprise software should accomplish. She also shared what she’d learned as a CEO her second time around about building early teams and managing a hybrid workplace. Subscribe now to get part 2: Her approach to work-life balance The unique challenges women founders face while fundraising How to run a board meeting in 60 minutes, and The importance of gaming out worst-case scenarios. Runtime: 23:09 EPISODE BREAKDOWN (2:53) TigerEye’s origin story: “We wanted a second chance, and that became a big desire of ours.” (5:11) “There's certain decisions that only leadership and the CEO can make.” (7:58) “We just really sucked at selling to the enterprise.” (9:53) How to manage customer discovery while you're in stealth. (15:53) Tracy’s tactics for managing a remote-first team effectively. (19:25) When it comes to personnel, it’s “much harder to be mediocre at a small startup.” (21:21) Why she still interviews every new hire at TigerEye. LINKS Tracy Young Why I started TigerEye 5 failure points between 5 and 100M ARR TigerEye Ralph Gootee SUBSCRIBE 📥 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/7249143254363856897/ 📓Substack: https://fundbuildscale.substack.com Thanks for listening, -- Walter.

Most of the world’s talent goes untapped. Unrecognized. With that in mind, I interviewed Laura González-Estéfani, founder of Miami-based VC firm TheVentureCity in May 2024. We talked about the potential of global talent and why more investors need to broaden their scope beyond major tech hubs. This episode provides valuable insights for founders who don’t have large networks or a business background. She offered practical advice on navigating the VC approval process, building trust with investors, and avoiding common pitfalls such as overdilution of equity. She also talked about what she’s looking for, and how she prefers to be pitched. Runtime: 45:01 LINKS Laura González-Estéfani TheVentureCity Growth Scanner AHA (beta) TheVentureCity jobs board SUBSCRIBE 📥 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/7249143254363856897/ 📓Substack: https://fundbuildscale.substack.com

Today is my 55th birthday! I was planning to take the day off, but I started thinking about a few people my age who work in tech and have been recently laid off. Unlike workers in their 20s and 30s, they’re facing a very different set of pressures: family, college payments, aging parents, retirement, etc. Most of the ones I know are having a hard time landing interviews, let alone full-time jobs. This is the shortest episode I’ve ever released, so technically, I guess that makes this a hot take. I generally avoid those, but it’s my birthday and I’m feeling self-indulgent. 🎂🥳 Thanks for listening! Runtime: 5:05 LINKS Michael Tritter Carlos Chairez UCSF Trigeminal Neuralgia Clinic Subscribe to Fund/Build/Scale 📥LinkedIn 📓Substack Thanks for listening! – Walter.

Based in New York, Elana Berkowitz and Courtney Leimkuhler are co-founders and partners at Springbank, where they focus on sectors that support working women and their families, largely in three key areas: the future of work, the care economy, and household consumer services. Their thesis is driven by growing demand from employers, insurers, and the government, recognizing the economic impact of caregiving, which includes fields like teaching, child care, nursing and home health care. “We look at the infrastructure to serve the needs of working women and their families as something that's underfunded, under-innovated, and kind of a huge opportunity hiding in plain sight,” said Elana. We talked about backing solutions that combine business acumen with empathy for care workers while considering ethical AI use. They also shared insights on how to pitch effectively, stressing the importance of addressing the 'how' alongside the opportunity size. Runtime: 39:53 EPISODE BREAKDOWN (1:21) Courtney and Alana share Springbank VC’s origin story. (4:03) Their investment thesis: the care economy, future of work, household services. (7:01) Why their investment in Carefull “is really levered to this concept of financial caregiving.” (11:23) How they recognize founder-market fit. (15:29) Which types of founders are they most interested in working with? (18:01) Assessing the ethical implications of AI applications on caregiving. (20:48) “The hardest decisions these founders might encounter might be many years after our capital has been put in.” (23:36) Unsolved problems Courtney “would love to see” more founders focus on. (28:23) Common misperceptions about AI and the care economy. (30:43) Elana: “One area that we're interested in is memory care: Alheimer’s, dementia.” (33:31) How to pitch Springbank VC. (35:52) Tactical and strategic advice for first-time founders working on pitch decks. (38:02) Elana: “I always really love when it is clear to me that founders have profound empathy.” LINKS Springbank VC Elana [email protected] Courtney [email protected] Carefull Subscribe to Fund/Build/Scale Apple Podcasts Spotify LinkedIn Substack

I interviewed Chikodi Chima, founder of Moonshot, a PR firm focused on early-stage startups. The discussion revolves around the art of storytelling, thought leadership, and how PR can exponentially boost brand presence and connect with media, along with prospective customers, employees and investors. Chikodi shares insights from his journey as a former tech journalist to a PR professional, emphasizing the importance of creating compelling narratives and strategic influence for startup founders. Key topics include understanding when to engage with PR, the role of media exposure, managing expectations about ROI, and avoiding common pitfalls in PR strategies. The conversation also touches on the significance of events and networking in enhancing brand credibility “You can sell a problem long before you have a viable solution for it,” said Chikodi. Runtime: 37:34 EPISODE BREAKDOWN (2:09) How Chikodi transitioned from tech journalism into launching a PR agency. (5:48) “How do I get people's attention, and how do I keep them involved in my story?” (8:33) “If people see themselves in the story that the founder and the company is telling, they will get on board.” (10:28) Moonshot's onboarding process for new clients. (13:05) “I think of myself as a triple threat because I understand marketing, content events and PR.” (16:52) “There's a lot of ways to get ROI out of events.” (17:14) “A question that I get from founders a lot is, ‘how much time is this going to take from me?’” (22:23) How he connects with new clients and sets expectations. (25:54) “You really have to have something special, you have to be committed, you have to be resilient and you have to be adaptable.” (29:15) “There is this sociopathic kind of tendency in certain founders, and you don't instantly recognize it.” (33:10) “If you ask me, “when should we start doing PR,” I would say ‘yesterday.’” LINKS Chikodi Chima @chikodi Moonshot The Key to Navigating Vulnerability at Work Subscribe to Fund/Build/Scale on Substack Thanks for listening! – Walter.

