Fund/Build/Scale

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 Links Deb Kemper, managing partner, Golden Seeds VenturesGolden Seeds VenturesUtah Tech Week 2024Fund/Build/Scale on LinkedInFund/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 HallakVAST DataVAST Data Ranked 5th Among North America’s Fastest-Growing Technology CompaniesFund/Build/Scale on LinkedInFund/Build/Scale on Substack EPISODE BREAKDOWN

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: Links: Viviana FagaFelicisNeurIPS 2024No Priors podcast Thanks for listening, – Walter. FBS on SubstackLinkedIn

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 Links Drew Glover40 Under 40: Drew Glover, Fiat VenturesAlex HarrisMarcos FernandezFiat GrowthFiat VenturesFiat Ventures, with $25M for first fund, brings ‘insider’ approach to investing in early-stage fintechsSteady AppChimeOakland Citizens Committee for Urban Renewal (OCCUR)David E. Glover Emerging Technology CenterFintech MeetupMoney 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 IgniteTzahi Weisfeld, VP, GM, Intel IgniteIntel CapitalCB Insights State of CVC 2023 reportIntel To Acquire Granulate

I’m Walter Thompson. After working for years in early-stage startups and as a journalist, here are three hard truths I’ve learned: 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: 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.

The average failure rate for a tech startup is 90%. Around one-fifth will flame out in the first year, and the overwhelming majority of the ones that make it past that mark will never be acquired or go public. It’s brutal. It takes years to build a sustainable technology company, and considering how unbalanced the risk/reward ratio is, each founder needs to craft personalized mental and emotional frameworks that suit their needs. Because there’s no single recipe for long-term success, I was glad to interview Poshmark CEO Manish Chandra and DevRev CEO Dheeraj Pandey about how they deal with the fear, uncertainty and doubt that affects every entrepreneur. Poshmark is a pure consumer play, and DevRev sells enterprise software, but because Dheeraj and Manish are repeat founders who’ve taken startups from Day Zero to IPOs, they were an excellent choice for the last episode of season 1. We broke down some of the strategies they’ve developed over time for recruiting, fostering early adopters, driving growth, and transitioning across industries. Both guests also unpacked some of the strategic decisions that propelled their companies forward and spoke openly about how they navigated some very lonely times along the way. Episode breakdown Links Manish ChandraPoshmarkTracy SunLyAnn ChhayDheeraj PandeyDevRevKaboodleNutanixTiE GlobalGokul Rajaram on TwitterWhat Is Forming, Storming, Norming and Performing?How to Be a C.E.O., From a Decade’s Worth of ThemRise of Empires: OttomansEclectic grandpa styleSimon Sinek Thanks very much for listening to season 1 of Fund/Build/Scale! There’s much more to come in season 2, which starts very soon. Join the FBS LinkedIn groupSubscribe to Fund/Build/Scale on Substack Fund/Build/Scale is sponsored by Mayfield and Securiti.

For this episode of Fund/Build/Scale, I interviewed Dipanwita Das, CEO and co-founder of Sorcero, about the journey of taking an AI startup from research to reality. She shared her experience of interviewing more than 300 people to shape Sorcero's product and technical requirements, as well as strategies for aligning customer needs with product development. We also discussed the challenges of building a capable team, fundraising, and the process she and her co-founders used to transform their thesis into a marketable product. Links SorceroDipanwita DasWalter BenderRichard GravesWhat is a minimum loveable product?Funding alert: AI startup Sorcero raised a (mid-pandemic) $3.5M bridge roundAI startup Sorcero secures $10M for language intelligence platformHow Sorcero is improving the accessibility of scientific literature Thanks for listening! Fund/Build/Scale is sponsored by Mayfield and Securiti.

Going from zero to $1M in annual recurring revenue is worth celebrating, but it’s no guarantee that your startup is on a path to success. How long did it take to reach this milestone? How much did you spend to acquire each customer, and how many have renewed or extended their contracts? When it comes to sales, repeatability equals success. To learn more about the tactics startups use to reach $1 million ARR (and beyond) I interviewed Rehan Jalil, CEO of Securiti. Drawing from his experience as a three-time founder, we talked about setting up an initial sales motion, understanding and validating the problem you're solving, focusing on a specific audience to hone your value proposition, and building trust with early customers. Episode breakdown: Thanks for listening! Follow Fund/Build/Scale on LinkedIn and Substack.

Successful entrepreneurs must translate their personal visions into something tangible enough to attract employees, investors, and eventually, customers. There are best practices for product management and software pricing, but how do you make yourself persuasive (and authentic) enough to convince someone else to risk their time and money on your idea? I interviewed May Habib (CEO and co-founder, Writer) and Gaurav Misra (CEO and co-founder, Captions) to learn how they use a mix of hard and soft skills to maintain a clear and strategic vision that informs everything from recruiting to GTM strategy. We also discussed methods for finding investors who understand your space, building a team, and why “rarely is the first idea the right idea.” Here’s a full episode breakdown: Part 1: May Habib, CEO and co-founder, Writer Part 2: Gaurav Misra, CEO and co-founder, Captions

In part two, Armon explained why he initially resisted investor advice to raise a Series A and spoke frankly about the challenges involved with stepping up into a leadership role, which led to some interesting talk about overcoming impostor syndrome, something a lot of us can relate to. Part 2:

I interviewed Coalesce CEO and co-founder Armon Petrossian in February 2024 to talk about his company's journey from seed stage to Series A. I had no idea he was already working on his next round: just a few weeks after we recorded this interview, Coalesce announced a $50M Series B. To help me prepare, his team shared their slightly redacted Series A pitch deck, which was immensely helpful. I'd intended to make this a mini-episode, but there was so much here, I decided to break it up into two parts. Part 1:

I interviewed Laura Bisesto (global head of policy and privacy at Nextdoor) in January 2024 to get her advice for AI startups that are just starting out. We talked about compliance, how to recognize when you need in-house help, and the overall importance of planning for worst case scenarios. She also had some thoughts for rolling out new AI-powered features, creating user advisory boards, and navigating a patchwork of state, federal and international laws. Here’s a breakdown of our conversation: Fund/Build/Scale is sponsored by Mayfield and Securiti.

For episode 5, I interviewed Maria Latushkin, GVP of Technology and Engineering at Albertsons, the second-largest grocery chain in America, and Jack Berkowitz, Chief Data Officer at Securiti (previously with ADP), to get their insider's perspective on how enterprise-level customers buy software and services from AI startups. The most surprising thing I learned came early in the chat: spinning up a pilot program or a partnership creates tangible risks for enterprise customers, which means they can only afford to work with a few startups at a time. Maria and Jack each have startup experience, but their time as C-level execs inside public companies gives them a unique perspective on breaking into enterprise sales. In this episode, we'll talk about sales strategies, navigating the procurement process, how to run a proof of concept or pilot program, and other essential topics. Here’s a full breakdown: For my next episode, I spoke to Laura Bisesto, global head of policy and privacy at Nextdoor. We talked about the regulatory landscape facing AI startups in 2024, and how small companies should start the work of developing their own ethical frameworks. We got into how to recognize when you need legal help, recapped some data governance best practices, and also talked about why it's so important to create a buttoned-down process for rolling out new AI features. Fund/Build/Scale is sponsored by Mayfield and Securiti.

Jorge Torres (CEO, co-founder, MindsDB) and Vijay Reddy (AI Start investor, Mayfield) were the first two people I interviewed for Fund/Build/Scale. We met up at Jorge's office in San Francisco's Mission District on a rainy Friday afternoon in November 2023. We spent time discussing the ins and outs of pitch tactics and investor outreach, but we also talked about the criteria VCs use to evaluate zero-day investments, which red flags investors and founders both need to look out for, and how to find a VC to partner with for the next decade (not just the next funding round). Jorge has been through the fundraising process three times and Vijay is an experienced seed investor, so I was glad to talk to them both about fundraising from both sides of the table. Here's a breakdown of our conversation: Links: Jorge TorresMindsDBVijay ReddyMayfieldMindsDB AI CollectiveAI Start Seed Fundaistart@mayfield.com Fund/Build/Scale is sponsored by Mayfield and Securiti.