In 2014, Naveen Rao left his researcher job at Qualcomm to co-found machine intelligence platform Nervana. About two and a half years later, Nervana sold to Intel for more than $400 million. After a few years at Intel, Naveen became CEO and co-founder of open source startup MosaicML, which helped companies build and train large AI models more efficiently and affordably. Approximately two and a half years later, Databricks acquired that company for $1.3 billion and made him VP of Generative AI. Naveen is a neuroscientist with multiple exits, so we spoke at length about shifting from engineering into entrepreneurship. If you have a technical role and are considering starting up, he shares his perspective on balancing day-to-day responsibilities while validating your idea, the importance of challenging industry assumptions, and finding your market niche. We also talked about who should — and should not — startup in stealth and addressed some of the current challenges facing the generative AI startup ecosystem, such as the rapid failure rates of companies due to high GPU costs and overinvestment in 2021-2022. Runtime: 51:16 EPISODE BREAKDOWN (2:54) “Evidence is always less than you want. At some point you kind of have to take a leap.” (5:37) “My journey with Nervana was, it was immediately clear to me that the world needed this.” (11:52) “Get in the head of someone who's going to exchange money for your services and products.” (14:54) Why he’s not a big fan of remote work. (18:35) “It is on you as an adult to find balance that you can work with. It is not the company's duty to do this.” (20:31) Why product companies should “probably not” startup in stealth. (23:11) “It wasn't the right time to sell. I didn't look at it like that at all.” (26:32) Hiring and retaining generative AI talent is “a hard problem right now.” (30:16) “Companies are failing pretty fast because the GPU spends are so big.” (35:04) Interacting with Databricks’ developer community. (43:11) Naveen on accelerators: “I think there are actually faster ways to learn.” (45:05) When it comes to angel investing, “I'm looking for creativity, honestly.” (47:34) If you were interviewing for a job with an early-stage startup, what's one question you'd have to ask the CEO? LINKS Naveen Rao @NaveenGRao Databricks Databricks picks up MosaicML, an OpenAI competitor, for $1.3B Intel is paying more than $400 million to buy deep-learning startup Nervana Systems The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion, Jonathan Haidt Ali Partovi Subscribe to Fund/Build/Scale on Substack: fundbuildscale.substack.com

In July 2024, I visited the Ferry Building in San Francisco to sit down with CapitalG partners Jill (Greenberg) Chase and James Luo. As Alphabet’s growth-stage VC fund, CapitalG specializes in backing startups that have found product-market fit and are ready to scale with investments ranging from $50M to $200M. We talked about the key signals that indicate a company is ready for growth-stage investment, how CapitalG leverages Google and Alphabet resources to boost its portfolio, and their frameworks for assessing risk and potential returns. We also spent time talking about the importance of go-to-market strategies, team-building, and product partnerships. Whether you’re an early-stage founder or curious about what it takes to scale a business to the next level, this conversation offers actionable insights into navigating growth-stage funding. Runtime: 53:05 EPISODE BREAKDOWN (1:57) A general overview of CapitalG and its relationship to Alphabet and Google. (6:11) What are some of the early signals indicating that a company is at growth stage? (8:33) James: “When you get to the later stages, you have a ton of different data points that you don't have at the Series B.” (12:53) Jill: “We talk a lot about the concept of, “are you paid for the risk that you're taking?” (18:53) Jill: “Our job when things aren't going so well is to remind them of the dream and to say, ‘no, we're not giving up.’” (19:30) Which trends and technology are Jill and James following these days? (25:25) James’ framework for sizing TAM for growth-stage startups. (30:50) James: “TAM is a judgment call. It's as much art as it is science.” (32:28) Jill on what separates a high-potential AI startup from the rest of the pack. (38:29) Jill: “The way we approach investing at CapitalG is highly thematic and sort of thesis-driven.” (44:50) Why growth-stage investing is similar to park rangers looking for forest fires. (48:45) James: “You're basically never going to find somebody who's amazing at every possible thing that you need to do to run a business.” (51:01) Jill: “It is a huge red flag for me when somebody can't say, ‘yep, I was wrong about this.’” LINKS Jill (Greenberg) [email protected] James Luo CapitalGRobinhood Stripe Magic Rippling San Francisco Ferry Building

In this episode, Fund/Build/Scale host Walter Thompson interviews Benjamin Humphrey, CEO and co-founder of Dovetail, a customer insights hub based in Sydney, Australia. They discuss the challenges of hiring for a bootstrapped company, early customer acquisition strategies, and the impact of local networking when starting up far from major tech hubs like Silicon Valley. Benjamin shares his journey from being a lead designer at Atlassian to founding Dovetail, emphasizing the importance of building strong customer relationships and adapting products to solve real-world problems. The episode also explores managing distributed teams, transitioning from bootstrapped to funded, and leveraging AI to enhance business operations. Lastly, Humphrey offers advice on maintaining focus and managing expectations in a startup environment, particularly for those starting up outside the traditional tech hotspots. EPISODE BREAKDOWN (03:26) How Dovetail’s customer insights hub works. (05:14) “I’d always wanted to start a company.” (9:19) “I got permission to basically start hacking on this little startup idea that I had in my spare time.” (13:55) “We tossed around with the idea of co-CEO for a while.” (14:24) “Being kind of at the arse end of the world means that you're forced into being this no-touch PLG business." (23:24) “The design team is the best-placed team to figure out what the holistic solution is that's gonna solve for the requirements of individual customers.” (26:50) How he promotes a cohesive culture across widely distributed teams. (30:01) Relocating teams between Sydney and SF, annual retreats. (33:47) “We only started doing paid ads about six months ago.” (36:28) “I'm actually our Australian sales rep at the moment.” (39:10) How hiring challenges led Benjamin to revisit his stance against VC funding. (43:40) Tall poppy syndrome is real in Australia, but “you just have to develop a thick skin as a founder.” (48:29) “And then you realize if you start hiring people, you have to do management.” (52:39) His future plans for Dovetail. (56:30) How AI integrates into his vision for the company. (1:00:26) What he’s looking for as an angel investor, final thoughts. Runtime: 01:03:59 LINKS Benjamin Humphrey Dovetail Blackbird VC Atlassian Just Ask!: 7 simple steps to unlock the power of clients, generate referrals and double your business, Graham Eisner Why You Only Need to Test with 5 Users, Jakob Nielsen Putting a Bolder Face on Google, The New York Times Subscribe to Fund/Build/Scale 📓Substack: https://fundbuildscale.substack.com 🎧 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fund-build-scale/id1719488387 🎧 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0EbC8PTUSfpZ4USPC9ErnN Thanks for listening! – Walter.

Jenna Birch is the founder of SISU, a PR firm that serves early-stage startups and VCs. She’s also a partner at Kaya Ventures. We talked about how to recognize when it’s time to engage PR services, the importance of a founder’s personal branding and the path that led her from journalism into venture-backed tech. She also shared her methodologies for assessing clients, setting realistic expectations, and creating impactful media strategies. There are a lot of misconceptions around PR and comms, so I was glad to get her perspective on earned media, personal branding for founders, and tips for navigating the earlier stages of a startup's lifecycle with optimal PR strategies. “PR is not meant to make up for a lack of something in your business, it can't fix the thing that you really need to fix, for instance, finding product market fit,” she said. “PR is not the gateway to do that. You have to have that figured out before you get PR.” We also talked about how to interview a comms firm, her ballpark estimates for monthly fees, and which red flags to look for when a PR professional wants to rep you. “You want to learn everything you can. So I'd also just ask about the transparency and how they're going to guide you through, because I think having a look behind the curtain — having someone that's willing to give you that look — is important.” 43:46 minutes EPISODE BREAKDOWN (1:55) “SISU is a very good startup word. It means ‘enduring grit.’” (4:14) Her transition from journalism into being a comms professional/VC. (7:26) Inside the process Jenna uses to assess potential clients. (8:55) “PR is not meant to make up for a lack of something in your business.” (12:08) SISU’s onboarding process: “I like to craft things in three-month sprints.” (14:47) “Ultimately, you're the steward of your company's story. So I need you to be involved in that process.” (19:14) How founders can identify/leverage news hooks and trends. (22:10) When it comes to thought leadership, “most founders and most investors are not immediately good at that.” (24:59) Why she thinks LinkedIn is more valuable than Twitter/X for business leaders. (27:32) Which signals and metrics indicate you should hire outside PR help? (31:16) The framework she uses to decide whether your startup is ready to hire her. (32:27) “Anyone that promises you press is probably not the right partner for you.” (35:05) Jenna ballparks a monthly cost for professional PR services. (38:10) How she became a partner at Kaya Ventures/how to pitch her. LINKS Jenna Birch, founder, SISU SISU Kaya Ventures NFX Paid vs. Owned vs. Earned Media: What’s the Difference? (Harvard Business School) Subscribe to Fund/Build/Scale 📓Substack: https://fundbuildscale.substack.com 🎧 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fund-build-scale/id1719488387 🎧 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0EbC8PTUSfpZ4USPC9ErnN Thanks for listening! – Walter.