I wanted to learn more about how inception-stage AI founders can tap into developer ecosystems, so I spoke to Ozzy Johnson, Director of Solutions Engineering for NVIDIA Developer Programs. In his role, he leads a global product team that accelerates its own work by interacting with outside developers who use the company’s technology. Johnson also works with NVIDIA’s Inception program, a virtual accelerator for AI and deep-learning startups. “It's kind of necessary to know the shape of the world to have a sense of where things are headed,” he said. “We ideally want to see around corners, we want to try to get there first, or at least, meet developers where they are.” Here’s what we talked about: Thanks for listening! Fund/Build/Scale on LinkedIn Fund/Build/Scale on Substack

Idea-stage investors are still excited about AI, but the savvier ones are looking for social proof and tangible takeaways from the customer discovery process. Before they commit, these investors are seeking evidence that the idea/team they’re considering won’t melt like snow in the rain the next time a major player improves their model. With that in mind, I interviewed Rodrigo Liang, co-founder and CEO of SambaNova Systems, for Episode 2. Launched in 2017, SambaNova raised more than a billion dollars in its first three years to create a full-stack LLM platform. Our conversation covered a lot of ground, including his thoughts on product-led growth strategy for AI startups and the importance of aligning the needs of customers with the technology you’re developing. Here’s a breakdown: Fund/Build/Scale is sponsored by Mayfield. If you have a fundable idea for an AI-first startup at the cognitive plumbing layer, email aistart@mayfield.com. The podcast is also sponsored by Securiti, pioneer of the Data Command Center. Follow Fund/Build/Scale on Substack and LinkedIn.

In the first episode of Fund/Build/Scale, Mayfield Managing Partner Navin Chaddha spoke about the need for founders to identify investors they can trust, how to pitch Mayfield's AI Start seed fund, and why he’s specifically looking for inception-stage entrepreneurs who have “half-baked” ideas. Our conversation covered a lot of ground: Navin described the elements of a fundable idea, shared what excites (and unnerves) him about AI investing, and offered a framework for founder teams seeking solutions to orthogonal problems that create value for customers and align with market trends. Here’s an episode rundown: 1:07: AI investing and entrepreneurship 7:56: fundraising, enterprise opportunities and success metrics 17:27 the biggest challenges facing AI investors 19:11: what strong founder teams look like 22:10: leveraging inception-stage investors 26:47: why idea-stage founders shouldn't worry about revenue 31:36: pitfalls/opportunities at the enterprise level 34:25: the "impedance mismatch" between startups + enterprise customers 38:22: societal change + responsible innovation 42:48: how he educates himself about emerging tech Coming up in Episode 2: I spoke with Rodrigo Liang, CEO and co-founder of SambaNova, about digging a moat, customer discovery, and product-led growth. Please subscribe to Fund/Build/Scale on your favorite platform, and if you liked this episode, I hope you’ll give me a great rating. For now, you can find the Fund/Build/Scale newsletter on Substack. The podcast theme was written and performed by Michael Tritter and Carlos Chairez. Michael also edited the podcast and provided additional music, and I’m deeply grateful. Thanks for listening! Links: https://fundbuildscale.substack.comhttps://www.mayfield.comhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/navinchaddha/https://securiti.ai/https://www.mayfield.com/cognitive-plumbing/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impedance_matchinghttps://www.linkedin.com/in/jenhsunhuang/https://www.linkedin.com/in/satyanadella/https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomas-kurian-469b6219/https://www.nvidia.comhttps://openai.com/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gartner_hype_cyclehttps://sambanova.ai/https://laroda.bandcamp.com/track/artificio Fund/Build/Scale is sponsored by Mayfield Fund and Securiti.

Hi. I’m Walter Thompson. I worked in startups for years before becoming a journalist. Now, I’m launching “Fund/Build/Scale,” a podcast that explains how to create an AI startup when all you have is an idea. If you’re seeking general thought leadership or predictions about AI, this is not the podcast for you. Guests on “Fund/Build/Scale” are sharing strategies and frameworks that listeners can adapt and use inside their own companies. We’re discussing the ins and outs of fundraising, product development, regulation, going to market, and other essential topics. Across ten episodes, you’ll gain an insider’s perspective on what it takes to build an ethically responsible company in one of tech’s most competitive and rapidly evolving sectors. Entrepreneurs, VCs, academics, policy experts, enterprise software buyers and others will share their thoughts on addressing technical challenges, building teams, breaking into corporate sales and other core issues AI startups grapple with. I hope you’ll join this ongoing conversation about the intersection of AI innovation and investment. Subscribe now — the podcast will be available on all major platforms, with the first episode launching in February 2024.