Before Sri Chandrasekar became managing partner at Point72 Ventures, he was a Senior Vice President at In-Q-Tel, the non-profit VC firm that invests in startups on behalf of the CIA and other national intelligence agencies. That work cultivated his interest in AI and ML a decade ago, which led hedge fund Point72 to recruit him to join its then-new venture arm in 2017. Fast-forward to 2024, Sri takes around 300 first-call meetings with founders each year. While we had an extended discussion about his investment thesis and the types of opportunities he's targeting, he also offered key insights into the current early-stage fundraising environment and spoke about the growing difficulty for startups seeking Series A funding, compared to the relative ease of raising seed rounds. AI-related startups need more capital than ever to launch a MVP, leading to larger seed rounds without increasing dilution for founders. However, this drives up valuations, and when startups reach the Series A stage, investors hesitate to pay high prices for companies with limited traction. “I think a lot of seed-stage founders are going to see this in the next year or two,” he said. “They're going to raise a Series A and they're going to be not up rounds, they'll be flat rounds.” 42:21 minutes Episode breakdown (1:45) “In-Q-Tel is the best place in the world to learn about venture.” (3:53) “Machine learning and AI is gonna be the most transformative force to our economy since the steam engine.” (8:55) “I think we're six to twelve months away from the trough of disillusionment.” (11:52) “It's easier than ever to build a prototype of anything… and the hardest that's ever been, in my opinion, to raise a Series A.” (15:27) The differences between working with technical and non-technical founders (19:23) “I'm starting to think that Herman Miller Aeron chairs probably hold their value longer than GPUs.” (21:16) “Returns are getting compressed, and something's got to give, right?” (24:21) What real repeatability actually looks like. (27:33) “It's really important to not get ahead of yourself in terms of marketing and branding until you have clarity around, ‘do I have product-market-fit?’” (31:26) Sri breaks down the “triple-triple-double-double-double” growth framework. (34:39) Advice for founders who need help de-risking themselves. (37:43) “I don’t know what the point of being in stealth is.” (40:47) What would Sri ask an early-stage CEO if he were interviewing for a job? Links Sri Chandrasekar Point72 Ventures Subscribe to Fund/Build/Scale 📓Substack: https://fundbuildscale.substack.com 🎧 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fund-build-scale/id1719488387 🎧 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0EbC8PTUSfpZ4USPC9ErnN Thanks for listening! – Walter.

Nicholas Thorne is a partner at prehype, a venture development firm that helps large companies create startups by acting as an incubator. He's also the founder of Audos, an AI co-pilot designed to assist entrepreneurs in conducting customer interviews, creating slide decks, and potentially investing in their ideas. According to Nicholas, Audos can even write code and identify freelancers, functioning as a virtual technical product manager. I interviewed him to explore how this co-pilot supports entrepreneurs, particularly those in the “conceptual stage,” to locate — and eventually exploit — what he calls ‘founder-customer fit.’ He outlined the ideal user profiles for Audos, which range from small business owners to corporate innovators and also explained how Audos leverages AI to tackle various tasks for entrepreneurs and discussed the investment opportunities he's pursuing. Finally, Nicholas shared some of the resources he's using to deepen his understanding of AI. Runtime: 25:39 Episode breakdown (1:31) How Audos works, and who's using it. (4:33) "It's just about trying to do the best thing you can to create more information with which you can make progress." (9:12) Audos' ideal customer is a "conceptual stage" founder. (11:40) Helping entrepreneurs "find and then nurture, and over time, exploit what we call 'founder-customer fit.'" (15:36) Using AI to shorten the customer discovery process and speed time to market (19:30) "I think you would probably consider it a family or suite of GPTs that are all trained in extremely specific jobs." (22:00) What kinds of investment opportunities he’s looking for (and how to reach him) (24:12) How Nicholas fills in the gaps in his AI knowledge Links Nicholas Thorne, partner, [email protected] prehype Audos Ethan Mollick, Ralph J. Roberts Distinguished Faculty Scholar, Associate Professor of Management, Co-Director, Generative AI Labs at Wharton, Rowan FellowOne Useful Thing (Substack) @emollick Dan Shipper, co-founder/CEO, Every@danshipper

I met Fortune Senior Finance Reporter Allie Garfinkle in February 2024 at an event for comms professionals. She had just taken over the Term Sheet daily deals newsletter covering startups, venture capital, M&A, trends and pretty much anything tech-related. When news broke right after our panel that Reddit was filing to go public, she didn’t have a desk or a chair, so she grabbed her laptop, sat on the floor with her back to the wall and began drafting her next column. She wasn’t stressed out — she seemed excited and laser-focused. Term Sheet comes out five times each week which means she’s up and reviewing reader tips between 4am and 6am. “I actually write every day because I want it to feel urgent. It's sort of this odd equivalent of being journalistically naked,” she said. A lot of tech reporters use their platforms to make predictions, pick winners and embroider their opinions, but Allie tends to play it right down the middle. “The thing that I probably excel at is sort of being somewhere between neither being a cheerleader nor being an incredibly harsh critic,” she said. “I actually try to approach every person in front of me on their terms, like, “okay, who are you?” Episode breakdown (3:49) “I started at Fortune in January. New year, new job. I'd actually never written a daily newsletter before, ever.” (7:00) “I think there are great hot takers in this business. But I don't think I will ever be one of them.” (9:27) “What's the bar for including things? I try to put myself in the position of the readers.” (11:57) “The Reddit IPO — actually the day we met — I had another story in the can. I recall this.” (14:40) “There's a certain kind of conventional story of success I find incredibly boring.” (16:53) “There's sometimes stories where I don't know if I'm the right person.” (17:13) Why Elon Musk just isn’t that interesting to write about. (19:07) How Allie really feels about writing tech trend pieces. (21:44) She explains how Stephen Sondheim’s rules for songwriting also apply to tech reporting. (25:04) Allie’s advice for early-stage founders who are fundraising in 2024. (29:04) “I don't want to work with jerks. This is something that I've had to learn the hard way over time.” Links Allie Garfinkle, Senior Finance Reporter, [email protected] Fortune articles by Allie GarfinkleReddit’s S-1 paints the picture of a company with a complicated past, present, and future Poor Charlie’s Almanack: The Essential Wit and Wisdom of Charles T. Munger Thanks for listening! – Walter. [email protected]

Before Igor Jablokov was CEO and founder of Pryon, he worked with Apple on a prototype of Siri. He also founded a speech recognition company that Amazon acquired to develop its Alexa AI and Echo devices. He joined me on the podcast to talk about the evolution and challenges of building AI technologies and companies, different phases of startup growth, and how AI is transforming enterprise software procurement. Igor also offered his insights on the current AI hype cycle, explained the concept of “knowledge friction,” and shared some personal anecdotes and observations about achieving enduring entrepreneurial success in the AI domain. Runtime: 42:55 Episode breakdown (2:42) “We were their first AI-related acquisition that birthed what many people know as Alexa.” (6:44) What happens when you can’t commercialize the technology you’ve created? (9:11) How Pryon originated the concept of “knowledge friction.” (14:33) Igor deconstructs the three main types of founders working in AI today. (18:38) Where he thinks we are in the current AI hype cycle. (21:14) “Before ChatGPT, it was a desert and very few of us survive in the desert with a small amount of water.” (23:06) Inside Pryon’s September 2023 $100M Series B round. (25:26) Why early-stage AI startups have a major advantage over legacy tech companies. (28:07) Founders need “practical experience in an industry that eventually you're going to be a part of.” (35:00) “Tech is as perishable as fruits and vegetables you can procure from Trader Joe's.” (38:58) Questions Igor would ask the CEO if he was interviewing for a role with a startup. Links Igor Jablokov, CEO, Pryon Pryon Pryon Closes $100 Million Series B Round Led by Thomas Tull’s US Innovative Technology Fund Amazon.com Acquires Voice Recognition Start-up Yap Follow Fund/Build/Scale on Substack Thanks for listening! – Walter. [email protected]

If you're building a first-to-market solution using emerging technology that could meaningfully contribute to society and generate a 50x return, TDK Ventures President Nicolas Sauvage wants to hear from you. I invited him on the podcast to learn about TDK Ventures’ approach to corporate VC, which uses backcasting to identify ideal future technologies and then invest in entrepreneurs who are working towards those goals. Portfolio companies include startups that make things like flying taxis, batteries from reclaimed materials and technology for nuclear fusion. “There's no doubt in my mind that no one can forecast the future,” said Nicolas. “But what we can do, all of us, is to dream of an ideal future, then backcast from there, and look at what are the gaps to get to this ideal future.” Runtime: 43:31 Episode breakdown 4:50: “The origin story of TDK Ventures was three interactions in classes from a Stanford executive program in 2018.” 7:59: Nicolas explains TDK Ventures’ investment scope. 9:14: “No one can forecast the future,” which is where backcasting comes in. 11:39: “Right now, we deploy through two different funds.” 14:07: Inside TDK Ventures’ deal flow and investment thesis. 16:14: “For any megatrends, we're looking at $10B+ TAM. It could be zero TAM today.” 20:31: How do you calculate TAM for emerging technology? 22:17: When it comes to due diligence, “we are prepared. We know what to look for.” 25:23: Why he’s open to revisiting pitches he rejected once their technology matures. 29:59: Common misconceptions about corporate venture capital. 33:40: “How do we judge when is the right time? That really depends case by case.” 36:09: How TDK supports early-stage deep tech founders with academic backgrounds. 42:06: “I like to see entrepreneurs coming with a superpower; something that they're exceptional at that no one else is.” Links Nicolas Sauvage, president, TDK VenturesEntrepreneurship: A superhero’s journey Corporate VC is booming, but is it what your startup needs? TDK VenturesDeep Explorations Autoflight Ascend Elements SPAN Divirod TypeOne Energy Starship Technologies AM Batteries Metalenz Jesper Sorenson, Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Stanford University Graduate School of Business Ilya Strebuleav, professor, Stanford University Graduate School of BusinessThe Venture Mindset: How to Make Smarter Bets and Achieve Extraordinary Growth Paul Holland, corporate venture practice managing director, Mach49 Thanks for listening! – Walter. [email protected]

In this episode of Fund/Build/Scale, host Walter Thompson engages in a comprehensive discussion with Hantz Févry, co-founder and CEO of Stoovo, an AI-based geospatial data company. Hantz shares invaluable insights into separating one's identity from their job, the importance of rapid execution in startups, and the journey from working at Google to launching his own company. This episode targets tech workers aspiring to start their own businesses and immigrants in the U.S. on worker visas, highlighting the unique challenges and strategies for achieving entrepreneurial success. Hantz speaks on redefining success, Stoovo's pivotal evolution post-pandemic, and the critical importance of profitability and investment strategy. Tune in to gain practical advice and inspiration for your startup journey. Runtime: 36:23 Episode breakdown 2:26: “We realized that when it comes to the last hundred meters, there's a big gap.” 6:34: “I don't like to call it a pivot. I like to say that Stoovo evolved.” 8:35: “I do not think pivoting is a bad word. Actually, I think it's a sign of resilience.” 10:55: “By working together, it was very natural for the whole team to transition.” 15:07: “I was working at a company called Google, but I am Hantz, I'm not a Googler.” 17:10: “You might get there. You might not, but at least you were courageous enough to try.” 18:36: How Hantz defines work-life balance 22:20: Before he could launch Stoovo, “I had to wait until I had my green card.” 25:16: “I didn't have a uncle here, I do not have that famous garage where I can just sleep” 27:37: How Hantz and his co-founder Pierre connected with early investors 29:19: His framework for assessing founder-investor fit 33:38: Fundraising advice for Black and immigrant founders 34:32: Why “you don't need to be in Silicon Valley to build a business.” Links Hantz Fevry, CEO/co-founder, Stoovo Stoovo (website) Stoovo app (Google Play) Stoovo app (Apple 500 Global Le labyrinthe des égarés: L'Occident et ses adversaires, Amin Maalouf Subscribe to Fund/Build/Scale 🎧 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fund-build-scale/id1719488387 🎧 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0EbC8PTUSfpZ4USPC9ErnN Follow Fund/Build/Scale on LinkedIn Thanks for listening! – Walter. [email protected]

Enterprise companies like Salesforce, Oracle and Cisco use sales-led growth to drive revenue and build relationships with potential customers. Early-stage startups can't afford to rely on traditional sales and marketing, which is where product-led growth (PLG) comes in. Instead of creating slick sales collateral and hiring aggressive go-getters, PLG presents the product itself as the primary driver for customer acquisition, expansion and conversion. "It's an end-user-based revenue motion," said Laura Schaffer, VP of Growth at analytics platform Amplitude. "So you're trying to ultimately drive revenue growth by focusing on the end user." I invited her on the podcast to talk about how founding teams with limited resources can build a robust PLG framework that gathers actionable data and drives engagement. "If you think of payment, it's just a kind of friction. Just like completing a signup is friction. Just like learning a new product is friction," said Laura. "Payment and pricing and charging is just another friction." Episode breakdown Introduction to Laura Schaffer and her background in sales and growth Defining Product-Led Growth (PLG) as an end-user based revenue motion Key components of PLG: Acquisition, Monetization, Retention Initial steps for startups adopting PLG with limited resources “There are bad, high-friction questions, and then there's good questions.” Identifying and prioritizing target personas based on user engagement Minimizing bias by focusing on user problems and using quantitative data Strategies for moving from freemium to paid versions based on engagement signals Using free tools like Google Drive and Amplitude for tracking and data collection Techniques for embedding personas into organizational culture for alignment Avoiding vanity metrics and ensuring engagement metrics are linked to value Laura’s advice on maintaining focus and prioritizing effectively for growth Links Laura Schaffer, VP Growth, Amplitude Amplitude Amplitude glossary of common terms How to run painted door tests that don’t piss off your users, CommandBar Elena’s Growth Scoop [Substack newsletter] Product-led Geek [Ben Williams’ newsletter] Follow Fund/Build/Scale on LinkedIn Subscribe to FBS on Substack Thanks for listening! – Walter.

In this episode of Fund/Build/Scale, I interviewed Amex Ventures Managing Director Kevin Weber about some of the nuances between traditional VC and corporate venture capital. It’s quite a mix: he’s looking for founders who can create value for individual American Express cardholders and the firm itself, so we talked about what types of opportunities he’s looking for, some of the problems he’s trying to solve, and the role risk plays in pushing organizational boundaries. “In many cases, I actually want to take more risk in some of the investments that I'm going to make because that risk and the investment that I'm making for the potential opportunity that I could have to American Express is likely worth the bet,” he said. If you’re interested in pitching Amex Ventures or another CVC, listen in for insights on fintech, AI, and e-commerce investments, the importance of aligning startup strategies with corporate goals, and key advice for first-time founders on fundraising and market positioning. Episode summary 00:19 Meet Kevin Weber: Amex Ventures' Managing Director 00:42 The Role of Corporate Venture Capital 01:24 Kevin's Career Journey 02:53 Amex Ventures' Investment Strategy 03:06 Differences Between Corporate and Traditional VC 04:05 Strategic Value and Partnerships 05:30 Focus Areas and Portfolio Companies 07:49 AI and Machine Learning in Venture Capital 09:29 Investment Process and Founder Relationships 15:11 Turning Investments into Partnerships 20:23 Collaborating with Businesses to Achieve Goals 20:39 Addressing Pain Points and Future Trends 21:10 Focus on AI 22:23 Business Goals and Fraud Prevention 24:09 Investment Strategies and Pivots 25:37 Exit Strategies and Acquisition Policies 31:40 Working with Accelerators and Incubators 34:44 Advice for First-Time Founders 39:07 Risk Tolerance in Corporate Venture Capital Links Kevin Weber, Managing Director, Amex Ventures Amex Ventures Weber joins Amex Ventures, 6/12/2023, Global Corporate Venturing Leadership Society Jobs at Amex Ventures Goodie Nation Follow Fund/Build/Scale on LinkedIn Subscribe to FBS on Substack Thanks for listening! – Walter.

Everyone's looking for ways to implement AI solutions, but integrating them into existing systems means entering uncharted territory. Despite the hype cycle, a majority of enterprise customers “are spending 70-80% of their capacity maintaining legacy application infrastructure,” said Jeremiah Stone, CTO of SnapLogic. As a result, these companies often lack the necessary talent to effectively assess or integrate AI, making compliance and security the two biggest challenges for AI-first founders. To overcome these and other adoption barriers, early-stage CEOs need to become educators and great listeners before they can ever act as salespeople. In this episode, I interviewed Jeremiah to learn more about identifying and overcoming barriers to AI adoption, strategies for effective customer engagement and the importance of transparency and iterative experimentation in AI development. Episode summary Security and compliance “are the two things that are challenging for adoption right now.” Before selling AI solutions, founders need to listen to (and educate) potential customers. “Enterprises are spending 70-80% of their capacity maintaining legacy application infrastructure.” The risk of data breaches and bad customer outcomes makes enterprises cautious. Focus on solving unique problems AI can address better than existing solutions. Build trust by starting discussions with security, compliance, and risk frameworks. Innovate openly to demystify AI for customers. Make sure your team is ready to answer typical security and compliance questions. Maintain discipline in focusing on scalable solutions rather than niche problems. “You have to create your own talent and upskill your data engineering team.” “Experiment weekly on the things that look promising and treat it as an iterative process.” Be transparent and involve customers early in your development process. Links Jeremiah Stone, CTO, SnapLogic SnapLogic company overview SnapLogic Names Jeremiah Stone CTO Fund/Build/Scale on LinkedIn Fund/Build/Scale on Substack Thanks for listening! -- Walter.

Deb Kemper is a managing partner of Golden Seeds Ventures, a firm that focuses on backing early-stage, women-led companies. She joined me on the podcast to share tactics with founders who want to build networks with investors outside of Silicon Valley and discuss some of the challenges facing anyone seeking follow-on funding these days. We also talked about the criteria investors use to gauge the strengths of teams and their ideas. “I know some investor groups do full-on psychological assessments of founders and their teams,” she said, noting that she prefers to learn through observation. One red flag: entrepreneurs who can’t easily explain their ideas aren’t ready to work with investors. “If I go to a networking event and someone can't tell me in 60 seconds what they do — or even less — I'm done,” said Deb. “They just want to talk to you and tell you everything about their company. And I walk away saying, “I still don't know what they do.’” Episode breakdown How Golden Seeds Ventures works with Golden Seeds Angel Network “You have to be really solving a customer problem in a way that we see is unique.” Strategies for fundraising, extending runway + adapting to the current investment climate Founders/companies that might benefit more from funding methods besides traditional VC Why finding a co-founder is more about serendipity than process How Golden Seeds gauges a team’s domain expertise/understanding of market needs Deb talks about the need for products to solve substantial problems and not just be quick fixes Common pitfalls for founders, especially around financial management and market positioning “I don't think that's of any use to have a rubber stamp board.” Deb’s perspective on the current state of AI investments and the potential for startups outside major tech hubs Links Deb Kemper, managing partner, Golden Seeds Ventures Golden Seeds Ventures Utah Tech Week 2024 Fund/Build/Scale on LinkedIn Fund/Build/Scale on Substack Thanks for listening! – Walter.

One of the first interviews I did for the podcast was with Renen Hallak, CEO and founder of AI infrastructure company VAST Data. The company launched in 2019, and three years later, it was ranked No. 5 on the Deloitte Technology Fast 500™. Today, its customer base includes massive organizations like Disney, Verizon, the US Air Force and the US Department of Energy. It’s one of the fastest-growing companies in its sector. You can probably tell I was a little nervous. Most of the questions I asked covered VAST Data’s first eighteen months: his customer discovery process, how his team worked to gain traction and build credibility with clients and also, why he looked for a co-founder who could take over go-to-market strategy. Renen also spoke frankly about his previous experiences launching startups, which weren’t as successful. When it came to fundraising, “I did not know how to do it,” he said. “I didn't understand the game. I thought that VCs judge ideas based on the merit of the idea. In fact, I think most of the weight goes to who you are, what you've done, and who vouches for you, in terms of who they choose to invest in.” If you’re an academic or a worker in a technical role who’s thinking about starting up, you’ll definitely want to listen to this episode. LINKS Renen Hallak, CEO/founder, VAST Data VAST Data VAST Data Ranked 5th Among North America’s Fastest-Growing Technology Companies [press release] Fund/Build/Scale on LinkedIn Fund/Build/Scale on Substack EPISODE BREAKDOWN What VAST Data does Renen's career shift and the early challenges he faced starting VAST Why his previous fundraising failed: “I did not know how to do it. I didn't understand the game.” Customer discovery processes and early challenges in gaining traction/building credibility What he learned from failure about fundraising and VC dynamics Strategies for creating innovative products that withstand competition from big players How VAST used customer feedback to shape their product development The process and timing of building a team, particularly focusing on sales + marketing Initial customer acquisition and how VAST secured large-scale data users early on From zero -> $1 million ARR -> $10M ARR in about 18 months How VAST anticipates/integrates future AI trends into its pipeline + business model Renen’s personal advice for new founders transitioning from technical roles to CEO positions

Viviana Faga is general partner at Felicis, a venture firm that invests in seed to Series B startups in several sectors. Since its founding in 2006, the company has backed breakout companies like Adyen, Canva, Shopify and Runway. Because she’s a former operator with experience in positioning, branding and go-to-market strategy, I asked her to come on Fund/Build/Scale to talk about how she evaluates seed-stage AI investments and share some of the tactics she’s using to help founders “really focus on this idea of a defensible brand.” Episode breakdown: A look at Felicis’ strategy of investing across different sectors and stages Viviana outlines areas of interest within AI and clarifies typical investment size “If you're a traditional SaaS company, I think it's going to be very hard.” How AI startups differ from traditional SaaS in terms of growth/funding opportunities “I think TAM is just a false predictor in either direction.” “It's hard to start an AI company if you have not been in research or in academia,” “Every time there's a hot AI company, there's 15 new YC companies going after that problem 3-6 months later.” “Marketing is formulaic, it really shouldn’t scare anyone.” Questions AI founders should ask investors to ensure alignment and set expectations Viviana shares her resources for keeping up with the latest developments in AI “I always ask teams, ‘what's going to happen in five years that will determine your success, and walk me through it.’” Links: Viviana Faga, general partner, Felicis Felicis NeurIPS 2024 Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems No Priors podcast Thanks for listening, – Walter. FBS on Substack LinkedIn

Fiat Ventures General Partner and co-founder Drew Glover fits the textbook definition of an emerging investor, but we had so much to talk about, the term itself never came up during our interview. Founded in 2022, Fiat Ventures is nearing the end of its $25M Fund One, which has focused on seed-stage fintech startups. “Seed is really the space that's optimized to our process, which is to work with them prior to investment,” said Drew. In addition to Fiat Ventures, he also co-founded full-stack consultancy Fiat Growth, along with Fiat Advisory, a business marketplace that connects founders with experienced operators. Working separately, Fiat’s three arms strategically support early-stage founders from talent spotting to market entry in a capital-efficient manner. In our interview, Drew unpacked the firm's philosophy of assembling a consortium of experts tailored to each stage of a startup's growth, rather than relying solely on an in-house marketing team. We covered a lot of ground: Drew talked about his journey from football at UC Berkeley to venture capital. Because he's a person of color who navigated unconventional paths into the industry, he emphasized his commitment to accessibility and mentorship for underrepresented founders and fund managers. He also explained how and why Fiat Ventures actively seeks talent beyond Silicon Valley. “As a Black VC that had to find a backdoor into the VC space, I understand how few folks that look like myself are out there both as a fund manager, as a venture capitalist, as well as a founder of color,” said Drew. “I'm typically looking for ways to make myself as available as possible.” Episode breakdown Founding Fiat Growth, and how it evolved into Fiat Ventures Drew: “We believed we had a strategy around cost-efficient growth.” How Fiat Ventures is adapting to recent shifts in fintech? “Reverse-engineering venture” = working with companies prior to investment “Do not hire a growth team. Bring a team like us in who can build your entire growth foundation.” Common pitfalls in early-stage startup hiring and implementing growth strategy The criteria and process Fiat Ventures uses to select and support startups Fiat Advisors supports early-stage startups that aren’t yet ready for direct investment “There is a relationship foundation in the VC space that needs to be honored.” Fiat’s criteria for choosing investments and the importance of founder dynamics Drew reflects on navigating the VC world as a person of color Fiat Ventures’ plans for expanding services and the long-term vision for Fiat's ecosystem Links Drew Glover, GP, Fiat Ventures 40 Under 40: Drew Glover, Fiat Ventures, San Francisco Business Times, 4/21/23 Alex Harris, GP, Fiat Ventures Marcos Fernandez, co-founder/managing partner, Fiat Ventures Fiat Growth Fiat Ventures Fiat Ventures, with $25M for first fund, brings ‘insider’ approach to investing in early-stage fintechs, TechCrunch, 11/16/22 Steady App Chime Oakland Citizens Committee for Urban Renewal (OCCUR) David E. Glover Emerging Technology Center Fintech Meetup Money 2020

Early-stage deep tech founders working in AI and ML, or sectors like mobility, robotics and semiconductors are generally better off raising funds, seeking mentorship and connecting with potential customers via investors who aren’t expecting rapid growth and expansion. Because corporate VC looks for strategic plays that can accelerate their companies’ tech adoption and expand access to markets, they’re often more in alignment with deep tech startups. They also cast a wider net — while Y Combinator enrolls 1.5% of the applicants it receives, Intel Ignite is still highly selective, but it has a 4% acceptance rate and a broader global reach, says VP and GM Tzahi Weisfeld. In this episode, we discussed his program’s selection and evaluation process, the kind of team Intel Ignite wants to mentor, and how they help deep tech founders overcome common challenges like feature prioritization and hiring. “We look at the size of opportunity for Intel to be engaged,” said Tzahi. “And for us to look at this as a relevant thing, we would want to see a major impact.” Interested in more corporate venture capital insights? I’m interviewing two more CVCs this season: Kevin Weber (managing director, Amex Ventures) and Nicolas Sauvage, (president, TDK Ventures), so please subscribe to Fund/Build/Scale on your preferred podcast platform. Links: Intel Ignite Tzahi Weisfeld, VP, GM, Intel Ignite Intel Capital CB Insights State of CVC 2023 report Intel To Acquire Granulate (2022 press release)

I’m Walter Thompson. After working for years in early-stage startups and as a journalist, here are three hard truths I’ve learned: Success in Silicon Valley hinges on connections, hard work and luck. Startups often fail because founders lack fundamental business knowledge. Real, actionable advice comes from those who've actually done it. There’s no such thing as “founder DNA.” If you’re willing to take on risk and invest years of your life in something that has maybe a 10% chance of paying off, you can be a startup founder. Here’s why I founded Fund/Build/Scale: To help founders make fewer mistakes. To share successful strategies that can accelerate your go-to-market journey. To inspire more people to see themselves as potential founders. This podcast is for anyone who’s interested in learning the basic skills required to launch a startup, secure initial funding and transform an idea into a sustainable business. Interested? Subscribe to Fund/Build/Scale and follow the podcast on LinkedIn or Substack to get articles, excerpts, transcripts and more. Thanks for listening.